BILL ANALYSIS Ó ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 490| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ THIRD READING Bill No: SB 490 Author: Hancock (D), et al. Amended: 5/31/11 Vote: 21 SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 6-0, 05/03/11 AYES: Hancock, Calderon, Harman, Liu, Price, Steinberg NO VOTE RECORDED: Anderson SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 9-0, 05/26/11 AYES: Kehoe, Walters, Alquist, Emmerson, Lieu, Pavley, Price, Runner, Steinberg SUBJECT : Corrections: Office of the Inspector General SOURCE : Author DIGEST : This bill restructures the Office of Inspector General and narrows its duties and responsibilities. This bill removes the Inspector General and other prospective employees from peace officer status, and instead provides them with non-peace officer authority relating to powers of arrest, serving warrants, and access to criminal history information, as specified. ANALYSIS : Existing law creates the independent Office of the Inspector General and provides that it is not a subdivision of any other government entity. The Inspector General and certain other employees of the office are peace officers provided that the primary duty of these peace CONTINUED SB 490 Page 2 officers is conducting audits of investigatory practices and other audits, as well as conducting investigations, of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Division of Juvenile Justice, and the Board of Parole Hearings. This bill removes the Inspector General and the other employees from peace officer status. The bill authorizes the Inspector General and certain other employees to exercise the powers of arrest and serving warrants, as provided. Existing law requires the Inspector General to, among other things, review departmental policy and procedures, conduct audits of investigatory practices and other audits, be responsible for contemporaneous oversight of internal affairs investigations and the disciplinary process, and conduct investigations of the department, and audit each warden of an institution one year after his or her appointment and each correctional institution at least once every four years. Existing law establishes within the Office of the Inspector General a Bureau of Independent Review. Existing law requires the Inspector General to evaluate and determine the qualifications of each candidate for warden or superintendent, as specified. This bill removes the requirement that the Inspector General review departmental policy and procedures, conduct audits of investigatory practices and other audits, and conduct investigations of the department, and instead provide that the Inspector General shall be responsible for contemporaneous oversight of internal affairs investigations and the disciplinary process of the department pursuant to provisions specifying the responsibilities of the Bureau of Independent Review. The bill removes the requirement of the Inspector General to audit wardens. The bill requires the Inspector General to conduct an objective, clinically appropriate, and metric-oriented medical inspection program to periodically review delivery of medical care at each state prison. Background Recent Senate Office of Oversight and Outcomes Report CONTINUED SB 490 Page 3 In November of 2010, the Senate Office of Oversight and Outcomes issued a report entitled, Gun-Toting Auditors and Attorneys: Does the Inspector General Need 105 Armed Peace Officers ? The summary for this report includes the following: The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is an independent state agency established in 1998 to oversee and investigate alleged wrongdoing within the state corrections department. Among its duties, OIG conducts audits and investigations of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, oversees the department's internal affairs investigations, collects complaints and tips about the correctional system, evaluates candidates for warden, and inspects facilities. The OIG workforce has tripled in the last six years, from 48 to 150. At the same time, the proportion of peace officers has also grown: from 44% in 2003 to 70% today. Much of the growth at OIG was the result of the creation in 2004 of a Bureau of Independent Review. The new bureau was part of the state's response to the well-publicized federal court oversight of the prison system in the ongoing Madrid litigation, which found that state corrections officials were plagued by inadequate internal policing and insufficient investigation of wrongful behavior, including excessive force. As currently configured, 105 of the 150 positions in the Office of the Inspector General are sworn peace officers. Their titles are spelled out in Penal Code Section 830.2 (j), a statute amended in 2009 specifically to include the 27 lawyers in the Bureau of Independent Review. The office's auditors have been peace officers since the OIG was established, along with the Inspector General himself. Among our findings: OIG staffers from the Inspector General on down are expected to carry a gun and ammunition at all times they're on duty: at the office, on the road, CONTINUED SB 490 Page 4 in the air. But one place they always go unarmed is inside a prison. At California correctional facilities, OIG staff must check their weapons at the gate or leave them locked in their cars. Those weapons have price tags: $430 for a Glock semi-automatic pistol, $35 for a holster, $75 for ammunition. All told, outfitting each OIG peace officer costs taxpayers $2,050. Add the take-home state car, and the grand total exceeds $20,000. In the past five years no OIG peace officer has fired a gun on duty, except at the firing range. That itself can be dangerous - one Deputy Inspector General accidentally shot himself while putting in his required hours at the range. 70% of the mileage OIG peace officers put on their take-home state cars is for their daily commute to the office. The Senate oversight office asked for all vehicle home-storage permits and was given permits for 71 OIG peace officers. Based on these permits, their home-to-office commutes total 3,230 miles per workday (an average of 45 miles for each worker). Overall, of the 1 million miles logged by the OIG fleet in 2009/10, more than 700,000 miles were for employees' commute to work. During 2007, 2008 and 2009, OIG fielded more than 10,000 separate complaints and tips - but only eight cases were referred to a law enforcement agency for possible criminal prosecution during those three years. Another six criminal investigations were closed by the OIG for lack of evidence, for a total of 14 cases, according to quarterly reports. Despite the low number of criminal cases, in 2009 the OIG created a separate Bureau of Criminal Investigation. The career paths leading to these peace officer positions indicate how unusual the Office of the Inspector General is in this area. In the two OIG bureaus that house the attorneys and auditors, 98% were not peace officers before signing on with the CONTINUED SB 490 Page 5 Inspector General. The OIG's Bureau of Independent Review was modeled on Los Angeles County's Office of Independent Review, a team of lawyers who monitor the L.A. Sheriff's Department, including county jails. The Los Angeles operation, however, is emphatically a civilian group. "We don't feel we need peace officer status - we never asked for it, we never needed it, we don't want it," its chief attorney said. California's Attorney General employs 1,150 lawyers. They don't have take-home cars and only a handful, fewer than 5, are sworn peace officers. Just one carries a gun. None of the AG's 80 auditors are peace officers or get state cars. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes According to the Senate Appropriations Committee: Fiscal Impact (in thousands) Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Fund Narrowing of OIG Savings of $2,800 in 2011-12; savings General duties of $5,600 in 2012-13 Removal of peace officer Unknown; potential future cost savings General status of $16 per position SUPPORT : (Verified 6/1/11) California Correctional Supervisors Organization ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office: This bill starts the process of eliminating the abuse CONTINUED SB 490 Page 6 of peace officer status in state government and the resulting waste of taxpayer dollars. Attorneys and auditors in the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) receive peace officer status despite the fact that their job duties do not require the specialized functions of law enforcement officers. A recent report by the Senate Office of Oversights and Outcomes titled, "Gun-toting Auditors and Attorneys: Does the Inspector General Need 105 Armed Peace Officers?" found that outfitting each attorney and auditor with guns, holsters, handcuffs, ammunition and related equipment costs more than $2,000 per employee. The report also revealed that their state-issued cars logged more than 700,000 miles for home-to-work commutes, at no cost to the employee. That figure represented 70% of the total mileage utilized. The OIG use peace officer perks to attract and retain its team of lawyers and auditors. Since 2004, the proportion of peace officers has grown in the agency from 44% in 2003 to 70% today. SB 490 eliminates the wasteful spending at the OIG by removing peace officer status from the Inspector General and other employees of the OIG, and recasts the mission and responsibilities of the OIG to ensure the agency continues to carry out its work in a cost-effective manner. RJG:nl 6/1/11 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED