BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 2367 Page 1 Date of Hearing: May 4, 2016 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Lorena Gonzalez, Chair AB 2367 (Cooley) - As Amended April 20, 2016 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Public Safety |Vote:|6 - 0 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | |Transportation | |15 - 0 | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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 Page 2 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. AB 2367 Page 3 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 Page 4 319-2081