BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 722
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Date of Hearing: August 19, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
SB 722
(Bates) - As Amended May 5, 2015
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
No
SUMMARY:
This bill creates a new state prison felony, punishable by 16
months, two, or three years, for any person who willfully
disables an electronic, global positioning system (GPS) if the
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device was affixed as a condition of parole, postrelease
community supervision (PRCS), or probation as a result of a
conviction for a specified sex offense. The bill also requires
the terms of probation or parole of a person who has committed a
violation of these provisions to include participation and
completion of a sex offender management program.
FISCAL EFFECT:
1)Potential moderate ongoing cost in excess the $500,000 (GF) to
the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
(CDCR) for additional state prison commitments. According
CDCR records, approximately 1,200 inmates, in state prison for
the qualifying crimes, were release onto parole in a 12-month
period. The annual contract bed rate is $29,000, if each year
ten parolees, less than one percent, were sentenced to two
years for disabling their GPS, the first-year costs would be
$290,000, and the ongoing cost would be $580,000.
2)Potential increase cost to CDCR, and nonreimbursable county
probation costs, for additional persons required to
participate and complete a sex offender management program.
3)Potential decrease in local incarceration costs if individuals
subject to parole revocation are charged with the state prison
felony instead.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, "SB 722 focuses upon high
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risk predatory sex offenders by limiting its application to
the offenses deemed most egregious by the legislature when it
approved the 'One Strike Rape' law. These offenses are: rape,
spousal rape, foreign object rape, lewd or lascivious acts
against children, sodomy, oral copulation, and continuous
sexual abuse of a child. The premise behind 'One Strike Rape'
is that one victim is enough."
"The circumstances of some sex offenses are so aggravated that
the state imposes a life sentence to avoid the potential of
another victim. When a rapist or child molester cuts off his
GPS device and evades the law the state has been put on notice
that others are at great risk."
2)Background. Current law authorizes CDCR to utilize continuous
electronic monitoring, including GPS, to electronically
monitor the whereabouts of persons on parole as specified.
Proposition 83 of 2006 provides that every inmate who has been
convicted for any felony violation of a registerable sex
offense, or any attempt to commit one of those sex offenses,
and who is committed to prison and released on parole shall be
monitored by GPS for life.
Prior to realignment, individuals released from prison were
placed on parole and supervised in the community by parole
agents of CDCR. If it was alleged that a parolee had violated
a condition of parole, he or she would have a revocation
proceeding before the Board of Parole Hearings (BPH). If
parole was revoked, the offender would be returned to state
prison for violating parole.
Additionally, realignment changed where an offender is
incarcerated for violating parole or PRCS. Most individuals
can no longer be returned to state prison for violating a term
of supervision; offenders serve their revocation term in
county jail. The only offenders who may be returned to state
prison if parole is revoked are those with life terms.
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3)Argument in Support: According to the Orange County Sheriff's
Department, "The management of sex offenders continues to be a
complex challenge for the law enforcement community. Once a
sex offender serves his time in custody, a GPS device is the
best tool available to ensure that these types of offenders
are complying with state law. Due to the fact that these
devices are so integral to the management of this population,
offenders must know that there will be serious consequences
for device tampering. Creating this added level of deterrence
is a necessary addition to the penal code."
4)Argument in Opposition: According to the California Attorneys
for Criminal Justice (CACJ), "Current law allows for parole
revocation and incarceration in county jail for 180 days for
the disabling or removing of a GPS device. This law, as a
result of SB 57 (2013), went into effect on January 1, 2014.
In addition, AB 2121 (2014) requires a person who is required
to register as a sex offender as a condition of parole to
report to his or her parole officer within one working day
following the release from custody for the purpose of affixing
the GPS device. The law also allows a certain amount of
discretion in deciding whether certain individuals should be
incarcerated for such violations."
5)Prior Legislation:
a) AB 2121 (Gray), Chapter 603, Statutes of 2014, requires
sex offender parolees to report to their parole officers
within one working day following release from prison, or as
instructed by a parole officer, to be fitted with a GPS
tracking device.
b) SB 57 (Lieu), Chapter 776, Statutes of 2013, created a
new parole violation for a sex offender to remove or
disable an electronic GPS or other monitoring device
affixed as a condition of parole and required the person to
be incarcerated in county jail for 180 days.
Analysis Prepared by:Pedro R. Reyes / APPR. / (916)
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319-2081