LEGISLATIVE FISCAL ESTIMATE
SENATE, No. 1036
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
218th LEGISLATURE
DATED: FEBRUARY 9, 2018
SUMMARY
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Synopsis: |
Provides that AG handle investigation and prosecution of crime involving person's death by law enforcement officer while acting in officer's official capacity or while in custody; requires trial in venue outside county where incident occurred. |
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Type of Impact: |
Indeterminate Recurring Fiscal Impacts on State General Fund and County Governments. |
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Agencies Affected: |
Department of Law and Public Safety, and County Governments. |
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Office of Legislative Services Estimate |
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Fiscal Impact |
Year 1 |
Year 2 |
Year 3 |
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State Fiscal Impact |
Indeterminate – See comments below. |
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Local Fiscal Impact |
Indeterminate – See comments below. |
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· The Office of Legislative Services (OLS) finds that the bill will affect annual State and county government finances, as the bill will shift from counties to the State Department of Law and Public Safety the responsibility for investigating and prosecuting crimes involving a person’s death that occurred during an encounter with a law enforcement officer acting in the officer’s official capacity or while the person was in custody. The OLS, however, cannot determine the direction or magnitude of the fiscal net impacts.
· The bill will increase the workload of the Department of Law and Public Safety. Depending on the department’s resource allocation policies, this could cause an indeterminate annual State expenditure increase. The department, however, may be able to recoup any cost increase in part or in full from counties.
· The bill’s recurring net effect on county finances is indeterminate. Counties will experience a workload reduction that could lead to indeterminate recurring in-house expenditure decreases, depending on county prosecutor office resource allocation policies. But counties may also incur indeterminate larger payments to the State if the State Department of Law and Public Safety were to seek expense reimbursements from counties.
BILL DESCRIPTION
This bill shifts from counties to the Office of the Attorney General in the State Department of Law and Public Safety the responsibility for investigating and prosecuting crimes involving a person’s death that occurred during an encounter with a law enforcement officer acting in the officer’s official capacity or while the person was in custody. Under current law counties conduct the investigations and prosecutions unless the Office of the Attorney General invokes its discretionary power to claim jurisdiction.
FISCAL ANALYSIS
EXECUTIVE BRANCH
None received.
OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE SERVICES
The OLS finds that the bill will result in recurring fiscal impacts on the State and county governments in whose jurisdiction arrest-related and custody-related deaths occur. The OLS, however, can determine neither the direction nor the magnitude of the fiscal net impacts.
State Impact: The Department of Law and Public Safety will experience a workload increase, as the bill will shift from counties to the department the responsibility for investigating and prosecuting crimes involving arrest-related and custody-related deaths. Under current law the department may already claim jurisdiction over such investigations and prosecutions.
Depending on department resource allocation policies, the additional workload could cause an indeterminate annual expenditure increase. The department, however, may be able to recoup a portion or all of any cost increase from counties under N.J.S.A.52:17B-108. Subject to certain conditions, the existing law requires a county to reimburse the department for the expenses the department incurs in prosecuting the criminal business of the county. The OLS, however, cannot determine to what extent the bill will increase the department’s expenditures and to what extent the department will seek reimbursements therefor from counties.
County Impact: The OLS cannot determine the direction and magnitude of the bill’s fiscal net impact on counties. The bill’s shifting from counties to the State of the responsibility for the investigation and prosecution of arrest-related and custody-related deaths has the potential to produce two countervailing county cost effects. First, the bill reduces the workload of county prosecutor offices. Depending on the offices’ resource allocation policies, the workload reductions may result in indeterminate recurring in-house expenditure decreases. Second, counties may also incur indeterminate larger payments to the State if the State Department of Law and Public Safety were to seek additional expense reimbursements under N.J.S.A.52:17B-108.
Arrest-Related and Custody-Related Deaths Data: According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), reviews of media reports identified 1,348 potential arrest-related deaths (ARDs) nationwide between June 1, 2015 and March 31, 2016, or an average of 135 deaths per month. To confirm and collect more information about the deaths identified through media sources, the BJS conducted a survey of law enforcement agencies and medical examiner offices over the three-month period from June 2015 to August 2015. The survey findings identified 425 ARDs during the three-month period or 12 percent more than the number of deaths identified through the media review. Of the 425 deaths that occurred from June 2015 to August 2015, 64 percent were homicides, about 18 percent were suicides, and 11 percent were accidents.
The BJS then extrapolated from the three-month data to a full calendar year and estimated that 1,900 ARDs occurred in 2015 nationwide.
In addition, the BJS specified that of the 425 ARDs reported nationwide between June 2015 and August 2015, eight occurred in New Jersey.
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Section: |
Law and Public Safety |
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Analyst: |
Senior Fiscal Analyst |
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Approved: |
Frank W. Haines III Legislative Budget and Finance Officer |
This fiscal estimate has been prepared pursuant to P.L.1980, c.67 (C.52:13B-6 et seq.).