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