BILL ANALYSIS
SB 76
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 76 (Committee on Public Safety)
As Amended August 20, 2010
2/3 vote. Urgency
SENATE VOTE : Vote not relevant
SUMMARY : Reduces good-time/work-time credits from one-half to
one-third for persons convicted of misdemeanors while confined in
a county jail. Specifically, this bill :
1)Specifies that a prisoner sentenced to state prison shall
receive a one-day credit for each day served in a city or county
jail, industrial farm, or road camp unless the record shows that
the prisoner refused to satisfactorily perform labor as assigned
by the sheriff, chief of police, or superintendent of an
industrial farm or road camp, or did not satisfactorily comply
with the rule and regulations of that jail, farm or road camp.
2)Specifies that a prisoner sentenced to state prison shall not
receive day-for-day credit while confined in a city or county
jail, industrial farm, or road camp if he or she is required to
register as a sex offender, as specified, or has a conviction
for a serious or violent felony, as specified.
3)States that specified prisoners of a city or county jail,
industrial farm, or road camp shall receive a deduction of two
days from his or her period of confinement for each six days he
or she is confined unless he or she has refused to
satisfactorily perform labor as assigned by the sheriff, chief
of police, or superintendent of an industrial farm or road camp,
or did not satisfactorily comply with the rule and regulations
of that jail, farm or road camp. Specified prisoners include
those confined to any city or county jail, industrial farm, or
road camp:
a) Under a judgment of imprisonment, or a fine and
imprisonment until the fine is paid in a criminal action or
proceeding;
b) As a condition of probation under suspension of imposition
of a sentence or suspension of execution of sentence, in a
criminal action or proceeding;
c) For a definite period of time for contempt pursuant to a
proceeding, other than a criminal action or proceeding; or,
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d) Following arrest and prior to the imposition of sentence
for a felony conviction.
4)Specifies that no deduction may be made unless the specified
prisoner is committed for six days or longer.
5)Specifies that changes in the way credit is awarded is
prospective, and shall only apply to those confined for a crime
committed after the effective date of this act.
6)States that changes made to the manner in which credits are
awarded shall not affect the modifications made to the credit
awarding system in the previous year.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee analysis:
1)Moderate annual General Fund (GF) costs, potentially in excess
of several hundred thousand dollars, to the extent:
a) Increasing county jail overcrowding increases the need for
new jail construction and the attendant costs of bond debt.
For example, there is about $600 million remaining in the AB
900 (Solorio), Chapter 7, Statutes of 2007, authority for
county jail construction. To the extent this authority is
used, there will be state GF costs to pay off the bond. For
example, at about $115,000 per bed, the cost of paying off
1,000 additional new jail bed would be about $230 million or
$7.5 million per year; and,
b) This bill reduces state/local options by adding to the
existing county jail overcrowding, which makes it more
difficult to divert lower security state offenders to the
local level. For example, the Governor estimated his
proposal to establish a local block grant to help offset the
costs of transferring about 11,000 state inmates (average
daily population) with less than three years to serve to
local control would save about $244 million. Increasing the
local jail population does not make such restructuring
easier.
2)Moderate non-reimbursable local incarceration costs, potentially
in the low millions of dollars to the extent county jail inmates
serve additional time as a result of reduced credits. Every
additional 100 months served costs about $240,000. Because of
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overcrowding, thousands of county inmates are released early so
the impact of reducing credits is not as severe as it would be
otherwise.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "This bill restores the jail
inmate credits that existed before the enactment of the prison
reform bill passed last year.
"Incidental to one of the prison reforms in SBx3 18 from last year
- credits for prison
inmates - were changes to credits for jail inmates. For many
years, county jail inmates could earn enough credits to reduce
their jail sentence by up to one-third. SB 18x increased these
jail credits to make them consistent with the credit rules for
state prison inmates.
"After SBx3 18 went into effect, we learned that its jail credit
changes would have the unintended effect of undercutting the
community corrections effort launched by a bill I co-authored last
year with our former colleague, Senator Benoit, SB 678.
"Part of that community corrections model involves judges using
county jail time as an intermediate sanction short of prison. By
reducing available jail time, judges could be faced with an
inadequate custodial alternative to state prison. The last thing
we want to do is fast-track offenders out of community corrections
into prison.
"This bill addresses this concern by restoring the credits
available for jail inmates under the law prior to the enactment of
SBx3 18. This bill does not affect the prison inmate credit
reforms enacted by SBx3 18."
Please see the policy committee for a full discussion of this
bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Milena Nelson / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744
FN: 0006452