BILL NUMBER: AB 293	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 1, 2015

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Levine

                        FEBRUARY 11, 2015

   An act to add Section 5004.7 to the Penal Code, relating to
 prisons.   prisons, and declaring the urgency
thereof, to take effect immediately.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 293, as amended, Levine. Prisons: inmate threats.
   Existing law establishes the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation to oversee the state prison system. Existing law makes
it a crime to willfully threaten to commit a crime that will result
in death or great bodily injury to another person, with the specific
intent that the statement is to be taken as a threat and which, on
its face and under the circumstances in which it is made, is so
unequivocal, unconditional, immediate, and specific as to convey to
the person threatened a gravity of purpose and an immediate prospect
of execution of the threat, and thereby causes that person reasonably
to be in sustained fear for his or her own safety or for his or her
immediate family's safety.
   This bill would require the department to establish a statewide
policy on operational procedures for the handling of threats made by
 inmates,   inmates or wards,  and threats
made by family members of  inmates,   inmates or
wards,  against department staff. The bill would require that
the policy include methods to ensure that department staff members
are advised of threats made against them by  inmates and
their family members   inmates, wards, or family members
of inmates or wards,  and that all threats against department
staff made by  inmates   inmates or wards, 
and their family members are thoroughly investigated. The bill would
require an individual institution within the department that has a
more detailed policy to make the policy accessible to every member of
the staff of the institution. The bill would require the department
to provide training on the policy developed pursuant to these
provisions as part of its existing training programs. 
   This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute. 
   Vote:  majority   2/3  . Appropriation:
no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 5004.7 is added to the Penal Code, to read:
   5004.7.  (a) The department shall establish a statewide policy on
operational procedures for the handling of threats made by 
inmates,   inmates or wards,  and threats made by
family members of  inmates,   inmates or wards,
 against department staff. The policy shall include methods to
ensure that department staff members are advised of threats made
against them by  inmates or their family members 
 inmates, wards, or family members of inmates or wards,  and
shall require that all threats against department staff made by
 inmates or their family members   inmates,
wards, or family members of inmates or wards  are thoroughly
investigated. A copy of the statewide policy shall be accessible to
members of the public upon request.
   (b) This section does not prohibit an individual institution
within the department from developing a more detailed notification
procedure for advising staff members of threats made against them. If
an individual institution has a more detailed policy, the policy
shall be accessible to every member of the staff of the institution.
   (c) The department shall provide training on the policy developed
pursuant to this section as part of its existing training programs.
   SEC. 2.    This act is an urgency statute necessary
for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety
within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go
into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
 
   In order to increase safety in California prisons at the earliest
possible time, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.