Amended in Senate January 9, 2014

Senate Bill No. 466

Introduced by Senator DeSaulnier

(Coauthor: Senator Wolk)

February 21, 2013

An act to add begin insert and repeal end insert Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 11480) begin delete to end delete begin insert of end insert Title 1 of Part 4 of the Penal Code, relating to the California Institute for Criminal Justice Policy.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 466, as amended, DeSaulnier. California Institute for Criminal Justice Policy.

Existing law requires the California Law Revision Commission to study, and limits the commission to studying, topics approved by resolution of the Legislature. Existing law requires the commission to examine statutes to discover defects and recommend reforms.

This bill would establish the California Institute for Criminal Justice Policy. This bill would request the University of California to house the institute. This bill would require the institute to conduct a cost-benefit, evidence-based analysis for each pending legislative measure relating to criminal justice and supply the analysis to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees in the Legislature as soon as practicable and not later than 60 days after receiving a request to produce an analysis from a committee. begin insert The bill would become operative upon funding being made available in the annual Budget Act, and would be repealed as of January 1, 2018. end insert

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 11480) is
added to Title 1 of Part 4 of the Penal Code, to read:

 

Chapter  4. California Institute for Criminal Justice
Policy

 

11480.  

The Legislature finds and declares all begin insert of end insert the following:

(a) For the past 30 years, California’s criminal justice system
has experienced ongoing problems, including dangerous prison
overcrowding. In 2006, California’s prison population reached
173,000 inmates, at 202 percent of design capacity. State spending
on corrections increased by 31 percent in the last decade resulting
in reduced funding for higher education, health and social services,
and the courts and local law enforcement.

(b) Parole reform in 2009 and the 2011 Public Safety
Realignment significantly reduced prison populations for the first
time in decades. Nonetheless, prisons are still over capacity, jail
expansion is increasing across the state, and too few justice system
entities have embraced begin delete evidenced-based end delete begin insert evidence-based end insert practices
to increase safety and reduce criminal justice costs.

(c) California needs an independent data-driven institution to
promulgate best practices in criminal justice and guide the state
in a transition from a problem-plagued justice system to
evidence-based practices. A dedicated, independent institute can
carry out nonpartisan practical research to address the continuing
issues in the criminal justice system and delineate models for
effective public safety and justice systems.

(d) Instituting best practices in the criminal justice system will
ultimately save the state money through reduced litigation costs.
A 2010 report by the Inspector General of California found that
the state paid more than $139 million between 1997 and 2010 in
litigation costs for 12 major class action cases associated with the
treatment of inmates and wards in the state. By addressing these
issues in a comprehensive manner, future lawsuits could be
avoided, and the costs of the existing ongoing litigation could be
mitigated.

11480.01.  

There is hereby established in the state government
the California Institute for Criminal Justice Policy.

The purposes of the institute shall include, but need not be
limited to, the facilitation of a comprehensive and coordinated
approach to delineate effective public safety and justice systems
through the use of evidence-based practices, the promulgation of
cost benefit analyses of criminal justice legislation to promulgate
a statewide plan for public safety, and the development of strategies
based on data and science that reduce recidivism and hold offenders
accountable.

11481.  

The Legislature requests that the University of
California house the California Institute for Criminal Justice Policy
to facilitate independent and nonpartisan research on issues related
to criminal justice and public safety by experts in the University
of California system and beyond.

11482.  

(a) The California Institute for Criminal Justice Policy
shall conduct a cost-benefit analysis for each pending legislative
measure relating to criminal justice.

(b) The California Institute for Criminal Justice Policy shall
include in an analysis a determination of the potential effectiveness
of the policy based on evidence in the field of criminal justice.

(c) The California Institute for Criminal Justice Policy shall
provide that analysis to the appropriate legislative policy and fiscal
committee as soon as practicable and not later than 60 days after
receiving a request to produce an analysis from a committee.

begin insert

begin insert 11483. end insert   

(a) This chapter shall become operative upon an
appropriation being made in the annual Budget Act to implement
the purposes, objectives, and operations of the California Institute
for Criminal Justice Policy.

(b) This chapter shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2018, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute,
that is enacted before January 1, 2018, deletes or extends that
date.

end insert