BILL ANALYSIS SB 174 Page 1 Date of Hearing: June 23, 2009 Counsel: Nicole J. Hanson ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY Juan Arambula, Chair SB 174 (Strickland) - As Amended: May 13, 2009 SUMMARY : Makes technical, corrective changes to various code sections. Specifically, this bill : 1)Clarifies that the Department of Justice (DOJ) shall provide subsequent arrest and conviction information supporting an applicant's ineligibility to hold an explosives permit. 2)Explains that every person who is required to register as a sex offender who is living as a transient in California but was convicted in another jurisdiction, shall register within five working days of coming into California with the chief of police of the city in which he or she is present or the sheriff of the county if he or she is present in an unincorporated area or city that has no police department. 3)Removes the requirement that DOJ must provide annual reports to the Legislature on the service through which members of the public may obtain information on sex offenders via the Megan's Law Internet Web site. 4)Clarifies that in situations where a person diverts $1,000 or less in construction funds, the person shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. 5)Extends the sunset date from January 1, 2010 to January 1, 2015 to allow, upon the concurrence of the county board of supervisors, the county mental health director, and the county sheriff, the jail to be designated to provide medically approved medication to defendants found to be mentally incompetent and unable to provide informed consent due to a mental disorder. 6)Corrects the erroneous titles and adds titles to conform to the addition of the Bureau of Independent Review as follows: Chief Deputy Inspector General (IG); Chief Assistant IG; SB 174 Page 2 Deputy IG; In-Charge, Senior Deputy IG; Deputy IG; Senior Assistant IG; and Special Assistant IG. 7)Provides that the IG shall be responsible for contemporaneous oversight of internal affairs investigations and the disciplinary process of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) as requested by either the CDCR Secretary or a member of the Legislature. 8)Specifies each audit of a warden by the IG shall include, but not be limited to, issues relating to personnel, training, investigations, and financial matters. Each four-year audit shall include an assessment of the maintenance of the facility managed by the warden. 9)Deletes a redundant requirement that persons certified as a fingerprint roller shall have a notarized application. 10)Removes the locality specification of Sacramento when referring to DOJ with regard to the transmission of firearm purchaser information. 11)Updates the definition of "stun gun" as any item, except a less lethal weapon, used or intended to be used as either an offensive or defensive weapon that is capable of temporarily immobilizing a person by the infliction of an electrical charge. 12)Removes the requirement that annual reports by the DOJ containing criminal statistics of the preceding calendar year must to be printed and presented to the Governor in paper form, thus allowing for electronic distribution. 13)Specifies that a deposit of bail does not constitute entry of a plea or a court appearance when a person who has received a written notice to appear for an infraction is required to make a deposit and declare the intention to plead not guilty to the clerk named in the notice to appear. A plea of not guilty under this section must be made in court at the arraignment. 14)Allows out-of-state law enforcement agencies to obtain a complete copy of a juvenile police record, without notice or consent from the person who is the subject of the juvenile police record to the following persons or entities. SB 174 Page 3 15)Specifies that employees or agents of CDCR, the Board of Parole Hearings (BPH), or the Department of Mental Health (DMH) may disclose to employees or agents of each named department, the prosecutor, the respondent's counsel, licensed private investigators hired or appointed for the respondent, or other persons or agencies where authorized or required by law, the name, address, telephone number, or other identifying information of a person who was involved in a civil commitment hearing as the victim of a sex offense except where authorized or required by law. 16)Makes other technical, non-substantive, and cross-referencing changes. EXISTING LAW : 1)Provides that the DOJ shall make a determination whether an explosives permit can be granted to a person. (Health and Safety Code Section 12101.) 2)Requires people convicted of specified sex offenders to register with local authorities including people who are transients. (Penal Code Section 290 et. seq.) 3)Mandates that any person who receives money for the purpose of obtaining or paying for services, labor, materials or equipment and willfully fails to apply such money for such purpose by either willfully failing to complete the improvement for which funds were provided or willfully failing to pay for services, labor, materials or equipment provided incident to such construction, and wrongfully diverts the funds to a use other than that for which the funds were received shall be guilty of an alternate felony/misdemeanor, if the amount diverted is in excess of $1,000 and by a misdemeanor if the amount is less than $1,000. (Penal Code Section 484.) 4)Lists the IG, and the Chief Deputy IG In Charge, the Senior Deputy IG, the Deputy IG, and those employees of the IG as designated by the IG, are peace officers, provided that the primary duty of these peace officers shall be conducting audits of investigatory practices and other audits, as well as conducting investigations, of CDCR, Division of Juvenile Justice and the BPH. [Penal Code Section 830.2(j).] SB 174 Page 4 5)The IG shall review departmental policy and procedures, conduct audits of investigatory practices and other audits, and conduct investigations of the CDCR, as requested by either the Secretary of the CDCR or a member of the Legislature, pursuant to the approval of the IG under policies to be developed by the IG. The IG may, under policies developed by the IG, initiate an investigation or an audit on his or her own accord. [Penal Code Section 6126(a)(1).] 6)States that the IG shall audit each warden of an institution one year after his or her appointment, and shall audit each correctional institution at least once every four years. Each audit shall include, but not be limited to, issues relating to personnel, training, investigations, and financial matters. Each audit shall include an assessment of the maintenance of the facility managed by the warden. The audit report shall include the IG's assessment of facility maintenance. These audit reports shall be provided to the Legislature and shall be made public. The requirements of this paragraph shall be phased in by the IG so that they are fully met by July 1, 2009. [Penal Code Section 6126(a)(2).] 7)Requires that individuals who roll fingerprint impressions must satisfactorily complete a notarized written application prescribed by DOJ to determine the fitness of the person to exercise the functions of a fingerprint roller. [Penal Code Section 11102.1(d)(3).] 8)Mandates firearm dealers to submit two copies of the original sheet of the register, on the date of the application to purchase firearms, shall be placed in the mail, postage prepaid, and properly addressed to the DOJ in Sacramento. [Penal Code Section 12076(b)(3).] 9)Requires the records of applicant firearm purchaser information to be transmitted to DOJ in Sacramento by electronic or telephonic transfer on the date of the application to purchase. [Penal Code Section 12076(c)(2).] 10)Defines "stun gun" as including any item, except a taser, used or intended to be used as either an offensive or defensive weapon capable of temporally immobilizing a person by the infliction of an electrical charge. (Penal Code Section 12650.) SB 174 Page 5 11)States that DOJ must present to the Governor, on or before July 1st, a printed annual report containing the criminal statistics of the preceding calendar year and to present at other times as the Attorney General (AG) may approve reports on special aspects of criminal statistics. A sufficient number of copies of all reports shall be printed or otherwise prepared to enable the AG to send a copy to all public officials in the state dealing with criminals and to distribute them generally in channels where they will add to the public enlightenment. [Penal Code Section 13010(g).] 12)Holds that a ny person who has received a written notice to appear for an infraction may, prior to the time at which the person is required to appear, make a deposit and declare the intention to plead not guilty to the clerk of the court named in the notice to appear. The deposit shall be in the amount of bail, together with any assessment for the offense charged, and shall be used for the purpose of guaranteeing the appearance of the defendant at the time and place scheduled by the clerk for arraignment and for trial, and to apply toward the payment of any fine or assessment prescribed by the court in the event of conviction. The case shall thereupon be set for arraignment and trial on the same date, unless the defendant requests separate arraignment. [Vehicle Code Section 40519(a) .] 13)Allows California law enforcement agencies including the office of the AG of California, any district attorney, the CDCR, the Department of the Youth Authority, and any peace officer to obtain a complete copy of a juvenile police record, without notice or consent from the person who is the subject of the juvenile police record. [Penal Code Section 827.9(b).] 14)Provides no employee or agent of CDCR, BPH, or DMH shall disclose to any person the name, address, telephone number, or other identifying information of a person who was involved in a civil commitment hearing under this article as a victim of a sex offense except where authorized or required by law. [Welfare and Institutions Code (WIC) Section 6603.5.] FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown COMMENTS : 1)Background : According to information provided by the author, SB 174 Page 6 "This is the annual public safety omnibus bill from the Senate. It makes technical changes." 2)Amendment to Health and Safety Code Section 12101 : Currently, subsequent arrest and conviction information is not provided for explosives permit holders under Health and Safety Code Section 12101. The change in this bill will allow the DOJ to provide such information to local agencies. 3)Amendment to Penal Code Section 290.011 : The Sex Offender Registration Act requires persons convicted of registerable sex offenses in out-of-state, federal, or military courts to register in the State of California. While it is clear that a sex offender from another jurisdiction who moves into a residence has five working days to register [Penal Code Section 290(b)], it is not clear that a transient registerable sex offender convicted in another jurisdiction has five working days after entering California to register. This amendment clarifies the duty of such a transient sex offender to register. 4)Amendment to Penal Code Section 290.46(n) : When Megan's Law requirements were first established, the DOJ and other entities such as local law enforcement agencies were very active in developing and implementing the various aspects of the statutory mandates. These activities included developing the original data base for information dissemination and making it available to the public. These efforts culminated in the development and implementation of the Megan's Law Internet Web site during 2004. At that time, the annual reports were filled with updates on the activities needed to accomplish the goals set forth by the Legislature. In recent years, Megan's Law requirements have stabilized and the actions of the affected entities have become routine. Consequently, the annual report has become a restatement of information from prior years' reports, with no new information. The established success of the Megan's Law public notification process has obviated the need for an annual update. 5)Amendment to Penal Code Section 484b : Penal Code Section 484b (Diversion of Construction Funds) makes it an alternate felony/misdemeanor to divert in excess of $1,000 in construction funds. The statute also makes it a misdemeanor to divert less than $1,000 in construction funds and, thus, SB 174 Page 7 fails to address a diversion of $1,000 exactly. The statute should be amended to make it a misdemeanor to divert $1,000 or less in construction funds. 6)Amendment to Penal Code Section 11102.1(d)(3) : In order for a person to be certified to roll fingerprint images for non-law enforcement purposes, the applicant must submit a copy of his or her fingerprints along with a notarized written application. This notarization requirement is unique to this application type and is redundant in light of the fact that fingerprints must be submitted along with the application, thus, this requirement should be deleted. 7)Amendment to Welfare and Institutions Code Section 827.9(b)(1) : This bill amends WIC Section 827.9(b)(1) to allow for vital information sharing with other law enforcement agencies in neighboring states. Over the last few years, there has been a tremendous increase in the number of gang members who are living, or now residing, in neighboring states (such as Nevada and Arizona). Some of these gang members are juveniles. In an effort to better communicate and share information with other law enforcement agencies, California has developed a computer information sharing system called, "CopLink". The problem law enforcement has encountered is that WIC Section 827.0(b)(1) only allows law enforcement to share information on juveniles between California law enforcement agencies. Thus, states sharing information with California law enforcement do not have reciprocity to California's information or databases through CopLink. This amendment grants interstate access. 8)Amendment to Welfare and Institutions Code Section 6603.5 : AB 2410 (Nava), Chapter 155, Statutes of 2008, ensures the protection of the name, address, telephone number, and other personal identifying information of victims and witnesses from being released to a respondent, his/her family, or any other person in sexually violent predator petitions. In drafting the regulations to implement the provisions of AB 2410, BPH and DMH requested more explicit authority as to whom they may authorize the release of personal identifying information. 9)Argument in Support : According to the California District Attorneys Association (the sponsor of this bill), "As you know, the utility of this measure is to make minor and technical changes to various statutes relating to crime and SB 174 Page 8 criminal procedure in a way that results in no opposition. We understand and agree with the custom and practice t hat requires the removal f any provision that draws opposition to ensure that this bill remains completely non-controversial." 10)Prior Legislation : a) SB 1241 (Margett), Chapter 699, Statutes of 2008, made various technical, non-substantive, and clarifying changes to the law. b) SB 425 (Margett), Chapter 302, Statutes of 2007, made various technical, non-substantive, and clarifying changes to the law. c) SB 1422 (Margett), Chapter 901, Statutes of 2006, made various technical, non-substantive, and clarifying changes to the law. d) SB 1107 (Public Safety Committee), Chapter 279, Statutes of 2005, made various technical, non-substantive, and clarifying changes to the law. e) SB 1796 (Public Safety Committee), Chapter 405, Statutes of 2004, made various technical, non-substantive, and clarifying changes to the law. f) SB 851 (Public Safety Committee), Chapter 468, Statutes of 2003, made various technical, non-substantive, and clarifying changes to the law. g) SB 1852 (Public Safety Committee), Chapter 545, Statutes of 2002, made various technical, non-substantive, and clarifying changes to the law. h) SB 485 (Public Safety Committee), Chapter 473, Statutes of 2001, made various technical, non-substantive, and clarifying changes to the law. i) SB 832 (Public Safety Committee), Chapter 853, Statutes of 1999, made various technical, non-substantive, and clarifying changes to the law. j) SB 1880 (Public Safety Committee), Chapter 606, Statutes of 1998, made various technical, non-substantive, and SB 174 Page 9 clarifying changes to the law. REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION : Support California District Attorneys Association (Sponsor) Sonoma County Board of Supervisors Opposition None Analysis Prepared by : Nicole J. Hanson / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744