BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 1295 Page 1 SENATE THIRD READING SB 1295 (Nielsen) As Amended June 27, 2016 Majority vote SENATE VOTE: 39-0 ------------------------------------------------------------------ |Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------| |Public Safety |7-0 |Jones-Sawyer, | | | | |Melendez, Lackey, | | | | |Lopez, Low, Quirk, | | | | |Santiago | | | | | | | |----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------| |Appropriations |20-0 |Gonzalez, Bigelow, | | | | |Bloom, Bonilla, | | | | |Bonta, Calderon, | | | | |Chang, Daly, Eggman, | | | | |Gallagher, Eduardo | | | | |Garcia, Holden, | | | | |Jones, Obernolte, | | | | |Quirk, Santiago, | | | | |Wagner, Weber, Wood, | | | | |Chau | | | | | | | SB 1295 Page 2 | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------ SUMMARY: Authorizes the use of documentary evidence for purposes of satisfying the criteria used to evaluate whether a prisoner released on parole is required to be treated by the State Department of State Hospitals as a mentally disordered offender (MDO). Specifically, this bill: 1)Specifies that in order to demonstrate that a prisoner is an MDO, the existence or nature of the crime, for which the prisoner has been convicted may be shown with documentary evidence. 2)States that the details underlying the commission of the offense that led to the conviction, including the use of force or violence, causing serious bodily injury, or the threat to use force or violence likely to produce substantial physical harm, may be shown by documentary evidence, including, but not limited to, preliminary hearing transcripts, trial transcripts, probation and sentencing reports, and evaluations by the State Department of State Hospitals. EXISTING LAW: 1)Requires prisoners who meet the following criteria to be deemed an MDO and treated by the State Department of State Hospitals (DSH) as a condition of parole: a) The inmate has a severe mental disorder; b) The inmate used force or violence in committing the underlying offense; SB 1295 Page 3 c) The severe mental disorder was one of the causes or an aggravating factor in the commission of the offense; d) The disorder is not in remission or capable of being kept in remission without treatment; e) The inmate was treated for the disorder for at least 90 days in the year before the inmate's release; and, f) By reason of the severe mental disorder, the inmate poses a serious threat of physical harm to others. 2)Allows the Board of Parole Hearings (BPH), upon a showing of good cause, to order the inmate to remain in custody for up to 45 days past the scheduled release date for a full MDO evaluation. 3)Allows the prisoner to challenge the MDO determination both administratively (a hearing before the board) and judicially (a superior court jury trial). 4)Requires MDO treatment to be inpatient treatment unless there is reasonable cause to believe that the parolee can be safely and effectively treated on an outpatient basis. If the hospital does not place the parolee on outpatient treatment within 60 days of receiving custody of the parolee, he or she may request to hearing to determine whether outpatient treatment is appropriate. 5)Specifies that if the parolee's severe mental disorder is put into remission during the parole period and can be kept that way, the director of the hospital shall notify the BPH and shall discontinue treatment. SB 1295 Page 4 6)Allows the district attorney to file a petition with the superior court seeking a one-year extension of the MDO commitment. 7)Specifies that the cost of treatment for an MDO, whether inpatient or outpatient, is a state expense while the person is under the jurisdiction of either CDCR or the state hospital. FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee: 1)Potential future trial court cost savings (General Fund) to the extent the admissibility of documentary evidence reduces the amount of time spent in trial, including the number and complexity of appeals to decide evidentiary issues. 2)Minor, if any, fiscal impact to the Board of Parole Hearings (BPH) and its existing MDO process. 3)Minor fiscal impact, if any on DHS. COMMENTS: According to the author, "SB 1295 seeks to relieve crime victims from being required to give traumatic testimony during a parole hearing of their mentally disordered attacker. The bill would amend the Mentally Disordered Offender (MDO) Act to allow admission of probation reports, trial transcripts, and other documentary evidence. Under a 1994 court ruling, proof of an offender's force, violence, or threat could be admitted into a parole hearing through the testimony of an expert evaluator (generally psychologists or psychiatrists) relying on probation SB 1295 Page 5 reports, DSH evaluations and trial transcripts. This means the evidence could be presented in an MDO parole hearing without prosecutors re-victimizing crime victims. "A 2015 California Supreme Court decision overturned the allowance of expert testimony. Since then, expert testimony based on documentary evidence could not be used to prove the force, violence, or threat of an MDO's prior crime during a parole hearing. This poses a problem because it forces the prosecution to choose between victim 're-victimization' and holding a hearing without full evidence. The absence of this testimony could lead to the release of a parolee who with full evidence would be shown to be an MDO. Consequently, prosecutors are put in a tough place during an MDO parole hearing: ask a victim to relive a traumatic experience, or risk releasing a dangerous person who requires in-patient treatment. "Fortunately, in its opinion, the California Supreme Court paved the way for a solution. The ruling acknowledged that the Legislature is free to create exceptions to the rules of evidence as it has done in the SVP (Sexually Violent Predator) context. SB 1295 is that solution. This bill will protect victims in two ways - by relieving them of the obligation to provide traumatic testimony in a parole hearing, and by helping to prevent the release of dangerous offenders. This bill will allow all evidence to be considered by allowing documentary evidence to play a role in the parole hearings of mentally disordered offenders." Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion of this bill. Analysis Prepared by: SB 1295 Page 6 David Billingsley / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744 FN: 0003789