Article 19. Drug Offender Surcharge

The general assembly hereby finds, determines, and declares that the use of controlled substances exacts an unacceptable toll on the fiscal resources of both state and local government and thereby increases the fiscal burden on the taxpayers of this state. It is the intent of the general assembly in enacting this article to shift the costs of controlled substance use to those persons who unlawfully traffic, possess, or use controlled substances.

As used in this article, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1) “Alcohol- or drug-related offender” means a person convicted of any of the following offenses or of attempt to commit any of the following offenses:
(a) Violation of a protection order as described in section 18-1-1001 (4), if the protection order prohibited the possession or consumption of alcohol or controlled substances and the violation related to such provisions;
(b) Vehicular homicide as described in section 18-3-106 (1)(b);
(c) Vehicular assault as described in section 18-3-205 (1)(b);
(d) Bringing alcohol beverages into the major league stadium as described in section 18-9-123 (1)(a)(I); or
(e) Illegal possession or consumption of ethyl alcohol or marijuana by an underage person or illegal possession of marijuana paraphernalia by an underage person, as described in section 18-13-122.
(1.5) “Convicted” and “conviction” means a plea of guilty, including a plea of guilty entered pursuant to a deferred sentence under section 18-1.3-102, or a verdict of guilty by a judge or jury, and includes a plea of no contest accepted by the court.
(2) “Drug offender” means any person convicted of any offense under article 18 of this title or an attempt to commit such offense as provided by article 2 of this title.

(1) For offenses committed on and after July 1, 1996, each drug offender who is convicted, or receives a deferred sentence pursuant to section 18-1.3-102, shall be required to pay a surcharge to the clerk of the court in the county in which the conviction occurs or in which the deferred sentence is entered. Such surcharge shall be in the following amounts:
(a) For each class 2 felony or level 1 drug felony of which a person is convicted, four thousand five hundred dollars;
(b) For each class 3 felony or level 2 drug felony of which a person is convicted, three thousand dollars;
(c) For each class 4 felony or level 3 drug felony of which a person is convicted, two thousand dollars;
(d) For each class 5 felony or level 4 drug felony of which a person is convicted, one thousand five hundred dollars;
(e) For each class 6 felony of which a person is convicted, one thousand two hundred fifty dollars;
(f) For each class 1 misdemeanor or level 1 drug misdemeanor of which a person is convicted, one thousand dollars;
(g) For each class 2 misdemeanor of which a person is convicted, six hundred dollars;
(h) For each class 3 misdemeanor or level 2 drug misdemeanor of which a person is convicted, three hundred dollars.
(2) Repealed.
(3) The clerk of the court shall disburse the surcharge required by subsection (1) of this section as follows:
(a) Five percent shall be retained by the clerk for purposes of administering the disbursal of the surcharge pursuant to this subsection (3).
(b) Four percent shall be disbursed to the investigating agency to cover the costs of fingerprinting and photographing offenders pursuant to section 16-21-104 (1), C.R.S.
(c) One percent shall be disbursed to the sheriff of the county in which the conviction or deferred sentence is entered, to cover the costs of fingerprinting and photographing offenders pursuant to section 18-18-432 (3).
(d) Ninety percent shall be disbursed to the state treasurer who shall credit the same to the correctional treatment cash fund created pursuant to subsection (4) of this section.
(3.5)
(a) Repealed.
(b) The general assembly shall appropriate to the correctional treatment cash fund created pursuant to subsection (4) of this section at least seven million six hundred fifty-six thousand two hundred dollars in fiscal year 2012-13 from the general fund, at least nine million five hundred thousand dollars in fiscal year 2013-14 from the general fund, and each year thereafter generated from estimated savings from House Bill 10-1352, enacted in 2010.
(c) The general assembly shall appropriate to the correctional treatment cash fund created pursuant to subsection (4) of this section at least three million five hundred thousand dollars in fiscal year 2014-15 from the general fund generated from estimated savings from Senate Bill 13-250, enacted in 2013.
(4)
(a) There is hereby created in the state treasury the correctional treatment cash fund, referred to in this paragraph (a) as the “fund”, which consists of moneys appropriated pursuant to section 39-28.8-501, C.R.S., moneys received by the state treasurer pursuant to paragraph (d) of subsection (3) of this section and subsection (3.5) of this section, and, in addition, each year, the general assembly shall appropriate at least two million two hundred thousand dollars generated from estimated savings from the enactment of Senate Bill 03-318, enacted in 2003, to the fund. The moneys in the fund shall be used for the purposes described in paragraph (c) of subsection (5) of this section. All interest derived from the deposit and investment of moneys in the fund shall be credited to the fund. Any moneys not appropriated by the general assembly shall remain in the fund and shall not be transferred or revert to the general fund of the state at the end of any fiscal year.
(a.5) Repealed.
(b) Notwithstanding any provision of paragraph (a) of this subsection (4) to the contrary, on April 20, 2009, the state treasurer shall deduct one hundred fifty-one thousand three hundred forty-one dollars from the drug offender surcharge fund and transfer such sum to the general fund.
(c) Notwithstanding any provision of paragraph (a) of this subsection (4) to the contrary, on July 1, 2009, the state treasurer shall deduct one million three hundred sixty thousand dollars from the drug offender surcharge fund and transfer such sum to the general fund.
(5)
(a) The correctional treatment board, hereby created and referred to in this subsection (5) as the “board”, shall prepare an annual treatment funding plan that includes a fair and reasonable allocation of resources for programs throughout the state. The judicial department shall include the annual treatment funding plan in its annual presentation to the joint budget committee.
(b) The board consists of:
(I) The executive director of the department of corrections or his or her designee;
(II) The director of the division of probation services in the judicial department or his or her designee;
(III) The executive director of the department of public safety or his or her designee;
(IV) The executive director of the department of human services or his or her designee. If the executive director appoints a designee, the executive director is encouraged to select someone with expertise in substance use disorder counseling and substance abuse issues.
(V) The state public defender or his or her designee;
(VI) The president of the statewide association representing district attorneys or his or her designee; and
(VII) The president of the statewide association representing county sheriffs or his or her designee.
(c) The board may direct that money in the correctional treatment cash fund may be used for the following purposes:
(I) Alcohol and drug screening, assessment, and evaluation;
(II) Alcohol and drug testing;
(III) Substance abuse education and training;
(IV) An annual statewide conference regarding substance abuse treatment;
(V) Treatment for assessed substance abuse and co-occurring disorders;
(VI) Recovery support services, including offender reentry; and
(VII) Administrative support to the correctional treatment board including, but not limited to, facilitating and coordinating data collection, conducting data analysis, developing contracts, preparing reports, scheduling and staffing board and subcommittee meetings, and engaging in budget planning and analysis.
(d) Moneys from the correctional treatment cash fund may be used to serve the following populations:
(I) Adults and juveniles on diversion for a state offense and adults and juveniles under supervision in a pretrial diversion program for a state offense;
(II) Adults and juveniles serving a probation sentence for a state offense, including Denver county;
(III) Adults and juveniles on parole;
(IV) Offenders sentenced or transitioned to a community corrections program;
(V) Offenders serving a sentence in a county jail, on a work-release program supervised by the county jail, or receiving after-care treatment following release from jail if the offender participated in a jail treatment program; and
(VI) Offenders on bond or on summons, with a pending criminal case in a pre-trial treatment program.
(e) Before adopting the annual treatment fund plan, the board shall review the information specified in paragraph (f) of this subsection (5) and shall consider proposals from the drug offender treatment boards created in section 18-19-104 for funding local assessed treatment needs.
(f) The board shall determine the scope, method, and frequency of the data collection and the parties responsible for data collection, analysis, and reporting. The data shall be organized by judicial district and shall include, at a minimum, the following from each treatment program:
(I) Name and location of the program, including the county and judicial district;
(II) The referring criminal agency;
(III) Demographic information including gender and ethnicity;
(IV) Level of treatment delivered;
(V) Actual length of time in treatment for each client;
(VI) Discharge status and, if the status is negative, the reason for the negative discharge; and
(VII) Any special licenses held by the treatment program.
(5.5) Repealed.
(6)
(a) The court may not waive any portion of the surcharge required by this section unless the court first finds that the drug offender is financially unable to pay any portion of said surcharge.
(b) The finding required by paragraph (a) of this subsection (6) shall only be made after a hearing at which the drug offender shall have the burden of presenting clear and convincing evidence that he is financially unable to pay any portion of the surcharge.
(c) The court shall waive only that portion of the surcharge which the court has found the drug offender is financially unable to pay.

(1) In addition to the surcharges established in section 18-19-103, each drug offender and each alcohol- or drug-related offender who is convicted, or receives a deferred sentence pursuant to section 18-1.3-102, shall be required to pay a surcharge to the clerk of the court in the county in which the conviction occurs or in which the deferred sentence is entered. The surcharge shall be in an amount determined by the judge but shall be not less than one dollar nor more than ten dollars.
(2) The clerk of the court shall disburse the surcharge required by subsection (1) of this section as follows:
(a) Five percent shall be retained by the clerk for purposes of administering the disbursal of the surcharge pursuant to this subsection (2);
(b) Ninety-five percent shall be disbursed to the state treasurer who shall credit the same to the rural alcohol and substance abuse cash fund created in section 27-80-117 (3), C.R.S.
(3) The minimum penalty surcharge shall be mandatory, and the court shall have no discretion to suspend or waive the surcharge; except that the court may suspend or waive the surcharge for a defendant determined by the court to be indigent.
(4) This section is repealed, effective September 1, 2025, unless the general assembly extends the repeal of the rural alcohol and substance abuse prevention and treatment program created in section 27-80-117.

(1) Each judicial district shall create a drug offender treatment board, whose membership is knowledgeable about adult criminal and juvenile justice matters, consisting of:
(a) The district attorney serving the judicial district or his or her designee;
(b) The chief public defender serving the judicial district or his or her designee;
(c) The chair of the local community corrections board or his or her designee;
(d) A parole officer working in the judicial district chosen by the director of the department of corrections or his or her designee;
(e) A sheriff that serves the judicial district chosen by the chief judge of the judicial district;
(f) A representative of a drug court or similar problem-solving court if such a court exists in the judicial district chosen by the chief judge of the judicial district;
(g) A person with expertise in juvenile matters chosen by the chief judge of the judicial district; and
(h) A probation officer working in the judicial district chosen by the chief judge of the judicial district.
(2) The board shall give priority to drug court funding if the jurisdiction operates a drug court and the drug court operates with best evidence-based or promising practices. Each drug offender treatment board shall annually make recommendations to the correctional treatment board for funding local assessed treatment needs.
(3) Each judicial district’s drug offender treatment board may adopt rules and guidelines as necessary to perform the functions of the board.
(4) and (5) Repealed.