BILL NUMBER: AB 999	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Skinner

                        FEBRUARY 27, 2009

   An act to amend Section 1719 of the Welfare and Institutions Code,
relating to juveniles.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 999, as introduced, Skinner. Juveniles: Board of Parole
Hearings.
   Existing law sets forth the powers and duties of the Board of
Parole Hearings with respect to juvenile court proceedings.
   This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to that
provision.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 1719 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is
amended to read:
   1719.  (a)  Commencing   On and after 
July 1, 2005, the following powers and duties shall be exercised and
performed by the Board of Parole Hearings: discharges of commitment,
orders to parole and conditions thereof, revocation or suspension of
parole, and disciplinary appeals.
   (b) Any ward may appeal an adjustment to his or her parole
consideration date to a panel comprised of at least two
commissioners.
   (c) The following powers and duties shall be exercised and
performed by the Division of Juvenile Facilities: return of persons
to the court of commitment for redisposition by the court,
determination of offense category, setting of parole consideration
dates, conducting annual reviews, treatment program orders,
institution placements, furlough placements, return of nonresident
persons to the jurisdiction of the state of legal residence,
disciplinary decisionmaking, and referrals pursuant to Section 1800.
   (d) The department shall promulgate policies and regulations
implementing a departmentwide system of graduated sanctions for
addressing ward disciplinary matters. The disciplinary decisionmaking
system shall be employed as the disciplinary system in facilities
under the jurisdiction of the Division of Juvenile Facilities, and
shall provide a framework for handling disciplinary matters in a
manner that is consistent, timely, proportionate, and ensures the due
process rights of wards. The department shall develop and implement
a system of graduated sanctions which distinguishes between minor,
intermediate, and serious misconduct. The department may extend a
ward's parole consideration date, subject to appeal pursuant to
subdivision (b), from one to not more than 12 months, inclusive, for
a sustained serious misconduct violation if all other sanctioning
options have been considered and determined to be unsuitable in light
of the ward's previous case history and the circumstances of the
misconduct. In any case in which a parole consideration date has been
extended, the disposition report shall clearly state the reasons for
the extension. The length of any parole consideration date extension
shall be based on the seriousness of the misconduct, the ward's
prior disciplinary history, the ward's progress toward treatment
objectives, the ward's earned program credits, and any extenuating or
mitigating circumstances. The department shall promulgate
regulations to implement a table of sanctions to be used in
determining parole consideration date extensions. The department also
may promulgate regulations to establish a process for granting wards
who have successfully responded to disciplinary sanctions a
reduction of up to 50 percent of any time acquired for disciplinary
matters.