BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 966|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 966
Author: Bonta (D)
Amended: 1/6/14 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 5-1, 5/13/14
AYES: Hancock, De León, Liu, Mitchell, Steinberg
NOES: Anderson
NO VOTE RECORDED: Knight
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 5-0, 8/14/14
AYES: De León, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
NO VOTE RECORDED: Walters, Gaines
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 48-26, 1/27/14 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Prisoner Protections for Family and Community Health
Act
SOURCE : AIDS Healthcare Foundation
DIGEST : This bill requires the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation (CDCR) to develop a five-year plan to expand the
availability of condoms in all California prisons.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1.Provides that any person who participates in an act of sodomy
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with any person of any age while confined in any state prison
or local detention facility shall be punished by imprisonment
in the state prison or in a county jail for not more than one
year.
2.Provides that persons participating in an act of oral
copulation while confined in any state prison or local
detention facility shall be punished by imprisonment in the
state prison or in a county jail for a period of not more than
one year.
3.Requires CDCR, contingent on the availability of funding, to
provide HIV/AIDS health and prevention information to inmates.
4.Provides that a law enforcement employee, custodial staff, or
an inmate may request HIV testing of another inmate if he/she
reasonably believes that he or she has come into contact with
the other inmate's bodily fluids. Provides that the chief
medical officer will make the determination whether to require
the testing.
5.Authorizes the chief medical officer to order a test of an
inmate if he/she concludes there are clinical symptoms of
HIV/AIDS, as recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC).
6.Requires probation and parole officers be notified when an
inmate being released from incarceration is infected with
AIDS, and permits these officers to notify certain persons who
will come into contact with the parolee or probationer, if
authorized by law.
7.Requires CDCR to pay for medical costs, including those
associated with HIV/AIDS infections.
This bill requires CDCR to develop a five-year plan to expand
the availability of condoms in all California prisons.
Background
HIV/AIDS in California's prison population . In 2013, CDCR
treated 1,055 inmates for HIV/AIDS at a cost of nearly $30,000
per year per inmate as estimated by California Health Care
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Services. Because CDCR does not require HIV testing for all
inmates, the true number of infected inmates is unknown.
However, research shows that incarcerated populations have
disproportionately higher rates of infectious diseases,
including HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections.
In fact, according to the University of California, San
Francisco, the rate of HIV infection among inmates is 8-10 times
higher than among the general population. Nationally, CDC
estimates that the rate of confirmed AIDS cases among state and
federal prisons to be about 2.4 times the rate in the general
population. While research suggests most HIV-positive inmates
acquire HIV out of prison, transmission once in prison through
unprotected sex or contaminated syringes is well-documented and
presents an increased risk of transmitting HIV to individuals
out in the community once inmates are released.
Despite laws or policies expressly prohibiting sexual activity
while in state custody, studies show that both consensual and
non-consensual sex occurs in prisons with regularity.
According to an article from the Columbia Journal of Gender and
Law, "By prisoners' own direct reports and empirical studies
based on interviews or surveys of prisoners, many inmates choose
to engage in sexual activity for reasons other than fear of
immediate or possible violence. They have sex-again, this is by
their own reports-for money, drugs, food, comfort, physical
gratification, and love."
Comments
According to the author:
Sexually transmitted disease is a tragic reality of life in
prison and using condoms is a low-cost, highly effective
method of reducing the spread of sexually transmitted
diseases. The HIV/AIDS infection rate in prison is estimated
to be at least 8 to 10 times higher than among the general
population.
AB 966 would require CDCR to develop a five-year plan to offer
condoms in all California prisons, based on the
recommendations from the Solano Prison pilot project. This
bill is based on the successful findings of a Solano State
Prison condom pilot project conducted in 2008. The purpose of
that pilot project was to determine the practicality and
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safety of condom distribution in a state prison. The program
was an indisputable success.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Minor, absorbable one-time costs (General Fund) to develop the
five-year plan.
Potential future cost pressure of about $175,000 (General
Fund) to implement a statewide program. While this bill does
not require plan implementation, to the extent CDCR chooses to
do so, based on reported data from the pilot project,
potential first-year costs for a statewide program would cost
approximately $175,000 based on a cost per inmate of $1.50 in
the first year, including the initial cost of the dispensers,
decreasing to $90,000 statewide, based on a cost of $0.76 per
inmate for subsequent years. To the extent the plan imposes a
phased-in approach to implementation, initial costs could be
less.
Potential out-year significant savings in medical-related
costs to the CDCR and community at large to the extent the
plan is implemented and the availability of condoms results in
fewer cases of HIV/AIDS. It is estimated that very few HIV
infections (less than four cases) would need to be prevented
for a cost-neutral program.
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/13/14)
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (source)
Alameda County Board of Supervisors
Alameda-Contra Costa Medical Association
American Civil Liberties Union of California
Beyond AIDS
California Academy of Preventative Medicine
California Communities United Institute
California Medical Association
California Public Defenders Association
California State Conference of the NAACP
Friends Committee on Legislation of California
Harm Reduction in Prison Coalition
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Health Officers Association of California
HIV Education and Prevention Project of Alameda County
Legal Services for Prisoners with Children
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
National Association of Social Workers-California Chapter
Planned Parenthood
Taxpayers for Improving Public Safety
Women Organized to Respond to Life-threatening Diseases
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 48-26, 1/27/14
AYES: Alejo, Ammiano, Atkins, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta,
Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau,
Chesbro, Dababneh, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Frazier,
Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Hall, Roger Hernández,
Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Lowenthal, Mullin, Muratsuchi,
Nazarian, Pan, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez,
Skinner, Stone, Ting, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Williams,
Yamada, John A. Pérez
NOES: Achadjian, Allen, Bigelow, Conway, Cooley, Donnelly, Fox,
Beth Gaines, Gorell, Gray, Grove, Hagman, Harkey, Jones,
Linder, Maienschein, Mansoor, Melendez, Morrell, Olsen,
Patterson, Perea, Quirk-Silva, Salas, Wagner, Wilk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Chávez, Dahle, Logue, Medina, Nestande, V.
Manuel Pérez
JG:k 8/15/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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