BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



          SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
                             Senator Loni Hancock, Chair
                                2015 - 2016  Regular 

          Bill No:    SB 1070       Hearing Date:    April 19, 2016    
          
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          |Author:    |Hancock                                              |
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          |Version:   |February 16, 2016                                    |
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          |Urgency:   |No                     |Fiscal:    |No               |
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          |Consultant:|MK                                                   |
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                      Subject:  Youth Offender Parole Hearings



          HISTORY

          Source:   Human Rights Watch

          Prior Legislation:SB 261 (Hancock) - Chapter 471, Stats. 2015
                         SB 260 (Hancock) - Chapter 312, Stats. 2013

          Support:  Unknown

          Opposition:California District Attorneys Association (unless  
          amended)

                     
          PURPOSE

          The purpose of this bill is to make technical changes to the  
          provisions governing youth offender parole.

          Existing law requires the Board of Parole Hearings to conduct a  
          youth offender parole hearing for offenders sentenced to state  
          prison who committed specified crimes when they were less than  
          23 years of age. (Penal Code §3051 and 4801)

          This bill replaces the word juvenile with youth in these  
          sections.







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          Existing law, for the purposes of a youth parole hearing,  
          defines "controlling offense" as the offense or enhancement for  
          which any sentencing court imposed the longest term of  
          imprisonment.  (Penal Code § 3051(a)(2)(B))

          This bill instead deletes enhancement from the above definition  
          of "controlling offense." 
          
                    RECEIVERSHIP/OVERCROWDING CRISIS AGGRAVATION

          For the past several 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 December of 2015 the administration reported that as "of  
          December 9, 2015, 112,510 inmates were housed in the State's 34  
          adult institutions, which amounts to 136.0% of design bed  
          capacity, and 5,264 inmates were housed in out-of-state  
          facilities.  The current population is 1,212 inmates below the  
          final court-ordered population benchmark of 137.5% of design bed  
          capacity, and has been under that benchmark since February  
          2015."  (Defendants' December 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).)  One  
          year ago, 115,826 inmates were housed in the State's 34 adult  
          institutions, which amounted to 140.0% of design bed capacity,  
          and 8,864 inmates were housed in out-of-state facilities.   
          (Defendants' December 2014 Status Report in Response to February  








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          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 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;
              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. Need for This Bill

          According to the author:

               This bill makes a technical change to SB 260 / 261  
               (Hancock 2015) to make the law consistent.  SB 260/261  
               requires the Board of Parole Hearings to conduct a  
               youth offender parole hearing for offenders sentenced  
               to state prison who committed those specified crimes  
               when they were less than 23 years of age. 

               Thus, this bill changes the word "juvenile" to "youth."  
                This bill also removes "enhancement" from the  








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               definition of a "controlling offense." 

          2.  Technical changes

          This bill makes technical changes.

          According to Human Rights Watch:

                In 2013, California enacted SB 260, creating a  
               specialized "Youth Offender Parole" process for people  
               who were under the age of 18 at the time of their  
               crimes, but tried as adults and sentenced to lengthy  
               adult prison terms. In 2015, the state enacted SB 261,  
               extending the SB 260/Youth Offender Parole process to  
               people who were 22 years old or younger at the time of  
               their crimes. Whereas the law previously only applied  
               to juveniles, it now applies to juveniles and youth up  
               through age 22. Because the law no longer solely  
               applies to juveniles, the word "juvenile" should be  
               changed to "youth." This will eliminate potential  
               confusion for the Board of Parole Hearings, youth  
               offenders, and the public.

          3.  Proposed amendments:
          
          The author will offer these amendments in Committee:

          The following amendment addresses the concern raised by CDAA:

                 Page 2 line 7 reinsert the deleted words "or  
               enhancement"

           The following amendments are technical:

                 Page 2 amend lines 10 through 29 as follows:
          (1) Unless previously released pursuant to other statutory  
          provisions or court orders  ,   A   an   person  inmate   who was convicted  
          of a controlling offense that was committed before the  person  
           inmate   had attained 23 years of age and for which the sentence  
          is a determinate sentence shall be eligible for release on  
          parole  at a youth offender parole hearing by the board during  
           following completion of   his or her 15th year of incarceration,  
          upon being granted parole by the board pursuant to paragraph (1)  
          of subdivision (b) of section 3041 at a youth offender parole  








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          hearing  unless previously released pursuant to other statutory  
          provisions  .
               (2) Unless previously released or entitled to an earlier  
               parole consideration hearing pursuant to other statutory  
               provisions or court orders,    A   an   person  inmate who was  
               convicted of a controlling offense that was committed  
               before the  person  inmate had attained 23 years of age and  
               for which the sentence is a life term of less than 25 years  
               to life shall be eligible for release on parole  by the  
               board during   following completion of  his or her 20th year  
               of incarceration upon being granted parole by the board  
               pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of section  
               3041 at a youth offender parole hearing    at a youth offender  
               parole hearing, unless previously released or entitled to  
               an earlier parole consideration hearing pursuant to other  
               statutory provisions  .
               (3) Unless previously released or entitled to an earlier  
               parole consideration hearing pursuant to other statutory  
               provisions or court orders  ,   A   an   person  inmate who was  
               convicted of a controlling offense that was committed  
               before the  person  inmate   had attained 23 years of age and  
               for which the sentence is a life term of 25 years to life  
               shall be eligible for release on parole  by the board during  
                following completion of his or her 25th year of  
               incarceration upon being granted parole by the board  
               pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of section  
               3041 at a youth offender parole hearing  at a youth offender  
               parole hearing, unless previously released or entitled to  
               an earlier parole consideration hearing pursuant to other  
               statutory provisions  .

            The following amendment will make it clear that the Parole  
            Board does not have to have a hearing for a determinately  
            sentenced inmate who would be released soon anyway:

                 Page 2 between lines 29 and 30 insert:
          (4) This section shall not apply to an inmate serving a  
          determinate sentence if he or she will be released by operation  
          of law pursuant to his or her determinate term less than 180  
          days from his scheduled hearing date.



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