BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1369
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 13, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
AB 1369 (Davis) - As Amended: April 13, 2009
Policy Committee: Public
SafetyVote: 7-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill expands eligibility for the county jail involuntary
home detention program - which requires approval by the board of
supervisors - by deleting the current misdemeanor limitation,
thereby opening up the optional program to sentenced felony
offenders.
This bill also adds escape or attempted escape from home
detention to existing escape provisions, which generally punish
escapes or attempted escapes as wobblers, punishable by up to 1
year in county jail or 16 months, 2, or 3 years in state prison.
FISCAL EFFECT
No direct state costs, as the expansion would be utilized upon
direction of county boards of supervisors and the correctional
administrator, and the cost would be absorbed by the county.
The nonreimbursable cost of involuntary home detention
electronic monitoring is about $10 per day, compared to no cost
if these offenders do no jail time, and about $100 per day for
county jail. At $10 per day, the cost of an additional 500
inmates on a statewide basis is about $1.8 million.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . Sponsored by the L.A. Sheriff's Office to address
jail overcrowding and court-ordered jail population caps, this
bill authorizes the sheriff, or local correctional
administrator, to place inmates sentenced for felonies on
electronic home detention. Current law limits eligibility to
AB 1369
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misdemeanor offenders.
This bill also addresses an oversight in the original
legislation that created the involuntary home detention
program (SB 959, Romero, 2007), which does not cross reference
involuntary home detention provisions with punishment for
escape or attempted escape.
According to the author, the L.A. County Sheriff's Office,
"Based on the lack of space in the county jail system, a
Federal Court has placed a mandatory cap on the number of
inmates in the system. To adhere to the cap, the Sheriff's
Department has reduced the percentage of time served by
inmates committed to county jail. The Sheriff's Department
offered the voluntary electronic monitoring program and in
2007 ran SB 959 (Romero and Runner) to create an involuntary
home detention electronic monitoring program, which has been
very successful. It has also enabled us to increase the
percentage of time serviced by inmates in the county jail.
"Under current law, California Penal Code Section 1203.017
allows involuntary participation by qualified, minimum
security, low-risk inmates in a home detention electronic
monitoring program in lieu of confinement in the county jail.
By giving the Sheriff's Department the discretion and the
option to put an inmate on the involuntary home detention
monitoring program, the Department has been able to better
manage and control the jail population. If felony county jail
commitments are added to this section, we can better control
our population and create much needed room for the more
serious offenders."
2)Statewide Jail Overcrowding . Based on the latest Corrections
Standards Authority (CSA) survey for the third quarter of
2008, the average daily population of county jail inmates is
82,748. Capacity is 75,728. The highest one-day jail count was
88,175. According to the CSA 15 counties are under
court-ordered jail population caps, with another 12 counties
under a self-imposed cap. These 15 counties account for about
60% of the statewide county jail population.
Statewide, county jails provide early release to an average of
17,236 inmates per month due to overcrowding. Of this number,
7,893 are sentenced inmates.
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3)Prior legislation , SB 959 (Romero), Statutes of 2007,
authorizes a county board of supervisors, upon determination
by the county correctional administrator that conditions in a
jail facility require the release of sentenced misdemeanor
inmates prior to the completion of their jail term due to
lack of space, to authorize the correctional administrator to
offer a program in which specified inmates may be required to
participate in an involuntary home detention program in lieu
of jail time, as specified, and requires those inmates on home
detention to be electronically monitored.
Analysis Prepared by : Geoff Long / APPR. / (916) 319-2081