BILL ANALYSIS SB 325 Page 1 Date of Hearing: July 1, 2009 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Kevin De Leon, Chair SB 325 (Alquist) - As Amended: June 11, 2009 Policy Committee: Public SafetyVote: 7-0 Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: Yes Reimbursable: Yes SUMMARY This bill makes a series of adjustments to existing sex offender risk assessment practices, which are generally known as the State-Authorized Risk Assessment Tool for Sex Offenders (SARATSO). Specifically, this bill: 1)Switches responsibility for staffing the SARATSO Review Committee from the Department of Mental Health (DMH) to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). 2)Specifies if the agency responsible for scoring the SARATSO (generally CDCR, DMH or local probation) believes an individual's score does not represent the actual risk level, based on factors in the offender's record, the agency may submit the case to experts currently retained by the SARATSO Review Committee to monitor scoring. The experts are required to follow empirical research in their determinations. Agencies that score the SARATSO shall develop a protocol for submitting risk-level override requests to the experts, as specified. 3)Mandates CDCR and DMH to maintain risk assessment scores in a database, as specified, as well as risk assessment scores submitted by a probation officer, and requires CDCR and DMH to send risk assessment scores to the Department of Justice (DOJ) within 30 days of assessment. The risk assessment shall be made part of the offender's file and maintained by DOJ's Sex Offender Tracking Program, "as soon as possible without financial impact, but no later than January 1, 2012." 4)Provides that eligible persons not assessed by CDCR while incarcerated may be assessed upon request of the law SB 325 Page 2 enforcement agency in the jurisdiction in which the person is required to register as a sex offender, or upon request of the offender, who shall pay a fee to cover the cost of the assessment. The law enforcement agency may enter into a memorandum of understanding with a probation department to perform the assessment, or arrange to have personnel trained to perform the risk assessment in accordance with existing law. 5)Provides SARATSO Review Committee experts access to relevant offender records. FISCAL EFFECT 1)Ongoing GF costs in the range of $150,000, primarily to CDCR to administer the SARATSO Training and Review Committees, and to contract with experts for training, and monitoring SARATSO scoring and appeals. Contract costs for experts alone could run in excess of $100,000. DOJ states the cost of a database to track SARATSO scores is built into the cost of Violent Crime Information Network enhancements scheduled for 2010 implementation, so database costs should be minor. CDCR and DMH currently record SARATSO scores and forward to DOJ, so these recording and reporting costs should be minimal. Costs to staff and administer the committee may be absorbable by CDCR, though these costs will likely exceed $50,000. 2)Potential offsetting cost avoidance to the extent this bill narrows the pool of sex offenders required to undergo assessment. By specifying that offenders no longer on probation or parole be assessed only upon request of local law enforcement agencies - rather than requiring assessment - existing, potentially state-reimbursable, local law enforcement costs could be significantly reduced. With a pool of about 68,000 registered sex offenders eligible for assessment, a 10% reduction in required assessments could save about $500,000, assuming a cost of about $75 per assessment, based on two hours per assessment scoring, plus training for scorers. COMMENTS SB 325 Page 3 1)Rationale . SB 1128 (Alquist), Statutes of 2006, created the SARATSO Review Committee. It did not, however, consider who would monitor the consistency and quality of the risk assessments. This bill, prompted largely by DOJ's representation on the SARATSO committees, is designed to ensure the SARATSO Training Committee monitors the assessments and arranges for experts to train those who train persons to administer the SARATSO. The bill also authorizes the SARATSO Review Committee to authorize experts to rule on scoring override requests, based on empirical factors. CDCR and DMH will be required to record the risk assessment scores in a database, including scores received from probation. (According to CDCR and DMH, they do this now.) These records will help defend the reliability of the system if challenged in court and will assist experts in validation studies, thus ensuring that experts retained by the Committee to monitor scoring will have access to the same documents as persons who score the risk assessment instrument. Finally, this bill provides additional protection by requiring probation to conduct a risk pre-sentencing assessment on persons for whom probation is recommending sex offender registration at sentencing. (The court currently has the ability to impose registration at sentencing.) 2)Current law requires an assessment of sex offenders, as specified, by way of a SARATSO, pursuant to the legislative finding that a comprehensive system of risk assessment, supervision, and monitoring of registered sex offenders enhances public safety. The SARATSO Review Committee, comprised of a representative of DMH, CDCR and DOJ, is intended to ensure SARATSO reflects the most reliable protocols for predicting sex offender risk of recidivism that have been scientifically validated and are most likely to be accepted by the courts. The committee is charged with consulting with experts in the fields of risk assessment and the use of actuarial instruments in predicting sex offender risk. SB 325 Page 4 3)Prior Legislation . SB 1253 (Alquist), 2008, was similar to SB 325 and received the governor's generic budget veto. SB 1128 (Alquist), Chapter 337, Statutes of 2006, requires that commencing July 1, 2008, every adult convicted of a registerable sex offense to be assessed for risk of re-offending using the SARATSO. Analysis Prepared by : Geoff Long / APPR. / (916) 319-2081