SB 715

This bill requires the warden or superintendent of a state correctional institution or the county sheriff or person in charge of a county jail or house of correction to ensure that the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning in the state correctional institution or county jail or house of correction are in working order and to ensure that the temperature in each housing unit is not less than 68 degrees Fahrenheit and not more than 76 degrees Fahrenheit at all times. The bill also requires the warden or superintendent of a state correctional institution or the county sheriff or person in charge of a county jail or house of correction to record the temperatures in all housing facility common areas and two random cells located in substantially different areas of each housing unit on any day that the outdoor temperature is below 10 degrees Fahrenheit or above 90 degrees Fahrenheit and requires the Department of Corrections to report that temperature data to the legislature on an annual basis.

The bill applies the temperature requirements in the bill to one-third of state correctional institutions on May 1, 2029; another one-third on May 1, 2031, and the final one-third of state correctional institutions and the county jails on May 1, 2035 and directs DOC to determine the order in which to install heating, ventilation, or air conditioning systems in the state correctional institutions to meet those deadlines and report that information to the legislature. This bill provides $500,000 to DOC in the 2025-26 fiscal year to complete the required report, $750,000 and 7.0 FTE positions to DOC in each year of the 2025-27 fiscal biennium to support updates to correctional institution heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, and provides a new $65,000,000 continuing appropriation beginning in the 2026-27 fiscal year to install and operate heating, ventilation, and air conditioning in state correctional institutions as required under the bill, which sunsets on May 1, 2031.