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Senate delays offender-housing expansion after fiscal concerns
Summary
Senate discussion of House Bill 126 focused on distributing offender housing and funding reintegration programs statewide; sponsors cited recidivism reduction and a one-time capital ask, but the bill was tabled on third reading because of a large fiscal note.
House Bill 126, proposing changes to offender housing policy intended to distribute parolee reintegration beds across the state and provide capital funding for smaller facilities, was discussed on the Senate floor and ultimately tabled on a motion citing fiscal concerns.
Senator Buxton, sponsor of the bill, said the measure would increase the number of beds available, cap per-county bed counts, and create facilities that combine treatment and counseling to improve reintegration. Buxton described the plan as a way to avoid overburdening a small number of communities and to improve outcomes by locating services closer to participants' home communities.
Several senators questioned the scale and cost-effectiveness of a dispersed approach and asked whether smaller facilities could deliver the same programs and economies of scale as larger providers. The sponsor cited a fiscal package that included a one-time capital request (figures cited on the floor ranged from $10 million one-time plus ongoing staffing to an announced table motion citing an $11 million fiscal note). Given the fiscal uncertainty, the Senate voted to table the bill on third reading.
