BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 1800
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   April 14, 2010

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                AB 1800 (Ma and Hagman) - As Amended:  March 16, 2010 

          Policy Committee:                              Public  
          SafetyVote:  5-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          Yes    Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill increases the penalty for unlawfully claiming  
          ownership or taking possession of a residential dwelling, for  
          the purpose of renting that dwelling to another, from a  
          misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in the county jail  
          and/or a fine of up to $1,000, to a felony, punishable by 16  
          months, two or three years in state prison. 

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          1)Unknown annual GF increase in state prison costs. For every 10  
            persons convicted of this proposed felony offense, who would  
            not otherwise be sentenced to state prison, the annual cost  
            would be about $450,000, based on current per capita inmate  
            costs. (This estimate does not include potential three-strike  
            implications.) 

            (A situation in which a person is defrauded of more than $400  
            may currently be charged as grand theft, punishable as an  
            alternative felony/misdemeanor. So in cases in which a victim  
            suffers a loss of more than $400, the offense may already be  
            charged as a felony. This bill, however, would also create a  
            felony penalty for cases in which no financial loss is  
            incurred, but a dwelling is unlawfully occupied or possessed  
            with the intent of renting it to another.) 

          2)By creating a new felony, this bill also creates potential two  
            and three-strikes sentencing situations, which result in a  
            doubling of terms for second strikes, and life terms for third  
            strikes. Any person with one or more serious or violent  
            felonies priors, who is convicted of a felony under this bill,  








                                                                  AB 1800
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            would face either a doubled term for the intended unlawful  
            rental of a residential dwelling, or a life term for the  
            offense. For example, if one person per year received a life  
            term for this offense, in 5 years the annual state  
            incarceration cost would be about $225,000. In 15 years, the  
            annual cost would be about $675,000.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale  . The author contends recent and current economic  
            conditions have contributed to an increase in "housing-related  
            crimes" that merit stiffer penalties. 

            According to the authors, "Under current law, individuals  
            posing as landlords are only guilty of a misdemeanor,  
            punishable by a fine of no more than $1000 and/or 6 months of  
            jail time. Under Penal Code 602.9, a thief could walk away  
            with a slap on the wrist, and leave a family homeless. 

            "With the State's record foreclosures and economic downturn,  
            more and more scammers are taking advantage of innocent people  
            during these difficult times. AB 1800 will simply enhance the  
            current misdemeanor crime of posing as a landlord to a  
            felony." 
           
          2)Opposition.  According to the ACLU, "Current law makes the  
            unlawful rental of residential property a misdemeanor. Current  
            law also permits felony charges if the defendant obtains rent  
            exceeding $400. We perceive little justification to making all  
            these cases felonies. Imposing new or stiffer felony penalties  
            for this or any other crime simply exacerbates the current  
            prison overcrowding crisis. It also implicates the Three  
            Strikes Law. The current penalties for these acts are  
            sufficient to punish the individuals for those offenses." 

           3)Impact on State Budget, Prison Overcrowding and Federal Court  
            Ruling to Reduce the Inmate Population  . Federal courts have  
            ruled that inmate overcrowding is a primary factor in what the  
            courts have determined to be unconstitutional levels of prison  
            medical care. This year the court ordered California to reduce  
            its inmate population by about 40,000 inmates to achieve an  
            overcrowding level of 137.5% of capacity. The current state  
            budget deficit projection is about $20 billion. Last year the  
            Legislature considered measures designed to reduce the inmate  
            population by about 37,000 and $1.2 billion in 2010-11. The  








                                                                  AB 1800
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            result of those deliberations is currently a projected savings  
            of about $780 million in 2010-11 and a population reduction of  
            about 14,000, including parole reforms, inmate program  
            reductions, and increased sentence credits. The governor's  
            budget proposes an additional reduction of about $1.1 billion  
            for 2010-11, including a population reduction of about 13,000.  

            
           4)Suggested Amendment  . The author may wish to consider doubling  
            the current misdemeanor penalty from six months to one year,  
            which would not impact the state prison system or the GF.  


           


           Analysis Prepared by  :    Geoff Long / APPR. / (916) 319-2081