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Board of Pardons says no new appropriations but warns of $500,000 OTREC exposure
Summary
Board Chair Blake Hills told the committee the Board of Pardons and Parole has no request for new funding and highlighted operational improvements — My Voice victim notifications, improved mental-health evaluations and data links with courts — while Jennifer Yim warned OTREC modernization at the Department of Corrections could create a $500,000 exposure to the board and asked legislators to consider alternatives to ongoing cuts.
Blake Hills, chair of the Board of Pardons and Parole, told the subcommittee the board has no request for new appropriations and described recent operational improvements including improved mental-health evaluations, a link to court-sentencing data and a new victim-notification platform called "My Voice." "We have accomplished these things without any new appropriations," Hills said.
Jennifer Yim, board administrator, described a new risk tied to the Department of Corrections' planned OTREC modernization. DTS estimated the shared modernization will produce an unavoidable $500,000 exposure for the board to maintain connectivity and continuity. "We believe that we can do that with existing funding," Yim said, but she urged the committee to consider nonlapsing balances rather than ongoing cuts. The board acknowledged LFA-proposed 5% reductions and said some proposed cuts would affect employee training, mental-health evaluation contracts and outreach to rural Utah.
Members asked detailed questions about OTRAC/OTREC modernization and the board's replatforming efforts; the board said it has replatformed key parts into a system called Nexus and expects lower costs because of its smaller footprint. Several members praised the board's progress on transparency and reentry coordination.
The board presented alternate proposals and asked legislators to weigh one-time nonlapsing-balance adjustments against permanent reductions that could slow progress on victim services and evaluations. No formal appropriation vote occurred during the hearing.
