BILL ANALYSIS
AB 50
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 50 (Leno)
As Amended January 31, 2006
Majority vote
PUBLIC SAFETY 4-0 APPROPRIATIONS 18-0
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|Ayes:|Leno, Cohn, Goldberg, |Ayes:|Chu, Sharon Runner, Bass, Berg, |
| |Spitzer | |Calderon, De La Torre, Emmerson, |
| | | |Haynes, Karnette, Klehs, Leno, |
| | | |Nakanishi, Nation, Oropeza, Jones, |
| | | |Saldana, Walters, Yee |
| | | | |
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APPROPRIATIONS 13-0
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|Ayes:|Chu, Sharon Runner, Bass, |
| |Berg, Calderon, De La |
| |Torre, Karnette, Klehs, |
| |Leno, Nation, Oropeza, |
| |Ridley-Thomas, Saldana, |
| |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.
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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 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)Creates an alternate misdemeanor/felony for those persons who
possess sexually explicit materials of persons under 18 as a
first offense.
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,
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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.
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
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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, 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
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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: 0013776