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)
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          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  








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            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.