BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 795 Hearing Date: April 28, 2015
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|Author: |Committee on Public Safety |
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|Version: |March 10, 2015 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|MK |
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Subject: Public Safety Omnibus
HISTORY
Source: Various
Prior Legislation:SB 1461 (SCoPS)
SB 514 (Committee on Public Safety) - Ch. 59,
Stats. 2013
SB 1144 (Strickland) - Ch. 867, Stats. 2012
SB 428 (Strickland) - Ch. 304, Stats. 2011
SB 1062 (Strickland) - Ch. 708, Stats. 2010
SB 174 (Strickland) - Ch. 35, Stats. 2009
SB 1241 (Margett) - Ch. 699, Stats. 2008
SB 425 (Margett) - Ch. 302, Stats. 2007
SB 1422 (Margett) - Ch. 901, Stats. 2006
SB 1107 (Committee on Public Safety) - Ch. 279,
Stats. 2005
SB 1796 (Committee on Public Safety) - Ch. 405,
Stats. 2004
SB 851 (Committee on Public Safety) - Ch. 468,
Stats. 2003
SB 795 (Committee on Public Safety )
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SB 1852 (Committee on Public Safety) - Ch. 545,
Stats. 2002
SB 485 (Committee on Public Safety) - Ch. 473,
Stats. 2001
SB 832 (Committee on Public Safety) - Ch. 853,
Stats. 1999
SB 1880 (Committee on Public Safety) - Ch. 606,
Stats. 1998
Support: Unknown
Opposition:None known
PURPOSE
The purpose of this bill is to make technical and corrective
changes to various code sections relating generally to criminal
justice laws, as specified.
Existing law provides that when a person is arrested without a
warrant, the person must be taken before the nearest accessible
magistrate with certain exceptions. (Penal Code § 849)
This bill adds an exception for a person arrested for a DUI that
needs to be taken for medical treatment first.
Existing law provides that when a person is arrested and taken
into custody, that person may be subjected to patdown searches,
metal detector searches and thorough clothing searches in order
to discover and retrieve concealed weapons and contraband
substance prior to being placed in a booking cell. (Penal Code §
4030)
This bill would also allow the use of body scanners when a
person is taken into custody.
Existing law, the Interstate Compact for Juveniles, which
sunsets on January 1, 2016, establishes an interstate commission
of the compacting states to, among other things, oversee,
supervise, and coordinate the interstate movement of juveniles.
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This bill deletes the sunset.
This bill makes additional technical changes.
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
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
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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;
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.Purpose of This Bill
This is the annual omnibus bill. In past years, the omnibus
bill has been introduced by all members of the Committee on
Public Safety. This bill is similar to the ones introduced as
Committee bills in the past in that it has been introduced with
the following understanding:
The bill's provisions make only technical or minor changes to
the law; and
There is no opposition by any member of the Legislature or
recognized group to the proposal.
This procedure has allowed for introduction of fewer minor bills
and has saved the Legislature time and expense over the years.
2. A Person Arrested for DUI Needing Medical Attention
This amendment to Section 849 of the Penal Code (PC) seeks to
clarify existing language relating to the release of a person
arrested for driving under the influence (DUI) who is injured
and requires medical attention.
This amendment would help provide law enforcement officials with
clarification of release from custody procedures in situations
where a DUI arrestee cannot be booked into jail due to their
need for medical attention.
A common occurrence patrol officers experience is when a DUI
driver is involved in a traffic collision and requires some type
of medical attention. The provisions of Section 849 PC often
confuse officers who desire to release a driver lawfully
arrested for DUI to the care of the hospital. While the intent
of Section 849 PC is to allow the release of an arrestee in this
situation, the current statutory language causes confusion.
3. Use of Body Scanners When a Person is Taken Into Custody
There is some concern that although airport-type screenings are
permitted for bookings, including authorizing the use of metal
detectors and pat down searches, there is no explicit
authorization for body scanners. This amendment will authorize
the use of body scanners for
bookings, the use of which, arguably, is less intrusive than
strip searches and visual body cavity searches.
4. Removal of Sunset on the Interstate Compact for Juveniles
Chapter 4 of the WIC, which includes §1400-1403, codifies the
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terms, requirements and responsibilities of the Interstate
Compact for Juveniles (ICJ), which was adopted into California
law by Assembly Bill (AB) 1053 (Solorio) (Chapter 268, Statutes
of 2009). When originally enacted, this section also included a
sunset which stated that the chapter would only be in effect
until January 1, 2012, pending various actions. Since the
enactment of the legislation in 2012, the sunset has been
extended twice, to 2014 and again to 2016. As many of the
requirements of AB 1053 have been met or are in the process of
being fulfilled, the sunset is no longer necessary. This
proposal would remove the sunset from this section, thereby
ensuring California's permanent membership in this national
compact.
5. Technical Changes
This bill makes other technical changes.
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