BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                           Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair

                                          SB 179 (Pavley)
          
          Hearing Date: 05/26/2011        Amended: As Introduced
          Consultant: Jolie Onodera       Policy Vote: Public Safety 7-0
          
















































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          BILL SUMMARY: SB 179 would provide that for any person subject 
          to a sexually violent predator (SVP) proceeding, an order issued 
          by a judge that the petition supports a finding of probable 
          cause to believe that the individual is likely to engage in 
          sexually violent predatory behavior upon his or her release, 
          shall toll the period of parole from the date that person is 
          released from prison until a specified court order is entered as 
          follows:
             1)   If the judge, following a probable cause hearing, 
               dismisses the petition, the date the judge enters the order 
               of dismissal;
             2)   If the judge or jury is not satisfied beyond a 
               reasonable doubt that the person is a SVP, the date the 
               judge enters the order;
             3)   If the person is committed to the Department of Mental 
               Health (DMH) as a SVP and subsequently a court orders that 
               the person be unconditionally discharged, the date the 
               judge enters the order.
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                            Fiscal Impact (in thousands)

           Major Provisions        2011-12      2012-13       2013-14     Fund
           
          Increased parole supervision    Unknown; likely significant 
          costs;                 General
                                 annual costs ranging from $25 to
                                 $250, beginning 2016-17
                                 (see Staff Comments)                 
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          STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE. 

          Tolling is the pausing or delaying of the running of the period 
          of time set forth by a statute. Under existing law, as amended 
          by Proposition 83 (Jessica's Law) in November 2006, the parole 
          period of any person found to be a SVP is tolled from the point 
          of SVP commitment until that person is found to no longer be a 
          SVP, at which time the period of parole, or any time remaining 
          shall begin to run. This bill would start the tolling sooner for 
          SVP commitments, from the date of release from prison through 
          the SVP commitment trial process, until the person is no longer 
          found to be a SVP. This bill would also toll the period of 








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          parole for any person not ultimately committed as a SVP but 
          subject to a probable cause hearing, from the date of release 
          from prison until the order of dismissal following a probable 
          cause hearing or through the disposition of the SVP commitment 
          trial process. 

          The SVP commitment process can be lengthy, in which case some 
          sex offenders may be released from custody with reduced periods 
          of parole supervision to be served in the community, as a 
          portion of their parole period has elapsed pending the outcome 
          of the SVP trial process. DMH indicates the average length of 
          time from the court's finding of 

          probable cause to the outcome of a SVP commitment trial is 
          approximately 4.5 years per case, with roughly 100 SVP 
          commitment trials completed annually.

          This bill would not change the length of parole to be served, 
          but would result in more time on parole being served in the 
          community in lieu of time on parole elapsing during the trial 
          process. As the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation 
          (CDCR) does not incur parole supervision costs during the SVP 
          trial process, increasing the length of parole to be served in 
          the community will result in increased supervision costs. 

          According to CDCR, the annual cost of parole supervision for sex 
          offenders is approximately $25,000 which includes supervision, 
          GPS monitoring, and case management costs, as well as treatment 
          costs required under Chelsea's Law (Chapter 219/2010) that 
          require all registered sex offenders to participate in an 
          approved sex offender management program as a condition of 
          parole.

          Every additional year of parole supervision to be served in the 
          community that would not have been served under existing law 
          would result in increased costs of $25,000 per parolee per year, 
          or total costs of $2.5 million for every 100 SVP commitment 
          trials completed. These additional costs would be delayed for at 
          least five years to 2016-17, and would be incurred over time as 
          parolees reach the conclusion of their parole periods under 
          existing law.

          It is unknown how many parolees would be impacted at any one 
          time, but the annual cost of parole supervision for two parolees 
          would meet the threshold for referral to the Suspense File.








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