Committee reviews H.176 to reinstate field-based 'work crew' community restitution program

Ben Novogrovsky, an attorney with the Office of Legislative Council, told the House Corrections & Institutions Committee on Feb. 26 that H.176 would require the Department of Corrections to reinstitute a field-based community restitution program commonly known as "work crew," and set minimum day requirements for sentences ordered on a single minimus and in aggregate.

The bill, Novogrovsky said, would mandate that "on or before July first of this year, the Department of Corrections shall reinstitute the field based community restitution program commonly referred to as work crew" and would require department policy setting minimums for days imposed on a single minimus and the total outstanding days across minimuses.

Committee members heard that the bill is intended to reestablish the earlier work-crew model that had been discontinued, to provide clearer statutory guardrails around how the program operates, and to resolve tension Novogrovsky described between the department's chosen approach and the practices preferred by prosecutors and the courts. "From my understanding ... there is a bit of a ... tension between the department's chosen path and that between the prosecutors and the courts about how this program should operate," Novogrovsky said.

Under the bill text discussed, the department would be required to set the number of work-crew days imposed under a single minimus at not less than 20 days, and the total number outstanding across multiple minimuses at not less than 60 days. The term "minimus" was described in committee as a court-issued sheet outlining sanctions and requirements.

Committee members asked for operational detail. When a member asked "What defines a day? A single day. Is it 2 hours?" Novogrovsky replied, "5 hours. Any period of time, and any calendar day," and added that specific terms and hours are commonly further defined in department contracts and policy. Committee members were advised to invite Department of Corrections staff to testify on operational details and to consult existing memos and department policies that had governed previous iterations of the work-crew program.

Novogrovsky said the department previously rescinded older memos and issued new guidance; H.176 would return the program to the earlier system with statutory minimums while permitting the department to adopt implementing policies subject to those minimums. Committee members indicated they would take up the bill for further consideration and requested testimony from the Department of Corrections, State's Attorneys and Sheriffs, and the judiciary to clarify implementation and enforcement questions.

The committee did not take a formal recorded vote on H.176 during the Feb. 26 discussion; members signaled informal agreement to take the bill up for committee consideration.

Next steps: the committee will schedule departmental and stakeholder testimony to clarify operational definitions (for example, what constitutes a work-crew "day"), participation procedures, and enforcement mechanisms before advancing any formal recommendation.