BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 439
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 22, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
439 (Bloom) - As Amended April 8, 2015
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Policy |Judiciary |Vote:|10 - 0 |
|Committee: | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------|
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------|
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY: This bill requires, effective July 1, 2016, a party
subject to a restraining order under the Domestic Violence
Protection Act (DVPA) who has been ordered by the court to
participate in an approved batterer's program to do the
following:
AB 439
Page 2
a) Register for the batterer's program by the deadline set
by the court or, if no deadline is ordered, within 30 days
from the date the order is issued.
b) Upon enrollment, sign all necessary forms to permit
release of proof of enrollment, attendance records, and
completion or termination reports to the court and the
protected party, and provide the court and the protected
party with the name and address of the batterer's program.
The bill requires the Judicial Council to revise or promulgate
forms as necessary.
FISCAL EFFECT:
1)Minor, one-time costs ($100,000) and minor, ongoing costs, to
the courts to cover workload impacts and possibly equipment
(e.g. a dedicated fax machine) associated with receiving and
processing the required forms. There is no mechanism currently
in place for the courts to receive the required information
regarding a batterer's enrollment in, and completion of, a
program.
2)Minor and absorbable onetime costs for the Judicial Council to
update or create the necessary forms.
COMMENTS:p
1)Purpose. A defendant convicted of criminal domestic violence
is required, as a condition of probation, to participate in a
batterer's intervention program, and the court and the
probation department are notified when the defendant enrolls
AB 439
Page 3
in the program and if the defendant fails to complete the
program. A court issuing a civil domestic violence protective
order has the option of ordering a batterer to participate in
a batterer's program, but there is no corresponding
requirement that the court be informed of the batterer's
enrollment in, or completion of, the program. This bill,
sponsored by the Family Law Section of the State Bar, seeks to
remedy that by allowing the court and the victim to receive
information on the batterer's participation in the program.
2)Background: Since 1994, California has required that a
defendant convicted of criminal domestic violence must, as a
condition of probation, participate in a batterer's
intervention program. Batterers' programs are designed to
stop domestic violence by holding batterers accountable and
providing them with strategies to stop the abuse through
lectures, classes, group discussions and counseling.
A 2006 evaluation of batterers' programs by the State Auditor
revealed that only half of batterers ordered into intervention
programs ever completed the programs and that as many as a
quarter never even enrolled in the programs in the first
place, with little consequence. Since that time, steps have
been taken to improve accountability on the criminal side, but
there remains no statutorily required accountability on the
civil side.
Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
AB 439
Page 4