Committee advances bill requiring DOC director to notify board on budget and prison deaths

Representative Harden presented House Bill 3086, a PCS-introduced measure making changes to the Department of Corrections board structure and requiring the corrections director to notify the board of the annual budget and when a death occurs in a prison.

Harden said the bill makes several procedural changes to the board — including titles for chair and vice chair — and adds notification requirements: the DOC director must notify the board of the annual budget and inform the board when a death occurs in a correctional facility. "What this bill really does is ... the director of DOC has to make sure that he or she notifies the board of the annual budget and also, the number of deaths when a death occurs in the prison, the board is notified on that," Harden said while explaining the PCS.

There were no questions from members recorded in the transcript, and Harden moved for adoption. The committee recorded a voice vote and the chair declared the bill passed and reported out. The transcript contains a statement that the vote was recorded as "Seeing a vote of, 9 nays and no nays," and the chair subsequently declared the bill passed and reported out of committee.

The bill will proceed from committee to the next legislative stage for consideration; any implementation will require coordination with the Department of Corrections.