SB 22- SB 22-018
Legislative Council Staff
Nonpartisan Services for Colorado’s Legislature
Fiscal Note
Drafting Number:
Prime Sponsors:
LLS 22-0114
Sen. Lee; Cooke
Rep. Benavidez; Soper
Date:
Bill Status:
Fiscal Analyst:
January 31, 2022
Senate Judiciary
Will Clark | 303-866-4720
Will.Clark@state.co.us
Bill Topic: EXPAND COURT REMINDER PROGRAM
Summary of
Fiscal Impact:
☒ State Revenue
☒ State Expenditure
☐ State Transfer
☒ TABOR Refund
☒ Local Government
☐ Statutory Public Entity
This bill expands the state court administrator’s court reminder program, making it
opt-out and increasing the number of reminders sent to program participants. The bill
decreases state revenue, increases state expenditures and decreases state and local
expenditures on an ongoing basis.
Appropriation
Summary:
For FY 2022-23, the bill requires an appropriation of $32,271 to the Judicial
Department.
Fiscal Note
Status:
The fiscal note reflects the introduced bill.
Table 1
State Fiscal Impacts Under SB 22-018
Budget Year
FY 2022-23
Out Year
FY 2023-24
Revenue Cash Funds - -
Expenditures General Fund¹ $109,071 $105,163
Centrally Appropriated $8,858 $8,871
Total Expenditures $117,929 $114,034
Total FTE 0.5 FTE 0.5 FTE
Transfers - -
Other Budget Impacts General Fund Reserve $4,841 $4,254
This fiscal note assumes that $76,800 of the General Fund expenditures required by this bill can be absorbed using existing program
funding sources, and therefore are not included in the bill’s appropriation.
Page 2
January 31, 2022 SB 22-018
Summary of Legislation
The state court administrator currently operates a program to remind criminal defendants and
juvenile participants about scheduled court appearances. Participation in the program is voluntary.
The state court administrator is required to track data related to usage of the program, and the Judicial
Department must report this information during their annual SMART Act hearing.
This bill makes the following changes to the court reminder program:
participating courts must automatically enroll every criminal defendant and juvenile participant
into the program, but allow individuals to opt out of the program;
the Judicial Department must make reasonable efforts to gather the best available contact
information for defendants and add it to the department’s case management system;
the program must send three reminders, instead of two;
one of the program reminders must be sent the day before the court appearance;
where the option is available, a link to virtual court appearances must be sent in the final reminder;
the program must collect data on criminal defendants and juvenile participants who opt out of the
program, and include this and other information in the Judicial Department’s annual reporting;
and,
individuals who have committed a traffic offense are included in the program, but not individuals
who have committed a traffic infraction.
Background
The court reminder system is available to district, county and municipal courts that use the Colorado
Online Network (ICON) on the Judicial Department’s case management system. Courts that have
their own text reminder system may choose to opt out of the program. Currently, the Judicial
Department is appropriated about $109,000 per year for the text reminder system pursuant to
SB 19-036, but current costs are about $25,000 per year, based on participation levels for the opt-in
program and actual program costs.
Under current law, failure to appear (FTA) in district, county, or municipal court often results in a
bench warrant being issued. A bench warrant allows a law enforcement officer to arrest the defendant
that failed to appear. In instances when a bench warrant is issued for failure to appear on a charge of
a serious crime, such as a felony, law enforcement often pursue the offender actively until an arrest is
made. Bench warrants for less serious crimes such as misdemeanors and traffic offenses are generally
not actively pursued and instead the defendant is taken into custody only if they come in contact with
law enforcement.
Assumptions
There were 172,241 criminal cases filed in 2021, and roughly 80 percent of the defendants had phone
numbers listed in the Judicial Department’s case management system. Currently, about 20 percent of
all cases opted into the court reminder program.
Page 3
January 31, 2022 SB 22-018
This fiscal note assumes the bill will expand participation in the program by 70 percent, or roughly
120,000 cases per year, starting in FY 2022-23. This includes a 60 percent increase from defendants
who already have a phone number in the department’s case management system but have not opted
into the program, as well as a 10 percent increase from defendants whose best available contact
information will be gathered by the Judicial Department and entered into the case management
system. This fiscal note also assumes that criminal cases will remain constant, and that most
defendants will not opt out of the program.
State Revenue
Beginning in FY 2022-23, to the extent that additional reminders to defendants or juveniles of
upcoming court dates reduce instances where a defendant fails to appear in court, this bill will
decrease state cash fund revenue from court fees and fines. This exact decrease will depend on the
reduction in FTA warrants, the type of case in which those reductions occur (felony, misdemeanor, or
traffic), and court rehearing fee decisions, and has not been estimated. This revenue is subject to
TABOR.
State Expenditures
The bill increases state expenditures in the Judicial Department by $117,929 in FY 2022-23 and $114,034
in FY 2023-24, paid from the General Fund, and decreases expenditures in trial courts starting in
FY 2022-23. Expenditures are shown in Table 2 and detailed below.
Table 2
Expenditures Under SB 22-018
FY 2022-23 FY 2023-24
Judicial Department
Personal Services $25,196 $27,488
Operating Expenses $475 $475
Capital Outlay Costs $6,600 $400
Reminder Program Expansion $76,800 $76,800
Centrally Appropriated Costs
1
$8,858 $8,871
FTE – Personal Services 0.5 FTE 0.5 FTE
Total Cost $117,929 $114,034
Total FTE 0.5 FTE 0.5 FTE
1
Centrally appropriated costs are not included in the bill's appropriation.
Page 4
January 31, 2022 SB 22-018
Staffing costs. Judicial staff will spend additional time confirming the best available phone number
or contact information for defendants that do not have a phone number listed in the department’s case
management system, which is estimated to increase required staffing by 0.5 FTE. This work includes
approximately 2 minutes per case for staff to research and complete outreach to defendants, and then
upload contact information into the court system. Standard operating and capital outlay costs are
included, and costs in the first year are prorated for the General Fund paydate shift.
Reminder Program Expansion. The bill expands participation in the court reminder program and
increases programming costs in the Judicial Department by $76,800 a year starting in FY 2022-23. As
discussed in the Assumptions section above, gathering best available contact information for
defendants and making the reminder program opt-out may increase the total number of criminal cases
participating in the program from 20 percent to 90 percent, which will increase annual program costs
by $73,500. The bill also expands the number of text messages that must be sent to defendants before
their trial, from two to three, and requires the Judicial Department to gather and report reasons when
defendants choose to opt-out of the court reminder program. This additional workload will require
ongoing expenditures of $3,300. Additionally, any increased workload to provide virtual meeting
information for hearings, process opt-out requests and increase reporting to the General Assembly is
absorbable within existing appropriations.
While expanding the reminder program will increase program costs in the Judicial Department, this
fiscal note assumes that most of these expenditures can be absorbed by the department using available
appropriations from SB 19-036, described in the Background section above. Therefore, after
accounting for the $76,800 in new costs that can be accomplished within existing appropriations, it is
estimated that $32,271 of the expenditures described in this fiscal note require additional
appropriations.
Trial courts. This bill will reduce the number of district and county court rehearings that must be
scheduled due to FTA and staff time to produce a FTA bench warrant. Exact impacts will depend on
reduction in the number of FTA warrants and type of case in which the reduction occurs. This impact
has not been estimated and it is assumed that any reductions in appropriations, if necessary, will be
addressed through the annual budget process.
Centrally appropriated costs. Pursuant to a Joint Budget Committee policy, certain costs associated
with this bill are addressed through the annual budget process and centrally appropriated in the Long
Bill or supplemental appropriations bills, rather than in this bill. These costs, which include employee
insurance and supplemental employee retirement payments, are shown in Table 2.
Other Budget Impacts
TABOR refunds. The bill is expected to decrease the amount of state revenue required to be refunded
to taxpayers by an indeterminate amount in both FY 2022-23 and FY 2023-24, as discussed in the State
Revenue section above. A forecast of state revenue subject to TABOR is not available beyond
FY 2023-24. Because TABOR refunds are paid from the General Fund, decreased cash fund revenue
will increase the amount of General Fund available to spend or save.
Page 5
January 31, 2022 SB 22-018
General Fund reserve. Under current law, an amount equal to 15 percent of General Fund
appropriations must be set aside in the General Fund statutory reserve beginning in FY 2022-23. Based
on this fiscal note, the bill is expected to increase the amount of General Fund held in reserve by $4,841
in FY 2022-23 and $4,254 in FY 2023-24, which will decrease the amount of General Fund available for
other purposes. This amount is calculated using the new appropriations required in the bill, after
accounting for existing appropriations available to fund the bill’s expenditures.
Local Government
This bill decreases local government costs and workload as described below. These impacts will vary
by local government based on the reduction in FTA, FTA warrants issued, arrests, and the number of
rehearings held.
District Attorneys. To the extent that this bill decreases the number of instances where a defendant
or juvenile fails to appear in court, district attorney workload will decrease.
County jail. This bill is expected to decrease the number of instances where defendants and juveniles
are arrested for failing to appear in court. Costs associated with failing to appear include staff time to
produce a bench warrant, sheriff deputy staff time to serve the warrant, or process server fees in some
cases, transportation costs for transporting arrested defendants to the appropriate county jail, and
county jail incarceration costs.
Effective Date
The bill takes effect upon signature of the Governor, or upon becoming law without his signature.
State Appropriations
For FY 2022-23, the bill requires a General Fund appropriation of $32,271 and 0.5 FTE to the Judicial
Department.
State and Local Government Contacts
Counties District Attorneys Information Technology
Judicial Law Municipalities
Public Defender Sheriffs
The revenue and expenditure impacts in this fiscal note represent changes from current law under the bill for each
fiscal year. For additional information about fiscal notes, please visit: leg.colorado.gov/fiscalnotes.