BILL ANALYSIS
AB 50
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 50 (Leno)
As Amended January 26, 2006
Majority vote
PUBLIC SAFETY 4-0 APPROPRIATIONS 18-0
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|Ayes:|Leno, Cohn, Goldberg, |Ayes:|Chu, Sharon Runner, Bass, |
| |Spitzer | |Berg, 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)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.
2)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 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.
3)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.
4)Increases the aggravated term of commitment for lewd and
lascivious acts upon a child under the age of 14 from eight to
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10 years.
5)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.
6)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.
7)Adds continual sexual abuse of a child to list of offenses
eligible for a life sentence on a first offense, as specified.
8)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.
9)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.
10)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.
11)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
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conduct.
12)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.
13)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.
14)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.
15)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.
16)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.
17)States that parole agents supervising offenders with GPS
devices shall have not more than 20 active cases requiring
supervision.
18)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
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the tens of millions of dollars, increased prison penalties, new
and expanded prison programs, and longer parole terms.
Specifically, these costs include:
1)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.
2)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 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
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this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Horiuchi / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744
FN: 0013770