Amendments are necessary to comply with a recent appellate decision invalidating portions of the department's rules implementing detention cost sharing. The amendments provide a definition for "final court disposition," and create a methodology for ...

 

DEPARTMENT OF JUVENILE JUSTICE

Detention Services

RULE NOS.:RULE TITLES:

63G-1.011Definitions

63G-1.013Calculating Estimated Funding

63G-1.016Monthly Reporting

63G-1.017Monthly/Annual Reconciliation and Dispute Resolution

PURPOSE AND EFFECT: Amendments are necessary to comply with a recent appellate decision invalidating portions of the department’s rules implementing detention cost sharing. The amendments provide a definition for “final court disposition,” and create a methodology for estimating and reconciling each paying county’s actual costs that will effectively reduce the counties’ responsibility for secure detention costs.

SUMMARY: The amendments eliminate the current “commitment status” dividing line between state and county responsibility for secure detention costs, replacing it with one that reduces the counties’ share, and increases state responsibility. Most notably, the state will assume responsibility for detention stays associated with technical violations of probation, and for those following the dismissal of all open charges. A new methodology for estimating and reconciling costs is adopted, which will utilize a uniform per diem, and thus ensure that the counties do not pay a higher rate than the state.

SUMMARY OF STATEMENT OF ESTIMATED REGULATORY COSTS AND LEGISLATIVE RATIFICATION: The Agency has determined that this will not have an adverse impact on small business or likely increase directly or indirectly regulatory costs in excess of $200,000 in the aggregate within one year after the implementation of the rule. A SERC has not been prepared by the Agency.

The Agency has determined that the proposed rule is not expected to require legislative ratification based on the statement of estimated regulatory costs or if no SERC is required, the information expressly relied upon and described herein: The SERC Checklist, and current information available to the department, indicates that the statutory threshold for ratification will not be exceeded.

Any person who wishes to provide information regarding a statement of estimated regulatory costs, or provide a proposal for a lower cost regulatory alternative must do so in writing within 21 days of this notice.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY: 985.64, 985.686(11) FS.

LAW IMPLEMENTED: 985.686 FS.

A HEARING WILL BE HELD AT THE DATE, TIME AND PLACE SHOWN BELOW:

DATE AND TIME: Friday, June 6, 2014, 10:00 a.m.

PLACE: DJJ Headquarters, 2737 Centerview Dr., General Counsel’s Conference Room 3223, Tallahassee, Florida

For information about participation by telephone contact John Milla at [phone]

THE PERSON TO BE CONTACTED REGARDING THE PROPOSED RULE IS: John Milla, 2737 Centerview Dr., Ste. 3200, Tallahassee, FL 32399-3100, e-mail: [e-mail]

 

THE FULL TEXT OF THE PROPOSED RULE IS:

 

63G-1.011 Definitions.

(1) “Funding of detention services” means the funding required to provide detention services as determined by the General Appropriations Act Implementing Bill and/or General Bills.

(2) “Final Court Disposition” means the decision announced by the court at the disposition hearing determining the most appropriate services for a youth.  Final court disposition includes commitment, probation, and dismissal of charges. “Commitment” means the final court disposition of a juvenile delinquency charge through an order placing a youth in the custody of the department for placement in a residential or non-residential program. Commitment to the department is in lieu of a disposition of probation.

(3) “Shared County/State Juvenile Detention Trust Fund” means the state trust fund used to capture budget and costs associated with the counties’ share of detention funding.

(4) “Fiscally constrained county” means a county which is not required to pay the full costs of its resident juveniles’ detention services.

(5) “Juvenile Probation Officer” (JPO) means the primary case manager for the purpose of managing, coordinating, and monitoring the services provided and sanctions snactions required for youth on probation, post-commitment probation or conditional release supervision.

(6) “Juvenile Justice Information System” (JJIS) means the department’s electronic information system used to gather and store information on youth having contact with the department.

(7) “County of Residence” means the county where, at the time of referral, a child resides, as determined by a department intake officer pursuant to Rule 63G-1.012, F.A.C., and entered in the Juvenile Justice Information System, except for those youth described in subsection 63G-1.012(2), F.A.C., below.

(8) “Pre-commitment” means those days a youth is detained in a detention center prior to being commited to the department.

(8)(9) “Reconciliation period” means the first through the last day of a month during which reconcilation by the county and the department for the previous month’s utization takes place.

(9)(10) “Secure detention” means a physically state owned and operated physically restricting facility for the temporary care of children, pending adjudication, disposition, or placement.

(10)(11) “Service day” means any day or portion of a day spent by a youth in secure detention.

(11)(12) “Utilization” means a summary of service days.

(12) “Estimated per diem” means the per diem calculated prior to the state fiscal year utilizing an estimate of the total service days and the total appropriation for detention centers.  The resulting per diem is then used to estimate the cost to a county under the methodology in Rule 63G-1.013, F.A.C.

(13) “Actual per diem” means the per diem calculated utilizing actual service days and the actual expenditures for the cost of detention for the purpose of reconciliation.

(14) “Predisposition” means the period of time a youth is in detention care prior to entry of a final court disposition by the court.  The counties are responsible for all predisposition days including all service days for youth that are, at the time of the detention:

(a) In detention for contempt of court if the youth is not committed to the department or on department supervised probation.

(b) In detention while on department supervised probation when the youth is charged with a new violation of law occurring after the date the youth was placed on probation.

(15) “Postdisposition” means the period of time a youth is in detention care after entry of a final court disposition.  The State is responsible for all postdisposition days including all service days for youth that are, at the time of the detention:

(a) Committed to the department, including youth on conditional release.

(b) On department supervised probation, unless the youth is charged with new law violations occurring after the date the youth was placed on probation.

(c) Without charges, as all charges against the youth have been dismissed or the youth has been found not guilty.

Rulemaking Authority 985.64, 985.686(11) 985.686(10) FS. Law Implemented 985.686 FS. History–New 7-6-10, Amended __________.

 

63G-1.013 Calculating Estimated Funding.

(1) Estimates for each county’s individual portion of detention funding will be calculated as follows:

(a) The department shall estimate the number of service days for the upcoming fiscal year based upon prior use of secure detention and generally accepted statistical methods. Utilizing previous fiscal year data, the department shall estimate: All youth served in secure detention during the most recently reconciled previous fiscal year as reflected in the JJIS will be identified;

1. The number of predisposition service days for each county;

2. The total number of service days for secure detention, including both predisposition and postdisposition service days.

(b) The total budget for detention, as authorized in the General Appropriations Act, shall be divided by the total number of service days estimate, which will produce an estimated per diem. The total number of pre-commitment service days in secure detention is computed by including all days up to but not including the date of commitment to the department.

(c) The department shall multiply the estimated per diem by the expected number of predisposition service days for each county to calculate each county’s estimated share of the total budget.

(2) The total number of pre-commitment service days for each county from the most recently reconciled previous fiscal year utilization data will be divided by the total pre-commitment service days for all counties for that same time period to arrive at each county’s percentage of the total.

(3) Each county’s percentage will be multiplied by the total estimated annual appropriation in the shared county/state juvenile detention trust fund for the upcoming fiscal year to determine each county’s share of the total budget.

(2)(4) The estimated share of the total budget will be billed to the counties in monthly installments.

(3)(5) Invoices are to be mailed at the beginning of the month prior to the service period, so that an invoice for the August service period will be mailed in July.

Rulemaking Authority 985.64, 985.686(11) 985.686(10) FS. Law Implemented 985.686(3) FS. History–New 7-6-10, Amended __________.

 

63G-1.016 Monthly Reporting.

(1) Each month, the department shall generate a web based on-line utilization report that provides each county’s actual usage for the previous service month. The report is to be used by the counties to validate utilization.

(2) The report shall contain the following information:

(a) Youth’s name;

(b) Youth’s address at the time of the referral;

(c) Sex;

(d) Date of birth;

(e) Name of parent or guardian, if available;

(f) Phone contact, if available;

(g) Charge category;

(h) Admission date;

(i) Final court Commitment disposition date, if available; and

(j)(g) Number of detention days.

(3) The report will be available electronically on the first day of each month for the previous month’s utilization.

(4) The limited release of juvenile identifying information contained in each county’s monthly report is confidential. The release will not include treatment or charging information, is limited to the county official(s) designated to receive the report, and is not to be used for any purpose other than that of verifying the provision of detention services.

Rulemaking Authority 985.64, 985.686(11) 985.686(10) FS. Law Implemented 985.686(3), (7) FS. History–New 7-6-10, Amended __________.

 

63G-1.017 Monthly/Annual Reconciliation and Dispute Resolution.

(1) On the first day of each month, the department shall make available to each county a utilization report described in Rule 63G-1.016, F.A.C.

(2) The county shall have from the first to the fourteenth day of the month to review the on-line utilization information reported for the previous month. If the county takes issue with any of the utilization data, it shall mark the record for dispute on-line and provide a reason for the dispute. Disputes involving a detained youth’s county of residence or disposition must include one or more of the following indicia of specificity:

(a) Address invalid – not in county;

(b) Address invalid – street number not valid;

(c) Address invalid – not residence of youth;

(d) Address invalid – see text (must enter text);

(e) Detention stay invalid – see text (must enter text);.

(f) Service day is a postdisposition day – see text (must enter text).

(3) The department will make every effort to review all disputes for the previous month between the fifteenth and tweny-fourth day of each month for the reconciliation period. The department’s response, provided on-line, constitutes notice of final action. All pending disputes will be resolved by the department no later than 60 days after the end of the reconciliation period.

(4) In October of each year, the department will perform an annual reconciliation of utilization and costs for the prior fiscal year to calculate the difference between the estimated costs and the actual costs of each county for its share of detention care. The department shall provide: Based on a county’s actual utilization, a recalculation of that county’s share of the shared county/state juvenile detention trust fund expenditures will be performed.

(a) The acutal cost to operate detention care based on actual expenditures, detailing expenditures by appropriation category and by detention center.

(b) The number of predisposition service days for each county.

(c) The total number of all service days for secure detention, including both predisposition and postdisposition service days.

(5) In November of each year, the department will provide each county an annual reconcilation statement for the previous fiscal year. The calculation shall be performed as follows: The statement shall reflect the difference between the amount paid by the county based on the estimated utilization and the actual utilization reconciled in subsection (4) above.

(a) The total expenditures shall be divided by the total number of service days, which will produce an actual per diem.

(b) The actual per diem will be applied to each county’s actual predisposition service days to calculate each county’s actual costs.

(c) The reconciliation shall reflect the difference between the estimated costs paid by the county during the fiscal year and the county’s actual costs. The statement shall reflect the difference between the amount paid by the county based on the estimated utilization and the actual utilization reconciled in subsection (4) above.

(6) If the total amount paid by a county falls short of the amount owed based on actual utilization, the county will be invoiced for that additional amount. The amount due will be applied to the county’s account. An invoice will accompany the reconciliation statement, and shall be payable on or before March 1. If the amount paid by a county exceeds the amount owed based on actual utilization, the county will receive a credit. The credit will be applied to the county’s account and be included on the invoice sent in November.

(7) For the purpose of determining the actual utilization and actual per diem, the department is responsible for paying for the cost of detention for all service days for youth that reside out of state or whose address cannot be determined.

Rulemaking Authority 985.64, 985.686(11) 985.686(10) FS. Law Implemented 985.686(5), (7) FS. History–New 7-6-10, Amended __________.

 

NAME OF PERSON ORIGINATING PROPOSED RULE: Jason Welty, Chief of Staff

NAME OF AGENCY HEAD WHO APPROVED THE PROPOSED RULE: Wansley Walters, Secretary

DATE PROPOSED RULE APPROVED BY AGENCY HEAD: April 23, 2014

DATE NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULE DEVELOPMENT PUBLISHED IN FAR: March 11, 2014