BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 753 Hearing Date: April 21, 2015
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|Author: |Nielsen |
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|Version: |February 27, 2015 |
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|Urgency: |Yes |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|AA |
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Subject: Criminal Justice Reinvestment Assessment Grant Program
of 2015
HISTORY
Source: Author
Prior Legislation:SB 1097 (Nielsen) - 2014, died in Senate
Appropriations
Support: Unknown
Opposition:None Known
PURPOSE
The purpose of this bill is to establish funding and a
framework, established through the Board of State and Community
Corrections, for collecting and compiling data concerning
criminal offenders who were "realigned" pursuant to AB 109 in
2011, as specified.
Under current law, "crimes and public offenses" include
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felonies, misdemeanors, and infractions. (Penal Code § 16).
Under current law, a felony is a crime punishable by death, by
imprisonment in state prison, or by imprisonment in county jail,
as specified. (See Penal Code §§ 190 et seq.; 1170); every
other crime or public offense is a misdemeanor "except those
offenses that are classified as infractions." (Penal Code §
17(a).)
Current law provides that the Attorney General is the head of
the Department of Justice ("DOJ"). (Government Code § 12510.)
Current law requires DOJ "present to the Governor, on or before
July 1st, an annual report containing the criminal statistics of
the preceding calendar year and to present at other times as the
Attorney General may approve reports on special aspects of
criminal statistics. A sufficient number of copies of all
reports shall be prepared to enable the Attorney General to send
a copy to all public officials in the state dealing with
criminals and to distribute them generally in channels where
they will add to the public enlightenment." (Penal Code §
13010(g).)
Current law requires this report to contain statistics showing
all of the following:
(a) The amount and the types of offenses known to the
public authorities;
(b) The personal and social characteristics of criminals
and delinquents;
(c) The administrative actions taken by law enforcement,
judicial, penal, and correctional agencies or
institutions, including those in the juvenile justice
system, in dealing with criminals or delinquents;
(d) The administrative actions taken by law enforcement,
prosecutorial, judicial, penal, and correctional
agencies, including those in the juvenile justice system,
in dealing with minors who are the subject of a petition
or hearing in the juvenile court to transfer their case
to the jurisdiction of an adult criminal court or whose
cases are directly filed or otherwise initiated in an
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adult criminal court; and
(e) The number of citizens' complaints received by law
enforcement agencies under Section 832.5. These
statistics shall indicate the total number of these
complaints, the number alleging criminal conduct of
either a felony or misdemeanor, and the number sustained
in each category. The report shall not contain a
reference to any individual agency but shall be by gross
numbers only.
It shall be the duty of the DOJ to give adequate interpretation
of the statistics and so to present the information that it may
be of value in guiding the policies of the Legislature and of
those in charge of the apprehension, prosecution, and treatment
of the criminals and delinquents, or concerned with the
prevention of crime and delinquency. The report shall also
include statistics which are comparable with national uniform
criminal statistics published by federal bureaus or departments
heretofore mentioned. (Penal Code § 13012.)
Current law establishes the "Board of State and Community
Corrections" ("BSCC"), with the following mission:
The mission of the board shall include providing
statewide leadership, coordination, and technical
assistance to promote effective state and local
efforts and partnerships in California's adult and
juvenile criminal justice system, including addressing
gang problems. This mission shall reflect the
principle of aligning fiscal policy and correctional
practices, including, but not limited to prevention,
intervention, suppression, supervision, and
incapacitation, to promote a justice investment
strategy that fits each county and is consistent with
the integrated statewide goal of improved public
safety through cost-effective, promising, and
evidence-based strategies for managing criminal
justice populations. (Penal Code § 6024(b).)
Current law enumerates the duties of the BSCC, including the
following with respect to data collection and analysis:
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"Collect and maintain available information and data
about state and community correctional policies, practices,
capacities, and needs, including, but not limited to,
prevention, intervention, suppression, supervision, and
incapacitation, as they relate to both adult corrections,
juvenile justice, and gang problems. "The board shall seek
to collect and make publicly available up-to-date data and
information reflecting the impact of state and community
correctional, juvenile justice, and gang-related policies
and practices enacted in the state, as well as information
and data concerning promising and evidence-based practices
from other jurisdictions;"
Develop recommendations for the improvement of criminal
justice and delinquency and gang prevention activity
throughout the state;
Identify, promote, and provide technical assistance
relating to evidence-based programs, practices, and
promising and innovative projects consistent with the
mission of the board;
Develop definitions of key terms, including, but not
limited to, "recidivism," "average daily population,"
"treatment program completion rates," and any other terms
deemed relevant in order to facilitate consistency in local
data collection, evaluation, and implementation of
evidence-based practices, promising evidence-based
practices, and evidence-based programs, as specified;
Cooperate with and render technical assistance to the
Legislature, state agencies, units of general local
government, combinations of those units, or other public or
private agencies, organizations, or institutions in matters
relating to criminal justice and delinquency prevention;
Conduct evaluation studies of the programs and
activities assisted by the federal acts;
Identify and evaluate state, local, and federal gang and
youth violence suppression, intervention, and prevention
programs and strategies, along with funding for those
efforts, as specified;
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Collect county realignment plans, as specified, and
analyze and report on "available data regarding the
implementation of the local plans and other outcome-based
measures," as specified; and,
Support the development and implementation of first
phase baseline and ongoing data collection instruments to
reflect the local impact of realignment, specifically
related to dispositions for felony offenders and
postrelease community supervision, including making any
data collected in this regard available on the BSCC Web
site, as specified. (Penal Code § 6027(a) and (b).)
Current law additionally authorizes the BSCC to:
Collect, evaluate, publish, and disseminate statistics
and other information on the condition and progress of
criminal justice in the state; and
Perform other functions and duties as required by
federal acts, rules, regulations, or guidelines in acting
as the administrative office of the state planning agency
for distribution of federal grants. (Penal Code §
6027(c).)
This bill would establish the "Criminal Justice Reinvestment
Assessment Grant Program of 2015" ("Program"), with specified
purposes, requirements and features described below.
Administration and Purpose
This bill would require that the program be administered by
BSCC.
This bill would provide that the purpose of the program is to
establish and implement "reporting systems to identify and
expand programs that provide proven, evidence-based, local
programming opportunities for the successful reintegration of
offenders into society."
This bill would require BSCC to "award grants to assist counties
with the creation or expansion of infrastructure that allows
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each county to consistently collect and report criminal justice
information" enumerated by this bill.
Local Information Collection and Reporting Requirements
This bill would require that, on or before June 1, 2015, each
local community corrections partnership<1> shall report to BSCC
on the county's capacity to collect and report the data required
by this bill, as enumerated below.
This bill would require that this report "include a local plan
that identifies the additional resources necessary for that
county to consistently collect and report criminal justice
information" required by this bill.
BSCC Review and Granting Authority
This bill would require BSCC to review each county's capacity
assessment, and "prioritize and award grants" pursuant to the
standards described below.
This bill would require BSCC to "establish minimum standards,
funding schedules, and procedures for awarding grants, which
shall take into consideration, but not be limited to, all of the
following:
(a) Size of the county.
(b) Demonstrated efforts to report data prior to January 1,
2017.
(c) Demonstrated ability to report data prior to January 1,
2017."
This bill would require BSCC to "give preference to counties
that have demonstrated efforts to independently collect data on
a countywide basis."
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<1> Specifically, established pursuant to Penal Code Section
1230.
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This bill would require that funding "shall be used to
supplement, rather than supplant, existing programs. Grant
funds shall be used for programs that are identified in the
local plan . . . ."
BSCC Reporting
This bill would require BSCC to "submit to the Legislature on or
before June 15, 2016, a report detailing the estimated need,
cost, and schedule for each county to consistently collect and
report criminal justice information as required by (this bill) .
. . . "
This bill would require BSCC to compile the local reports of the
data specified below concerning persons convicted of jail
felonies and, by May 15, 2016, and by May 15 of each year
thereafter, make a report to the Governor and the Legislature
that summarizes the data reported by the counties.
This bill would require BSCC to compile the local reports of the
data specified below concerning persons released from prison and
subject to Post release Community Supervision and, by May 15,
2016, and by May 15 of each year thereafter, make a report to
the Governor and the Legislature that summarizes the data
reported by the counties pursuant to subdivision (a).
Data To Be Reported
This bill would require that on or before January 1, 2016, and
annually each year thereafter, each county shall report
specified data to BSCC in a format prescribed by BSCC.
This bill would require BSCC to "specify and define minimum
required reporting which shall include, but not be limited to,
the following for each individual sentenced" as a jail felon
(specifically, sentenced pursuant to Penal Code section
1170(h)):
(1) Individual identifiers;
(2) County identifiers;
(3) Date of birth;
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(4) Gender;
(5) Race or ethnicity;
(6) Age at first arrest;
(7) Conviction offense;
(8) Sanction or sentence received;
(9) Total jail time served;
(10) Release status;
(11) Violations of probation;
(12) Rearrests;
(13) Reconvictions;
(14) Any other return to custody;
(15) Use of flash incarceration;
(16) Assessed risk level;
(17) Participation in pretrial programs;
(18) Participation in specialty court;
(19) Participation in day reporting release programs;
(20) Participation in electronic monitoring programs;
(21) Participation in community service release programs;
(22) Participation in work release programs;
(23) Participation in intensive probation supervision;
(24) Needs assessment;
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(25) Any reentry programming provided;
(26) Participation in cognitive behavioral therapy and whether
the individual has completed or failed to complete the therapy's
requirements;
(27) Participation in mental health treatment and whether the
individual has completed or failed to complete the treatment's
requirements;
(28) Participation in substance abuse treatment and whether the
individual has completed or failed to complete the treatment's
requirements;
(29) Participation in gender-specific programming;
(30) Participation in family programming;
(31) Any health care assistance provided;
(32) Any housing assistance provided;
(33) Any income support provided;
(34) Any employment assistance provided;
(35) Any vocational training assistance provided;
(36) Any educational enrollment assistance provided;
(37) Any mentoring programming provided; and,
(38) Any peer support programming provided.
This bill would require that, on or before January 1, 2016, and
annually each year thereafter, each county shall provide
specified data to BSCC in a format prescribed by BSCC. This
bill would require BSCC to specify and define minimum required
reporting which shall include, but not be limited to, the
following for each individual released from prison who is
subject to local supervision (specifically, "Postrelease
Community Supervision," pursuant to Penal Code Section 3451):
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(1) Violations of postrelease community supervision;
(2) Rearrests;
(3) Reconvictions;
(4) Any other return to custody;
(5) Use of flash incarceration;
(6) Participation in intensive probation supervision;
(7) Any reentry programming provided;
(8) Participation in cognitive behavioral therapy and whether
the individual has completed or failed to complete the therapy's
requirements;
(9) Participation in mental health treatment and whether the
individual has completed or failed to complete the treatment's
requirements;
(10) Participation in substance abuse treatment and whether the
individual has completed or failed to complete the treatment's
requirements;
(11) Participation in gender-specific programming;
(12) Participation in family programming;
(13) Any health care assistance provided;
(14) Any housing assistance provided;
(15) Any income support provided;
(16) Any employment assistance provided;
(17) Any vocational training assistance provided;
(18) Any educational enrollment assistance provided;
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(19) Any mentoring programming provided; and,
(20) Any peer support programming provided.
Appropriation, Local Mandate and Local Planning Grants
This bill contains an unspecified General Fund appropriation to
BSCC for the 2015-16 fiscal year for the purposes of
implementing its provisions.
This bill would authorize BSCC to award up to the amount of the
appropriation, less BSCC's "administrative costs, not to exceed
5 percent of the total grant funding awarded statewide, as
individual grants not exceeding ____to counties to assist in
establishing data reporting systems that will allow a county to
consistently collect and report criminal justice information as
required by (this bill) . . ."
Legislative Findings and Declarations
This bill contains legislative findings and declarations
generally concerning the Legislature's commitment to reducing
recidivism among criminal offenders and the 2011 criminal
justice realignment (AB 109), as specified.
This bill is an urgency bill, citing the following "facts
constituting the necessity":
In order to ensure that relevant data pertaining to the 2011
Realignment Legislation addressing public safety are collected
and reported as soon as possible to allow stakeholders to
measure the effectiveness of this landmark change in public
safety policy, it is necessary that this bill go into immediate
effect.
RECEIVERSHIP/OVERCROWDING CRISIS AGGRAVATION
For the past eight years, this Committee has scrutinized
legislation referred to its jurisdiction for any potential
impact on prison overcrowding. Mindful of the United States
Supreme Court ruling and federal court orders relating to the
state's ability to provide a constitutional level of health care
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to its inmate population and the related issue of prison
overcrowding, this Committee has applied its "ROCA" policy as a
content-neutral, provisional measure necessary to ensure that
the Legislature does not erode progress in reducing prison
overcrowding.
On February 10, 2014, the federal court ordered California to
reduce its in-state adult institution population to 137.5% of
design capacity by February 28, 2016, as follows:
143% of design bed capacity by June 30, 2014;
141.5% of design bed capacity by February 28, 2015; and,
137.5% of design bed capacity by February 28, 2016.
In February of this year the administration reported that as "of
February 11, 2015, 112,993 inmates were housed in the State's 34
adult institutions, which amounts to 136.6% of design bed
capacity, and 8,828 inmates were housed in out-of-state
facilities. This current population is now below the
court-ordered reduction to 137.5% of design bed capacity."(
Defendants' February 2015 Status Report In Response To February
10, 2014 Order, 2:90-cv-00520 KJM DAD PC, 3-Judge Court, Coleman
v. Brown, Plata v. Brown (fn. omitted).
While significant gains have been made in reducing the prison
population, the state now must stabilize these advances and
demonstrate to the federal court that California has in place
the "durable solution" to prison overcrowding "consistently
demanded" by the court. (Opinion Re: Order Granting in Part and
Denying in Part Defendants' Request For Extension of December
31, 2013 Deadline, NO. 2:90-cv-0520 LKK DAD (PC), 3-Judge Court,
Coleman v. Brown, Plata v. Brown (2-10-14). The Committee's
consideration of bills that may impact the prison population
therefore will be informed by the following questions:
Whether a proposal erodes a measure which has
contributed to reducing the prison population;
Whether a proposal addresses a major area of public
safety or criminal activity for which there is no other
reasonable, appropriate remedy;
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Whether a proposal addresses a crime which is directly
dangerous to the physical safety of others for which
there is no other reasonably appropriate sanction;
Whether a proposal corrects a constitutional problem or
legislative drafting error; and
Whether a proposal proposes penalties which are
proportionate, and cannot be achieved through any other
reasonably appropriate remedy.
COMMENTS
1.Stated Need for This Bill
The author states:
This bill would enact the Criminal Justice
Reinvestment Assessment Grant Program of 2015, which
would enable counties to collect various pieces of
data, as specified, in order to track the progress and
impacts of the Criminal Justice Realignment Act of
2011 (AB 109) at the local level. These data would be
available to the public and be useful to non-profit,
non-partisan organizations for asking complex policy
questions in order to empirically analyze the intended
progress of Realignment in California.
The Bureau of State Audits (BSA) identified AB 109 as
a high-risk issue in California given the pressures it
places on local jail populations with virtually no way
to empirically evaluate the effectiveness of
realignment programs. "The State does not currently
have access to reliable and meaningful realignment
data to ensure its ability to effectively monitor
progress toward achieving intended realignment goals".
(BSA 2013-601 report).
Similarly, the Public Policy Institute of California
(PPIC) has pointed to the failure to establish a clear
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framework by which to evaluate realignment: "Because
AB 109 establishes no incentives, resources, or
standards for counties to measure outcomes, it will be
difficult to assess what California's most significant
justice reform in decades has achieved" (PPIC Jan 2014
"California's Future: Corrections" report). Without
uniform reporting of a wide set of crime data across
California, neither policymakers nor the public are
able to accurately analyze and track the development
of Realignment policies
AB 109 was passed in 2011 as part of the Budget Act
with the intention of cutting costs and creating
budgetary savings by largely realigning much the
responsibilities for state inmates to the local county
level. Counties and local governments are faced with
various challenges in complying with AB 109 while also
staying committed to both public safety and the
rehabilitative goals for offenders.
Currently, there exists no uniform, statewide set of
metrics being collected by all 58 counties in order to
track and assess the progress being made with regards
to Realignment in California. While counties do
report limited criminal data to the Department of
Justice, SB 1097 would call for various other
important data elements critical to the assessment of
Realignment at the local level.
SB 753 seeks to provide for the collection and
reporting of a broad spectrum of offender and program
data, as specified, which will help ensure best
practices are developed at the local level to promote
public safety, reduce recidivism, and address
offenders' rehabilitative needs.
Furthermore, the data collected by SB 753 will
determine if available rehabilitative programs are
being utilized to their full effectiveness by
determining participant's program completion or
non-completion statistics.
2.What This Bill Would Do
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As explained in detail above, this bill would enact a framework,
established through the BSCC, for collecting information
concerning criminal offenders who were "realigned" pursuant to
AB 109 in 2011 - specifically, persons who have been convicted
of jail felonies and persons who have been released from prison
and are subject to local supervision (probation), not parole.
The bill enumerates specific data to be included. With respect
to jail felons, the data generally pertains to information about
the offender, the conviction offense, the sentence, what
happened to the person after sentencing, such as jail time,
programming and violation behavior. For persons coming out of
prison on postrelease community supervision (probation, not
parole, supervision), the data generally concerns arrests,
violation behavior, sanctions for violations, and programming.
The bill proposes state grants, from a total General Fund amount
not specified in the bill, "to assist counties with the creation
or expansion of infrastructure that allows each county to
consistently collect and report criminal justice information"
required by this bill. In addition, this bill would require
counties to report to BSCC the data described above. The bill
also requires the BSCC to compile local data and make annual
reports.
3.Focus of this Bill: The 2011 Criminal Justice Realignment
This bill pertains to data about two specific subgroups of
felony offenders - subclasses created by the "2011 Realignment
Legislation Addressing Public Safety" (AB 109)<2>. These two
subgroups are: 1) felony offenders who, because of their
conviction offense and criminal history, are subject to serving
their terms in jail instead of prison ("jail" felonies); and 2)
felony offenders who, because of their conviction offense and
other factors, are subject to local supervision instead of state
supervision (essentially, probation instead of parole) upon
release from prison ("postrelease community supervision").
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<2> AB 109 (Committee on Budget) (Ch. 15, Stats. 2011) is the
principal measure establishing the 2011 public safety
realignment. Subsequent measures have revised AB 109 and
enacted additional provisions relating to certain aspects of
realignment.
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As noted by the Legislative Analyst's Office last year:
When including all types of criminal cases-felony,
misdemeanor, traffic infractions, and juvenile
delinquency-there were over 8 million filings in
California trial courts in 2009-10. Only a few
hundred thousand of these are for felony cases each
year. Of adult felony cases brought by the district
attorney, 80 percent result in a guilty verdict, and
most of these offenders are sentenced to a combination
of jail and probation.<3>
During this same period, 58,700 felons were admitted to
prison.<4> While the data supporting this snapshot predates
realignment, it illustrates a felony population broader than
what this bill would reach. There are other felons who are
handled locally, such as felons who are put on felony probation,
and those subject to parole supervision but affected locally by
court parole violation and detention decisions, who are not
included in this bill. Members and the author may wish to
discuss whether felony offenders and what happens to them should
be tracked and analyzed more fully, not just the subsets of
felony offenders created by realignment.
4.Data Collection
The BSCC currently has responsibilities relating to data
collection. As explained in the BSCC's 4th Quarterly Report
from 2013:
The BSCC has the broad responsibility to collect and
maintain available information and data about state
and community correctional policies, practices,
capacities, and needs, including but not limited to
prevention, intervention, suppression, supervision,
and incapacitation as they relate to both adult
corrections, juvenile justice, and gang problems. The
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<3> California's Criminal Justice System: A Primer (Jan. 2013)
Legislative Analyst's Office.
<4> Id.
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BSCC is also required to collect data and complete
reports related to public safety realignment,
including the development of first phase baseline and
ongoing data collection instruments and an annual
report on the implementation of local community
corrections plans.
HOW DOES THIS BILL COMPARE TO THE CURRENT DATA-RELATED
ACTIVITIES AND FUTURE PLANS OF THE BSCC?
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