BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 813
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 26, 2011
Counsel: Gabriel Caswell
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Ammiano, Tom, Chair
AB 813 (Fletcher) - As Introduced: February 17, 2011
As Proposed to be Amended in Committee
SUMMARY : Provides immunity from liability to Sex Offender
Management Board members and certified sex offender management
professionals for criminal acts committed by persons as
specified. Specifically, this bill :
1)Specifies that Sex Offender Management Board members shall be
immune from liability for good-faith conduct taken under their
legislative mandate.
2)Requires all persons submitting an application for
certification as a sex offender management professional to do
so under penalty of perjury.
3)Provides that certified sex offender management professionals,
who provide sex offender management programs and risk
assessments, shall not be held civilly liable for any criminal
acts committed by persons on parole, probation, or judicial
commitment who receive supervision or treatment. The waiver
of liability shall apply to certified sex offender management
professionals, administrators of the programs provided by
those professionals, and to agencies or persons under contract
to those professionals who provide screening, clinical
evaluation, risk assessment, supervision, or treatment to sex
offender parolees, probationers, or persons on conditional
release.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Creates the Sex Offender Management Board within the
jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation, empowered to address any issues, concerns, and
problems related to the community management of adult sex
offenders, including the main objective of the board to
achieve safer communities by reducing victimization. The
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board is required, on or before July 1, 2011, to develop and
update standards for certification of sex offender management
professionals.
2)Requires persons convicted of specified sex offenses to
register for life, or reregister if the person has been
previously registered, upon release from incarceration,
placement, commitment, or release on probation. States that
the registration shall consist of all of the following ĘPenal
Code Section 290.015(a)]:
a) A statement signed in writing by the person, giving
information as shall be required by the Department of
Justice (DOJ) and giving the name and address of the
person's employer, and the address of the person's place of
employment, if different from the employer's main address;
b) Fingerprints and a current photograph taken by the
registering official;
c) The license plate number of any vehicle owned by,
regularly driven by or registered in the name of the
registrant;
d) Notice to the person that he or she may have a duty to
register in any other state where he or she may relocate;
and,
e) Copies of adequate proof of residence, such as a
California driver's license or identification card, recent
rent or utility receipt or any other information that the
registering official believes is reliable.
3)States every person who is required to register, as specified,
who is living as a transient shall be required to register for
the rest of his or her life as follows:
a) He or she shall register, or reregister if the person
has previously registered, within five working days from
release from incarceration, placement or commitment, or
release on probation, pursuant to Penal Code Section
290(b), except that if the person previously registered as
a transient less than 30 days from the date of his or her
release from incarceration, he or she does not need to
reregister as a transient until his or her next required
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30-day update of registration. If a transient is not
physically present in any one jurisdiction for five
consecutive working days, he or she shall register in the
jurisdiction in which he or she is physically present on
the fifth working day following release, as specified.
Beginning on or before the 30th day following initial
registration upon release, a transient shall reregister no
less than once every 30 days thereafter. A transient shall
register with the chief of police of the city in which he
or she is physically present within that 30-day period, or
the sheriff of the county if he or she is physically
present in an unincorporated area or city that has no
police department, and additionally, with the chief of
police of a campus of the University of California, the
California State University, or community college if he or
she is physically present upon the campus or in any of its
facilities. A transient shall reregister no less than once
every 30 days regardless of the length of time he or she
has been physically present in the particular jurisdiction
in which he or she reregisters. If a transient fails to
reregister within any 30-day period, he or she may be
prosecuted in any jurisdiction in which he or she is
physically present.
b) A transient who moves to a residence shall have five
working days within which to register at that address, in
accordance with Penal Code Section 290(b). A person
registered at a residence address in accordance with that
provision who becomes transient shall have five working
days within which to reregister as a transient in
accordance with existing law.
c) Beginning on his or her first birthday following
registration, a transient shall register annually, within
five working days of his or her birthday, to update his or
her registration with the entities described in existing
law. A transient shall register in whichever jurisdiction
he or she is physically present on that date. At the 30-day
updates and the annual update, a transient shall provide
current information as required on the DOJ annual update
form, including the information.
d) A transient shall, upon registration and
re-registration, provide current information as required on
the DOJ registration forms, and shall also list the places
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where he or she sleeps, eats, works, frequents, and engages
in leisure activities. If a transient changes or adds to
the places listed on the form during the 30-day period, he
or she does not need to report the new place or places
until the next required re-registration. ĘPenal Code
Section 290.011(a) to (d).]
4)Provides that willful violation of any part of the
registration requirements constitutes a misdemeanor if the
offense requiring registration was a misdemeanor, and
constitutes a felony of the offense requiring registration was
a felony or if the person has a prior conviction of failing to
register. ĘPenal Code Section 290.018(a)(b).]
5)Provides that within three days thereafter, the registering
law enforcement agency or agencies shall forward the
statement, fingerprints, photograph, and vehicle license plate
number, if any, to the DOJ. ĘPenal Code Section 290.015(b).]
6)States that a misdemeanor failure to register shall be
punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one
year, and a felony failure to register shall be punishable in
the state prison for 16 months, 2 or 3 years. ĘPenal Code
Section 290.018(a)(b).]
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Author's Statement : According to the author, "AB 813 will
help the Sex Offender Management Board perform its role in
protecting public safety by providing technical amendments and
clarification within the Penal Code, and by limiting legal
liability for treatment providers and the Board for good faith
conduct performed pursuant to sex offender management."
2)Background : According to background material supplied by the
author, "Ęthis] bill seeks to clean up some provisions of AB
1844 which were overlooked in the original bill.
Specifically, it would codify some of the legal protections
for treatment providers and for the board for doing the tasks
asked of them in AB 1844. The bill would provide an exemption
to the Bagley-Keene act when dealing with private personnel
matters. The bill would also make some technical language
changes."
AB 813
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3)California's Sex Offender Management Board's Background : On
September 20, 2006, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed
Assembly Bill 1015, which created the California Sex Offender
Management Board. AB 1015 had been introduced by Assembly
Members Judy Chu and Todd Spitzer and passed the California
Legislature with nearly unanimous bipartisan support.
Because California is the most populated state in the Union and
has had lifetime registration for its convicted sex offenders
since 1947, California has more registered sex offenders than
any other state with about 88,000 identified sex offenders
(per DOJ, August 2007). Currently, the California Department
of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) supervises about
10,000 of those 88,000 sex offenders, of which about 3,200
have been designated as "high-risk sex offenders". (CDCR
Housing Summit, March 2007). Additionally, there are about
22,500 adult sex offenders serving time in one of 32 state
prisons operated by CDCR (California Sex Offender Management
Task Force Report, July 2007).
While it is commonly believed that most sexual assaults are
committed by strangers, the research suggests that the
overwhelming majority of sex offenders victimize people known
to them; approximately 90% of child victims know their
offenders, as do 80% of adult victims Ęper Kilpatrick, D.G.,
Edmunds, C.N., & Seymour, A.K. Rape in America: A Report to
the Nation (1992). Arlington, VA: National Victim Center.]
4)Proposed Amendments : The proposed amendments remove the
provision providing criminal liability for certified sex
offender management processionals for any criminal acts
committed by persons they have evaluated.
5)Argument in Support : According to the Chief Probation
Officers of California , "AB 813 would help the Sex Offender
Management Board perform its role in protecting public safety
by providing technical amendments and clarification within the
Penal code, and by limiting legal liability for treatment
providers and the Board for good faith conduct performed
pursuant to sex offender management."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
AB 813
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California Probation Parole and Correctional Association
Chief Probation Officers of California
Opposition
None
Analysis Prepared by : Gabriel Caswell / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744