BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1108|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1108
Author: Perea (D) and Frazier (D), et al.
Amended: 9/3/13 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 7-0, 6/11/13
AYES: Hancock, Anderson, Block, De Le�n, Knight, Liu, Steinberg
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-0, 8/30/13
AYES: De Le�n, Walters, Gaines, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 70-0, 5/16/13 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT : Sex offenders: foster care homes: prohibitions
SOURCE : Authors
DIGEST : This bill enacts a new misdemeanor prohibiting any
person who is required to register as a sex offender based upon
the commission of an offense against a minor from residing
(except as a client), working, or volunteering in a licensed
child day care or children's residential facility, a certified
home of a foster family agency, or a home or facility that
receives placement of a dependent child, as specified.
Senate Floor Amendments of 9/3/13 are technical revisions
consistent with the purpose of the bill.
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ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1.Requires persons convicted of enumerated sex offenses to
register within five working days of coming into a city or
county, with specified law enforcement officials in the city,
county, or city and county where he/she is domiciled, as
specified. (Penal Code Sec. 290.)
2.Provides that no person who is required to register as a sex
offender because of a conviction for a crime where the victim
was a minor under 16 years of age shall be an employer,
employee, or independent contractor, or act as a volunteer
with any person, group, or organization in a capacity in which
the registrant would be working directly and in an
unaccompanied setting with minor children on more than an
incidental and occasional basis or have supervision or
disciplinary power over minor children. This subdivision
shall not apply to a business owner or an independent
contractor who does not work directly in an unaccompanied
setting with minors. (Penal Code Sec. 290.95(c).)
3.Provides that every person required to register as a sex
offender who applies for or accepts a position as an employee
or volunteer with any person, group, or organization where the
registrant would be working directly and in an unaccompanied
setting with minor children on more than an incidental and
occasional basis or have supervision or disciplinary power
over minor children, shall disclose his/her status as a
registrant, upon application or acceptance of a position, to
that person, group, or organization. (Penal Code Sec.
290.95(a).)
4.Provides that every person required to register as a sex
offender who applies for or accepts a position as an employee
or volunteer with any person, group, or organization where the
applicant would be working directly and in an accompanied
setting with minor children, and the applicant's work would
require him/her to touch the minor children on more than an
incidental basis, shall disclose his/her status as a
registrant, upon application or acceptance of the position, to
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that person, group, or organization. (Penal Code Sec.
290.95(b).)
5.Prohibits the issuance of a license to operate or manage a
community care facility to a person required to register as a
sex offender, as specified
6.Provides that any person required to register as a sex
offender shall disclose this fact to the licensee of a
community care facility before becoming a client of that
facility, as specified. Any person or persons operating a
community care facility that accepts as a client an individual
who is required to register as a sex offender shall confirm or
deny whether any client of the facility is a registered sex
offender in response to any person who inquires whether any
client of the facility is a registered sex offender, as
specified. (Health and Safety Code Sec. 1522.01.)
This bill:
1.Enacts a new misdemeanor, providing that persons who are
required to register as sex offenders based upon the
commission of an offense against a minor are prohibited from
residing, except as a client, and from working or volunteering
in any of the following:
A. A child day care facility or children's residential
facility that is licensed by the State Department of Social
Services (DSS) or a home certified by a foster family
agency, or a home approved by a county child welfare
services agency.
B. A certified home of a foster family agency.
C. A home or facility that receives a placement of a child
who has been, or may be, declared a dependent child of the
juvenile court, or who has been, or may be, declared a ward
of the juvenile court, as specified.
1.States that nothing in the bill limits the authority of DSS to
deny a criminal record exemption request and to take an action
to exclude an individual from residing, working, or
volunteering in a licensed facility, as specified.
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Background
According to a recent report by the State Auditor, Child Welfare
Services (CWS): California Can and Must Provide Better
Protection and Support for Abused and Neglected Children
(October 2011), when comparing the addresses of individuals in
the Sex Offender Registry with addresses of DSS and counties'
licensed facilities and foster homes, they found over 1,000
address matches, nearly 600 of which are considered to be high
risk. The auditor provided the address matches to DSS and,
after completing over 800 investigations, it found registered
sex offenders inappropriately living or present in several
foster homes and other licensed facilities. In October 2011,
DSS indicated that it had begun legal actions against eight
licensees and had issued 36 immediate exclusion orders barring
individuals from licensed facilities. In six of the eight legal
actions, DSS found registered sex offenders living or present in
licensed facilities. Immediate exclusions were issued for
several reasons including a sex offender owning the property, a
sex offender's spouse being the licensee, a sex offender living
at a licensee's personal residence, and a sex offender picking
up mail at the facility.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Potential ongoing court-related costs for new misdemeanor
filings of $24,000 (Trial Court Trust Fund) for every 50
additional filings per year. To the extent existing
provisions of the Health and Safety Code provide a similar
prohibition on registered sex offenders, the increase in the
number of filings is estimated to be minor.
Potential costs to the Department of Justice related to
enforcement of up to $150,000 (General Fund) per year to
update sex offender registrant information, record retrieval
and analysis, and workload associated with increased
enforcement-related inquiries from various agencies.
Annual non-reimbursable local law enforcement costs, offset to
a degree by fine revenue.
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While the impact of this bill independently on local jails is
likely to be minor, the cumulative effect of new misdemeanors
could create General Fund cost pressure on capital outlay,
staffing, programming, the courts, and other resources in the
context of criminal justice realignment.
SUPPORT : (Verified 9/4/13)
Association of Regional Center Agencies
California Coalition Against Sexual Assault
California District Attorneys Association
California Family Resource Association
California Probation, Parole and Correctional Association
California State Sheriffs' Association
California Youth Connection
Chief Probation Officers of California
Child Abuse Prevention Center
Crime Victims United of California
Crittenton Services for Children and Families
Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office
Resource Center for Survivors of Sexual Assault and Family
Violence
The Arc and Cerebral Palsy California Collaboration
OPPOSITION : (Verified 9/4/13)
Department of Finance
Taxpayers for Improving Public Safety
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office, under
existing law, individuals seeking a license to operate a
community care facility or others known to be living or working
in licensed facilities or CWS placements must go through
numerous types of backgrounds checks and would be prohibited
from living or working in these locations if they had been
convicted of a registrable sex offense. However, according to
the State Auditor, state laws could be strengthened to better
ensure that registered sex offenders do not reside, work, or
volunteer in licensed children's facilities or CWS placements.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The Department of Finance states:
It is opposed to this bill because it is unnecessary, as
registered sex offenders are already excluded from working and
volunteering in foster and group homes, either as a special
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condition of parole, if appropriate, and/or as part of the DSS's
licensing process for these homes. Additionally, this bill
creates a new crime that could lead to additional cases entering
the court system, increase the statewide adult jail population,
and impact the ability of counties to manage their offender
population since certain lower-level offenders now serve their
sentence in county jails and/or are supervised by county
probation departments.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 70-0, 5/16/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,
Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Ian
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley,
Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Garcia,
Gatto, Gomez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Hagman, Hall, Harkey,
Roger Hern�ndez, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue,
Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mansoor, Medina, Mitchell, Mullin,
Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea,
V. Manuel P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner,
Ting, Torres, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk,
Williams, Yamada, John A. P�rez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Allen, Buchanan, Eggman, Beth Gaines, Grove,
Holden, Melendez, Morrell, Stone, Vacancy
JG:ej 9/4/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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