{"id":30948,"date":"2011-08-05T11:13:45","date_gmt":"2011-08-05T17:13:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=30948"},"modified":"2011-08-05T11:14:21","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T17:14:21","slug":"victim-notification-employees-aren%e2%80%99t-%e2%80%98new%e2%80%99","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/08\/victim-notification-employees-aren%e2%80%99t-%e2%80%98new%e2%80%99\/","title":{"rendered":"Victim notification employees aren\u2019t \u2018new\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Gov. Susana Martinez<\/p><\/div>\n

A spokesman for Gov. Susana Martinez said recently<\/a> that the governor pocket vetoed funding for a victim notification system in part because the bill<\/a> would have created \u201cnew state employee positions\u201d that \u201care arguably unnecessary for an automated system.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the three employees who work on the VINE, or\u00a0Victim Information and Notification Everyday<\/a>, system aren\u2019t new at all. Though their jobs have been funded by federal grant money, they\u2019re state employees who were working on the system long before Martinez pocket vetoed the bill earlier this year. Theirs are the only jobs the bill would have funded.<\/p>\n

Some disagree with Martinez\u2019s assertion that their jobs are \u201carguably unnecessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly Kuenstler, director of the Administrative Office of the District Attorneys, which runs the system, said VINE can\u2019t run \u201cefficiently and effectively\u201d without three employees. One is a software developer who ensures the district attorney case management system is transferred to the vendor who runs the system twice a day and that county jails stay connected to the system. He\u2019s also responsible for troubleshooting.<\/p>\n

The other two employees are \u201cstatewide program coordinators\u201d who \u201care responsible for training detention facilities, prisons and DA\u2019s Offices around the state on how to utilize the VINE System,\u201d Kuenstler said. They also conduct community trainings on how to use the system and assist with notification when problems occur.<\/p>\n

Both are on call day and night, Kuenstler said. She added that all three positions were approved by the U.S. Department of Justice when it funded the VINE program in New Mexico.<\/p>\n

Martinez says other states operate VINE without those employees.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe claim that VINE requires three full-time state employees stands in direct contrast with the fact that no other state has a full-time IT person assigned to it, according to the VINE vendor,\u201d Martinez spokesman Scott Darnell said. \u201cIf it turns out that these three employees are necessary, then funding for the program must be recurring, unlike the vetoed legislation in which the funding mechanism sunset after two years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. Rod Adair, R-Roswell, sponsored the bill Martinez vetoed. He said it \u201ccontained nothing that would expand state government.\u201d But he didn\u2019t accuse Martinez of spinning the facts, saying if a Martinez spokesman claimed otherwise, \u201cI am certain it was just a case of accidentally misspeaking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Debate about how to fund system<\/h3>\n

The VINE system has two components. The first tracks inmates housed in county jails and lets people sign up for phone, text or e-mail alerts when they\u2019re released. The second tracks criminal court cases and sends notification about hearings.<\/p>\n

Both are designed to keep crime victims informed and safe. They are also used by others including family members of those charged with crimes, witnesses, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and the media.<\/p>\n

Adair\u2019s bill would have created a state funding stream for VINE after federal funding expired this year by implementing a fee of up to 35 cents per call a jail inmate makes to anyone other than his or her attorney. Adair said that was to avoid penalizing \u201call taxpayers for a system made necessary by the actions of only a few.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Darnell said the funding didn\u2019t add up, at least in part because the employees may not be necessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an automated system, with significant portions of its activity \u2013 including training, programming and data transfer \u2013 available to be handled remotely,\u201d he said. \u201cTroubleshooting and physical set-up may require attention, but the justification for the extra funding sought in the bill is not clear, and neither is the discussion of creating an in-house system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adair said VINE \u201cis not a piece of software that can be loaded onto a mainframe computer somewhere and left to operate on its own.\u201d He said the three employees currently working with the program need to continue to do so, at least through the 2015 fiscal year, at which point it may only take two employees because the system will be better established.<\/p>\n

As NMPolitics.net reported in June<\/a>, Darnell didn\u2019t mention the fact that the bill implemented a fee in explaining to NMPolitics.net why Martinez vetoed it \u2013 instead citing the \u201cnew\u201d employees that Martinez and other issues.<\/p>\n

But Adair said the new fee was the reason Martinez gave him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe official answer she gave me for vetoing the bill was that it was a \u2018fee.\u2019 Whether or not I agree with her reasoning or not, I believe that her official answer to me was sufficient \u2013 as I am respectful of her veto power and the prerogatives that come with that power,\u201d he said. \u201cIf indeed further explanations have been added to her stated reasons in April, well, it is possible that some spokespersons may have misspoken on her behalf.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Darnell was clear about the reasons for the VINE veto: In addition to expressing concern about the three \u201cnew\u201d jobs, he said the bill had a sunset provision, so it didn\u2019t ensure long-term continuation of the program. And the governor, he said, wants to ensure that district attorneys use the system to supplement, not replace, the personal relationships between victims\u2019 advocates and victims.<\/p>\n

VINE\u2019s future<\/h3>\n

Darnell said the governor supports funding from county governments to keep the system going. He said the governor is \u201cmore than willing to work with local entities to discuss the funding and future of the VINE system, but she wants to ensure that it operates effectively and efficiently and does not replace the use of victim advocates and the relationship they are able to build with victims.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adair said there are two options to continue VINE: another bill like his, which \u201craises money from a perpetrator-based fee,\u201d or a general appropriations bill that \u201ctaps into taxes paid by all taxpayers and requires that some other part of state government have its budget reduced.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the first is the \u201csmaller government approach\u201d and pointed out that the bill would have allowed the $.35-per-call fee to be dropped if that much money wasn\u2019t necessary.<\/p>\n

Not all are supportive of such a fee. Ben Baur, past president of the New Mexico Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, said his group opposed Adair\u2019s bill, not because it opposes VINE, but because \u201cwe considered the per-call fee to be an unfair tax on all jail inmates \u2013 whether or not convicted, whether or not charged with crimes covered by VINE, even on those in jail on a warrant for failing to pay a traffic ticket.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn fact, it would have really been a tax on the families of those inmates, since the inmates themselves generally must have their families put money \u2018on their books,\u2019 or make collect calls,\u201d Baur said. \u201cSince the vast majority of families of inmates are poor, it would have been an extremely regressive tax.\u201d<\/p>\n

VINE remains alive for the time being due to an offer from the company that administers the system to keep it up free through September<\/a> and stimulus funds Kuenstler said will keep it operational until November.<\/p>\n

Kuenstler\u2019s office continues to develop an in-house system for notification of court hearings that may eventually replace VINE. There is currently no funding to continue notification of inmates\u2019 status past November.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A spokesman for Gov. Susana Martinez said recently that the governor pocket vetoed funding for a victim notification system in part because the bill would have created new and arguably unnecessary jobs. But the three employees who work on the Victim Information and Notification Everyday system aren\u2019t new at all, and theirs are the only jobs the bill would have funded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[142,107],"class_list":["post-30948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-crime","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30948\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}