BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1906| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: AB 1906 Author: Melendez (R) Introduced:2/11/16 Vote: 21 SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE: 7-0, 5/10/16 AYES: Hancock, Anderson, Glazer, Leno, Liu, Monning, Stone ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 74-0, 3/28/16 (Consent) - See last page for vote SUBJECT: Mental health: sexually violent predators SOURCE: California District Attorneys Association DIGEST: This bill requires the Department of State Hospitals (DSH) to request that a district attorney file a petition for commitment of a person as a sexually violent predator (SVP) within 20 days of the determination by DSH that the person meets the criteria for commitment as an SVP. ANALYSIS: Existing law: 1) Provides for the civil commitment for psychiatric and psychological treatment of a prison inmate found to be an SVP after the person has served his or her prison commitment. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 6600, et seq.) 2) Defines a "sexually violent predator" as "a person who has been convicted of a sexually violent offense against at least AB 1906 Page 2 one victim, and who has a diagnosed mental disorder that makes the person a danger to the health and safety of others in that it is likely that he or she will engage in sexually violent criminal behavior." (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 6600, subd. (a)(1).) 3) Permits a person committed as an SVP to be held for an indeterminate term upon commitment. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 6604.1.) 4) Requires that a person found to have been an SVP and committed to the DSH have a current examination on his or her mental condition made at least yearly. The report shall include consideration of conditional release to a less restrictive alternative or an unconditional release is in the best interest of the person and also what conditions can be imposed to adequately protect the community. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 6604.9.) 5) Allows an SVP to seek conditional release with the authorization of the DSH Director when DSH determines that the person's condition has so changed that he or she no longer meets the SVP criteria, or when conditional release is in the person's best interest and conditions to adequately protect the public can be imposed. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 6607.) 6) Allows a person committed as an SVP to petition for conditional release or an unconditional discharge any time after one year of commitment, notwithstanding the lack of recommendation or concurrence by the Director of DSH. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 6608, subd. (a).) 7) Provides that, if the court deems the conditional release petition not frivolous, the court is to give notice of the hearing date to the attorney designated to represent the county of commitment, the retained or appointed attorney for AB 1906 Page 3 the committed person, and the Director of DSH at least 30 court days before the hearing date. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 6608, subd. (b).) 8) Requires the court to first obtain the written recommendation of the director of the treatment facility before taking any action on the petition for conditional release if the is made without the consent of the director of the treatment facility. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 6608, subd. (c).) 9) Provides that the court shall hold a hearing to determine whether the person committed would be a danger to the health and safety of others in that it is likely that he or she will engage in sexually violent criminal behavior due to his or her diagnosed mental disorder if under supervision and treatment in the community. Existing law further provides that the attorney designated the county of commitment shall represent the state and have the committed person evaluated by experts chosen by the state and that the committed person shall have the right to the appointment of experts, if he or she so requests. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 6608, subd. (e).) 10)Requires the court to order the committed person placed with an appropriate forensic conditional release program operated by the state for one year if the court at the hearing determines that the committed person would not be a danger to others due to his or her diagnosed mental disorder while under supervision and treatment in the community. Existing law further requires a substantial portion of the state-operated forensic conditional release program to include outpatient supervision and treatment. Provides that the court retains jurisdiction of the person throughout the course of the program. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 6608, subd. (e).) 11)Provides that if the court denies the petition to place the person in an appropriate forensic conditional release AB 1906 Page 4 program, the person may not file a new application until one year has elapsed from the date of the denial. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 6608, subd. (h).) 12)Allows, after a minimum of one year on conditional release, the committed person, with or without the recommendation or concurrence of the Director of DSH, to petition the court for unconditional discharge, as specified. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 6608, subd. (k).) This bill requires the Director of DSH to forward a request to a county that a petition be filed for a person to be committed to DSH for SVP treatment no later than 20 calendar days prior to the scheduled release date of the person. Background The SVP law was enacted in 1995 in response to concerns that dangerous sex offenders were being released into the community after they served determinate sentences in prison. The law is especially complicated. There are numerous steps and entities involved in the process of assessing and committing a person to DSH as an SVP. The law has been frequently amended to prevent or forestall release of an alleged or committed SVP due to some problem or anomaly arising from the complexity of process. For example, the law was amended by two separate urgency bills in the 1999-2000 legislative session. One bill allowed the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to hold a potential SVP 45 days past his parole release date so that DSH experts could complete required SVP evaluations. The other bill allowed commitment proceedings to proceed despite a mistake in law or fact by CDCR as to application of parole rules. In 2015, the law was amended to give prosecutors access to material relied upon by evaluators in producing updated evaluations of alleged SVPs. Other amendments from 1999 through 2015 have concerned notice requirements to communities where an SVP will be released and virtually every other aspect of the law. Comments AB 1906 Page 5 According to the author: When the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and the Board of Parole Hearings (BPH) determine that an individual in custody may be an SVP, based on their commitment offense and a review of their social, criminal, and institutional history, the individual is referred to the DSH for a full SVP evaluation. Following that evaluation, if DSH determines that the individual is an SVP, the Director of DSH is required to request that the District Attorney or County Counsel in the county in which the person was convicted file a petition for commitment. The filing of that petition begins a civil commitment process, which can lead to the individual being confined at Coalinga State Hospital to receive treatment until it is determined that they no longer pose a risk of re-offense. The SVP Act contains a statutory timeline for each step of the evaluation process, as well as time limits for the filing of the petition and certain court proceedings. It does not, however, contain a time frame for the submission of the request for the filing of a petition to the DA or County Counsel. Because of this, DSH often submits filing materials less than 48 hours before the release of an inmate who has already been determined to qualify as an SVP. The result of these late requests is that the prosecuting agency bears the burden of filing a case and transporting a defendant at the last minute, at an enormous cost and use of resources. The better and long accepted operating practice is for DSH to submit the filing in time for the DA to be able to meaningfully review the request, file the petition, and arrange for transportation of the alleged SVP to the county where trial will be held. In at least one instance in Los Angeles County, the filing request was submitted too late for the filing of a petition. In several instances, the supporting documents that are necessary for the filing of a petition were not certified and there was little to no time to correct this egregious error by DSH. The simple solution to this problem is to create a statutory requirement that DSH submit the request for the filing of a AB 1906 Page 6 petition no fewer than 20 days prior to the release of a person determined to be an SVP. This provides the attorneys with time to meaningfully review and prepare a petition, and protects public safety by helping to ensure that nobody slips through the cracks due to a last minute filing request. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:NoLocal: No SUPPORT: (Verified5/11/16) California District Attorneys Association (source) California State Sheriffs' Association OPPOSITION: (Verified5/11/16) None received ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 74-0, 3/28/16 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Atkins, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Daly, Dodd, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, Olsen, Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon NO VOTE RECORDED: Chang, Dahle, Eggman, McCarty, O'Donnell AB 1906 Page 7 Prepared by: Jerome McGuire / PUB. S. / 5/16/16 14:32:15 **** END ****