BILL ANALYSIS Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary Senator Tom Torlakson, Chairman 2937 (Solorio) Hearing Date: 7/7/08 Amended: 6/5/08 Consultant: Katie Johnson Policy Vote: Public Safety 3-2 _________________________________________________________________ ____ BILL SUMMARY: AB 2937 would increase the compensation for a person who has been wrongfully convicted of a crime and would extend the timeframe in which a person could bring a claim. The bill would provide that a finding that a person is factually innocent is admissible as evidence in a hearing of the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board. The bill would provide that whenever a person is vacated of a charge based on a determination that he or she is factually innocent, a judge would order that the records be sealed and that the person may say they were not arrested or convicted for that charge. The bill would also provide that a local social service agency, as determined by a county's board of supervisors, would be required to provide a case manager to administer reentry assistance for any person whose criminal conviction was vacated by the court and requests the assistance. Upon vacation, the court of conviction would send notice of the individual's exoneration to the local reentry assistance agency in the county where the person would choose to reside. The bill would require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to provide a person whose criminal conviction has been vacated with release funds. _________________________________________________________________ ____ Fiscal Impact (in thousands) Major Provisions 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 Fund New Claims $125 $250 $250 General Sealing of Records minor, absorbable costsGeneral Reentry Assistance $13 - 42 $37 - 83 $37 - 83 General Release Funds less than $1 annually General _________________________________________________________________ ____ STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File. This bill would increase the compensation for a person who has been wrongfully erroneously convicted of a crime by about 37% of current rates. Under current law, a claimant would be awarded $100 per day of prison confinement, or $36,500 per year. This bill would increase this amount to $50,000 per year, or approximately $137 per day. Additionally, current law provides $100 compensation per day for a claimant who sat on death row, or $36,500 per year. This bill would increase this amount to $100,000 per year, or approximately $274 per day. Page 2 AB 2937 (Solorio) The average annual claim paid from the General Fund is $671,380 for the years 2002-2006. The Legislature did not approve a claim of $74,600 for David Jones in 2007. This bill would provide for a 37% increase of the amount paid per day of prison confinement. Thus, the state would expect to pay about $250,000 more each year in claims. Since none of the claims in recent history has involved a death row inmate, there would be significant, but unknown costs. If a person had been on death row for 20 years, he or she could claim approximately $2,000,200 under this provision. In addition, this bill would extend the timeframe in which a person may file a claim from 6 months to 2 years after his or her exoneration date. This could lead to additional claims filed. This bill would require that any person whose crime has been vacated would, upon request, receive reentry services from a local social service agency, to be identified by each county's board of supervisors no later than by April 1, 2009. The bill would not define the local social services agency. CDCR, which provides reentry assistance to parolees, estimates the delivery of these services would cost approximately $50,000 per person annually. CDCR does not track the numbers of exonerated individuals. By way of estimating costs, 10 people have applied to the Victims Compensation and Government Claims board in the last 6 years for compensation for time served. Thus, the average annual cost of reentry services would be approximately $83,000, or 1.6 people at $50,000 per year. The Life After Exoneration Program, an organization that provides reentry assistance to exonerees, estimates 10 new exonerees in California each year and that services for those 10 people would cost $373,000 annually, or $37,300 per exoneree. This bill would require CDCR to provide a person whose crime has been vacated with release funds of $200. The timeline for this process is unclear, in that the bill would require the clerk of a court that would vacate a sentence to inform the local social service agency in the county where the exonerated person chooses to reside of the person's exoneration within two days of the decision. This bill would then require the local agency to assign a case manager to the person within 14 days of notification and that the case manager would assist the person for two years from the date of release, unless he or she declines the assistance or the agency determines the person intends to reside in another county. In a separate subdivision, this bill would require that, upon the request of the person who has been exonerated, a local agency would provide a person with the assistance of a case manager for a period of two years from the date of the assignment of the case manager to the person. Staff recommends clarifying the two points as such: 1) that the two years of assistance would begin on the date of assignment of the case manager, and 2) that the exoneree would choose to accept or decline the reentry assistance when the court vacates the conviction.