BILL ANALYSIS
AB 169
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 1, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
AB 169 (Portantino) - As Introduced: January 29, 2009
Policy Committee: Public
SafetyVote: 6-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill adds local jail "custodial officers," per Penal Code
Section 831.5, to the list of persons (peace officers,
firefighters, and emergency medical personnel) who may seek to
have an arrestee's blood tested, either voluntarily or by court
order, for HIV or Hepatitis B or C, when exposed to an
arrestee's bodily fluids during the course of duty.
FISCAL EFFECT
Likely negligible state court costs/savings to the extent this
bill results in additional/fewer hearings for county detention
personnel forced to pursue a court hearing to obtain an
arrestee's blood sample in the wake of a bodily fluid exposure.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale. Current law specifies that peace officers,
firefighters, or emergency medical personnel, who, in the
scope of duty, are exposed to an arrestee's blood or bodily
fluids, may, prior to filing a petition with the court, have a
licensed health care provider notify the arrestee of the
exposure and attempt to obtain consent of the arrestee to
perform a test for HIV, or hepatitis B nor C. If consent is
not provided, the official may petition the court for an order
requiring testing, as specified. If the court finds probable
cause indicates a potential exposure occurred, the court shall
order the arrestee to provide blood for testing, as specified.
AB 169
Page 2
Because current law does not explicitly cover custodial
officers, who in many counties serve as jail staff, performing
similar duties to peace officers, the author and proponents of
this measure - labor organizations representing custodial
officers, as well as sheriffs - wish to expand the statute to
cover custodial officers.
2)Is this bill necessary ? Though supporters, including the L.A.
Sheriff's Office, were unable to identify a situation in which
a custodial officer was unable to obtain a necessary blood
test following an exposure incident involving an arrestee, or
forced to pursue a court-ordered solution, expanding the
statute to explicitly include custodial officers appears
consistent with legislative intent.
3)Suggested amendments . Because local law enforcement uses
different nomenclature to describe employees who serve in some
capacity as correctional officers, (for example, L.A. County
employs some 1,200 "custody assistants," per Penal Code
Section 831.7, and transportation officers, per Penal Code
Section 831.6, also have regular contact with prisoners), the
author may wish to expand the definition as follows:
"a custodial officer, as that term is defined in subdivision
(a) of Section 831 or subdivision (a) of Section 831.5, a
custody assistant, as that term in defined in subdivision (a)
of Section 831.7, or a nonsworn uniformed employee of a law
enforcement agency, whose job entails the care or control of
inmates in a detention facility."
Analysis Prepared by : Geoff Long / APPR. / (916) 319-2081