BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                           Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair

                                          SB 55 (Runner)
          
          Hearing Date: 05/26/2011        Amended: As Introduced
          Consultant: Jolie Onodera       Policy Vote: Public Safety 5-1
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          BILL SUMMARY: SB 55 would provide that any parolee who presents 
          a low-risk of re-offense, as specified, and cannot be returned 
          to prison for a parole violation shall register with the sheriff 
          of the county of the person's residence within 10 days of 
          establishing or changing his or her residence. This bill would 
          make failure to register a misdemeanor.
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                            Fiscal Impact (in thousands)

           Major Provisions         2011-12      2012-13       2013-14     Fund
           
          Registration of NRPs   Unknown; potentially significant General
                                 state-reimbursable local costs

          New misdemeanor        Unknown; non-reimbursable local 
          costsLocal             
                                 offset to a degree by fine revenue
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          STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE. 

          Existing law generally provides that an inmate who is released 
          on parole shall be returned to the county that was the last 
          legal residence of the inmate prior to his or her incarceration. 
          However, under current law, inmates who meet specified criteria 
          that deem the inmate to present a low-risk of re-offense cannot 
          be returned to prison (unless there is a new conviction and 
          formal sentencing) or be reported for a parole violation. 
          Further, these non-revocable parolees (NRPs) are not actively 
          supervised by parole officers and do not have a mandate to 
          report residency information to their parole agent. According to 
          the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), 
          residency restrictions are not enforced and residency 
          information is not currently tracked or retained for this 
          population of NRPs. 








          SB 55 (Runner)
          Page 1



          This bill would provide that NRPs need not be returned to the 
          county of last legal residence, but shall be required to 
          register a residential address with the sheriff of the county in 
          which he or she resides within 10 days of establishing residence 
          upon release or changing residence, including changes of 
          residence within the same county. This bill would make failure 
          to register a misdemeanor, and would result in non-reimbursable 
          local costs for enforcement and incarceration, offset to a 
          degree by fine revenue.

          The CDCR indicates there are currently over 13,100 individuals 
          with NRP status. As local law enforcement is not currently 
          required to collect this information for NRPs, the provisions of 
          this bill would create an additional mandated activity. The 
          potential costs to local law enforcement to collect, maintain, 
          and create a registry for such information is unknown, but could 
          result in significant state-reimbursable costs. 
          Staff notes the NRP population impacted by the provisions of 
          this bill would phase-out as parolees exhaust their parole 
          periods should the Governor's Realignment proposal to shift 
          low-level parolees to local supervision effective July 1, 2011, 
          be implemented. Staff suggests consideration of the potential 
          state-reimbursable costs for the creation of a registry that may 
          only be utilized briefly for the intended population currently 
          under limited state supervision.