BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2367
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Date of Hearing: May 4, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
2367 (Cooley) - As Amended April 20, 2016
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|Policy |Public Safety |Vote:|6 - 0 |
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| |Transportation | |15 - 0 |
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill authorizes the court to order a person convicted of
driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) with one or more
DUI priors within 10 years, to enroll, participate in, and
successfully complete, a qualified "24/7 Sobriety" monitoring
program, as defined, as a condition of probation. AB 2367
requires DMV to study and report to the Legislature by January
1, 2020, on the success of the 24/7 Sobriety program in reducing
the driving-under-the-influence recidivism rate in counties
AB 2367
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where it is used.
FISCAL EFFECT:
One-time cost of approximately $500,000 (MVA) to the DMV to
study the success of the 24/7 Sobriety program and prepare the
report required.
COMMENTS:
1)Background/Purpose. Under existing law, a person who is
convicted of DUI or DUI with injury within 10 years of a prior
DUI offense can be granted probation under certain
circumstances, including paying a fine, serving a jail
sentence, enrollment in a DUI program licensed by the
Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), and suspension of
the person's driving privilege.
This bill would add an additional post-trial option to the
punishment of a DUI offender who reoffends within 10 years of
a prior DUI offense: a 24/7 Sobriety program. In such a
program, as established by this bill and licensed by DHCS
pursuant to existing requirements, the participant must
abstain from alcohol and controlled substances and submit to
either twice daily alcohol or drug testing, continuous alcohol
testing (through a transdermal bracelet), or random drug and
alcohol testing as a condition of probation. If a participant
fails a test, they are subject to "certain but modest
punishment." In similar programs established in other states,
these punishments are typically a day or two in jail. This
bill provides that an offender can still be required by the
court to participate in any other DHCS-licensed DUI program as
a condition of probation.
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The author intends to add to the toolkit of options available
to judges in California through the use of 24/7 Sobriety
programs. The author notes, 40% of all traffic-related
fatalities in California involve alcohol, and critically,
nearly one-third of those convicted for DUI re-offend. By
establishing 24/7 Sobriety as an additional option for the
courts, the author intends to target those offenders with an
underlying alcohol problem that makes them more likely to
consistently drive while impaired.
2)Support. Supporters state that the 24/7 Sobriety program
gives police, judges and communities a different way to handle
such offenders that is humane, effective and reduces crowding
in correctional facilities.
3)Opposition. According to Legal Services for Prisoners with
Children, "the zero-tolerance approach of the 24/7 Sobriety
program flies in the face of medical science which identifies
alcoholism as a disease. There can never be an effective law
enforcement solution to a medical problem. Instead of passing
ever-more punitive laws in order to punish people struggling
with alcoholism. California should put resources into public
education and voluntary drug and alcohol treatment programs."
4)Related legislation: SB 1046 (Hill), requires all DUI
offenders to install an IID for a specified period of time in
order to have their license reinstated. SB 1046 is scheduled
to be heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee on April
25, 2016.
Analysis Prepared by:Pedro Reyes / APPR. / (916)
AB 2367
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319-2081