BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 57
Page 1
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 |
| | | | |
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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