Committee recommends six deputy sheriffs for prison transports to reduce DOC overtime; recommends vacancy‑savings relief

Members of the House Corrections & Institutions Committee discussed chronic overtime costs in the Department of Corrections related to statewide prisoner transport and recommended adding six deputy sheriff transport positions and relieving a vacancy‑savings requirement in the sheriffs’ budget.

Committee staff and members said six dedicated transport deputies would reduce overtime pressures that currently generate millions in overtime costs across the corrections budget. The committee discussed an $800,000 figure for the six positions and a separate $673,000 amount to eliminate the saved‑vacancies ledger item that currently prevents filling positions in the sheriffs’ budgets.

Members emphasized the recommendation is advisory to Appropriations and that the executive branch ultimately controls hiring and vacancy policy. Committee members also discussed broader workforce shortages: sheriffs had requested 34 positions in total, but the committee limited its recommendation to six transport deputies as a targeted measure to reduce overtime.

Committee members raised operational concerns — for example, courtroom scheduling practices that lengthen transport times and staffing configurations that sometimes require two deputies for security — and heard from other participants about administrative and scheduling inefficiencies that drive overtime. The committee said it would include language recommending the six transport deputies and elimination of the $673,000 vacancy‑savings requirement in its budget recommendations to Appropriations.