BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1242| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- UNFINISHED BUSINESS Bill No: SB 1242 Author: Lara (D) Amended: 8/11/16 Vote: 21 SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE: 5-1, 4/12/16 AYES: Hancock, Glazer, Leno, Liu, Monning NOES: Stone NO VOTE RECORDED: Anderson SENATE FLOOR: 31-8, 4/21/16 AYES: Allen, Anderson, Bates, Beall, Block, Cannella, De León, Galgiani, Glazer, Hall, Hancock, Hernandez, Hertzberg, Hill, Hueso, Huff, Jackson, Lara, Leno, Leyva, Liu, McGuire, Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning, Nguyen, Pan, Pavley, Roth, Wieckowski, Wolk NOES: Berryhill, Fuller, Gaines, Moorlach, Morrell, Nielsen, Stone, Vidak NO VOTE RECORDED: Runner ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 52-21, 8/15/16 - See last page for vote SUBJECT: Sentencing: misdemeanors SOURCE: California Attorneys for Criminal Justice Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights LA Immigrant Legal Resource Center Latino Coalition for Healthy Communities Los Angeles District Attorney's Office Mexican American Legal Defense Fund DIGEST: This bill retroactively applies the provision of law SB 1242 Page 2 defining one year as 364 days for the purposes of sentencing. Assembly Amendments make technical changes and clarify that a person sentenced prior to the effective date of Penal Code Section 18.5 may file a motion with the trial court to have the term of sentenced modified. ANALYSIS: 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: 1)States that the reduced sentence applies to all convictions entered before January 1, 2015, even final judgments. 2)Provides that a person previously sentenced to one year in county jail may submit an application in the trial court requesting to be resentenced to a period not to exceed 364 days. Background 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 SB 1242 Page 3 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. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:NoLocal: No SUPPORT: (Verified8/15/16) California Attorneys for Criminal Justice (co-source) Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights LA (co-source) Immigrant Legal Resource Center (co-source) Latino Coalition for Healthy Communities (co-source) Los Angeles District Attorney's Office (co-source) Mexican American Legal Defense Fund (co-source) A New PATH All of us or None American Civil Liberties Union American Friends Service Committee American Immigration Lawyers Association Asian Americans Advancing Justice California Civil Liberties Advocacy California Immigrant Policy Center SB 1242 Page 4 California Public Defenders Association California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation 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 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 Pangea Legal Services Project ALOFA San Quentin Restorative Justice Program Santa Ana Boys and Men of Color 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: (Verified8/15/16) None received ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 52-21, 8/15/16 AYES: Alejo, Arambula, Atkins, Baker, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Dababneh, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Hadley, Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Lopez, Low, McCarty, Medina, Mullin, Nazarian, O'Donnell, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Santiago, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Weber, Williams, Wood, Rendon SB 1242 Page 5 NOES: Achadjian, Travis Allen, Bigelow, Brough, Chávez, Beth Gaines, Gatto, Grove, Harper, Irwin, Jones, Mathis, Mayes, Melendez, Obernolte, Patterson, Salas, Steinorth, Wagner, Waldron, Wilk NO VOTE RECORDED: Cooper, Dahle, Gallagher, Roger Hernández, Linder, Maienschein, Olsen Prepared by:Mary Kennedy / PUB. S. / 8/19/16 20:05:00 **** END ****