BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair S
2013-2014 Regular Session B
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SB 384 (Gaines)
As Amended April 25, 2013
Hearing date: April 30, 2013
Education Code (Urgency)
MK:mc
VICTIMS COMPENSATION FUND
HISTORY
Source: Author
Prior Legislation: None
Support: Unknown
Opposition:None known
KEY ISSUE
SHOULD THE PERIOD IN WHICH THE VICTIMS COMPENSATION AND GOVERNMENT
CLAIMS BOARD MUST NOTIFY ELIGIBLE PERSONS FOR SCHOLARSHIPS BE
EXTENDED UNTIL JULY 2014?
PURPOSE
The purpose of this bill is to require the Victims Compensation
and Government Claims Board to notify victims of 9/11 that they
are eligible for scholarships by July 2014, and extend to July
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2015 the time in which the victims must state that they want to
participate in the scholarship program.
Existing provisions in the California Constitution state that
all persons who suffer losses as a result of criminal activity
shall have the right to restitution from the perpetrators of
these crimes. Restitution shall be ordered in every case unless
compelling and extraordinary reasons exist to the contrary. The
Legislature shall adopt provisions to implement this section
during the calendar year following adoption of this section.
(Ca. Const. Art. 1 � 28(b).)
Existing law states legislative intent that a victim of crime
who incurs any economic loss as a result of the commission of a
crime shall receive restitution directly from any defendant
convicted of that crime. (Pen. Code � 1202.4, subd. (a)(1).)
Existing law directs the court to order a defendant to make
restitution to the victim or victims of the defendant's crime.
The court shall order full restitution for the losses caused by
the defendant's crime unless the court finds and states
compelling and extraordinary reasons for not doing so. (Pen.
Code � 1202.4, subd. (f).)
Existing law creates the Victims of Crime Program, administered
by the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims
Board<1>, to reimburse victims of crime for the pecuniary losses
they suffer as a direct result of criminal acts.
Indemnification is made from the Restitution Fund, which is
continuously appropriated to the California Victim Compensation
and Government Claims Board for these purposes. (Gov. Code ��
13950-13968; note that �� 13969 and .2, .5, and .7 related to a
one-time 9/11/01 payment and are repealed effective 1/1/04.)
Existing law creates the California Memorial Scholarship Program
administered by the Scholarshare Investment Board to provide
---------------------------
<1> This entity was formerly known as the State Board of
Control. (Govt. Code � 13900 amended by AB 2491 - Ch. 1016,
Stats. 2000.)
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scholarships for surviving dependents of California residents
killed as a result of injuries sustained during the Terrorist
attacks of September
11, 2001. (Education Code � 70011.)
Existing law provides that the California Victims Compensation
and Government Claims Board shall identify all persons who are
eligible for scholarships under the California Memorial
Scholarship Program by July 1, 2003. (Education Code �
70010.5(a).)
Existing law provides that persons eligible, or the parent or
guardian of an eligible person, shall inform the Scholarshare
Investment Board of their decision on whether to participate in
the program and shall execute agreements no later than July 1,
2005.
This bill changes the time of notification of the eligible
participants to July 1, 2014, and extends the time in which
agreements shall be executed to July 1, 2015.
RECEIVERSHIP/OVERCROWDING CRISIS AGGRAVATION
For the last several years, severe overcrowding in California's
prisons has been the focus of evolving and expensive litigation
relating to conditions of confinement. On May 23, 2011, the
United States Supreme Court ordered California to reduce its
prison population to 137.5 percent of design capacity within two
years from the date of its ruling, subject to the right of the
state to seek modifications in appropriate circumstances.
Beginning in early 2007, Senate leadership initiated a policy to
hold legislative proposals which could further aggravate the
prison overcrowding crisis through new or expanded felony
prosecutions. Under the resulting policy known as "ROCA" (which
stands for "Receivership/ Overcrowding Crisis Aggravation"), the
Committee held measures which created a new felony, expanded the
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scope or penalty of an existing felony, or otherwise increased
the application of a felony in a manner which could exacerbate
the prison overcrowding crisis. Under these principles, ROCA
was applied as a content-neutral, provisional measure necessary
to ensure that the Legislature did not erode progress towards
reducing prison overcrowding by passing legislation which would
increase the prison population. ROCA necessitated many hard and
difficult decisions for the Committee.
In January of 2013, just over a year after the enactment of the
historic Public Safety Realignment Act of 2011, the State of
California filed court documents seeking to vacate or modify the
federal court order issued by the Three-Judge Court three years
earlier to reduce the state's prison population to 137.5 percent
of design capacity. The State submitted in part that the, ". .
. population in the State's 33 prisons has been reduced by over
24,000 inmates since October 2011 when public safety realignment
went into effect, by more than 36,000 inmates compared to the
2008 population . . . , and by nearly 42,000 inmates since 2006
. . . ." Plaintiffs, who opposed the state's motion, argue in
part that, "California prisons, which currently average 150% of
capacity, and reach as high as 185% of capacity at one prison,
continue to deliver health care that is constitutionally
deficient." In an order dated January 29, 2013, the federal
court granted the state a six-month extension to achieve the
137.5 % prisoner population cap by December 31st of this year.
In an order dated April 11, 2013, the Three-Judge Court denied
the state's motions, and ordered the state of California to
"immediately take all steps necessary to comply with this
Court's . . . Order . . . requiring defendants to reduce overall
prison population to 137.5% design capacity by December 31,
2013."
The ongoing litigation indicates that prison capacity and
related issues concerning conditions of confinement remain
unresolved. However, in light of the real gains in reducing the
prison population that have been made, although even greater
reductions are required by the court, the Committee will review
each ROCA bill with more flexible consideration. The following
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questions will inform this consideration:
whether a measure erodes realignment;
whether a measure addresses a crime which is directly
dangerous to the physical safety of others for which there
is no other reasonably appropriate sanction;
whether a bill corrects a constitutional infirmity or
legislative drafting error;
whether a measure proposes penalties which are
proportionate, and cannot be achieved through any other
reasonably appropriate remedy; and
whether a bill addresses a major area of public safety
or criminal activity for which there is no other
reasonable, appropriate remedy.
COMMENTS
1. Need for This Bill
According to the author:
Per the recent Auditor's report on the specialty
license plate program, there have been inexcusable
errors in the implementation of the Memorial
Scholarship Program which provides educational
scholarships to eligible dependents of victims of the
9/11 attacks. In 2002 the Memorial License Plate was
created with the accompanying fund and scholarship
program, with specific instructions to the Victim's
Compensation Board to identify and notify potential
scholarship recipients of their eligibility and invite
them to participate in the program. There was a
deadline set out for not only notification, but then a
follow-up date for which the students or their
parents/guardians had to notify the Board of their
acceptance of the scholarship and participation in the
program.
The Victim's Compensation Board did not meet their
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statutory deadline for notification- in fact they far
surpassed it, only leaving a quarter of the time
allotted for students to not only realize they were
eligible, but then decide to participate. The Board
also did not do the outreach that was instructed to be
done to inform potentially eligible dependents.
It is because of this lack of adherence to statute that
the authors of this bill want to re-open the Memorial
Scholarship Program and give eligible students who may
not have had the time or notification the first time
around, the ability to participate in a scholarship
that was put in place specifically to assist them.
This bill will give a new window of time for the
Victim's Compensation Board to identify, outreach, and
sign up eligible participants for this scholarship
program utilizing revenues still being received from
the specialty memorial license plates.
2. Scholarship for 9/11 Victims
The California Memorial Scholarship Program was established for
the surviving dependents of 9/11 victims. The scholarship is
administered by Scholarshare but notification of the victims was
to be made by the Victims Compensation and Government Claims
Board. According to the author, the notification was not done
in a timely or complete manner and thus many eligible
participants did not meet the deadline for stating their
interest. This bill intends to remedy that problem by extending
the time frames in which the Victims Compensation and Government
Claims Board must provide notice and the time in which the
interested persons must sign an agreement.
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