BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair S
2011-2012 Regular Session B
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SB 1144 (Strickland) 4
As Amended April 18, 2012
Hearing date: April 24, 2012
Labor Code and Penal Code
MK:dl
CRIMES:
PUBLIC SAFETY OMNIBUS
HISTORY
Source: Various
Prior Legislation: SB 428 (Strickland) - Ch. 304, Stats. 2011
SB 1062 (Strickland) - Ch. 708, Stats. 2010
SB 174 (Strickland) - Ch. 35, Stats. 2009
SB 1241 (Margett) - Ch. 699, Stats. 2008
SB 425 (Margett) - Ch. 302, Stats. 2007
SB 1422 (Margett) - Ch. 901, Stats. 2006
SB 1107 (Senate Committee on Public Safety) - Ch.
279, Stats. 2005
SB 1796 (Senate Committee on Public Safety) - Ch.
405, Stats. 2004
SB 851 (Senate Committee on Public Safety) - Ch.
468, Stats. 2003
SB 1852 (Senate Committee on Public Safety) - Ch.
545, Stats. 2002
SB 485 (Senate Committee on Public Safety) - Ch.
473, Stats. 2001
SB 832 (Senate Committee on Public Safety) - Ch.
853, Stats. 1999
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SB 1144 (Strickland)
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SB 1880 (Senate Committee on Public Safety) - Ch.
606, Stats. 1998
Support: Unknown
Opposition:None known
KEY ISSUE
SHOULD TECHNICAL AND CORRECTIVE CHANGES BE MADE IN VARIOUS CODE
SECTIONS RELATING GENERALLY TO CRIMINAL JUSTICE LAWS, AS SPECIFIED?
PURPOSE
The purpose of this bill is to make technical and corrective
changes to various code sections relating generally to criminal
justice laws, as specified.
Existing law provides that an employer who willfully fails to
pay the final court judgment or final order issued by the Labor
Commission due an employee is guilty of a misdemeanor. If the
total amount of wages dues is less than $1,000 the employer
shall be fiend not less than $1,000. If the wages due are more
than $1,000, the fine shall be between $10,000 and $20,000.
(Labor Code § 1197.2)
This bill provides that if the amount due is $1,000 or less then
the fine shall be $1,000.
Existing law provides that when responding to a domestic
violence call, law enforcement shall inform the victim that he
or she has the right to make a citizen's arrest. (Penal Code
835(b))
This bill provides that if a person is actually arrested there
is no the duty to inform a victim that he or she has a right to
make a citizen's arrest.
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SB 1144 (Strickland)
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Existing law , in a number of places references the Department of
Justice, the Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement.
This bill changes the references to the Bureau of Narcotic
Enforcement to the Department of Justice.
This bill makes a number of cross-reference and other technical
changes.
RECEIVERSHIP/OVERCROWDING CRISIS AGGRAVATION
("ROCA")
In response to the unresolved prison capacity crisis, since
early 2007 it has been the policy of the chair of the Senate
Committee on Public Safety and the Senate President pro Tem to
hold legislative proposals which could further aggravate prison
overcrowding through new or expanded felony prosecutions. Under
the resulting policy known as "ROCA" (which stands for
"Receivership/Overcrowding Crisis Aggravation"), the Committee
has held measures which create a new felony, expand the scope or
penalty of an existing felony, or otherwise increase the
application of a felony in a manner which could exacerbate the
prison overcrowding crisis by expanding the availability or
length of prison terms (such as extending the statute of
limitations for felonies or constricting statutory parole
standards). In addition, proposed expansions to the
classification of felonies enacted last year by AB 109 (the 2011
Public Safety Realignment) which may be punishable in jail and
not prison (Penal Code section 1170(h)) would be subject to ROCA
because an offender's criminal record could make the offender
ineligible for jail and therefore subject to state prison.
Under these principles, ROCA has been applied as a
content-neutral, provisional measure necessary to ensure that
the Legislature does not erode progress towards reducing prison
overcrowding by passing legislation which could increase the
prison population. ROCA will continue until prison overcrowding
is resolved.
For the last several years, severe overcrowding in California's
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SB 1144 (Strickland)
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prisons has been the focus of evolving and expensive litigation.
On June 30, 2005, in a class action lawsuit filed four years
earlier, the United States District Court for the Northern
District of California established a Receivership to take
control of the delivery of medical services to all California
state prisoners confined by the California Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation ("CDCR"). In December of 2006,
plaintiffs in two federal lawsuits against CDCR sought a
court-ordered limit on the prison population pursuant to the
federal Prison Litigation Reform Act. On January 12, 2010, a
three-judge federal panel issued an order requiring California
to reduce its inmate population to 137.5 percent of design
capacity -- a reduction at that time of roughly 40,000 inmates
-- within two years. The court stayed implementation of its
ruling pending the state's appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
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On May 23, 2011, the United States Supreme Court upheld the
decision of the three-judge panel in its entirety, giving
California two years from the date of its ruling to reduce its
prison population to 137.5 percent of design capacity, subject
to the right of the state to seek modifications in appropriate
circumstances. Design capacity is the number of inmates a
prison can house based on one inmate per cell, single-level
bunks in dormitories, and no beds in places not designed for
housing. Current design capacity in CDCR's 33 institutions is
79,650.
On January 6, 2012, CDCR announced that California had cut
prison overcrowding by more than 11,000 inmates over the last
six months, a reduction largely accomplished by the passage of
Assembly Bill 109. Under the prisoner-reduction order, the
inmate population in California's 33 prisons must be no more
than the following:
167 percent of design capacity by December 27, 2011
(133,016 inmates);
155 percent by June 27, 2012;
147 percent by December 27, 2012; and
137.5 percent by June 27, 2013.
This bill does not aggravate the prison overcrowding crisis
described above under ROCA.
COMMENTS
1. Purpose of This Bill
This is the annual omnibus bill. In past years, the omnibus
bill has been introduced by all members of the Committee on
Public Safety. This year, like last year, Senator Strickland is
carrying the bill. This bill is similar to the ones introduced
as Committee bills in the past in that it has been introduced
with the following understanding:
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The bill's provisions make only technical or minor
changes to the law; and
There is no opposition by any member of the Legislature
or recognized group to the proposal.
This procedure has allowed for introduction of fewer minor bills
and has saved the Legislature time and expense over the years.
2. Failure to Pay Owed Wages of $1,000 in Labor Code Section
1197.2
AB 469 (Swanson) - Chapter 655, Statutes of 2011, among other
things created the new misdemeanor crimes of willful failure to
pay a final wage order or court judgment. While the statute
delineates penalties for violations involving wages due of less
than or more than $1,000, it fails to specify what the penalty
is if the amount of wages due is exactly $1,000. This bill will
correct that by specifying the fine for wages due of $1,000 or
less.
3. Domestic Violence
Existing law requires law enforcement to inform victims of their
right to make a citizen's arrest. Many law enforcement agencies
have a policy of arrest in domestic violence cases when probable
cause exists. This bill provides that if an arrest is actually
made there is no requirement that a person be informed of their
right to make a citizen's arrest.
4. Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement
Existing law, in a number of places references the Department of
Justice, the Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement. the Bureau of
Narcotic Enforcement no longer exists. This bill changes the
references to the Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement to the
Department of Justice.
5. Technical Changes
This bill also makes a number of technical and cross-reference
SB 1144 (Strickland)
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changes.
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