BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



          SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                             Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
                            2015 - 2016  Regular  Session

          SB 6 (Galgiani) - Parole:  medical parole:  compassionate  
          release
          
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          |Version: December 1, 2014       |Policy Vote: PUB. S. 4 - 1      |
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          |Urgency: No                     |Mandate: No                     |
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          |Hearing Date: April 27, 2015    |Consultant: Jolie Onodera       |
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          This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File. 

          

          Bill  
          Summary:  SB 6 would provide that an inmate convicted of first  
          degree murder of a peace officer, as specified, is ineligible  
          for compassionate release or medical parole.


          Fiscal  
          Impact:  Potential loss of significant future cost savings  
          (General Fund) to the extent formerly eligible inmates convicted  
          of first degree murder of a peace officer would have otherwise  
          been granted medical parole or compassionate release. Based on  
          historical releases, the average annual savings on CDCR custody  
          costs alone for one inmate released from a hospital/nursing home  
          setting on medical parole is $750,000 (General Fund).


          Background:  Existing law provides that an inmate under the supervision of  
          the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) may be  
          released for medical reasons under compassionate release or  







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          medical parole. The compassionate release provisions provide  
          that if the Secretary of the CDCR, the Board of Parole Hearings  
          (BPH), or both, determine that the conditions under which a  
          prisoner would be released or receive treatment do not pose a  
          threat to public safety, and the prisoner is terminally ill with  
          an incurable condition and has less than six months to live, or  
          the prisoner is permanently medically incapacitated and requires  
          24-hour care, the Secretary or the BPH may recommend to the  
          court that the prisoner's sentence be recalled. (Penal Code (PC)  
          § 1170(e)(1)-(2).)

          Existing law establishes the medical parole program whereby any  
          prisoner who the head physician of a CDCR institution determines  
          is permanently medically incapacitated with a medical condition  
          that renders him or her permanently unable to perform activities  
          of basic daily living, resulting in the prisoner requiring  
          24-hour care, and that incapacitation did not exist at the time  
          of sentencing, shall be granted medical parole if the BPH  
          determines that the conditions under which the prisoner would be  
          released would not reasonably pose a threat to public safety.  
          (PC § 3550(a))

          Existing law provides that the compassionate release and medical  
          parole provisions do not apply to a prisoner sentenced to death  
          or a term of life without the possibility of parole.  
          Additionally, the medical parole provisions do not apply to a  
          prisoner serving a sentence for which parole, as specified, is  
          prohibited by any initiative statute.




          Proposed Law:  
            This bill would specify that, in addition to the eligibility  
          restrictions under existing law, the following inmates are  
          ineligible for release on medical parole or compassionate  
          release:
               A prisoner who was convicted of first degree murder if the  
              victim was a peace officer, as defined in Chapter 4.5 of  
              Title 3, who was killed while engaged in the performance of  
              his or her duties, and the individual knew, or reasonably  
              should have known, that the victim was a peace officer  
              engaged in the performance of his or her duties.
               The victim was a peace officer, as defined, or had been a  








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              peace officer, and was intentionally murdered in retaliation  
              for the performance of his or her official duties, and the  
              defendant was sentenced on or after January 1, 2016.


          Prior  
          Legislation:  SB 1284 (Galgiani) 2014 was substantially similar to this  
          measure. This bill stalled in the Assembly Committee on Public  
          Safety.

          AB 68 (Maienschein) Chapter 764/2013 requires the CDCR to give  
          notice at least 30 days prior to a medical parole hearing or  
          medical parole release, as specified, to the county of  
          commitment and the county of proposed release.

          SB 1399 (Leno) Chapter 405/2010 provides for medical parole of  
          CDCR inmates under the following circumstances: 1) the inmate is  
          found by the head physician to be permanently medically  
          incapacitated with a medical condition that renders him or her  
          permanently unable to perform activities of daily living,  
          resulting in the need for 24-hour care, and 2) the Board of  
          Parole Hearings also makes a determination that the conditions  
          under which the prisoner would be released would not reasonably  
          pose a threat to public safety.




          Staff  
          Comments:  By placing additional restrictions on the population  
          of prison inmates eligible for medical parole or compassionate  
          release, this bill could result in a significant future loss of  
          General Fund cost savings, potentially in the low millions of  
          dollars annually, that otherwise would have been afforded to  
          CDCR as a result of eliminating the ability to reduce costly  
          security for incapacitated inmates and potentially for the  
          Receiver to receive federal reimbursement through Medi-Cal for  
          medical care in certain circumstances.

          Data from CDCR indicates over 500 commitments to state prison  
          annually for the crime of first degree murder. However, specific  
          information on whether the victim was a peace officer is not  
          available for this population. To the extent even one inmate  
          could potentially be impacted by the provisions of this bill  








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          would result in a significant loss of cost savings. The  
          Receiver's Office has indicated costs of about $750,000 (General  
          Fund) per year to guard one inmate, who is not on parole, in a  
          hospital or nursing home setting. As CDCR policy requires an  
          inmate still serving his or her sentence to continue to be  
          guarded, restricting medical parole for additional inmates will  
          restrict CDCR's ability to remove custodial costs for these  
          inmates. Placing a person on medical parole removes the guarding  
          component, irrespective of whether or not the Receiver's Office  
          is reimbursed for medical care by the federal government.

          The Three-Judge Court, in its February 10, 2014, order granting  
          a two-year extension to reduce the in-state adult inmate  
          population to 137.5 percent of design capacity, ordered the CDCR  
          to immediately implement several population reduction measures,  
          including consulting with the Receiver's Office to finalize and  
          implement an expanded parole process for medically incapacitated  
          inmates. The provisions of this measure appear inconsistent with  
          the Court's order.




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