BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 6
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB
6 (Galgiani)
As Amended August 19, 2016
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE: 35-1
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|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
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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
receipt of the court order, unless a longer time period is
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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.
9)Allows the prisoner or his or her family member or designee to
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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
Operations to impose any reasonable conditions on prisoners
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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."
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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:
0004539