BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                       SB 6


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          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


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          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


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            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.  










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          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  








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            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. 









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          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


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          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