BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                           Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair

                                           834 (Florez)
          
          Hearing Date:  05/27/2010           Amended: 04/13/2010
          Consultant:  Jacqueline Wong-HernandezPolicy Vote: Public Safety  
          7-0
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          ____
          BILL SUMMARY: This bill specifically authorizes the court, upon  
          convicting a defendant of a sexual offense against a minor, to  
          prohibit the defendant from harassing, intimidating, or  
          threatening the victim, victim's family members, spouse or  
          coworkers, or from encouraging another to do so, for a period of  
          up to 10 years. Violation of the court order would be punishable  
          as a misdemeanor (criminal contempt).
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          ____
                            Fiscal Impact (in thousands)

           Major Provisions            2010-11      2011-12       2012-13     Fund
                                                                  
          New misdemeanor        Potentially significant local costs;  
          non-reimbursable       Local

          Loss of prison credits                     Potentially  
          significant state costs                General
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          ____

          STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE.

          This bill authorizes the court to issue an order prohibiting sex  
          offenders whose victims were minors from harassing,  
          intimidating, or threatening the victim, and specified others,  
          and from "encouraging" another to do so.  On its face, this law  
          creates a new specific category of criminal contempt, punishable  
          as a misdemeanor. Ordinarily, misdemeanors are under local  
          jurisdiction and are not considered a state cost. The specific  
          new misdemeanor authorized by this bill, however, applies only  
          to specified sex offenders after conviction. A large number of  
          these sex offenders would, upon conviction and issuance of the  
          court order, be serving sentences in state prisons.

          To the extent that state prison inmates violate the court orders  










          authorized by the bill, they will lose 90 days of "good time"  
          credits against their sentences - three times the amount  
          currently allowed for the same offense under current Department  
          of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) regulations. Existing  
          regulations consider "Harassment of another person, group, or  
          entity either directly or indirectly through the use of the mail  
          or by any other means," to be a "serious disciplinary  
          infraction" punishable by 30 days of "good time" credit loss. By  
          providing that this offense would be punishable by a  
          misdemeanor, this bill would increase the credit loss and could  
          contribute to lengthier prison sentences for violators who are  
          in prison. (Inmates have an opportunity to earn credits back,  
          but there is no guarantee). Moreover, sex offenders (and those  
          convicted of certain other violent and/or serious crimes) can  
          earn only up to two days of "good time" credits for every six  
          days of their state prison sentences, instead of day-for-day  
          credits earned by other inmates. If even ten inmates violated  
          these court orders, the net cost of increased sentencing (60  
          days of additional credit loss over current penalties), this  
          bill would result increased GF costs of more than $50,000.