BILL ANALYSIS Ó Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary Senator Kevin de León, Chair SB 326 (Beall) - Sex Offenders: Permission to be on a School Campus Amended: May 7, 2013 Policy Vote: Education 9-0; Pub. Safety 7-0 Urgency: No Mandate: Yes Hearing Date: May 23, 2013 Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez SUSPENSE FILE. AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED. Bill Summary: SB 326 requires a school's chief administrative official (CAO), if permission to come onto the school's campus is requested by a registered sex offender, as specified, prior to considering whether to grant permission to the individual, to consult with the person's registering authority. This bill requires the registering authority to consult with the CAO and provide the following information: a) The person's most recent static State Authorized Risk Assessment Tool for Sex Offenders (SARATSO) assessment score, as specified; b) a brief description of the facts underlying the offense or offenses for which the person is required to register, as provided; c) any facts known to the registering authority that indicate the person poses a current risk to children; and, d) the registering authorities' assessment, based on that information of the risk that the person will reoffend. This bill requires a CAO who decides to grant permission to the individual to notify the parents of every student, as specified. Fiscal Impact (as approved on May 23, 2013): Minor costs to LEAs, to the extent a CAO decides to give permission for a non-family member sex offender to volunteer on campus. Background: SB 1128 (Alquist) Ch. 337/2006 made several changes to statutes governing the registration and monitoring of sex offenders. Among other things, the bill provided that a registered sex offender who comes into any school building or upon any school ground without lawful business thereon and written permission from the CAO of that school, is guilty of a misdemeanor. The bill also established the SARATSO, the requirement that all registered sex offenders to undergo SB 326 (Beall) Page 1 assessment, and that training be given to law enforcement personnel and others who may administer the SARATSO. Proposed Law: SB 326 requires a school's CAO, if permission to come onto the school's campus is requested by a registered sex offender who is not the parent or guardian of a pupil enrolled at the school, to either deny the request or to consult with the sex offender registrant's registering authority prior to considering grating permission. This bill requires the local law enforcement agency that serves as the registering authority for the individual to disclose to the CAO specified information regarding the individual's documented and perceived risk of committing additional sexual or violent offenses. This bill would further require that, if the CAO determines after consulting with the registering authority that the registrant will be granted permission to come into a school building or upon school grounds and the registering authority has concluded that the person poses a moderate to high risk of reoffending, the CAO must notify the parent or guardian of every pupil at the school, as specified. Staff Comments: Existing law requires that any person who is required to register as a sex offender who comes into any school building or upon any school ground must have lawful business thereon and written permission from the CAO. This bill makes it more difficult to obtain that written permission for individuals who are not parents of attending pupils, by placing extensive new requirements on a CAO if he or she elects to consider granting that permission. The likely effect is that CAOs will simply deny permission, in order to avoid the significant extra work required by this bill. To the extent that CAOs do wish to consider granting permission, however, their ability to compel local law enforcement places a new mandate on local law enforcement, which the Commission on State Mandates is likely to deem a higher level of service. This bill specifies that the local law enforcement agency (which is the registering authority) must, during the consultation, disclose to the CAO, the following information: The person's most SARATSO assessment score, and most recent SARATSO dynamic tool and SARATSO future violence tool assessment scores, if those scores are available from the California Sex and Arson Registry. "Disclosing" this information will functionally require a law enforcement SB 326 (Beall) Page 2 official to explain the way that California assesses sex offenders, including what static and dynamic assessments measure, what the scores mean, and how they are utilized to assess risk of re-offense. Facts underlying the offense or offenses for which the person is required to register, if that information is available from the California Sex and Arson Registry, police reports, or presentencing reports. This requires the local law enforcement official to research the case, explain the offenses to the CAO, and be prepared to answer questions from the CAO. Any facts known to the registering authority that indicate the person poses a current risk to children, including, but not limited to, the presence of risk factors associated with committing sexual or violent offenses. The registering authorities' assessment, based on the information previously identified, of the risk that the person will reoffend. This requires the local law enforcement official to discuss this point with the CAO and, likely, to provide advice. While the duties prescribed by this bill to local law enforcement agencies are likely capable of being completed by those entities, they will be able to submit mandate reimbursement claims for those activities, including any staff time spent on (or preparing for) the consultation required by this bill, as well as training that may be necessary for officials to ensure their compliance with all of the criteria required for the consultation. The committee amendments would remove provisions related to the registering authorities, and instead, provide that the CAO of a school may grant a person who is subject to this section and not a family member of a pupil who attends that school permission to come into a school building or upon the school grounds to volunteer at the school, provided that he or she notifies parents of students at the school, as specified.