1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to crime; authorizing a local correctional
1.3 	agency to create a schedule of local confinement fees
1.4 	to defray the costs associated with confinement;
1.5 	creating a claim and lien in favor of the local
1.6 	correctional agency against an offender's future
1.7 	windfall; amending Minnesota Statutes 2004, section
1.8 	270A.03, subdivision 2; proposing coding for new law
1.9 	in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 244.
1.10 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.11 	Section 1. [244.185] LOCAL CONFINEMENT FEES; LIENS.
1.12 		Subdivision 1.Definition. As used in this section,
1.13 	"local confinement fees" include fees relating to the cost of an
1.14 	offender's board, room, clothing, and related correctional
1.15 	services.
1.16 		Subd. 2.Local confinement fees. A local correctional
1.17 	agency may establish a schedule of local confinement fees to
1.18 	charge offenders convicted of a crime and under the supervision
1.19 	and control of the local correctional agency to defray costs
1.20 	associated with confinement.  The local confinement fees on the
1.21 	schedule must be reasonably related to offenders' ability to pay
1.22 	and the actual cost of confinement.
1.23 		Subd. 3.Fee collection. The chief executive officer of
1.24 	a local correctional agency may impose and collect local
1.25 	confinement fees.  The local correctional agency may collect the
1.26 	fee at any time while the offender is under sentence or after
1.27 	the sentence has been discharged.  The agency may use any
2.1 	available civil means of debt collection in collecting a local
2.2 	confinement fee.
2.3 		Subd. 4.Claim. The local correctional agency has a
2.4 	claim against an offender in an amount equal to the local
2.5 	confinement fees for which the agency has not been reimbursed.
2.6 	Except as otherwise provided in this section and in addition to
2.7 	other remedies available at law, the local correctional agency
2.8 	may bring an action to enforce the claim, except that no action
2.9 	shall be brought more than two years from the date of the
2.10 	discharge of the offender's sentence, or if the offender dies
2.11 	while under sentence, no more than two years from the date of
2.12 	the offender's death.  This limitation period does not apply if
2.13 	property is found to have been fraudulently concealed.
2.14 		Subd. 5.Lien against proceeds of civil suit. (a) If an
2.15 	offender obligated to pay local confinement fees under this
2.16 	section files a civil lawsuit anytime before 20 years from the
2.17 	date of the discharge of the offender's sentence, the local
2.18 	correctional agency's claim as defined in subdivision 4 is a
2.19 	lien against any payment, award, judgment, or settlement
2.20 	proceeds in an amount equal to the local correctional agency's
2.21 	claim or 50 percent of the proceeds received by an offender
2.22 	after payment of all expenses connected with the lawsuit,
2.23 	whichever is less.  The local correctional agency's lien has
2.24 	priority over all other claims, except:
2.25 	(1) attorney fees for the civil lawsuit;
2.26 	(2) expenses of the lawsuit;
2.27 	(3) costs of hospitalization connected with the lawsuit not
2.28 	covered by insurance or other benefits;
2.29 	(4) child support obligations;
2.30 	(5) court-ordered restitution payments; and 
2.31 	(6) payment of a civil judgment entered in favor of a crime
2.32 	victim.
2.33 	(b) To enforce the lien, the local correctional agency may
2.34 	file a verified lien statement with the appropriate court
2.35 	administrator in the county where the agency is located, the
2.36 	county of the offender's residence, if different, and any other
3.1 	county the agency deems necessary.  The verified lien statement
3.2 	must set forth the name and address of the offender obligated to
3.3 	the agency, the name and address of the agency, the date of the
3.4 	offender's discharge, and the amount of the claim.  The filing
3.5 	of the lien shall be notice of the agency's claim to the
3.6 	offender obligated to the agency that the offender must submit
3.7 	notice to the agency as provided in paragraph (c).  The court
3.8 	administrator shall provide a local correctional fee logbook
3.9 	with proper index in which the court administrator shall enter
3.10 	the information contained in the verified lien statement.
3.11 	(c) The offender obligated to the agency for the lien
3.12 	amount must send notice to the agency at each of the following
3.13 	stages of a claim:
3.14 	(1) when the claim is filed;
3.15 	(2) when an action is commenced; and 
3.16 	(3) when a claim is concluded by payment, award, judgment,
3.17 	settlement, or otherwise.
3.18 	The proceeds of the lawsuit are assignable to the local
3.19 	correctional agency for payment of the amount due under this
3.20 	section.  The local correctional agency's lien constitutes an
3.21 	irrevocable direction to the offender or the offender's attorney
3.22 	to pay the local correctional agency in accordance with the
3.23 	agency's terms.
3.24 	(d) If notice is not provided by the offender obligated to
3.25 	the agency as required in paragraph (c), the local correctional
3.26 	agency may commence an action to enforce the lien within one
3.27 	year from the date the agency learns of the lack of notice.
3.28 		Subd. 6.Lien against inheritance proceeds. (a) If an
3.29 	offender obligated to pay local confinement fees under this
3.30 	section receives an inheritance of an estate anytime before 20
3.31 	years from the date of the discharge of the offender's sentence,
3.32 	the local correctional agency's claim as defined in subdivision
3.33 	4 is a lien against the inheritance in an amount equal to the
3.34 	local correctional agency's claim or 50 percent of the assets
3.35 	received by the offender, whichever is less.  The offender
3.36 	obligated to pay local confinement fees shall notify the agency
4.1 	of a probate proceeding involving distribution of inheritance
4.2 	proceeds.  The conservator of the estate or the district court
4.3 	having jurisdiction over the affairs of the estate shall accept
4.4 	any lien notice filed by the local correctional agency as a
4.5 	valid claim against the estate.
4.6 	(b) If notice is not provided by the offender obligated to
4.7 	the agency as required in paragraph (a), the local correctional
4.8 	agency may commence an action to enforce the lien within one
4.9 	year from the date the agency learns of the lack of notice.
4.10 		Subd. 7.Lien against lottery prizes. If an offender
4.11 	obligated to pay local confinement fees under this section
4.12 	claims a lottery prize anytime before 20 years from the date of
4.13 	the discharge of the offender's sentence, the local correctional
4.14 	agency's claim as defined in subdivision 4 is a lien against the
4.15 	prize in an amount equal to the local correctional agency's
4.16 	claim or 75 percent of the prize received by the offender,
4.17 	whichever is less.  As provided in section 349A.08, the director
4.18 	of the state lottery shall withhold the delinquent amount from
4.19 	the offender's prize for remittance to the local correctional
4.20 	agency.
4.21 		Subd. 8.Restitution payment priority. If an offender
4.22 	has been ordered by a court to pay restitution, the offender
4.23 	must pay the restitution ordered before paying the local
4.24 	confinement fee.  A claim for court ordered restitution payments
4.25 	has priority over a lien of the local correctional agency
4.26 	created under this section.
4.27 		Subd. 9.Use of fees. The local confinement fees shall
4.28 	be used by the local correctional agency to pay the costs of
4.29 	local correctional services.  Local confinement fees may not be
4.30 	used to supplant existing local funding for the local correction
4.31 	services.
4.32 	
EFFECTIVE DATE. This section is effective August 1, 2005,
4.33 	and applies to persons incarcerated on or after that date.

4.34 	Sec. 2. Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 270A.03,
4.35 	subdivision 2, is amended to read:
4.36 		Subd. 2.Claimant agency.  "Claimant agency" means any
5.1 	state agency, as defined by section 14.02, subdivision 2, the
5.2 	regents of the University of Minnesota, any district court of
5.3 	the state, any local correctional agency,any county, any
5.4 	statutory or home rule charter city presenting a claim for a
5.5 	municipal hospital or a public library or a municipal ambulance
5.6 	service, a hospital district, a private nonprofit hospital that
5.7 	leases its building from the county in which it is located, any
5.8 	public agency responsible for child support enforcement, any
5.9 	public agency responsible for the collection of court-ordered
5.10 	restitution, and any public agency established by general or
5.11 	special law that is responsible for the administration of a
5.12 	low-income housing program, and the Minnesota collection
5.13 	enterprise as defined in section 16D.02, subdivision 8, for the
5.14 	purpose of collecting the costs imposed under section 16D.11.  A
5.15 	county may act as a claimant agency on behalf of an ambulance
5.16 	service licensed under chapter 144E if the ambulance service's
5.17 	primary service area is located at least in part within the
5.18 	county, but more than one county may not act as a claimant
5.19 	agency for a licensed ambulance service with respect to the same
5.20 	debt.
5.21 	
EFFECTIVE DATE. This section is effective August 1, 2005.