BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 543
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 543 (Block)
As Amended April 10, 2013
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :38-0
PUBLIC SAFETY 7-0 APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
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|Ayes:|Ammiano, Melendez, |Ayes:|Gatto, Harkey, Bigelow, |
| |Jones-Sawyer, Mitchell, | |Bocanegra, Bradford, Ian |
| |Quirk, Skinner, Waldron | |Calderon, Campos, |
| | | |Donnelly, Eggman, Gomez, |
| | | |Hall, Holden, Linder, |
| | | |Pan, Quirk, Wagner, Weber |
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SUMMARY : Specifies that theft, embezzlement, forgery, fraud,
and identity theft committed against an elder or dependent adult
qualify as prior convictions for the crime of petty theft with a
prior theft conviction.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Defines "grand theft" as any theft where the money, labor, or
real or personal property taken or when the property is taken
from the person of another is of a value in excess of $950.
2)Provides that theft in other cases is "petty theft."
3)Punishes petty theft by a fine not exceeding $1,000, or by a
county-jail term not to exceed six months, or by both.
4)Provides that, notwithstanding the punishment for petty theft,
if a person has been convicted three or more times of
specified theft-related offenses and is subsequently convicted
of petty theft, then the person is to receive an enhanced
punishment of imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed
one year, or in the county jail for a felony under
realignment.
5)Provides that, notwithstanding the punishment for petty theft,
if a person is required to register as a sex offender, or has
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a prior violent or serious felony conviction, and also has
been convicted three or more times of specified theft-related
offenses and is subsequently convicted of petty theft, then
the person is to receive an enhanced punishment of
imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed one year, or in
the state prison.
6)Lists the theft- related offenses which qualify a defendant
for enhanced status for the crime of petty theft with a prior
as:
a) Petty theft;
b) Grand theft;
c) Auto theft;
d) Burglary;
e) Carjacking;
f) Robbery; and
g) Receiving stolen property.
7)Establishes fines and other punishment for theft,
embezzlement, forgery, or fraud, and identity theft and
identity crimes against and elder or dependent adult, as
follows:
a) Where the defendant is not a caretaker, and knows or
reasonably should know that the victim is an elder or a
dependent adult, and the value of the labor, goods,
services, funds, or real and/or personal property taken
does not exceed $950, the person may be punished by a fine
not exceeding $1,000 and/or by imprisonment in a county
jail not exceeding one year.
b) Where the defendant is not a caretaker, and who knows or
reasonably should know that the victim is an elder or a
dependent adult, and the value of the labor, goods,
services, funds, or real and/or personal property taken
exceeds $950, the person may be punished by a fine not
exceeding $2,500, up to one year in a county jail, or both;
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or by a fine not exceeding $10,000, or in the county jail
for two, three, or, four years, or both.
c) Where the defendant is a caretaker, and the value of the
labor, goods, services, funds, or real and/or personal
property taken does not exceed $950, the person may be
punished by a fine not exceeding $1,000 and/or by
imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year.
d) Where the defendant is a caretaker, and the value of the
labor, goods, services, funds, or real and/or personal
property taken exceeds $950, the person may be punished by
a fine not exceeding $2,500, up to one year in a county
jail, or both; or by a fine not exceeding $10,000, or in
the county jail for a felony two, three, or, four years, or
both.
8)Defines an "elder" as any person who is 65 years of age or
older.
9)Defines a "dependent adult" as any person who is between the
ages of 18 and 64, who has physical or mental limitations
which restrict his or her ability to carry out normal
activities or to protect his or her rights, including, but not
limited to, persons who have physical or developmental
disabilities or whose physical or mental abilities have
diminished because of age.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
1)Unknown annual General Fund (GF) costs, potentially in excess
of $250,000, for increased state prison commitments. While
the author intends this bill to be, in most cases, a
clarification of current law, explicitly making theft-related
crimes against an elder or dependent adult qualifying
predicate offenses for enhanced state prison penalties, when
the offender is a registered sex offender, or has a violent or
serious prior offense, would likely increase prison
commitments.
For order of magnitude purposes, in the years immediately prior
to correctional realignment, some 3,000 persons per year were
committed to state prison for petty theft with a prior, and
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over the past three years, 250 persons have been committed to
state prison for financial elder abuse. While many of the
petty theft with a prior commitments are now realigned and not
state prison-eligible, correctional data indicates that
hundreds of these annual petty theft commitments involve sex
registrants, or serious or violent felons, and therefore
remain state prison-eligible. For every 10 additional
offenders committed to state prison as a result of this bill,
annual GF costs would be about $250,000.
2)Unknown annual state and local realignment costs, potentially
in the high hundreds of thousands of dollars, to the extent
this bill results in additional county jail commitments for
petty theft with a prior.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "SB 543 ensures that elder
theft is treated with the same seriousness as any other form of
theft. It updates current law to remove the ambiguity of
whether or not a conviction of elder theft qualifies as a prior
for subsequent theft crimes.
"SB 543 does not create a new crime. Rather it ensures that
elder theft is added to Penal Code Section 666 which currently
lists grand theft, petty theft, burglary, auto theft, and
carjacking as qualifying prior offenses for purposes of
sentencing enhancements.
"Theft and financial abuse from an elder or dependent adult has
increased in recent years and has become a significant issue in
the area of public safety. It only makes sense to update our
current laws to ensure that we are appropriately sentencing
those who target the most vulnerable, our seniors."
Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion
of this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Sandy Uribe / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744
FN: 0002091
SB 543
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