Commissioners Court Meeting

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Meeting Date:	10/24/2016
SCAAP Grant Award
Submitted for:	Martin Cuellar	Submitted By:	Anita Guerra
Department:	Sheriff

Subject:

Discussion and possible action to accept a grant award from the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) in the amount of $113,890 for reimbursement of costs already incurred for the incarceration of undocumented criminal aliens at the Webb County jail; and authorizing the Webb County Judge to execute all relevant documents; and any other matters incident thereto. This grant is a reimbursement of expenses already incurred at the Webb County jail, does not require any cash match, and, thus, will have no impact to the general fund.

Issue: Although immigration matters, including illegal immigration, are constitutionally established as existing under the legal jurisdiction and regulation of the federal government, state prisons and local detention facilities, such as the Webb County jail, incur significant costs incarcerating undocumented foreign aliens who commit crimes in the United States. This includes but is not limited to supervision, housing, feeding, clothing, any medical and transportation expenses, and other associated detention costs.

Solution: Grant award for reimbursement of a small percentage of the incurred correctional officer salary costs associated with detaining undocumented criminal aliens who had at least one felony or two misdemeanor convictions for violations of state or local law and who were incarcerated at the Webb County jail for at least four (4) consecutive days during the reporting period of July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015.

Result: Webb County will be reimbursed by the federal government a limited percentage of the amount of its already incurred costs of detained foreign criminals incarcerated at the Webb County jail.

Background:

The following provides an overview of the method and formula used by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) to calculate State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) payments:
1. Using financial data from applicants, a per diem rate is calculated for each jurisdiction. For FY 2014 the average per diem rate was $41.26 per inmate.
2. Inmate data is provided to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to validate inmate data for eligible and invalid records.
3. Each jurisdiction’s total eligible inmate days are totaled then multiplied by the applicant’s per diem rate to derive the total correctional officer salary costs for eligible inmate days.
4. The value of each applicant’s correctional officer salary costs associated with its eligible inmate days are totaled. This total value reflects the maximum amount for SCAAP reimbursement. A percentage factor is used to reflect the relationship between the maximum reimbursable salary costs and the appropriation. For FY 2014, this factor was approximately 15 percent.

Previous Court Action:

The submission of the grant application was approved at the court meeting held on March 29, 2016.

Fiscal Impact

Budget Account Number:	Not Applicable
Funding Source:	Grant Revenue
Balance:	Not Applicable
Financial Impact:
No impact to the general fund- $113,890 grant funding (partial reimbursement of expenses already incurred at the Webb County jail)

Attachments
Award Notice
Financial Info
Receipt of Letter of Intent