BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 984
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   January 21, 2010

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Kevin De Leon, Chair

                    AB 984 (Nava) - As Amended:  January 15, 2010 

          Policy Committee:                              Public  
          SafetyVote:  5-2

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:   
          Yes    Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill eliminates the requirement that a victim be under the  
          age of 14 when charging a person for failure to report to police  
          a witnessed act of murder, rape, or specified lewd and  
          lascivious acts.  
           
           FISCAL EFFECT  

          1)No direct state cost.

          2)Unknown, likely minor, non-reimbursable local costs to the  
            extent eliminating the victim age requirement results in  
            additional prosecutions under the existing misdemeanor failure  
            to report statute. 

          3)Unknown, potentially moderate, state costs for increased state  
            incarceration to the extent eliminating the victim age  
            requirement results in more and/or more successful  
            prosecutions and additional state prison commitments for  
            murder, rape, and specified lewd and lascivious acts. For  
            example, just two additional annual state prison commitments  
            per year would result in increased annual GF costs of almost  
            $300,000 in three years. Costs could increase depending on the  
            conviction offense and the sentence.   

           COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale  . The author's office indicates this bill is in  
            response to the lack of witnesses who came forth following the  
            October 2009 incident in Richmond, CA, in which a 16-year-old  
            woman was sexually assaulted in front of numerous people. The  








                                                                  AB 984
                                                                  Page  2

            author contends eliminating the requirement that the victim be  
            under the age of 14 before a witness can be charged with  
            failure to report the crime will lead to more effective  
            prosecutions. 

           2)Prior Legislation  . AB 1422 (Torlakson), Statutes of 2000,  
            created the misdemeanor offense for not reporting a witnessed  
            instance of murder, rape or specified lewd and lascivious act  
            against a child under the age of 14. 

           3)Possible Amendment  . The author may wish to consider increasing  
            the victim age to 18 rather than deleting it, which would  
            narrow the potential cost exposure as well as reduce the  
            potential for granting witnesses immunity, which can decrease  
            a witness's credibility. 

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Geoff Long / APPR. / (916) 319-2081