BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 1242 Hearing Date: April 12, 2016
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|Author: |Lara |
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|Version: |March 28, 2016 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |No |
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|Consultant:|MK |
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Subject: Sentencing: Misdemeanors
HISTORY
Source: Los Angeles District Attorney's Office
Immigrant Legal Resource Center
California Attorneys for Criminal Justice
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights LA
Mexican American Legal Defense Fund
Latino Coalition for Healthy Communities
Prior Legislation:SB 1310 (Lara) - Chapter 174, Stats. 2014
Support: All of us or None; American Civil Liberties Union;
American Friends Service Committee; American
Immigration Lawyers Association; Asian Americans
Advancing Justice; California Public Defenders
Association; California Immigrant Policy Center;
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation;
California Civil Liberties Advocacy; Californians
United for a Responsible Budget; Canal Alliance;
Center of Juvenile and Criminal Justice; Central
American Resource Center; Centro Laboral de Graton;
Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto; Courage
Campaign; Day Labor Center - Hayward/Oakland; Friends
Committee on Legislation of California; Human Rights
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Watch; Latino Coalition for a Healthy California;
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San
Francisco Bay Area; Legal Services for Prisoners with
Children; National Day Laborer Organizing Network;
National Immigration Law Center; A New PATH; Pangea
Legal Services; Project ALOFA; Santa Ana Boys and Men
of Color; San Quentin Restorative Justice Program;
Santa Clara County Public Defender's Office; Services,
Immigrant Rights & Education Network; Silicon Valley
De-Bug; Southeast Asia Resource Action Center; United
Farm Workers
Opposition:None known
PURPOSE
The purpose is to make the law providing that one year is
defined as 364 days for the purposes of sentencing a misdemeanor
is retroactive.
Existing law provides that every offense which is prescribed by
any law of the state to be punishable by imprisonment in a
county jail up to or not exceeding one year shall be punishable
by imprisonment in a county jail for period not to exceed 364
days. (Penal Code § 18.5)
This bill would make the above provision retroactive.
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
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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 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
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;
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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:
Two years ago SB 1310 (Lara, 2014) aligned the
definition of misdemeanor between state and federal
law. Federal law defines a misdemeanor crime as
punishable for up to 364 days and anything longer is
considered a felony. Previously, California defined a
misdemeanor as a crime punishable for up to 365 days.
The federal government did not recognize California's
definition due to this minor and technical difference,
thousands legal residents, who committed low level and
non-violent crimes were subject to deportation,
needlessly ripping apart families.
While SB 1310 aligned state and federal law on a
prospective basis, it did not help those who were
convicted of a misdemeanor prior to 2015. Thousands of
legal residents are currently living in California with
the threat of deportation looming for minor crimes.
Many of those people have families and businesses in
the state and a few ties to their country of origin.
SB 1242 will provide on a retroactive basis that all
misdemeanors are punishable for no more than 364 days
and ensure that legal residents are not deported due to
previous discrepancies between state and federal law.
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2. Clarifies that This Bill is Retroactive
This bill merely clarifies that the provision defining a year
for the purposes of as misdemeanor as 364 days is retroactive.
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