BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin Murray, Chairman
1128 (Alquist)
Hearing Date: 5/8/06 Amended: 4/18/06
Consultant: Nora Lynn Policy Vote: Public Safety 6-0
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SB 1128 (Alquist)
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BILL SUMMARY: SB 1128, an urgency measure, enacts the Sex
Offender Punishment, Control and Containment Act of 2006.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 Fund
Incarceration, probation, Annual costs in the tens of
millions range3 General
parole
Megan's Law, registration $4,1815 $2,858
$2,115General
STATIC-99 training, Annual costs in the tens of millions
range3 General
testing & offender oversight
Facts of Offense Sheets$6,2463 $4,8583 $4,1153 General
DOJ: SVP commitments $1507 $3007 $3007 General
DMH: SVP commitments Annual costs in the tens of millions
range7 General
SAFE Teams $6,2501,4 $8,0004 $8,000 General
Courts (record retention) Minor, absorbable costs General2
Child safety program $4956 $495 $495 General
Capital outlay Potentially several hundred millionBond
in five years7
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1 Funding consistent with Governor's proposed 2006-07 budget
2 Trial Court Trust Fund
3 Requirements placed on probation programs (assessing and
monitoring sex offenders, training probation officers & Facts of
Offense sheets) constitute a state-mandated local program
4 Offset by penalty revenues directed to these purposes by the
bill
5 Partially funded in Governor's proposed 2006-07 budget
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SB 1128 (Alquist)
6 Appropriated in bill
7 See staff comments throughout regarding different departments'
varying bases for estimates
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STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria to be placed on the
Suspense file.
SB 1128 makes a number of changes to existing law pertaining to
sex crimes and sex offenders.
NEW CRIMES/SENTENCE ENHANCEMENTS
SB 1128:
creates new "child luring" crimes;
creates a new crime for sex offenses against very young
children with a punishment of 25 years to life;
creates a new loitering statute to prevent sex offenders
from loitering around school grounds and other places where
vulnerable persons congregate;
increases penalties and statutes of limitations for
child pornography; and
extends parole periods for all violent sex offenses.
There are an estimated 11,000 inmates currently in Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) institutions for sex
offenses with more than 1,900 new admissions each year.
It is unknown by what magnitude the new crimes and enhanced
sentences and lengths of parole will increase incarceration and
parole costs at CDCR. If SB 1128's new crimes and enhanced
sentences were to increase the number of sex offenders
imprisoned in state prison by 5% per year, or by 97 individuals,
annual incarceration costs associated with this measure would
exceed $3.4 million and more than $15 million by 2010-11.
MEGAN'S LAW, REGISTRATION
SB 1128:
requires the Department of Justice (DOJ) to update the
Megan's Law database and provide enhanced information on
the Megan's Law website; and
makes changes to sex offender registration practices.
DOJ estimates hardware, software, staffing and project oversight
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costs associated with renovating the Megan's Law database and
adding information regarding sex offender conviction and release
dates of more than $4 million in the first year, $2.8 million in
2007-08 and $2.1 million in 2008-09. The Governor's proposed
2006-07 budget includes $1.9 million for database renovation,
costs that would be incurred regardless of SB 1128's enactment.
Costs associated with any influx of new registrants as a result
of the enhanced criminal provisions of SB 1128 are absorbable.
STATIC-99
SB 1128:
requires specified recidivism risk assessments
(STATIC-99) for all adult male registered sex offenders;
and
enhances parole and probation provisions for sex
offenders, including requiring those whose STATIC-99
assessment indicates a high risk of re-offense to be on
reduced caseloads.
STATIC-99 is a widely accepted diagnostic tool to assess the
recidivism risk of adult males convicted of sex crimes.
Developed in Canada, STATIC-99 is used throughout North America
and around the world and is a component of the Department of
Mental Health (DMH) review of persons who face possible
commitment as sexually violent predators (SVPs). STATIC-99 is
also used by CDCR in determining which high-risk parolees should
be monitored by GPS.
SB 1128 would require all registered adult male sex offenders to
be assessed for risk of re-offense using STATIC-99 beginning
January 1, 2007. Training for probation department staff in
conducting STATIC-99 assessments, though, would be provided by
CDCR beginning in 2008.
CDCR estimates $3 million in one-time costs associated with
STATIC-99 training -- $1 million to develop the risk-assessment
training program and another $2 million to train parole officers
once the program is developed.
The department does not anticipate additional costs in
conjunction with SB 1128's requirements to perform prerelease
assessments of inmates as it currently assesses inmates for
high-risk sex offender parole caseloads and can replace existing
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SB 1128 (Alquist)
assessment methodologies with STATIC-99.
Reimbursable costs to local agencies to receive mandated
training and conduct pre-sentencing assessments are unknown, but
are likely in excess of $5 million annually.
SB 1128 requires CDCR and the Attorney General to develop a
schedule for all adult male sex offenders in the state who are
no longer in custody, on probation or on parole to be
administered a STATIC-99 assessment by January 1, 2012; costs to
do so are minor and absorbable. Costs to CDCR and DMH to
research assessment tools for female and juvenile sex offenders
are estimated at $250,000. Future year assessment costs for
unsupervised male, female and juvenile sex offenders are unknown
but will be significant.
STAFF NOTES the measure requires probation departments to
conduct a pre-sentencing STATIC-99 assessment of all persons
convicted of offenses requiring them to register as sex
offenders. The author may wish to clarify these pre-sentencing
assessments are to be conducted for all adult males who have
been so convicted.
PROBATION/PAROLE
SB 1128:
requires all sex offenders on probation or parole who
are assessed at a high risk of recidivism to be placed on
reduced probation or parole caseloads.
There are approximately 14,000 Megan's Law registrants on
probation (either for sex offenses or for other crimes) and
9,500 on parole. Of the parolees, 2,000 are currently on
high-risk reduced officer caseloads.
Based on results in other states using STATIC-99, an estimated
11% of sex offenders assessed using this methodology will test
at a high risk of re-offense and, therefore, require placement
on reduced probation and parole caseloads.
Since the CDCR places approximately 20% of sex offenders on
reduced caseloads now, SB 1128 should not drive significantly
higher supervision costs. Since the bill requires probation
departments to place high-risk sex offenders on reduced
caseloads, however, supervision costs driven by SB 1128 will be
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reimbursable and likely significant. Costs to place 11% of
probationers with a sex offense in their criminal history on
reduced caseloads will likely exceed $10 million annually.
DMH: SVP COMMITMENTS
SB 1128:
imposes indeterminate terms for sexually violent
predators.
In fiscal year 2004-05 DMH received 501 referrals from CDCR for
SVP screening and evaluation; of this number, 55 were committed
to the state hospital.
In formulating its cost estimates for this measure, DMH assumed
a ten-fold increase in the number of referrals it would receive
for SVP assessments and projects an overall annual cost estimate
of $40 million. Additional referrals would increase annual
screening costs by $2.3 million. Additionally, these 5007
individuals would each require evaluation by two separate
licensed clinicians. With each of these evaluations costing
$2,450, overall evaluation costs would exceed $24 million. DMH
further estimates that 40% of those evaluated will meet the
criteria for SVP commitment, requiring court appearances on the
part of the two clinical evaluators at $1,830 per appearance, or
$7.3 million annually.
The department further assumed the court system would not be
able to accommodate the influx of new cases each year and
projected that half of the SVP commitments will take more than a
year to be heard, necessitating these SVP candidates to be
re-evaluated at a $2.8 million cost. DMH further projects a 25%
increase in the number of commitments each year. At $107,000 per
state hospital patient per year, these additional commitments
would drive annual costs of $1.4 million.
DOJ, however, estimated its workload associated with SVP
commitments would increase by 25% (see below). If DOJ's
projected increase bears out, DMH would receive 625 referrals
each year, and its total costs for screening, evaluation, court
appearances and costs associated with increased commitments
would be closer to $4 million annually.
There would be some small amount of offsetting savings realized
through indeterminate commitments and reduced court visits.
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DOJ: SVP COMMITMENTS
DOJ estimates SB 1128 will increase the number of DMH's
commitment hearings by approximately 25%. To meet the corollary
increase in workload, DOJ's Civil Division, which represents DMH
in these matters, will require additional staff at an annual
cost of approximately $300,000.
If, however, caseloads and referrals increase by the ten-fold
increment projected by DMH, DOJ costs would be dramatically
higher, in the $2.4 million range each year.
SAFE TEAMS
SB 1128:
creates a $6 million competitive grant program to fund
county SAFE teams.
Existing law establishes the SAFE Team program, whose mission is
to reduce violent sexual assault offenses through "proactive
surveillance and arrest of habitual sex offenders ? and strict
enforcement of registration requirements for sex offenders? ."
SAFE Teams typically consist of representatives of police and
sheriff's departments, the participating county's district
attorney's Bureau of Investigations, and the county probation
department.
Staff estimates costs to the Corrections Standards Authority to
develop and administer the grant program should not exceed 5% of
the total amount appropriated. DOJ will incur some costs as
well, but those costs will depend on the amount allocated to the
department and the number of task forces funded.
STAFF NOTES the Governor's proposed budget for 2006-07 includes
$6 million for the Office of Emergency Services for SAFE Teams
grants. The Governor's proposed budget further proposes to
increase this funding by $2 million in 2007-08, for an ongoing
program of $8 million. The SAFE Team provisions in SB 1128 are
similar to those in SB 1240 (Hollingsworth), currently pending
on this committee's Suspense File.
RECORD RETENTION AND FACTS OF OFFENSE SHEETS
SB 1128:
requires all state and local agencies that maintain
records containing information on registered sex offenders
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to maintain those records for 75 years;
requires probation departments to compile Facts of
Offense Sheets for every adult male convicted of an offense
requiring him to register as a sex offender;
requires the Facts of Offense Sheet to contain specified
information; and
requires probation departments and CDCR to send Facts of
Offense Sheets to DOJ to be made part of the sex offenders'
files maintained in the Sex Offender Tracking Program and
to law enforcement in the jurisdiction where the sex
offender will be on probation or parole.
DOJ projects document storage and processing, software, staff
and project oversight costs in excess of $5 million in 2006-07
with ongoing annual costs in the $2 million range associated
with these requirements. Costs to CDCR and local agencies
associated with preparation and transmittal of the Facts of
Offense Sheets as specified are unknown, but will likely exceed
several million dollars annually.
Judicial Council indicates court costs associated with retaining
sex offender records for 75 years are minor and absorbable.
STAFF NOTES the author may wish to clarify that the 75-year
record retention applies prospectively.
PREVENTION EDUCATION
SB 1128:
appropriates $495,000 to the Office of Emergency
Services (OES) to fund a child safety program.
SB 1128 appropriates the specified funds to OES's Division of
Criminal Justice Programs for "child abuse and abduction
programs that provide prevention education to children in
schools, and parents, teachers, and service providers." SB 1128
states the objective of the program is to "increase awareness of
the problem of child abduction and basic knowledge of how
children can help to protect themselves from being abducted."
OES costs to administer the grant program should not exceed 5%
of the total amount appropriated. Costs to DOJ to prepare and
print awareness and prevention materials for statewide
distribution are an estimated $1,800 and would be absorbable.
CAPITAL OUTLAY
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In 1977, California's state corrections institutions housed
19,600 inmates; current population is close to 164,000. A July
2005 San Francisco Chronicle article describes the problem:
? The foundation of the current problems was laid in
the late 1970s, when Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, and
Republican officials toughened the state's
criminal-justice policy.
As rising crime rates fed a law-and-order mood, Brown
signed legislation requiring judges to impose fixed
sentences. Other laws provided longer sentences for
drug crimes, sex crimes and for habitual offenders,
reaching a peak with "three strikes'' in 1994, which
mandated life sentences for some repeat offenders.
There were warnings that the state was unprepared. In
1979 the head of the Corrections Department, Jiro
Enomoto, warned that the prison population could shoot
out of control, to 27,000 by 1986 from about 20,000.
By 1986 there were 54,000, and the state never caught
up.
Today the prisons hold nearly twice the number of
inmates they were designed for, many having converted
gyms and other areas into large dormitories. The
crowding has raised racial and other tensions, made
prisons more difficult to control, and hindered the
limited treatment and education programs that are
provided. ?
The state's 33 general population prisons are operating at 194%
capacity, and programming space is at a premium. While the state
hospital facility at Coalinga is not currently at capacity, DMH
staff indicates this is a result of challenges with staffing the
institution, not a lack of potential occupants. When these
factors are coupled with the impacts of Coleman v. Wilson, a
case in which CDCR was found to have failed to have provided a
constitutionally-adequate level of mental health care and a
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special master was appointed to oversee the department's
compliance with court orders, the need for additional space for
inmates and SVPs becomes clearer.
Whether the additional inmates and SVPs that will enter the
correctional system as a result of SB 1128's additional crimes
and enhanced sentences will provide the tipping point or not is
uncertain, but the measure's focus on assessments and
programming for sex offenders does beg the question.
If a new prison facility is necessitated by SB 1128, costs
associated with its construction are estimated in the
mid-hundreds of millions. Delano II, a maximum security facility
prison built to hold 5,000 inmates and the most recently
completed facility in the system, cost nearly $382 million to
construct in 2003 dollars.
JESSICA'S LAW
Jessica's Law, an initiative measure slated for the November
2006 ballot, proposes increased criminal penalties, lengthened
parole and increased use of GPS monitoring technology for sex
offenders. Implementation costs to the Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation alone for the initiative have been projected
at more than $800 million over five years. The Secretary of
State's website contains the following descriptor about the
initiative:
Increases penalties for violent and habitual sex
molesters. Prohibits registered sex offenders from
residing within 2,000 feet of any school or park,
and requires lifetime Global Positioning System
monitoring of felony registered sex offenders.
Expands the definition of a sexually violent
predator, and changes the current two-year
involuntary civil commitment for a sexually violent
predator to an indeterminate commitment, subject to
annual review by the Director of Mental Health and
petition by the sexually violent predator for
conditional release or unconditional discharge.
Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and
Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and
local governments: Unknown net costs to the state,
within a few years, potentially in the low hundreds
of millions of dollars annually due primarily to
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increased state prison, parole supervision, and
mental health program costs. These costs would grow
significantly in the long term. Potential one-time
state capital outlay costs, within a few years, in
the low hundreds of millions of dollars for
construction of additional state mental hospital and
prison beds. Unknown but potentially significant net
operating costs or savings to counties for jail,
probation supervision, district attorneys, and
public defenders. The portion of costs related to
changes in the Sexual Violent Predators program
would be reimbursed by the state.
STAFF RECOMMENDS THE FOLLOWING AMENDMENTS:
1. Delete Section 58, which is largely duplicative of
Section 18 as narrowed in the author's most recent set of
amendments.
2. Clarify that retention of sex offenders' court records
for 75 years shall be prospective;
3. Delay implementation of its sex offender assessment
provisions until July 1, 2008, (to permit training in
assessment methodologies to be completed) and clarify that
nothing in this measure prevents probation or parole
authorities from utilizing electronic monitoring technology
pursuant to any other provision of law;
4. Clarify that STATIC-99 pre-sentencing assessments are to
be conducted on all adult males convicted of a crime
requiring them to register as a sex offender;
5. Require CDCR and local authorities to report to the
Legislature and the Governor beginning January 1, 2009, on
the effectiveness of mandated electronic monitoring for
medium-high and high-risk sex offenders, including
programmatic costs and recidivism rates of those monitored;
6. Given the substantial costs of this measure as well as
those of Jessica's Law, members may wish to consider
whether SB 1128, for fiscal reasons, should be amended to
become inoperative if Jessica's Law is approved by the
voters.