BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
SB 534 (Corbett)
Hearing Date: 5/2/2011 Amended: 4/25/2011
Consultant: Jolie Onodera Policy Vote: Public Safety 6-0
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BILL SUMMARY: SB 534 would provide that victims of sexual
assault are not required to participate in the criminal justice
system or cooperate with law enforcement in order to be provided
with a forensic medical examination.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Fund
Additional forensic Potentially major state-reimbursable
costs; General
medical exams $120 - $900 per one percent of reported
victims
Additional sexual Minor costs annually to DOJ
Special*
assault kits
*DNA Identification Fund
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STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
The federal Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) appropriates
grants, including the Services-Training-Officers-Prosecutors
(STOP) Formula Grant Program, to fund a variety of victim
services including sexual assault and domestic violence
programs. California receives approximately $13 million annually
through the VAWA for various qualifying programs. The California
Emergency Management Agency (Cal EMA) is the designated agency
that administers the VAWA STOP Program and allocates the funds
consistent with STOP Program requirements to support victim
services agencies, law enforcement, prosecution, and the courts.
Cal EMA indicated that STOP Program funds are used for rape
crisis center services, as well as for law enforcement and
medical personnel training regarding forensic medical exams, but
are not used to fund payment for the actual exams.
To be eligible to receive VAWA funds, states must certify that
they are in compliance with the statutory eligibility
requirements of the STOP Program. The 2005 reauthorization of
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the VAWA statute required that the state or another governmental
entity incur the full out-of-pocket cost of forensic medical
exams for victims of sexual assault. Further, effective January
5, 2009, a state is not entitled to funds under the STOP Program
unless victims of sexual assault are not required to participate
in the criminal justice system or cooperate with local law
enforcement in order to be provided with a forensic medical exam
at no cost to the victim (42 U.S.C. §3796gg-4). This bill would
mandate that forensic medical exams be afforded to all victims
of sexual assault regardless of their decision to participate in
the criminal justice system or cooperate with law enforcement.
Under existing law, forensic medical exams that are requested by
law enforcement are charged to the local law enforcement agency
in the jurisdiction in which the alleged offense was committed.
Under current law, victims may only receive a forensic medical
exam free of charge when a law enforcement agency requests and
authorizes an exam. Under circumstances where a victim chooses
not to cooperate with law enforcement and the agency does not
authorize an exam, the victim may not receive such an exam. As a
result, the jurisdiction is out of compliance with VAWA
regulations, thereby jeopardizing the state's compliance with
VAWA and eligibility for STOP Program funding.
This bill will likely result in an increased number of forensic
medical examinations that may not have otherwise been provided
to victims of sexual assault who choose not to cooperate with
law enforcement or participate in the criminal justice system.
As the VAWA is not a mandated federal program but requires
compliance for grant eligibility, any additional exams not
requested by law enforcement will result in mandated
reimbursable local costs.
The cost of forensic medical exams varies by jurisdiction and
ranges from $400 - $3,000 per exam. It is unknown how many
additional victims of sexual assault will be afforded a forensic
medical exam under the provisions of this bill, as the total
number of sexual assault victims is unknown and vastly
underreported. In Fiscal Year 2009-10, there were approximately
30,000 reported victims of sexual assault in California. For
every additional one percent of victims requesting an exam who
otherwise would not have done so, the cost for 300 exams would
range between $120,000 and $900,000 per year.
Additionally, to the extent additional forensic exams allow for
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the collection of timely evidence for future use when victims
may decide to come forward and cooperate with law enforcement,
these additional medical exams could lead to prosecution and
incarceration costs of an indeterminable amount.