BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 999|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 999
Author: Skinner (D), et al
Amended: 6/30/09 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 5-2, 6/23/09
AYES: Leno, Cedillo, Hancock, Steinberg, Wright
NOES: Benoit, Huff
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-5, 7/13/09
AYES: Kehoe, Corbett, Hancock, Leno, Price, Wolk, Yee
NOES: Cox, Denham, Runner, Walters, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Oropeza
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 45-30, 5/21/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Division of Juvenile Facilities
SOURCE : Books Not Bars
DIGEST : This bill revises the disciplinary system at the
Division of Juvenile Justice, where wards currently can be
disciplined with time extensions on their parole dates, by
prohibiting these "time adds" and instead providing a
system where wards can earn time credits based on
programming and good behavior, with those credits being
subject to forfeiture as a consequence of disciplinary
action.
ANALYSIS : Existing law provides that the Department of
CONTINUED
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Corrections and Rehabilitation, Division of Juvenile
Justice (DJJ), has jurisdiction over all educational
training and treatment institutions now or hereafter
established and maintained in the state as correctional
schools for the reception of wards of the juvenile court
and other persons committed to the department. (WIC
1000.)
Current law provides that the following powers and duties
shall be exercised and performed by the Division of
Juvenile Facilities: return of persons to the court of
commitment for redisposition by the court, determination of
offense category, setting of parole consideration dates,
conducting annual reviews, treatment program orders,
institution placements, furlough placements, return of
nonresident persons to the jurisdiction of the state of
legal residence, disciplinary decisionmaking, and referrals
pursuant to Section 1800. (WIC 1719 (c).)
This bill revises the disciplinary system at DJJ. This
bill:
1.Deletes the authority of DJJ to extend a ward's projected
board date (PBD), as specified, and instead provide that
DJJ shall not extend or postpone a ward's projected board
date.
2.Defines "satisfactory performance" and performance credit
guidelines.
3.Requires DJJ to provide a system where wards can earn
time credits based on programming and good behavior, with
those credits being subject to forfeiture as a
consequence of disciplinary action, instead of the
current system of "time-adds" for disciplinary issues.
4.Requires a ward's PBD to be adjusted to reflect net
credits, no less than every six months.
Program Time Credits
This bill requires that program time credits "apply for
satisfactory performance in one or more qualifying
programs, including, but not limited to, education,
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rehabilitation, therapeutic, work, vocational education,
training, drug treatment, anger management, or other
programs meant to prepare a ward for successful reentry
into society."
This bill requires that "(f)or every day of satisfactory
performance in one or more credit qualifying programs, as
designated by the Chief Deputy Secretary for Juvenile
Justice, the projected board date of a ward shall be
advanced no less than one day earlier."
This bill provides that for these purposes "satisfactory
performance" would mean "progress in a credit-qualifying
program, such as any one of the following: completion of
assigned work, continuing or improved participation in
programming or class work, continuing or improved
cooperation with the instructor or person in charge,
substantial compliance with instructions, or meeting
requirements for participation in assigned activity."
This bill provides that "(f)ailure to work or participate
in program activities for reasons which are beyond the
ward's control shall not be cause for denial or forfeiture
of participation credit. These circumstances may include,
but are not limited to, the following:
1. The ward is medically excluded or restricted from
work or program activities, on a temporary basis
because of illness or injury.
2. The ward has failed to perform or participate after
demonstrating a reasonable effort in the specified
activity.
3. The ward is restricted from reporting to or
participating in an assigned work or program activity
by an order or action of institution staff unrelated
to a disciplinary infraction by the ward.
Good Behavior Time Credits
This bill requires that "(g)ood behavior time credits shall
be provided independently of program credit for substantial
compliance with rules of the institution, and substantial
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compliance with instructions from staff, the instructor, or
the person in charge."
This bill requires that "(f)or every day of substantial
compliance with disciplinary rules and instructions, a ward
shall have his or her projected board date advanced no less
than one-half day."
Existing law requires DJJ to:
Promulgate policies and regulations implementing a
departmentwide system of graduated sanctions for
addressing ward disciplinary matters. The
disciplinary decisionmaking system shall be employed
as the disciplinary system in department institutions,
and shall provide a framework for handling
disciplinary matters in a manner that is consistent,
timely, proportionate, and ensures the due process
rights of wards. The department shall develop and
implement a system of graduated sanctions which
distinguishes between minor, intermediate, and serious
misconduct. The department may extend a ward's parole
consideration date, subject to appeal pursuant to
subdivision (b), from one to not more than 12 months,
inclusive, for a sustained serious misconduct
violation if all other sanctioning options have been
considered and determined to be unsuitable in light of
the ward's previous case history and the circumstances
of the misconduct. In any case in which a parole
consideration date has been extended, the disposition
report shall clearly state the reasons for the
extension. The length of any parole consideration
date extension shall be based on the seriousness of
the misconduct, the ward's prior disciplinary history,
the ward's progress toward treatment objectives, the
ward's earned program credits, and any extenuating or
mitigating circumstances. The department shall
promulgate regulations to implement a table of
sanctions to be used in determining parole
consideration date extensions. The department also
may promulgate regulations to establish a process for
granting wards who have successfully responded to
disciplinary sanctions a reduction of up to 50 percent
of any time acquired for disciplinary matters." (WIC
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1719 (d).)
This bill revises this section as follows:
This bill deletes the requirement in this provision that
DJJ develop and implement a system of graduated sanctions
which distinguishes between minor, intermediate, and
serious misconduct.
This bill deletes the authority in this section for DJJ to
extend a ward's parole consideration date, as specified,
and instead provide that DJJ shall not extend or postpone a
ward's parole consideration date.
This bill instead provides that sanctions for sustained
serious misconduct may include forfeiture of not more than
six months of combined program and good behavior credits
established by this bill, if all other sanctioning options
have been considered and determined to be unsuitable in
light of the ward's previous case history and the
circumstances of the misconduct.
This bill provides that "(i)n any case in which a program
time or good behavior credit has been forfeited, the
disposition report shall clearly state the reasons for the
forfeiture."
This bill provides that the "length of any credit
forfeiture shall be based on the seriousness of the
misconduct, the ward's prior disciplinary history, the
ward's progress toward treatment objectives, the ward's
earned program or good behavior credits, and any
extenuating or mitigating circumstances."
This bill requires DJJ to "promulgate regulations to
implement a table of sanctions to be used in determining
program or good behavior time credit forfeitures," and
regulations to "establish a process for granting wards who
have successfully responded to disciplinary sanctions a
reinstatement of up to 100 percent of any credit forfeited
for disciplinary matters."
This bill requires that a "document signed by a department
official shall be provided to each ward describing what
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defines 'serious misconduct.' "
This bill provides that "no less than every six months, a
ward's projected board date shall be adjusted according to
the net credit earned since the last adjustment."
This bill requires that program credits earned before
January 1, 2010, be honored.
This bill requires DJJ to "allow wards who received
projected board date extensions after January 1, 2009, and
before January 1, 2010, and who have successfully responded
to disciplinary sanctions a reinstatement of up to 100
percent of the time added."
This bill provides that nothing in this section would
"preclude the division from providing credits or other
incentives for other desirable behaviors or program
participation."
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11
2011-12 Fund
Create/implement $40 $40 $0 General
new credit system
Reduction in DJJ Potential
substantial savings General
length of stay
This bill will incur immediate costs related to increased
workload to establish the proposed credit program, update
materials and procedures, and provide training to
employees. It is likely that these costs can be absorbed
with overtime for existing staff, as it is a one-time
expense, and involves developing a procedure that would
affect 1,700 wards total, the population of a medium-sized
high school, in 8 small facilities.
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SUPPORT : (Verified 11/30/09)
Books Not Bars (source)
Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality
California Catholic Conference of Bishops
California Public Defenders Association
California State NAACP
California State PTA
National Center for Lesbian Rights
National Council on Crime and Delinquency
Taxpayers for Improving Public Safety
OPPOSITION : (Verified 11/30/09)
California Correctional Peace Officers Association
California District Attorneys Association
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office:
The state Division of Juvenile Justice does not have
clear statutory authority to provide program credits
to wards for participation in education and
rehabilitation programs. There is in imbalance in the
use of credits and disciplinary delays in parole
consideration that results in wards ? serving
disproportionately long terms in state youth prisons,
when compared to youth in other states incarcerated
for similar offenses. As there is no aggregate
correlation between longer DJJ prison terms and
improved public safety, or improved outcomes for wards
or their families, it is necessary to address these
ineffective and costly sentencing and parole policies.
Youth held in (DJJ) do not have the same rights as
adult prisoners in California to earn program credits
for satisfactory participation in programs of
education, job training and rehabilitation. This bill
would create a discipline and incentive system that
would allow wards to earn credit - not toward early
release per se - but to an earlier parole
consideration hearing. The bill also provides that
earned programs credits may be forfeited for serious
misconduct.
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Research demonstrates that punishment models are
ineffective at changing youths' behavior, both inside
and out of prison settings. In contrast, positive
behavior incentives have been shown to have a dramatic
impact in reducing problem behaviors.
Youth in California's youth prison system serve the
longest sentences in the nation. ? Based on an
indeterminate sentencing scheme, youth are imprisoned
in (DJJ) an average of nearly 3 years. More than a
third of that time is due to "time adds." Time adds
are disciplinary sanctions that may delay parole
consideration dates by up to one year, for each
sanction?
DJJ spends approximately $234,000 per youth, per year
to hold a youth behind bars. According to data from
the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, time
adds tack on an additional net average of 12.7 months
to each ward's period of incarceration. That amounts
to $247,650 in additional expenses for each youth at
DJJ. For the entire population of youth currently at
DJJ, time-adds cost the taxpayers over $418,528,500.
As there is no relationship between longer terms and
better outcomes for wards or communities, this is
money wasted?
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : SEIU Local 1000, which
represents the non-custodial staff such as teachers,
nurses, cooks and clerks at DJJ facilities, opposes this
bill, argues this bill "may inadvertently lead to less
effective control of juveniles who would no longer be
concerned about their parole date being extended as a
result of their behavior. While this may not be the best
tool to use, we are concerned that the possible closing of
juvenile facilities will lead to larger classroom sizes and
commensurate problems with control of the ward's behavior."
The California District Attorneys Association, which also
opposes this bill, argue that features of a determinate
sentencing system - credits - should not be applied to
minors who have been given indeterminate commitments.
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ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Ammiano, Arambula, Beall, Block, Blumenfield,
Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Carter, Chesbro, Coto,
Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fong,
Fuentes, Furutani, Hall, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber,
Huffman, Jones, Krekorian, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza,
Monning, John A. Perez, Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas,
Skinner, Solorio, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico,
Yamada, Bass
NOES: Adams, Anderson, Bill Berryhill, Tom Berryhill,
Blakeslee, Conway, Cook, DeVore, Duvall, Emmerson,
Fletcher, Fuller, Gaines, Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman,
Harkey, Jeffries, Knight, Lieu, Logue, Miller, Nestande,
Niello, Nielsen, Silva, Smyth, Audra Strickland, Tran,
Villines
NO VOTE RECORDED: Charles Calderon, Galgiani, Nava, V.
Manuel Perez, Saldana
RJG:nl 12/1/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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