BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 6 Page 1 SENATE THIRD READING SB 6 (Galgiani) As Amended August 15, 2016 Majority vote SENATE VOTE: 35-1 ------------------------------------------------------------------ |Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------| |Public Safety |7-0 |Jones-Sawyer, | | | | |Melendez, Lackey, | | | | |Lopez, Low, Quirk, | | | | |Santiago | | | | | | | |----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------| |Appropriations |20-0 |Gonzalez, Bigelow, | | | | |Bloom, Bonilla, | | | | |Bonta, Calderon, | | | | |Chang, Daly, Eggman, | | | | |Gallagher, Eduardo | | | | |Garcia, Holden, | | | | |Jones, Obernolte, | | | | |Quirk, Santiago, | | | | |Wagner, Weber, Wood, | | | | |McCarty | | | | | | | SB 6 Page 2 | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------ SUMMARY: Exempts from medical parole and compassionate release eligibility a prisoner who was convicted of first-degree murder of a peace officer, as provided, and applies the provisions of this bill retroactively. EXISTING LAW: 1)Provides if the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), Board of Parole Hearings (BPH), or both determine that a prisoner has six months or less to live; that the conditions under which the prisoner would be released do not pose a threat to public safety and that the prisoner is permanently medically incapacitated, the Secretary of CDCR or BPH may recommend to the court that the prisoner's sentence be recalled (compassionate release). 2)Exempts from compassionate release a prisoner sentenced to death or a term of life without the possibility of parole (LWOP). 3)Requires any recommendation for recall submitted to the court by the CDCR Secretary or BPH to include one or more medical evaluations, a postrelease plan, and findings of the prisoner's eligibility. 4)Requires the court to hold a hearing within 10 days of receipt of a positive recommendation by BPH or the secretary of CDCR for a prisoner's sentence to be recalled. 5)States if the court grants the recall and resentencing application, the prisoner shall be released within 48 hours of SB 6 Page 3 receipt of the court order, unless a longer time period is agreed to by the inmate. 6)Establishes the medical parole program whereby any prisoner who the head physician of the institution where the prisoner is located determines is permanently medically incapacitated with a medical condition that renders him or her permanently unable to perform activities of basic daily living, and results in the prisoner requiring 24-hour care, and that incapacitation did not exist at the time of sentencing, shall be granted medical parole if BPH determines that the conditions under which the prisoner would be released would not reasonably pose a threat to public safety. 7)States that medical parole shall not apply to any prisoner sentenced to death or LWOP or to any inmate who is serving a sentence for which medical parole is prohibited by any initiative statute. 8)States that when a physician employed by CDCR who is the primary care provider for an inmate identifies an inmate that he or she believes meets the medical criteria for medical parole, the primary care physician shall recommend to the head physician of the institution where the prisoner is located that the prisoner be referred to the BPH for consideration for medical parole. Within 30 days of receiving that recommendation, if the head physician of the institution concurs in the recommendation of the primary care physician, he or she shall refer the matter to BPH using a standardized form and format developed by the department, and if the head physician of the institution does not concur in the recommendation, he or she shall provide the primary care physician with a written explanation of the reasons for denying the referral. SB 6 Page 4 9)Allows the prisoner or his or her family member or designee to independently request consideration for medical parole by contacting the head physician at the prison or CDCR. Within 30 days of receiving the request, the head physician of the institution shall, in consultation with the prisoner's primary care physician, make a determination regarding whether the prisoner meets the criteria for medical parole as specified and, if the head physician of the institution determines that the prisoner satisfies the criteria, he or she shall refer the matter to BPH using a standardized form and format developed by CDCR. If the head physician of the institution does not concur in the recommendation, he or she shall provide the prisoner or his or her family member or designee with a written explanation of the reasons for denying the application. 10)Requires CDCR to complete parole plans for inmates referred to BPH for medical parole consideration. The parole plans shall include, but not be limited to, the inmate's plan for residency and medical care. 11)Provides, notwithstanding any other law, that medical parole hearings shall be conducted by two-person panels consisting of at least one commissioner. In the event of a tie vote, the matter shall be referred to the full board for a decision. Medical parole hearings may be heard in absentia. 12)Requires BPH, upon receiving a recommendation from the head physician of the institution where a prisoner is located for the prisoner to be granted medical parole, to make an independent judgment regarding whether the conditions under which the inmate would be released pose a reasonable threat to public safety, and make written findings related thereto. 13)Authorizes the board or the Division of Adult Parole SB 6 Page 5 Operations to impose any reasonable conditions on prisoners subject to medical parole supervision, including, but not limited to, the requirement that the parolee submit to electronic monitoring. As a further condition of medical parole, the parolee may be required to submit to an examination by a physician selected by the board for the purpose of diagnosing the parolee's current medical condition. In the event such an examination takes place, a report of the examination and diagnosis shall be submitted to the board by the examining physician. If the board determines, based on that medical examination, that the person's medical condition has improved to the extent that the person no longer qualifies for medical parole, the board shall return the person to the custody of the department. 14)Requires CDCR, at the time a prisoner is placed on medical parole supervision, to ensure that the prisoner has applied for any federal entitlement programs for which the prisoner is eligible, and has in his or her possession a discharge medical summary, full medical records, parole medications, and all property belonging to the prisoner that was under the control of the department. Any additional records shall be sent to the prisoner's forwarding address after release to health care-related parole supervision. 15)Requires CDCR to give notice at least 30 days' notice, or as soon as feasible, to the county of commitment, and the proposed county of release if applicable, of any medical parole hearing or any medical parole release. 16)Provides that the penalty for a defendant found guilty of murder in the first degree, with a finding of one of the enumerated special circumstances, is death or LWOP. Includes first degree murder of a peace officer, as specified, as one of the enumerated special circumstances. SB 6 Page 6 FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, it is impossible to determine a fiscal impact of this bill, or when the fiscal impact would occur. Due to the number of first degree murder cases, CDCR does not maintain statistical data on the number of murder victims that were of peace officers. They do know that there are seven inmates convicted between 1970 and 2007 for murder in the second degree of a peace officer; four of these inmates have sentences of life without the possibility of parole. Therefore, there are three known inmates who will be excluded from compassionate release or medical parole, but they may not requested either. However, inmates in either category are very expensive patients, their annual medical cost could be anywhere from $160,000 to over $1 million. COMMENTS: According to the author, "The original compassionate release legislation (SB 1399 [(Leno), Chapter 405] from 2010) was intended to prohibit compassionate release for anyone convicted of murder against an officer - as it prohibited compassionate release for anyone serving a death sentence, or sentence of life without the possibility of parole. "However, there was a multi-year period in the 1970s where California had neither a death penalty nor a sentence of life without the possibility of parole available. For that period of time, persons convicted of first degree murder of a police officer were sentenced to life with parole. "The honorable work that our men and women in law enforcement perform on a daily basis is crucial to ensuring that our neighbors and families live in safe communities. Senate Bill 6 is necessary to guarantee that individuals convicted of these heinous crimes serve their entire sentences given to them by a jury of their peers." SB 6 Page 7 Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion of this bill. Analysis Prepared by: Stella Choe / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744 FN: 0004010