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ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Seventh Legislature, Second Regular Session
sex offenders; fund; assessment; subcommittee
Purpose
Outlines minimum qualifications for individuals who provide sex-offender specific evaluation, treatment and polygraph services. Establishes the Sex Offender Surcharge Fund (Fund) and outlines additional assessments levied on specified sexual offenses that are deposited into the Fund. Appropriates $200,000 and two FTEs from the state General Fund (state GF) in FY 2027 to the Department of Public Safety (DPS) for support of the Sex Offender Management Board (Board).
Background
The Board is established within DPS consisting of members who have expertise in adult and juvenile issues that relate to sex offenders. Members of the Board are appointed by the Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court, President of the Senate, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Governor, prosecuting attorneys and various state agencies. The Board must develop, implement and revise guidelines and standards to treat adult sex offenders and juveniles who have committed sexual offenses, including those with intellectual and developmental disabilities and serious mental illness. The recommended guidelines and standards must incorporate the concepts of the risk-need-responsivity or another evidence-based correctional model (Laws 2024, Ch. 241).
S.B. 1585 appropriates $200,000 and two FTEs from the state GF in FY 2027 to DPS.
Provisions
1. Prohibits the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry (ADCRR), the Judicial Branch, the DPS Criminal Investigations Division, the DPS Criminal Justice Services Bureau and the Department of Health Services from employing, contracting or allowing individuals or entities to provide sex-offender specific evaluations, treatment or polygraph services unless the treatment or service conforms with the prescribed guidelines and standards for sex-offender specific evaluation and treatment developed by the Board.
2. Requires an individual who provides sex offender-specific evaluation or treatment to:
a) at a minimum, have a baccalaureate degree in a behavioral science with training in counseling or therapy, or professional experience in counseling or therapy;
b) hold a professional mental health license or be approved by the Board of Behavioral Health Examiners as an unlicensed psychotherapist, certified addiction counselor, licensed professional counselor candidate, licensed marriage and family therapist candidate or psychologist candidate; or
c) be a clinical social worker.
3. Requires a polygraph examiner to have graduated from a school accredited by the American Polygraph Association and to have a baccalaureate degree from a four-year higher education institution.
4. Requires ADCRR to complete annual compliance monitoring of contracted providers and polygraph examiners who are not approved by the Board as outlined.
5. Stipulates that ADCRR must terminate a provider's contract if the contracted provider is found to have violated the prescribed guidelines and standards for sex-offender specific evaluation and treatment.
6. Requires supervising officers to follow the prescribed guidelines and standards when working with sex offenders.
7. Requires the agencies that employ supervising officers to collaborate with the Board to develop procedures to hold a supervisor who fails to follow the guidelines and standards accountable.
8. Modifies Board membership to require public members appointed by the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Governor to have expertise in adult or juvenile issues that relate to sex offenders, rather than requiring the outlined members to have expertise in both adult and juvenile issues.
9. Decreases, from 80 percent to 62 percent, the number of members of the Board Subcommittee that must be approved treatment providers.
10. Modifies Board duties to include consulting with the Legislature, on request, and making recommendations regarding proposed legislation involving sexual offenses or sex offender risk management.
11. Establishes, beginning January 1, 2027, additional assessments that the court must order a person who is convicted of a sexual offense or an offense involving sexual exploitation of children to pay, including:
a) $2,000 for a class 1 felony;
b) $1,500 for a class 2 felony;
c) $1,000 for class 3 felony;
d) $500 for a class 4 felony;
e) $375 for a class 5 felony;
f) $250 for a class 6 felony;
g) $200 for a class 1 misdemeanor;
h) $150 for a class 2 misdemeanor; and
i) $75 for a class 3 misdemeanor.
12. Requires the court to transmit the additional assessments collected to the county treasurer, or the city or town treasurer for municipal courts, for transmittal to the State Treasurer.
13. Establishes the Fund consisting of legislative appropriations and the additional assessments levied on sexual offenses and offenses involving sexual exploitation of children.
14. Requires the State Treasurer to deposit the outlined additional assessments in the Fund.
15. Requires DPS to administer the Fund for the purpose of defraying costs relating to the Board.
16. Appropriates $200,000 and two FTEs from the state GF in FY 2027 to DPS for support of the Board.
17. Exempts the appropriation from lapsing.
18. Makes technical and conforming changes.
19. Becomes effective on the general effective date, with a delayed effective date as noted.
Prepared by Senate Research
February 6, 2026
ZD/KS/ci