BILL NUMBER:  AB 1351
  VETOED	DATE: 10/08/2015




To the Members of the California State Assembly:

I am returning Assembly Bill 1351 without my signature.

AB 1351 would transform the existing deferred entry of judgment
program available to low level drug offenders to one that does not
require a guilty plea. Instead, the offender would plead not guilty
and when the program is completed, the charges would be dropped. If
the offender fails to complete the program, the prosecutor would
proceed with the charges at that time.

While I support the goal of giving low-level offenders a second
chance, I am concerned that the bill eliminates the most powerful
incentive to stay in treatment ? the knowledge that judgment will be
entered for failure to do so. The bill goes too far.

Sincerely,



Edmund G. Brown Jr.