BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 1010 Page 1 SENATE THIRD READING SB 1010 (Mitchell) As Amended June 11, 2014 Majority vote SENATE VOTE :21-12 PUBLIC SAFETY 5-1 APPROPRIATIONS 12-3 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Ayes:|Ammiano, Jones-Sawyer, |Ayes:|Gatto, Bocanegra, | | |Quirk, Skinner, Stone | |Bradford, Campos, | | | | |Donnelly, Eggman, Gomez, | | | | |Holden, Pan, Quirk, | | | | |Ridley-Thomas, Lowenthal | | | | | | |-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------| |Nays:|Melendez |Nays:|Bigelow, Jones, Linder | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY : Provides that the penalty for possession for sale of cocaine base shall be the same as that for possession for sale of cocaine hydrochloride powder cocaine. 1)Changes the penalty for possession for sale of cocaine base to two, three, or four years of incarceration. 2)Specifies that probation can only be granted to a person convicted of possession for sale of 28.5 grams or more of cocaine base, or 57 grams or more of a substance containing at least five grams of cocaine base, if the court finds unusual circumstances demonstrating that probation promotes justice. 3)Authorizes seizure and forfeiture of a vehicle, boat or airplane used as an instrumentality of drug commerce involving cocaine base weighing 28.5 grams or more, or 57 grams or more of a substance containing at least five grams of cocaine base. 4)Makes legislative findings that powder cocaine and cocaine base are two different forms of the same drug, each producing the same effects when ingested and that imposing higher penalties and greater forfeitures on persons convicted of crimes involving cocaine base is unjustified. SB 1010 Page 2 EXISTING LAW : 1)Provides penalties for the following conduct involving controlled substances: possession, possession for sale or distribution, sale or distribution, and, manufacturing. 2)Classifies controlled substances in five schedules, with generally lesser restrictions and penalties from Schedule I through V. Schedule I controlled substances are deemed to have no accepted medical use and cannot be prescribed. Examples of drugs in the California schedules drugs follow: a) Heroin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), cocaine base and marijuana are Schedule I drugs. b) Oxcycodone, cocaine, methamphetamine, and codeine are Schedule II drugs. c) Barbituates (tranquilizers, anabolic steroids and specified narcotic, pain medications are Schedule III drugs. d) Benzodiazepines (Valium) and phentermine (diet drug) are Schedule IV drugs. e) Specified narcotic pain medications with active non-narcotic active ingredients are Schedule V drugs. 3)Provides the following penalties for conduct involving cocaine and cocaine base: a) Simple possession (for personal use) of cocaine or cocaine base: felony, with a jail term (Penal Code Section 1170(h)) of 16 months, two years or three years. b) Possession for sale of cocaine: felony jail term of two, three or four years. c) Possession of cocaine base for sale - felony jail term of three, four or five years. d) Sale or distribution of cocaine or cocaine base: felony jail term of three, four or five years. SB 1010 Page 3 e) Transportation for sale across noncontiguous counties of cocaine or cocaine base: felony jail term of three, six or nine years. 4)Provides for seizure and forfeiture of a vehicle, boat or airplane used as an instrumentality of drug commerce. Specified provisions are triggered where the amount of cocaine base involved in the offense weighed 14.25 grams (approximately half an ounce) or more and where the amount of cocaine weighed 28.5 grams (one ounce). 5)Provides that the court can only grant probation to a person convicted of certain crimes if unusual circumstances exist establishing that a grant of probation promotes justice. The restriction applies to any case involving 14.25 grams or more of cocaine base, or 57 grams or more of a substance containing at least five grams of cocaine base. By comparison, the restriction applies to any case involving 28.5 grams or more of cocaine, or 57 grams or more of a substance containing cocaine. FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee: 1)Significant ongoing General Fund savings, potentially up to $4.5 million, based on a six-month difference in time served in state prison for 160 persons convicted of possession for sale of cocaine base with a specified prior offense (the average number of commitments over the past two years), assuming full per capita prison costs. 2)Significant ongoing local, non-reimbursable incarceration savings, potentially in the range of $6.5 million, based on the 1,200 persons committed to state prison for possession for sale of cocaine base in 2010 and 2011, prior to realignment, and the 320 persons committed to state prison post-realignment, in 2012 and 2013, assuming a per capita cost of $30,000. 3)Incarceration savings would be offset to an unknown degree by increased non-reimbursable probation costs, as a result of authorizing probation for possession for sale of cocaine base at the same volume threshold as cocaine powder. For order of magnitude purposes, every 100 additional probation cases would SB 1010 Page 4 offset incarceration savings by about $500,000. 4)Unknown, likely minor, decrease in state and local asset forfeiture revenue to the extent increasing the volume threshold for forfeiture reduces state and local asset forfeitures. For order of magnitude purposes, state and local law enforcement share about $25 million per year in asset forfeitures, with a greater amount, in the range of $35 million annually, shared with the state through federal asset forfeiture. COMMENTS : According to the author, "SB 1010 will correct the groundless disparity in sentencing, probation and asset forfeiture guidelines for possession of crack cocaine for sale versus the same crime involving powder cocaine that has resulted in a pattern of racial discrimination in sentencing and incarceration in California. "Crack and powder cocaine are two forms of the same drug. Scientific reports, including a major study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, demonstrate that they have essentially identical effects on the human body. Powder cocaine can be injected or snorted. Crack cocaine can be injected or smoked, and is a product derived when cocaine powder is processed with an alkali, typically common baking soda. Gram for gram, there is less active drug in crack cocaine than in powder cocaine. "Whatever their intended goal, disparate sentencing guidelines for two forms of the same drug has resulted in a pattern of institutional racism, with longer prison sentences given to people of color who are more likely than whites to be arrested and incarcerated for cocaine base offenses compared to powder cocaine offenses, despite comparable rates of usage and sales across racial and ethnic groups." Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion of this bill. Analysis Prepared by : Gabriel Caswell / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744 SB 1010 Page 5 FN: 0004269