BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  SB 57
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          SENATE THIRD READING
          SB 57 (Lieu)
          As Amended  September 3, 2013
          Majority vote 

           SENATE VOTE  :39-0  
           
           PUBLIC SAFETY       5-0         APPROPRIATIONS      17-0        
           
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          |Ayes:|Melendez, Jones-Sawyer,   |Ayes:|Gatto, Harkey, Bigelow,   |
          |     |Mitchell, Skinner,        |     |Bocanegra, Bradford, Ian  |
          |     |Waldron                   |     |Calderon, Campos,         |
          |     |                          |     |Donnelly, Eggman, Gomez,  |
          |     |                          |     |Hall, Holden, Linder,     |
          |     |                          |     |Pan, Quirk, Wagner, Weber |
          |     |                          |     |                          |
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
           SUMMARY  :  Prohibits a person who is required to register as a  
          sex offender from removing or disabling an electronic global  
          positioning system (GPS) or other monitoring device affixed as a  
          condition of parole.  Specifically,  this bill  :

          1)Provides that the parole authority shall revoke the person's  
            parole and requires that he or she be incarcerated in the  
            county jail for 180 days.

          2)Exempts the removal or disabling of an electronic, GPS, or  
            other monitoring device by a physician, emergency medical  
            services technician, or by any other emergency response or  
            medical personnel when doing so is necessary during the course  
            of medical treatment of the person subject to the electronic,  
            GPS, or other monitoring device.

          3)Exempts the removal or disabling of the electronic, GPS, or  
            other monitoring device is authorized or required by a court,  
            or by the law enforcement, probation, parole authority, or  
            other entity responsible for placing the electronic, GPS, or  
            other monitoring device upon the person, or that has, at the  
            time, the authority and responsibility to monitor the  
            electronic, GPS, or other monitoring device.

           EXISTING LAW  : 









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          1)Authorizes the California Department of Corrections and  
            Rehabilitation (CDCR) to utilize continuous electronic  
            monitoring, including GPS, to electronically monitor the  
            whereabouts of persons on parole as specified.  

          2)Provides that every inmate who has been convicted for any  
            felony violation of a registerable sex offense or any attempt  
            to commit any of the above-mentioned offenses and who is  
            committed to prison and released on parole shall be monitored  
            by GPS for the term of his or her parole, or for the duration  
            or any remaining part thereof, whichever period of time is  
            less.  

          3)Specifies that inmates released on parole pursuant to this  
            section shall be required to pay for the costs associated with  
            the monitoring by GPS, subject to waiver by CDCR upon a  
            finding of an inability to pay, as specified.  

          4)Provides, as enacted by Proposition 83 of 2006, that every  
            inmate who has been convicted for any felony violation of a  
            registerable sex offense or any attempt to commit (one of the  
            enumerated sex offenses) and who is committed to prison and  
            released on parole shall be monitored by GPS for life.  

          5)Provides that whenever a parole officer supervising an  
            individual has reasonable cause to believe that the individual  
            is not complying with the rules or conditions set forth for  
            the use of continuous electronic monitoring as a supervision  
            tool, the officer supervising the individual may, without a  
            warrant of arrest, take the individual into custody for a  
            violation of parole.  

          6)Authorizes parole to impose additional and appropriate  
            conditions of supervision, upon a finding of good cause that  
            the parolee has committed a violation of law or violated his  
            or her conditions of parole; those may include rehabilitation  
            and treatment services and appropriate incentives for  
            compliance, and impose immediate, structured, and intermediate  
            sanctions for parole violations, including flash incarceration  
            in a county jail.  

          7)Authorizes the court, upon revocation of parole, to do any of  
            the following:









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             a)   Reinstate parole with modification of conditions, if  
               appropriate, including a period of incarceration;

             b)   Revoke parole and order the parolee to serve time in the  
               county jail; or,

             c)   Refer the parolee to a reentry program or other  
               evidence-based program.  

          8)Limits confinement in the county jail for up to 180 days of  
            incarceration per revocation.  

          9)Authorizes good behavior and work performance credit for  
            prisoners confined in city or county jails, industrial farms  
            or road camps.  

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  According to the Assembly Appropriations  
          Committee, increased local incarceration costs, potentially in  
          the low millions of dollars statewide, for mandatory six-month  
          jail terms.  While there is no direct state cost, adding more  
          inmates to realigned county jails could affect future  
          realignment formula discussions, as well as add to local jail  
          overcrowding, which decreases the state's option to contract  
          with local jails for inmate beds, which is one of the proposed  
          strategies in the state's response to the three-judge panel  
          order regarding inmate population reduction. 

          Based on CDCR data, from 2010 through 2012, inclusive, 6,092 sex  
          offenders absconded from parole (about 20% of the sex offenders  
          on parole) and 5,791 were captured.  (According to CDCR, almost  
          all disabled their GPS devices.)  Assuming county jail per  
          capita costs of about $28,000, for every 10% of the captured  
          population that serves a period of incarceration as a result of  
          this bill, using a six-month average sentence, annual costs  
          would be about $2.6 million. 

           COMMENTS  :  According to the author, "Sex offender parolees who  
          remove or disable their GPS monitoring devices is and has been a  
          significant problem.  Our entire GPS monitoring system is at  
          risk of failure if we cannot keep thousands of dangerous sex  
          offender parolees from removing and disabling their tracking  
          devices. 

          "In 2010, a total of 1821 sex offender parolees absconded and  








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          removed/disabled their GPS devices.  That means that 25% of all  
          sex offender parolees absconded in 2010.   In 2011, that total  
          increased to nearly 2,000 sex offender parolees or 28% of all  
          sex offenders; and 2012 it was nearly 2,300 sex offender  
          parolees which equates to 30% of all sex offender parolees. 

          "When you look at how often these sex offender parolees are  
          removing or disabling these devices, the numbers are even more  
          astonishing.  In 2010, over 2,300 warrants were issued for sex  
          offenders who removed or disabled their ankle bracelets and who  
          absconded.   In 2011, the number of warrants increased to nearly  
          2,700 and in 2012 that number was over 4,100.  In other words,  
          the percentage of warrants issued for sex offender parolees have  
          increased from just over 32% to now over 55%.  

          "There are far too many sex offenders cutting off their GPS  
          devices. We need a stronger deterrent and we must keep these sex  
          offender parolees on GPS monitoring. 

          "Research shows that when a sex offender is not being monitored  
          by a GPS device, the parolee's chances of committing new sex  
          crimes increases threefold. 

          "SB 57 strikes a balance between creating that deterrent while  
          also acknowledging the federal court's mandate to reduce prison  
          population.   I believe this is the needed deterrent to keep sex  
          offender parolees from removing or disabling their GPS devices."  


          Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion  
          of this bill.  


          Analysis Prepared by  :    Stella Choe / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744 


                                                                FN: 0002183