BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 68
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 68 (Maienschein)
As Amended August 20, 2013
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |76-0 |(April 18, |SENATE: |39-0 |(September 6, |
| | |2013) | | |2013) |
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Original Committee Reference: PUB. S.
SUMMARY : Requires the California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation (CDCR) to provide notice to the county of
commitment and the proposed county of release of any medical
parole hearing or of any medical parole release. Provides that
notice shall be made at least 30 days, or as soon as feasible,
prior to the time any medical parole hearing or medical parole
release is scheduled for an inmate receiving medical parole
consideration, regardless of whether the inmate is sentenced
either determinately or indeterminately.
The Senate amendments :
1)Clarify that notice to the proposed county of release is only
required if that county is different than the county of
commitment.
2)State that the notice must be made at least 30 days, or as
soon as feasible, prior to the scheduled hearing or release.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the medical parole program whereby any prisoner
who the head physician of the institution where the prisoner
is located determines is permanently medically incapacitated
with a medical condition that renders him or her permanently
unable to perform activities of basic daily living, and
results in the prisoner requiring 24-hour care, and that
incapacitation did not exist at the time of sentencing, shall
be granted medical parole if the Board of Parole Hearings
(BPH) determines that the conditions under which the prisoner
would be released would not reasonably pose a threat to public
safety.
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2)Requires, at least 30 days before BPH meets to review or
consider the parole suitability or the setting of a parole
date for any prisoner sentenced to a life sentence, the board
to send written notice thereof to each of the following
persons: the judge of the superior court before whom the
prisoner was tried and convicted, the attorney who represented
the defendant at trial, the district attorney of the county in
which the offense was committed, the law enforcement agency
that investigated the case, and where the prisoner was
convicted of the murder of a peace officer, the law
enforcement agency which had employed that peace officer at
the time of the murder.
3)States that upon request to CDCR and verification of the
identity of the requester, notice of any hearing to review or
consider the parole suitability or the setting of parole date
for any prisoner shall be given by BPH at least 90 days before
the hearing to any victim of any crime committed by the
prisoner, or the next of kin of the victim if the victim has
died.
4)Provides that an inmate who is released on parole or
postrelease supervision shall be returned to the county that
was the last legal resident of the inmate prior to his or her
incarceration, except as provided. For purposes of this
subdivision, "last legal residence" shall not be construed to
mean the county wherein the inmate committed an offense while
confined in state prison or a local jail facility or while
confined for treatment in a state hospital.
5)States that notwithstanding the above provision, an inmate may
be returned to another county if that would be in the best
interests of the public, and provides specified factors for
the paroling authority to consider when making the decision to
release an inmate to a county other than his or her last legal
residence. The factors give the most weight to the protection
of the victim and the safety of the community.
6)States that whenever any person confined to state prison is
serving a term for the conviction of a violent felony, BPH or
CDCR shall notify the sheriff or chief of police, or both, and
the district attorney, who has jurisdiction over the community
in which the person was convicted and, in addition, the
sheriff or chief of police, or both, and the district
attorney, having jurisdiction over the community in which the
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person is scheduled to be released on parole or rereleased
following a period of confinement pursuant to a parole
revocation without a new commitment.
7)Provides whenever any sheriff or chief of police is notified
of the pending release of a convicted violent felon, as
specified, that sheriff or chief of police may notify any
person designated by the sheriff or chief of police as an
appropriate recipient of this notice.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill required CDCR to provide
notice to the county of commitment and the county of proposed
release of any medical parole hearing or of any medical parole
release. This bill also provided that notice shall be made at
least 30 days prior to the time any medical parole hearing or
medical parole release is scheduled for an inmate receiving
medical parole consideration, regardless of whether the inmate
is sentenced either determinately or indeterminately.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "Due to Realignment, the
State of California is allowed to offer medical parole to
inmates who are permanently medically incapacitated, are not a
threat to public safety, and have not been sentenced to death or
life without the possibility of parole. These inmates are
placed in care facilities in the community, but are still
considered incarcerated.
"Under current law, a notification of pending medical parole is
only provided to the District Attorney in the county where the
inmate was convicted. There are instances where inmates are
medically paroled to counties other than the one they were
convicted in and those counties are not notified that a medical
parolee will be returning to their community. As an example, in
San Diego County, which has highly specialized skilled nursing
home facilities that provide high levels of care required by
some prisoners, several individuals have been medically paroled
without any notice to County officials.
"AB 68 does not alter the procedure for determining whether to
approve an inmate for medical parole, or not. This measure
simply seeks to require the California Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to provide notification to pertinent
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entities, such as the County, District Attorney and Sheriff of
both the county of commitment and the county where the medical
parolee will receive care, all of whom are responsible for the
public's safety in some capacity.
"AB 68 will fulfill one of our highest priorities, which is
ensuring the safety of our communities and its residents."
Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion
of this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Stella Choe / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744
FN: 0002390