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As Introduced
136th
General Assembly
Regular
Session
H. B. No. 727
2025-2026
Representatives Fischer, Plummer
To
amend sections 5139.36 and 5139.41 of the Revised Code
to
modify the formula for grants to counties from the department of
youth services to operate community corrections facilities for felony
delinquents.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section
1.
That
sections 5139.36 and 5139.41 of the Revised Code be amended to read
as follows:
Sec.
5139.36.
(A)
In accordance with this section and the rules adopted under it and
from funds appropriated to the department of youth services for the
purposes of this section, the department shall make grants that
provide financial resources to operate community corrections
facilities for felony delinquents.
(B)(1)
Each community corrections facility that intends to seek a grant
under this section shall file an application with the department of
youth services at the time and in accordance with the procedures that
the department shall establish by rules adopted in accordance with
Chapter 119. of the Revised Code. In addition to other items required
to be included in the application, a plan that satisfies both of the
following shall be included:
(a)
It reduces the number of felony delinquents committed to the
department from the county or counties associated with the community
corrections facility.
(b)
It ensures equal access for minority felony delinquents to the
programs and services for which a potential grant would be used.
(2)
The department of youth services shall review each application
submitted pursuant to division (B)(1) of this section to determine
whether the plan described in that division, the community
corrections facility, and the application comply with this section
and the rules adopted under it.
(C)
To be eligible for a grant under this section and for continued
receipt of moneys comprising a grant under this section, a community
corrections facility shall satisfy at least all of the following
requirements:
(1)
Be constructed, reconstructed, or improved, and be financed by the
treasurer of state pursuant to section 307.021 of the Revised Code
and Chapter 154. of the Revised Code, for the use of the department
of youth services and be designated as a community corrections
facility;
(2)
Have written standardized criteria governing the types of felony
delinquents that are eligible for the programs and services provided
by the facility;
(3)
Have a written standardized intake screening process and an intake
committee that at least performs both of the following tasks:
(a)
Screens all eligible felony delinquents who are being considered for
admission to the facility in lieu of commitment to the department;
(b)
Notifies, within ten days after the date of the referral of a felony
delinquent to the facility, the committing court whether the felony
delinquent will be admitted to the facility.
(4)
Comply with all applicable fiscal and program rules that the
department adopts in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code
and demonstrate that felony delinquents served by the facility have
been or will be diverted from a commitment to the department.
(D)
The department of youth services shall determine the method of
distribution of the funds appropriated for grants under this section
to community corrections facilities.
(E)(1)
The department of youth services shall adopt rules in accordance with
Chapter 119. of the Revised Code to establish the minimum occupancy
threshold of community corrections facilities.
(2)
A child in the custody of the department of youth services may be
placed in a community corrections facility in accordance with either
division (E)(2)(a) or (b) of this section. A child placed in a
community corrections facility pursuant to either division shall
remain in the legal custody of the department of youth services
during the period in which the child is in the community corrections
facility.
The
department shall charge bed days to the county in accordance with
sections 5139.41 to 5139.43 of the Revised Code.
(a)
The department may make referrals for the placement of children in
its custody to a community corrections facility. At least forty-five
days prior to the referral of a child or within any shorter period
prior to the referral of the child that the committing court may
allow, the department shall notify the committing court of its intent
to place the child in a community corrections facility. The court
shall have thirty days after the receipt of the notice to approve or
disapprove the placement. If the court does not respond to the notice
of the placement within that thirty-day period, the department shall
proceed with the placement.
(b)
The department may, with the consent of the juvenile court with
jurisdiction over the Montgomery county center for adolescent
services, establish a single unit within the community corrections
facility for female felony delinquents committed to the department's
custody. If the unit is established under this division, the
department may place a female felony delinquent committed to the
department's custody into the unit in the community corrections
facility.
(3)
Counties that are not associated with a community corrections
facility may refer children to a community corrections facility with
the consent of the facility. The department of youth services shall
debit the county that makes the referral in accordance with sections
5139.41 to 5139.43 of the Revised Code.
(F)
The board or other governing body of a community corrections facility
shall meet not less often than once per quarter. A community
corrections facility may reimburse the members of the board or other
governing body of the facility and the members of an advisory board
created by the board or other governing body of the facility for
their actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of
their official duties. The members of the board or other governing
body of the facility and the members of an advisory board created by
the board or other governing body of the facility shall serve without
compensation.
Sec.
5139.41.
The
appropriation made to the department of youth services for care and
custody of felony delinquents shall be expended in accordance with
the following procedure that the department shall use for each year
of a biennium. The procedure shall be consistent with sections
5139.41 to 5139.43 of the Revised Code and shall be developed in
accordance with the following guidelines:
(A)
The line item appropriation for the care and custody of felony
delinquents shall provide funding for operational costs for the
following:
(1)
Institutions and the diagnosis, care, or treatment of felony
delinquents at facilities pursuant to contracts entered into under
section 5139.08 of the Revised Code;
(2)
Community corrections facilities constructed, reconstructed,
improved, or financed as described in section 5139.36 of the Revised
Code for the purpose of providing alternative placement and services
for felony delinquents who have been diverted from care and custody
in institutions;
(3)
County juvenile courts that administer programs and services for
prevention, early intervention, diversion, treatment, and
rehabilitation services and programs that are provided for alleged or
adjudicated unruly or delinquent children or for children who are at
risk of becoming unruly or delinquent children;
(4)
Administrative expenses the department incurs in connection with the
felony delinquent care and custody programs described in section
5139.43 of the Revised Code.
(B)
From the appropriated line item for the care and custody of felony
delinquents, the department, with the advice of the RECLAIM advisory
committee established under section 5139.44 of the Revised Code,
shall allocate annual operational funds for county juvenile programs,
institutional care and custody, community corrections facilities care
and custody, and administrative expenses incurred by the department
associated with felony delinquent care and custody programs. The
department, with the advice of the RECLAIM advisory committee, shall
adjust these allocations, when modifications to this line item are
made by legislative or executive action.
(C)
The department shall divide county juvenile program allocations among
county juvenile courts that administer programs and services for
prevention, early intervention, diversion, treatment, and
rehabilitation that are provided for alleged or adjudicated unruly or
delinquent children or for children who are at risk of becoming
unruly or delinquent children. The department shall base funding on
the county's previous year's ratio of
the
department's institutional and community corrections facilities
commitments to that county's average of felony adjudications
felony
delinquency proceedings
,
as specified in the following formula:
(1)
The
department shall give to each county a proportional allocation of
commitment credits. The proportional allocation of commitment credits
shall be calculated by the following procedures:
(a)
The department shall determine for each county and for the state an
average of felony adjudications. Beginning July 1, 2012, the average
shall include felony adjudications for fiscal year 2007 and for each
subsequent fiscal year through fiscal year 2016. Beginning July 1,
2017, the most recent felony adjudication data shall be included and
the oldest fiscal year data shall be removed so that a ten-year
average of felony adjudication data will be maintained.
(b)
The department shall determine for each county and for the state the
number of charged bed days, for both the department and community
corrections facilities, from the previous year.
(c)
The department shall divide the statewide total number of charged bed
days by the statewide total number of felony adjudications, which
quotient shall then be multiplied by a factor determined by the
department.
(d)
The department shall calculate the county's allocation of credits by
multiplying the number of adjudications for each court by the result
determined pursuant to division (C)(1)(c) of this section.
(2)
The department shall subtract from the allocation determined pursuant
to division (C)(1) of this section a credit for every chargeable bed
day while a youth is in the department's custody and two-thirds of
credit for every chargeable bed day a youth stays in a community
corrections facility, except for public safety beds. At the end of
the year, the department shall divide the amount of remaining credits
of that county's allocation by the total number of remaining credits
to all counties, to determine the county's percentage, which shall
then be applied to the total county allocation to determine the
county's payment for the fiscal year.
The
department shall determine for each county the number of felony
delinquency proceedings brought in the county for the preceding year
and shall determine the number of felony delinquency proceedings
brought in the state during the same period.
(2)
A county's allocation shall be proportional to the county's share of
felony delinquency proceedings brought in the preceding year.
(3)
The department shall pay counties three times during the fiscal year
to allow for
credit
reporting and audit adjustments, and
modifications
to the appropriated line item for the care and custody of felony
delinquents, as described in this section. The department shall pay
fifty per cent of the payment by the fifteenth of July of each fiscal
year, twenty-five per cent by the fifteenth of January of that fiscal
year, and twenty-five per cent of the payment by the fifteenth of
June of that fiscal year.
Section
2.
That
existing sections 5139.36 and 5139.41 of the Revised Code are hereby
repealed.