GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SECOND EXTRA SESSION 1996

H	1 

HOUSE BILL 33

Short Title:  Reimburse Counties/Inmate Housing.	(Public)

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Sponsors: Representatives G. Miller; Luebke, Michaux, H. Hunter, and Tolson.

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Referred to:  Rules, Calendar and Operations of the House.

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July 9, 1996

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR REIMBURSEMENT TO COUNTIES FOR HOUSING COSTS OF INMATES AWAITING TRANSFER TO THE STATE PRISON SYSTEM.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  G.S. 148-29 reads as rewritten:
"§ 148-29.  Transportation of convicts to prison; reimbursement to counties; sheriff's expense affidavit.
The sheriff having in custody any prisoner to be taken to the State prison system shall transport the prisoner to the prison unit designated by the Division of Prisons within five days after the issuance of the final judgment and commitment orders.  All such admissions shall be approved and scheduled by the Division of Prisons.  Beginning on the sixth day after the issuance of the final judgment and commitment orders and continuing through the day the prisoner is received by the Division of Prisons, the Department of Correction shall pay the county a standard sum set by the General Assembly in its appropriations acts for the cost of providing food, clothing, personal items, supervision, and necessary ordinary medical services to the prisoner awaiting transfer to the State prison system.
The sheriff shall file with the board of commissioners of his county a copy of his affidavit as to necessary guard, together with a copy of his itemized account of expenses, both certified to by him as true copies of those on  file in his office.  "
Sec. 2.  The Department of Correction may use funds available for the 1995-96 fiscal year to pay the sum of fourteen dollars and fifty cents ($14.50) per day as reimbursement to counties for the cost of housing inmates convicted and awaiting transfer to the State prison system, as provided in G.S. 148-29.
Sec. 3.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Correction the sum of fourteen million six hundred thousand dollars ($14,600,000) for the 1996-97 fiscal year to raise the per diem reimbursement to counties from fourteen dollars and fifty cents ($14.50) per day to forty  dollars ($40.00) per day for the cost of housing inmates convicted and awaiting transfer to the State prison system, as provided in G.S. 148-29.  If these funds are depleted prior to the end of the fiscal year, the Department of Correction may use funds available, other than lapsed salaries and fringe benefits, to reimburse counties pursuant to this section.
Sec. 4.  Sections 1 and 2 of this act become effective January 1, 1996.