BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 601 Page A Date of Hearing: June 30, 2015 Counsel: Gabriel Caswell ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY Bill Quirk, Chair SB 601 (Hancock) - As Amended April 20, 2015 SUMMARY: Requires the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation develop a Corrections Accountability Report on January 10, March 15, and a fiscal year-end report, containing specified information regarding each institution, including, among other information, the total budget, including actual expenditures, staff vacancies and the number of authorized staff positions, overtime, sick leave, and the average length of lockdowns, and to post those reports on the department's Internet Web site, as provided. Specifically, this bill: SB 601 Page B 1)Provides that the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shall develop a Corrections Accountability Report for each institution on January 10, March 15, and a fiscal year-end report and post those reports on the department's website. The department shall post both current fiscal-year reports and reports for the immediately preceding three fiscal years for each institution. The department shall also post corrections made to inaccurate or incomplete data to current or previous reports. 2)Specifies that each report shall include the three-year statewide recidivism rate, a brief biography of the warden, including whether he or she is an acting or permanent warden, contact information for the warden, and a brief description of the prison, including the total number of inmates. 3)Specifies that each report shall be created using, when possible, information collected using the Compstat (computer assisted statistics) reports for each prison, or other verifiable information collected by the department, and shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following indicators: a) Total budget, including actual expenditures, staff vacancies, overtime, sick leave, and number of authorized staff positions; b) Rehabilitation programs, including capacity, enrollment, and diploma and GED completion rate; c) Average length of lockdowns; SB 601 Page C d) Number of deaths, specifying homicides, suicides, unexpected deaths, and expected deaths; e) Number of use of force incidents; f) Number of inmate appeals, including the number being processed, overdue, and dismissed; g) Number of inmates in administrative segregation; and h) Total contraband seized, specifying the number of cellular telephones. EXISTING LAW: 1)Creates in state government, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), headed by a Secretary who is appointed by the Governor, subject to Senate confirmation, and serves at the pleasure of the Governor. CDCR consists of Adult Operations, Adult Programs, Juvenile SB 601 Page D Justice, the Corrections Standards Authority, the Board of Parole Hearings, the State Commission on Juvenile Justice, the Prison Industry Authority, and the Prison Industry Board. (Gov. Code, § 12838, subd. (a).) As explained in the Legislative Analyst's Office Analysis of the Governor's 2015-16 Proposed Budget: The CDCR is responsible for the incarceration of adult felons, including the provision of training, education, and health care services. As of February 4, 2015, CDCR housed about 132,000 adult inmates in the state's prison system. Most of these inmates are housed in the state's 34 prisons and 43 conservation camps. About 15,000 inmates are housed in either in-state or out-of-state contracted prisons. The department also supervises and treats about 44,000 adult parolees and is responsible for the apprehension of those parolees who commit new offenses or parole violations. In addition, about 700 juvenile offenders are housed in facilities operated by CDCR's Division of Juvenile Justice, which includes three facilities and one conservation camp. The Governor's budget proposes total expenditures of $10.3 billion ($10 billion General Fund) for CDCR operations in 2015-16. 2)Provides that the Governor, upon recommendation of the Secretary, shall appoint the wardens of the various state prisons. Each warden shall be subject to removal by the secretary. If the Secretary removes him or her, the secretary's action shall be final. The warden shall be exempt from civil service. (Pen. Code, § 6050, subd. (a).) 3)Authorizes the Inspector General (IG) to conduct a management review audit of any warden in CDCR or superintendent in the Division of Juvenile Justice. The management review audit shall include, but not be limited to, issues relating to personnel, training, investigations, and financial matters. Each management review audit shall include an assessment of the maintenance of the facility managed by the warden or superintendent. The audit report shall be submitted to the Secretary of CDCR for evaluation and for any response deemed necessary. Any Member of the Legislature or the public may SB 601 Page E request and shall be provided with a copy of any audit by the Inspector General, including a management review audit or a special audit or review. A report that involves potential criminal investigations or prosecution or security practices and procedures shall be considered confidential, and its disclosure shall not be required under this section. (Pen. Code, § 6051.) 4)States that the IG shall audit each warden of an institution one year after his or her appointment, and shall audit each correctional institution at least once every four years. Each audit shall include, but not be limited to, issues relating to personnel, training, investigations, and financial matters. Each audit shall include an assessment of the maintenance of the facility managed by the warden. The audit report shall include the IG's assessment of facility maintenance. These audit reports shall be provided to the Legislature and shall be made public. The requirements of this paragraph shall be phased in by the IG so that they are fully met by July 1, 2009. (Pen. Code, § 6126 subd. (a)(2).) 5)Specifies that the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is required to establish the Case Management Reentry Pilot Program for offenders under the jurisdiction of the department who have been sentenced to a term of imprisonment under Section 1170 and are likely to benefit from a case management reentry strategy designed to address homelessness, joblessness, mental disorders, and developmental disabilities among offenders transitioning from prison into the community, as specified. The department is required to submit a final report of the findings from its evaluation of the pilot program to the Legislature and the Governor no later than three years after the enactment of Assembly Bill 1457 or Senate Bill 851 of the 201314 Regular Session. (Pen. Code § 3016.) SB 601 Page F FISCAL EFFECT: COMMENTS: 1)Author's Statement: According to the author, "SB 601 establishes a framework for providing better public access to key information about the performance of California's prison system by displaying a user friendly quarterly report on the CDCR webpage." 2)Author's Background: According to the background submitted by the author, "SB 601 intends to develop an accessible quarterly report that highlights management and performance of each state prison for legislative use. By requiring the Secretary of the CDCR to repackage the data to post online, the public and the Legislature could hold the department accountable for the overall management of the correctional facility, including administrative services, expenditures, safety and security, and program and support services." 3)Comstat: Comstat (short for "computer statistics") is an organizational management tool modeled after the Los Angeles and the New York Police Departments to monitor and reduce crimes and is easily accessible to the public. In 2006, the CDCR designed and implemented Compstat to monitor and provide operational review of prisons, parole, and CDCR as a whole. As part of Governor Schwarzenegger's government transparency efforts in 2009, the Compstat reports were moved from the CDCR's Web site and made available on the Reporting Transparency in Government's Web site; however, the Compstat reports and audits are hard for the public to find and view SB 601 Page G among the thicket of reports on that site. In addition, the Compstat audits and reports are non-descriptive and difficult to understand. This bill is intended to make Comstat information more readily accessible and easier to understand. 4)Independent Review Panel Recommendations: For the last several years the CDCR has been the subject of a great deal of scrutiny and criticism. In March of 2004 then-Governor Schwarzenegger announced the creation of an "Independent Review Panel" ("IRP") led by former Governor George Deukmejian to examine ways to improve adult and youth corrections in California. In June of 2004 the IRP released its report, urging in part the establishment of "a system of accountability that includes performance measures by which to evaluate employees and monitor levels of achievement."<1> The IRP, which assessed a state correctional system prior to the reorganization approved in 2005,<2> stated in part: To a significant extent, the problems of California's Correctional system grow out of its structure. The Secretary of the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency, for example, has no control over line operations. Instead, the state's 32 prison wardens and eight juvenile institution superintendents each operate independently, with little consistency in procedures and minimal help from headquarters. Lines of responsibility are blurred by layers of bureaucracy between managers and functions. Accountability is conspicuously absent, as is transparency for the public into the system's inner workings. Clear, uniform policies governing the system's most vital ---------------------- <1> Report of the Independent Corrections Review Panel (June 2004), p. 26. The report is available online at http://cpr.ca.gov/Review_Panel/. <2> The reorganization of the corrections agency was codified in SB 737 (Romero), Ch. 10 Stats. 2005. SB 601 Page H functions - fiscal matters, personnel and training, internal affairs, information technology, and health care - are equally lacking. Boards, commissions, and other entities that have evolved over the decades perform duplicate and overlapping functions. And the system's organizational structure has not kept pace with the massive growth in inmate population or with the vast geographical spread of the institutions. The sheer size and complexity of the correctional system, the critical nature of its mission, and the severity of the problems dictate the need for wholesale reform, and that reform should begin with the system's organizational structure. The Corrections Independent Review Panel therefore proposes that the state's correctional agencies be reorganized according to the plan described in this chapter. While the restructuring alone will not produce the necessary reforms, it will serve as the foundation for cleaning up the prison system, reining in costs, curbing misconduct, holding correctional administrators accountable for the system's performance, and making communities safer by doing more to ensure that inmates and youth wards leave custody better prepared to function in society.<3> The IRP, which recommended a restructuring that "'flattens' the organization by removing layers of bureaucracy that have obscured lines of authority and accountability between top managers and the functions for which they are responsible,"<4> identified the following management principles as key to reforming the state's correctional system, and in particular recommended: --------------------------- <3> Id, p. 1 (emphasis added). <4> Id. p. 4. SB 601 Page I Transforming the culture of the Department of Corrections and the California Youth Authority into one in which personal integrity and loyalty to the department mission consistently take precedence over loyalty to co-workers suspected of wrongdoing, requires a vigorous, multi-pronged approach. The effort should be guided by quality management principles incorporating clear objectives and purpose; key performance measures; consistent monitoring; and a system of correction and reward. Quality management principles accomplish the following: Provide clarity of purpose in each employee's job; Link each person's work to the department's mission; Foster continual improvement; Bring accountability to all department levels.<5> With respect to management staff, the IRP stated the department "must provide supervisors, managers, and executive management every possible opportunity to succeed. These individuals must be given a clear understanding of the responsibilities of their positions. They must also receive performance evaluations to ensure that they grow in their positions and know how to improve their performance. To accomplish that purpose, the Department of Correctional Services should take the following actions: ---------------------- <5> Id., p. 20-21 (emphasis added). SB 601 Page J Develop specific job objectives in the job description for all managers, and executives, and rate job performance by these objectives at least annually. The specific job objectives and method of rating job performance must be standardized to ensure consistency. . . . These basic management steps must be incorporated into the performance evaluations of each manager and evaluated at least annually. Clear standards lead to better accountability of employee actions and help identify employees who need further training or mentorship. . . . <6> Specifically with respect to wardens, the report states: To provide a model for exceptional performance by wardens Secretary Lehman of the Washington State Department of Corrections noted: There are five questions to ask top performing wardens to find out how effectively they deal with an issue: (1) What alternatives or options were considered? (2) What were the expected results? (3) What data was tracked? (4) What barriers were encountered? (5) What actions were taken to improve the problem?<7> Following the IRP report, in 2005 Governor Schwarzenegger proposed to reorganize what then was the "Youth and Adult Correctional Agency." Accountability was a key goal of the proposed reorganization: --------------------------- <6> Id., p. 75. <7> Id. p. 94. SB 601 Page K Restructuring will establish clear lines of reporting, accountability and responsibility and performance assessment that will improve services, reduce the likelihood of repeat offenses and eliminate abuses within the current system. It will centralize services and activities to remove duplication and leverage the scale of the Department's $6 billion spending authority, thus reducing the cost of operations. The reorganization will deliver a safer society at less cost to the people of California.<8> In its report assessing the Governor's proposed reorganization, the Little Hoover Commission stated in part: The plan clarifies and strengthens the chain of command from the secretary to the prison wardens and Youth Authority superintendents, who under the current system operate with little accountability to the secretary or loyalty to the organization. Wardens and superintendents will report to the secretary through a division director and chief deputy secretary and will not require Senate confirmation. The proposed reorganization would give the secretary necessary authority over all activities in the agency and its subordinate departments, thereby increasing the ability of the Governor, lawmakers and the public to hold the secretary accountable for the performance of correctional programs. ---------------------- <8> Governor's Reorganization Plan, Reforming California's Youth & Adult Correctional Agency (Appendix "A," Reconstructing Government: A Review of the Governor's Reorganization Plan: Reforming California's Youth and Adult Correctional Agency, Little Hoover Commission (Feb. 2005). SB 601 Page L . . . The lack of a unified structure for prison work and education programs has diminished their effectiveness. The longstanding practice of allowing prisons to operate independently has hindered accountability and hampered the standardization of policies, contributing to inmate abuse and expensive lawsuits.<9> With respect to wardens prior to the 2005 reorganization, the Little Hoover Commission noted: Under the current system, the Secretary reports to the Governor, but he does not have the actual power to change the operations of the Department of Corrections and the California Youth Authority that administer the correctional institutions. As a result, the Governor cannot truly hold the Secretary accountable for the performance of the correctional system or enact major reforms in the way prisons are administered. Nor can the Secretary dismiss a warden of an institution. Currently the system's 32 wardens and eight superintendents do not report directly into the Secretary. Each warden employs different standards and different operating procedures. This decentralized framework, along with Senate confirmation of wardens, has helped create a system of operational silos with little accountability or sharing of best practices outside the facility walls.<10> 1)SB 601 (2011) Hancock: Senator Hancock sponsored SB 601 in 2011 which required the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to develop a Corrections Accountability Report on January 10, March 15, and a fiscal --------------------------- <9> Id (emphasis added). <10> Id. (emphasis added). SB 601 Page M year-end report, containing specified information regarding each institution, including, among other information, the total budget, including actual expenditures, staff vacancies and the number of authorized staff positions, overtime, sick leave, and the average length of lockdowns, and to post those reports on the department's Internet website. The bill was vetoed by Governor Brown with the following veto message: " This measure would require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to post on its website prescribed information and reports and to update them every four months. "This measure is unnecessary and redundant; existing law already requires the Department to provide this information. I am happy to work with the author on ways the Department could better organize its website, but I don't think this takes a law." 2)Argument in Support: According to Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, "SB 601's 'data dashboard' would provide a much more accurate picture of CDCR policy and procedure to lawmakers. Further, by requiring the CDCR to publish the 'data dashboard' on their website on a quarterly basis, SB 601 involves the general public and establishes a more meaningful system of accountability within California's correctional system. By increasing the ability of the public, lawmakers, and the Governor to each hold the CDCR accountable for the performance of correctional programs, SB 601's 'data dashboard' will ultimately allow for more responsible policy and more effective reform to follow." 3)Prior Legislation: SB 601 (Hancock) of the 2011-2012 Legislative Session, required the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to develop a Corrections Accountability Report on January 10, March 15, and a fiscal year-end report, containing specified information regarding each institution, including, among other information, the total budget, including actual expenditures, staff vacancies and the number of authorized staff positions, overtime, sick SB 601 Page N leave, and the average length of lockdowns, and to post those reports on the department's Internet website. SB 601 was vetoed by Governor Brown. REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION: Support Legal Services for Prisoners with Children Opposition None Analysis Prepared by:Gabriel Caswell / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744 SB 601 Page O