BILL ANALYSIS
AB 383
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 383 (Lieu)
As Introduced February 23, 2009
Majority vote
PUBLIC SAFETY 7-0 APPROPRIATIONS 14-3
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|Ayes:|Solorio, Hagman, |Ayes:|De Leon, Ammiano, Charles |
| |Furutani, Gilmore, Hill, | |Calderon, Davis, Fuentes, |
| |Ma, Skinner | |Hall, Miller, |
| | | |John A. Perez, Price, |
| | | |Skinner, Solorio, Audra |
| | | |Strickland, Torlakson, |
| | | |Krekorian |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+---------------------------|
| | |Nays:|Nielsen, Duvall, Harkey |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Extends the limitation on the time period for testing
deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in specified sex crimes cases
committed after January 1, 2001, as specified, from two to five
years.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Provides that prosecution for crimes punishable by
imprisonment in the state prison for eight years or more must
be commenced within six years after commission of the offense.
2)Provides that prosecution for crimes punishable by
imprisonment in the state prison must be commenced within
three years after commission of the offense.
3)Provides that prosecution for specified offenses punishable by
imprisonment in state prison relating to fraud, breach of
fiduciary duty, theft, or embezzlement upon an elder or
dependent adult, or official misconduct must be commenced
within four years after discovery of the commission of the
offense or within four years after the completion of the
offense, whichever is later.
AB 383
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4)Provides that prosecution for specified crimes against elder
or dependent adults, except in theft or embezzlement cases,
may be filed at any time within five years from the date of
occurrence of such offense.
5)Provides that a criminal complaint may be filed within one
year after a report to a law enforcement agency that a person
was the victim of a sexual offense while under the age of 18
years. To file such a complaint, the applicable limitation
period must have expired and the alleged crime must have
involved substantial sexual conduct corroborated by evidence,
as specified.
6)Provides, notwithstanding any other limitation of time
described in this chapter, a criminal complaint may be filed
within one year of the date on which the identity of the
suspect is conclusively established by DNA testing if both of
the following conditions are met:
a) The crime is one that is described in the sex offense
registration statute; and,
b) The offense was committed prior to January 1, 2001, and
biological evidence collected in connection with the
offense is analyzed for DNA type no later than January 1,
2004; or, the offense was committed on or after January 1,
2001, and biological evidence collected in connection with
the offense is analyzed for DNA type no later than two
years from the date of the offense.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
1)Unknown annual General Fund costs to the extent this bill
results in convictions and state prison terms that would not
otherwise be achieved within the timeframe required by current
law. If this bill results in just two annual convictions with
an average of four years served, the annual costs would be
about $350,000 in four years.
2)Unknown nonreimbursable local costs, potentially in the low
millions of dollars, to the extent this bill allows local
crime labs to analyze DNA evidence that might otherwise have
not been tested due to the two-year time limitation. Los
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Angeles County alone has a backlog of about 12,000 kits. At a
cost of about $2,500 per rap kit analysis, every 1,000 kits
tested represents a cost of about $2.5 million.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "This bill will help make
sure that rape kits get processed and analyzed by extending the
time-length from two years to five years. The use of DNA in sex
crimes is the most conclusive proof of identity giving law
enforcement the ability to solve crimes, convict the guilty and
exonerate the wrongfully accused. Therefore, AB 383 is helping
to solve the substantial backlog of unanalyzed DNA samples and
biological evidence that is currently posing a tremendous risk
to California's criminal justice system."
Please see the policy committee for a full discussion of this
bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Horiuchi / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744
FN: 0001141