BILL ANALYSIS
AB 50
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 50 (Leno)
As Amended January 23, 2006
2/3 vote
PUBLIC SAFETY 4-0 APPROPRIATIONS 18-0
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|Ayes:|Leno, Cohn, Goldberg, |Ayes:|Chu, Runner, Bass, Berg, |
| |Spitzer | |Calderon, De La Torre, |
| | | |Emmerson, Haynes, |
| | | |Karnette, Klehs, Leno, |
| | | |Nakanishi, Nation, |
| | | |Oropeza, Jones, Saldana, |
| | | |Walters, Yee |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Creates the Sex Offender Containment and Management Act
of 2006 which makes numerous changes and additions to laws
relating to sex offenders. Specifically, this bill :
1)Allocates $20 million to implement county and regional Sexual
Assault Felony Enforcement (SAFE) teams and disperses the funds
in accordance with the proportionate share of sex offender
registrants residing in the county.
2)Appropriates $8 million from the General Fund to the Department
of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) for fiscal year 2006-07
to add 500 Global Positioning System (GPS) devices to track and
monitor the parolees who pose the highest risk to public safety
and who have been convicted of a sexual or violent offense and
are assessed to be a high risk to re-offend. There is a
three-year plan to add 2,000 GPS devices, bringing the total
number of devices up to 2,500 by 2008 subject to legislative
appropriations.
3)Adds a provision that states any person who kidnaps another with
intent to commit a specified sex offense shall be punished by
imprisonment in the state prison for life with the possibility
of parole.
4)Redefines the definition of luring, as specified, to state that
an adult stranger who is 21 years of age or older, who knowingly
contacts or communicates with a minor who is under 14 years of
age, who knew or reasonably should have known that the minor is
AB 50
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under 14 years of age with the intent to commit a specified sex
offense is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not
exceeding $1,000 or by imprisonment in a county jail not
exceeding one year, or both a fine and imprisonment.
5)Increases the penalty for a person over the age of 21 who
contacts a minor 14 years of age or younger for the purpose of
luring, or attempt to lure, that minor, as specified, if the
person has been previously convicted of child molestation or
continuous sexual abuse to an alternate misdemeanor/felony
punishable by either one year in the county jail or in state
prison.
6)Increases the aggravated term of commitment for lewd and
lascivious acts upon a child under the age of 14 from eight to
10 years.
7)Prohibits any person who is required to register as a sex
offender pursuant to existing law, from knowingly being present
on school grounds unless that person is the parent or guardian
to child attending that school or has prior written permission
from the school.
8)States that the punishment for a person who is present on school
grounds, who is required to register as a sex offender pursuant
to existing law shall not exceed one year in the county jail or
a fine of $1,000 or by both imprisonment and fine, unless the
person falls within an exception, as specified.
9)Adds continual sexual abuse of a child to list of offenses
eligible for a life sentence on a first offense, as specified.
10)Increases the period of parole from five to 10 years for those
convicted of committing lewd and lascivious acts on a child and
those convicted of the continuous sexual abuse of child.
11)Provides that when an inmate has been released on parole for a
specified offense for more than six years, the Board of Parole
Hearings shall release that inmate from parole unless the Board
of Parole finds "good cause" to retain the defendant on parole.
12)States that if a person possesses more than 100 items of
sexually explicit materials of persons under the age of 18 shall
be punished by imprisonment in the county jail for up to one
year, or in the state prison.
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13)Increases the punishment to an alternate misdemeanor/felony for
every person who knowingly sends or causes to be sent, or brings
or causes to be brought, into California for sale or
distribution, or in California possesses, prepares, publishes,
produces, develops, duplicates, or prints any representation of
information, with intent to distribute or exhibit to, or to
exchange with, a person 18 years of age or older, or who offers
to distribute, distributes, or exhibits to, or exchanges with, a
person 18 years of age or older any matter, knowing that the
matter depicts a person under the age of 18 years personally
engaging in or personally simulating sexual conduct.
14)Provides that every person who, with knowledge that a person is
a minor, or who, while in possession of any facts on the basis
of which he or she should reasonably know that the person is a
minor, hires, employs, or uses the minor to do or assist in
doing any of the acts described in existing law is for a first
offense, shall be punished by imprisonment either in county jail
or in the state prison.
15)Creates an alternate misdemeanor/felony for a person who is
convicted of possessing sexually explicit material of a person
under the age of 18 if that person has a prior conviction for
lewd and lascivious acts with a child or the continuous sexual
abuse of a child.
16)States that CDCR shall study the effects of using a specialized
supervision caseload. States that the study should pay
particular attention to the effectiveness of different treatment
models. The study shall be a two-year analysis due on January
1, 2009, with an initial report to the Legislature on or before
January 1, 2010, and a final report on or before January 1,
2012.
17)Creates a specialized sex offender treatment program based on
the relapse prevention model and with the assistance of
specially trained sex offender treatment providers for parolees
deemed to pose a high risk.
18)Creates an in-custody, relapse prevention treatment program for
those sex offenders incarcerated in state prison who are deemed
to be high risk and at least two years away from parole. No
more than 500 offenders shall be in the treatment program at any
time and such offenders shall be housed separately.
19)States that parole agents supervising offenders with GPS
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devices shall have not more than 20 active cases requiring
supervision.
20)Deletes provisions of this bill relating to the terms and
conditions of parole for specified registered sex offenders.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee
analysis, major ongoing General Fund (GF) costs, in the tens of
millions of dollars, for SAFE team grants, GPS equipment and
staff, increased prison penalties, new and expanded prison
programs, and longer parole terms. Specifically, these costs
include:
1)$15 million GF appropriation for local SAFE team programs.
2)$8 million GF appropriation for GPS devices and staff to monitor
high risk sex offenders.
3)Increased annual GF costs for additional and longer prison
terms. If the increases proposed by this bill increase the
system's sex offender population by just 5%, the cost increase
would ultimately be about $15 million.
4)Longer parole periods for specified sex offenders would likely
result in annual GF costs in excess of $10 million for increased
caseloads and additional parole revocations. Extension and
potential expansion of CDCR's intensive supervision/relapse
prevention program for high-risk sex offender parolees could
exceed $10 million, depending on the scope of the effort.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "In recent years, several new
laws have been enacted to address the problem of sex offenders in
our communities. However, many of our efforts have been stymied
by the lack of state resources. Therefore, it is important to
focus our available resources wisely; that is goal of this bill.
"This bill increases funding for SAFE teams which identify,
monitor, arrest and assist in the prosecution of sex offenders who
violate the terms and conditions of their probation or parole or
fail to comply with registration requirements. This bill also
makes significant changes to the punishment and parole terms of
sex offenders, including adding the continuous sexual abuse of a
child to the "one strike" sex law which would allow the courts to
sentence an offender to a term of 15- or 25-years-to-life,
increasing the term of parole for child molesters and increasing
the aggravated term of commitment for child molesters. This bill
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also creates a treatment program for offenders who are currently
in prison but scheduled for release. The goal is for offenders to
begin learning how to avoid future predatory behavior while still
in prison and to continue with a regimented treatment program
while on parole.
"This bill is a smart, sensible and effective way to enhance
community safety and decrease the likelihood that sexual predators
will re-offend creating more victims."
Please see the policy committee analysis for full discussion of
this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Horiuchi / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744 FN: 0013627