BILL NUMBER: AB 1445 CHAPTERED BILL TEXT CHAPTER 233 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 7, 2012 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 7, 2012 PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 20, 2012 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 22, 2012 AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 6, 2012 AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 17, 2012 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY FEBRUARY 28, 2012 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Mitchell (Coauthor: Assembly Member Bonnie Lowenthal) JANUARY 4, 2012 An act to amend Section 4025.5 of the Penal Code, relating to jails. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1445, Mitchell. Jails: county inmate welfare funds. Existing law provides that the sheriff of each county may maintain an inmate welfare fund to be kept in the treasury of the county into which profit from a store operated in connection with the county jail, 10% of all gross sales of inmate hobbycraft, and any rebates or commissions received from a telephone company, as specified, are required to be deposited. Existing law authorizes the sheriff to expend money from the fund to assist indigent inmates, prior to release, with clothes and transportation expenses, as specified. Existing law authorizes inmate welfare funds to be used to augment county expenses determined by the sheriff to be in the best interests of the inmates, and requires the sheriff to submit an itemized report of those expenditures annually to the board of supervisors. Existing law, until January 1, 2013, creates a pilot program that authorizes the sheriff of certain counties and the Chief of Correction of Santa Clara County to spend money from the inmate welfare fund for the purpose of assisting indigent inmates with the reentry process within 14 days after the inmate's release from the county jail or other adult detention facility, as specified. Existing law specifies that the assistance provided may include, but is not limited to, work placement, counseling, obtaining proper identification, education, and housing. This bill would extend the operation of those provisions until January 1, 2015, and would add the Counties of Marin, Napa, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura to the program. The bill would authorize the sheriffs of counties participating in the program or the county officer responsible for operating the jails, to spend money from the inmate welfare fund for the purpose of assisting indigent inmates with the reentry process within 30 days after the inmate's release from the county jail or other adult detention facility, as specified. The bill would also specify that money from the inmate welfare fund shall not be used under the pilot program to provide services that are required to be provided by the sheriff or county, as specified. The bill would require, if a county elects to participate in the pilot program, a county sheriff or county officer responsible for operating a jail to include specified additional information in the itemized report of expenditures to the board of supervisors, including the number of inmates the program served. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 4025.5 of the Penal Code is amended to read: 4025.5. (a) There is hereby created a pilot program in the Counties of Alameda, Kern, Los Angeles, Marin, Napa, Orange, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Francisco, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Stanislaus, and Ventura. In each county, the sheriff or the county officer responsible for operating the jails may expend money from the inmate welfare fund to provide indigent inmates, after release from the county jail or any other adult detention facility under the jurisdiction of the sheriff or the county officer responsible for operating the jails, assistance with the reentry process within 30 days after the inmate's release. The assistance provided may include work placement, counseling, obtaining proper identification, education, and housing. (b) Nothing in this section authorizes money from the inmate welfare fund to be used to provide any services that are required to be provided by the sheriff or the county. Money in the fund shall supplement existing services, and shall not be used to supplant any existing funding for services provided by the sheriff or the county. (c) As part of the itemized report of expenditures required to be submitted to the board of supervisors pursuant to Section 4025, any sheriff or county officer responsible for operating a jail of a county that participates in the pilot program shall include in the report all of the following: (1) How much money was spent pursuant to this section. (2) The number of inmates the program served. (3) The types of assistance for which the funds were used. (4) The average length of time an inmate used the program. (d) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2015, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2015, deletes or extends that date.