BILL ANALYSIS
AB 426
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 426 (Galgiani)
As Amended April 26, 2007
2/3 vote
PUBLIC SAFETY 7-0 APPROPRIATIONS
(vote not
available)
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|Ayes:|Solorio, Aghazarian, | | |
| |Anderson, | | |
| |De La Torre, Leno, Ma, | | |
| |Portantino | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Adds human trafficking to the list of serious felonies
and solicitation of murder to both the serious and violent
felony list for purposes of sentence enhancement.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Provides that if a defendant is convicted of a felony offense
and it is pled and proved that the defendant has been
convicted of one prior serious or violent offense as defined,
the term of imprisonment is twice the term otherwise imposed
for the current offense.
2)Provides that a defendant, who is convicted of any current
felony, with prior convictions of two or more "violent or
serious" felonies, must receive a life sentence with a minimum
term of 25 years. The minimum term for any defendant with two
prior serious or violent offenses must be at least 25 years.
In many cases, multiple terms of 25-years-to-life must be
imposed - one for each count (separately charged offense) which
does not arise from the same operative facts in the current
case. Where multiple convictions do arise from separate
operative facts, the court has discretion to impose
consecutive or concurrent terms. According to a complex
formula, in a rare case, a different minimum term may be
imposed if it would result in a longer sentence than 25 years.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
AB 426
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Committee, unknown, potentially significant annual General Fund
costs, in the range of $700,000, for longer state prison terms,
to the extent additional offenders ultimately receive longer
terms under three strike sentencing provisions.
For example, based on the 14 persons committed to state prison
in 2005-06 for solicitation of murder, if this bill results in
one more offender annually receiving a three-strike life
sentence, and two offenders annually receiving a second-strike
double-the-base-term sentence, annual costs could exceed
$700,000 in about 10 years, when the longer terms would be in
effect. Costs increase annually as more life sentences are
added. (No one was committed to state prison in 2005-06 under
the human trafficking section, Penal Code Section 236.1.)
COMMENTS : According to the author, "Public safety, prison,
sentencing, and parole reform are four of the key policy reform
issues that are being heavily debated in Sacramento in 2007.
The increasingly problematic 'prison crisis' has spurred even
more discussion and debate at the outset of 2007 than in past
years. Such discussions are only complicated by the involvement
of the courts in the prison health crisis and the imminent
threat of the possibility of releasing inmates before their
terms expire. United States District Judges Lawrence Karlton
and Thelton Henderson have indicated that they are seriously
considering options such as early release for an untold number
of inmates, a prison population cap and a complete federal
takeover of the entire prison system. In response to the
judges' most recent suggestion of early release of inmates,
Governor Schwarzenegger has indicated that all options to
address the prison crisis are on the table.
"Early release of inmates is a serious concern as it relates to
public safety in California. While the discussion regarding the
early release of inmates is often only suggested in the context
of non-serious and non-violent offenders, the reference to
'non-serious' and 'non-violent' can be misleading to
Californians and public safety in California.
"These terms can be misleading as many inmates who are
considered 'non-violent' or 'non-serious' have had previous
convictions for serious or violent crimes or their cases were
plea-bargained to lesser, non-violent crimes that may have been
truly violent or serious. This bill will add some of the crimes
AB 426
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that are currently considered non-violent and/or non-serious to
the list of serious and/or violent felonies. This bill will
help to ensure that crimes that are truly violent and serious
are treated as such under the law."
Please see the policy committee analysis for full discussion of
this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Horiuchi / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744
FN: 0001011