Sentencing Commission outlines statutory role in calculating fiscal impacts for new criminal laws

The Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission opened its meeting with a staff briefing on the Commission’s statutory duty to prepare fiscal impact statements for bills that could increase the population of offenders in state correctional facilities. Staff emphasized the two-step method required by law: identify the highest single‑year population increase over the six years following enactment, then multiply that figure by the annual per‑inmate operating cost to estimate the increase in annual operating costs. "This amount must be printed on the face of the bill and a 1 year appropriation in that amount must be made," staff explained, noting the FY2024 per‑inmate operating cost used as an example was $54,915.

Why it matters: the fiscal impact statement is a gatekeeping function that directs bills with potential prison‑population effects to the Commission for analysis; it also assigns a dollar figure that appears on related bills during the General Assembly process. Staff told commissioners they completed roughly 306 analyses this year, prepared ad hoc analyses on request from committees and agencies, and sometimes assign a minimum fiscal impact when data are insufficient. "If the Sentencing Commission does not have any sufficient information to estimate the impact, the commission must assign a minimum fiscal impact of 50,000," staff said. Commissioners asked about data sources, modeling assumptions, and the Commission’s role when legislative language changes during the session; staff committed to documenting assumptions and providing follow‑up materials at the next meeting.