DATE: November 16, 2021
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Kirk Haynes, Chief Probation Officer
SUBJECT: Retroactive Submittal of Application and Retroactive Memorandum of Understanding with the California Department of Justice for Reimbursement for Enhancements to the Supervised Release File System
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
1. Retroactively approve and authorize the Chief Probation Officer’s previous submittal of an application for reimbursement from the California Department of Justice to fund Enhancements to the Supervised Release File System ($25,600); and
2. Approve and authorize the Chairman to execute a retroactive Memorandum of Understanding with the California Department of Justice to provide reimbursement for Enhancements to the Supervised Release File System, effective January 1, 2021, not to exceed two years and five months, total reimbursement not to exceed $25,600.
REPORT
There is no increase in Net County Cost associated with the recommended actions. Upon award of the FY 2020 Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) Reallocation Grant and the Support for Adam Walsh Act Implementation Grant, the California Department of Justice (DOJ) published a request for applications to local supervising agencies to be considered for reimbursement of costs to make improvements to their case management systems, and sex offender registration and notification reporting systems. To meet the application filing date of February 5, 2021, the Application was submitted, contingent upon your Board’s approval. Approval of the recommended actions will provide reimbursement for necessary improvements to the Supervised Release File (SRF) reporting system, as mandated by Penal Code section 14216(c). The SRF is an electronic data file containing information about any person placed on any form of post-conviction supervision. It is updated by reporting agencies in the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (CLETS). The SRF is available to law enforcement agencies nationwide. This item is countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
If the recommended actions are not approved, the reimbursement application will be withdrawn. This will result in the County expending the cost of needed improvements to the SRF needed to comply with amendments to Penal Code Section 14216(c), effective January 1, 2021.
RETROACTIVE AGREEMENT:
The recommended Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is retroactive to January 1, 2021, due to a delay in processing. The MOU was received from the DOJ on September 28, 2021. This item is being brought before the Board on the first available date within agenda processing deadlines.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no increase in Net County Cost associated with the recommended actions. The funding of $25,600 allows for reimbursements for updates to the Department’s current SRF system mandated by amendments to Penal Code 14216(c).
DISCUSSION:
On December 11, 2020 the CA DOJ announced its award of the FY 2020 SORNA Reallocation Grant and the FY 2020 Support for Adam Walsh Act Implementation Grant, and issued a request for applications for reimbursements of costs for enhancements to local supervising agencies’ existing file transfer systems for the purpose of furthering sex offender registration and notification in California by of submissions to the SRF. The SRF is an electronic file providing information on any person placed onto post-conviction supervision maintained in the CLETS system, available to authorized subscribers. Under this project, local supervising agencies will be reimbursed for the costs to adopt an industry-standard, electronic format for the submission of data available of an individual on probation, mandatory supervision, post release community supervision, and all other types of supervised release. Jurisdictions will be reimbursed for the cost to make modifications to their case management systems to add additional supervision types, if necessary. This will provide critical comprehensive supervision information for the implementation of a tiered Sex Offender Registry in California.
Effective January 1, 2021, Penal Code section 14216(c) mandated each county probation department or other supervising county agency to update any SRF available for any person placed onto a post-conviction supervision within its jurisdiction and under its authority, including persons on probation, mandatory supervision, and post-release community supervision. The Department currently utilizes a SRF interface, which was developed seven years ago, and was primarily integrated into the legacy case management system. In recent years, modifications have been made to the interface to work with the new case management system Probation Records and Information Management System (PRIMS).
The proposed interface will allow for improved and efficient integration into the Department’s newer PRIMS framework by rebuilding the interface from the ground up. In addition to conforming to the new Service Request (SRQ) file format, it will allow better error checking, less data sync issues with the DOJ, and increase the speed of daily processing. Because it is built into PRIMS, management and useability would be improved, since it would eliminate the use of anther application to complete the reporting.
The recommended MOU provides a mutual indemnification clause, which is common in agreements with other governmental entities.
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
On file with Clerk - Application/MOU with DOJ
CAO ANALYST:
Greg Reinke