ADC Legislation Updates

Contact the Office of ADC's Legislative Liaison
1601 W. Jefferson
Phoenix, Arizona 85007
(602) 542-1532
 

• HB 2342  - revises current state statute aligning it with the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), 42 U.S.C. § 15601, which is Federal legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush in 2003.

  PREA concerns sexual misconduct in correctional facilities and field offices requiring, "…the gathering of national statistics about the problem; development of guidelines for states about how to address prisoner rape; the creation of a review panel to hold annual hearings; and the provision of grants to states to combat the problem.”

  To make state statute consistent with federal law, HB 2342 deletes language in A.R.S. 13-1419 which provided a prisoner (whether in custody or on release status) commits unlawful sexual behavior when performing sex acts with prison officers or employees, and expands the definition of unlawful sexual conduct with a prisoner to include (in addition to staff) official visitors, volunteers, agency representatives and contract employees. This means when a correctional employee or other party named above has sexual contact with an inmate whether or not it is with force or threat of force or the inmate’s consent; it is a class 5 felony punishable by a one and a half year presumptive sentence. For additional information, see Department Order 241.

  HB 2342 was passed and signed into law on June 13, 2007 with an Emergency Clause which means this bill is effective immediately.
   

• SB 1130 - provides certain ADC staff now has access to information in inmates’ sealed competency evaluations. Under current law ADC staff does not have access to Sealed Competency Reports, its contents often an important resource when classifying inmates who previously had undergone psychiatric evaluations. The Department sought passage of SB 1130 so that designated ADC staff could access some information in sealed competency reports on a need-to-know basis to inform our decision-making and inmate management. SB 1130 goes into effect on September 19, 2007.

• HB 2339- qualifies peace officers appointed by the Director to receive training, its funding provided through the Arizona Post Standards and Training Board (AZ Post) Peace Officer Training Fund. This means qualified ADC staff’s initial certification as well as their continuing and proficiency training will be paid by AZ Post as is currently the case for other departments with POST-certified peace officers. Now we can stretch our training dollars further than before. HB 2339 goes into effect on September 19, 2007.

   

• SB 1006 - extends an important safety precaution that is currently available to law enforcement to many ADC staff. This bill includes, “Adult and juvenile corrections officers, and members of their support staff who have direct contact with inmates” to the list of public employees that can submit an affidavit to their county recorder, clerk of the court, MVD, county assessor, and county treasurer starting this September, requesting restricted public access to personal identifying information. The change in law also reconciles several statutes that deal with the redaction of public records for certain persons who have a legitimate concern about public disclosure of their home address and other personal information.

   

  The bill authorizes the Department on behalf of its eligible staff to apply to the Court for an order protecting their address from public disclosure in publicly available records. SB 1006 goes into effect on September 19, 2007.

   

• HB 2298- integrates prior years’ legislation concerning re-entry and modifies the state’s transition law expanding the potential pool of offenders for consideration from non-violent drug offenders only to eligible non-violent offenders. It also expands the pool of inmates who must contribute to a revolving fund that finances some of the treatment services provided in prison during their incarceration. HB 2298 goes into effect on September 19, 2007.

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