BILL ANALYSIS
SB 174
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 23, 2009
Counsel: Nicole J. Hanson
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Juan Arambula, Chair
SB 174 (Strickland) - As Amended: May 13, 2009
SUMMARY : Makes technical, corrective changes to various code
sections. Specifically, this bill :
1)Clarifies that the Department of Justice (DOJ) shall provide
subsequent arrest and conviction information supporting an
applicant's ineligibility to hold an explosives permit.
2)Explains that every person who is required to register as a
sex offender who is living as a transient in California but
was convicted in another jurisdiction, shall register within
five working days of coming into California with the chief of
police of the city in which he or she is present or the
sheriff of the county if he or she is present in an
unincorporated area or city that has no police department.
3)Removes the requirement that DOJ must provide annual reports
to the Legislature on the service through which members of the
public may obtain information on sex offenders via the Megan's
Law Internet Web site.
4)Clarifies that in situations where a person diverts $1,000 or
less in construction funds, the person shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor.
5)Extends the sunset date from January 1, 2010 to January 1,
2015 to allow, upon the concurrence of the county board of
supervisors, the county mental health director, and the county
sheriff, the jail to be designated to provide medically
approved medication to defendants found to be mentally
incompetent and unable to provide informed consent due to a
mental disorder.
6)Corrects the erroneous titles and adds titles to conform to
the addition of the Bureau of Independent Review as follows:
Chief Deputy Inspector General (IG); Chief Assistant IG;
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Deputy IG; In-Charge, Senior Deputy IG; Deputy IG; Senior
Assistant IG; and Special Assistant IG.
7)Provides that the IG shall be responsible for contemporaneous
oversight of internal affairs investigations and the
disciplinary process of the California Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) as requested by either
the CDCR Secretary or a member of the Legislature.
8)Specifies each audit of a warden by the IG shall include, but
not be limited to, issues relating to personnel, training,
investigations, and financial matters. Each four-year audit
shall include an assessment of the maintenance of the facility
managed by the warden.
9)Deletes a redundant requirement that persons certified as a
fingerprint roller shall have a notarized application.
10)Removes the locality specification of Sacramento when
referring to DOJ with regard to the transmission of firearm
purchaser information.
11)Updates the definition of "stun gun" as any item, except a
less lethal weapon, used or intended to be used as either an
offensive or defensive weapon that is capable of temporarily
immobilizing a person by the infliction of an electrical
charge.
12)Removes the requirement that annual reports by the DOJ
containing criminal statistics of the preceding calendar year
must to be printed and presented to the Governor in paper
form, thus allowing for electronic distribution.
13)Specifies that a deposit of bail does not constitute entry of
a plea or a court appearance when a person who has received a
written notice to appear for an infraction is required to make
a deposit and declare the intention to plead not guilty to the
clerk named in the notice to appear. A plea of not guilty
under this section must be made in court at the arraignment.
14)Allows out-of-state law enforcement agencies to obtain a
complete copy of a juvenile police record, without notice or
consent from the person who is the subject of the juvenile
police record to the following persons or entities.
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15)Specifies that employees or agents of CDCR, the Board of
Parole Hearings (BPH), or the Department of Mental Health
(DMH) may disclose to employees or agents of each named
department, the prosecutor, the respondent's counsel, licensed
private investigators hired or appointed for the respondent,
or other persons or agencies where authorized or required by
law, the name, address, telephone number, or other identifying
information of a person who was involved in a civil commitment
hearing as the victim of a sex offense except where authorized
or required by law.
16)Makes other technical, non-substantive, and cross-referencing
changes.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Provides that the DOJ shall make a determination whether an
explosives permit can be granted to a person. (Health and
Safety Code Section 12101.)
2)Requires people convicted of specified sex offenders to
register with local authorities including people who are
transients. (Penal Code Section 290 et. seq.)
3)Mandates that any person who receives money for the purpose
of obtaining or paying for services, labor, materials or
equipment and willfully fails to apply such money for such
purpose by either willfully failing to complete the
improvement for which funds were provided or willfully failing
to pay for services, labor, materials or equipment provided
incident to such construction, and wrongfully diverts the
funds to a use other than that for which the funds were
received shall be guilty of an alternate felony/misdemeanor,
if the amount diverted is in excess of $1,000 and by a
misdemeanor if the amount is less than $1,000. (Penal Code
Section 484.)
4)Lists the IG, and the Chief Deputy IG In Charge, the Senior
Deputy IG, the Deputy IG, and those employees of the IG as
designated by the IG, are peace officers, provided that the
primary duty of these peace officers shall be conducting
audits of investigatory practices and other audits, as well as
conducting investigations, of CDCR, Division of Juvenile
Justice and the BPH. [Penal Code Section 830.2(j).]
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5)The IG shall review departmental policy and procedures,
conduct audits of investigatory practices and other audits,
and conduct investigations of the CDCR, as requested by either
the Secretary of the CDCR or a member of the Legislature,
pursuant to the approval of the IG under policies to be
developed by the IG. The IG may, under policies developed by
the IG, initiate an investigation or an audit on his or her
own accord. [Penal Code Section 6126(a)(1).]
6)States that the IG shall audit each warden of an institution
one year after his or her appointment, and shall audit each
correctional institution at least once every four years. Each
audit shall include, but not be limited to, issues relating to
personnel, training, investigations, and financial matters.
Each audit shall include an assessment of the maintenance of
the facility managed by the warden. The audit report shall
include the IG's assessment of facility maintenance. These
audit reports shall be provided to the Legislature and shall
be made public. The requirements of this paragraph shall be
phased in by the IG so that they are fully met by July 1,
2009. [Penal Code Section 6126(a)(2).]
7)Requires that individuals who roll fingerprint impressions
must satisfactorily complete a notarized written application
prescribed by DOJ to determine the fitness of the person to
exercise the functions of a fingerprint roller. [Penal Code
Section 11102.1(d)(3).]
8)Mandates firearm dealers to submit two copies of the original
sheet of the register, on the date of the application to
purchase firearms, shall be placed in the mail, postage
prepaid, and properly addressed to the DOJ in Sacramento.
[Penal Code Section 12076(b)(3).]
9)Requires the records of applicant firearm purchaser
information to be transmitted to DOJ in Sacramento by
electronic or telephonic transfer on the date of the
application to purchase. [Penal Code Section 12076(c)(2).]
10)Defines "stun gun" as including any item, except a taser,
used or intended to be used as either an offensive or
defensive weapon capable of temporally immobilizing a person
by the infliction of an electrical charge. (Penal Code
Section 12650.)
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11)States that DOJ must present to the Governor, on or before
July 1st, a printed annual report containing the criminal
statistics of the preceding calendar year and to present at
other times as the Attorney General (AG) may approve reports
on special aspects of criminal statistics. A sufficient
number of copies of all reports shall be printed or otherwise
prepared to enable the AG to send a copy to all public
officials in the state dealing with criminals and to
distribute them generally in channels where they will add to
the public enlightenment. [Penal Code Section 13010(g).]
12)Holds that a ny person who has received a written notice to
appear for an infraction may, prior to the time at which the
person is required to appear, make a deposit and declare the
intention to plead not guilty to the clerk of the court named
in the notice to appear. The deposit shall be in the amount
of bail, together with any assessment for the offense charged,
and shall be used for the purpose of guaranteeing the
appearance of the defendant at the time and place scheduled by
the clerk for arraignment and for trial, and to apply toward
the payment of any fine or assessment prescribed by the court
in the event of conviction. The case shall thereupon be set
for arraignment and trial on the same date, unless the
defendant requests separate arraignment. [Vehicle Code
Section 40519(a) .]
13)Allows California law enforcement agencies including the
office of the AG of California, any district attorney, the
CDCR, the Department of the Youth Authority, and any peace
officer to obtain a complete copy of a juvenile police record,
without notice or consent from the person who is the subject
of the juvenile police record. [Penal Code Section 827.9(b).]
14)Provides no employee or agent of CDCR, BPH, or DMH shall
disclose to any person the name, address, telephone number, or
other identifying information of a person who was involved in
a civil commitment hearing under this article as a victim of
a sex offense except where authorized or required by law.
[Welfare and Institutions Code (WIC) Section 6603.5.]
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Background : According to information provided by the author,
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"This is the annual public safety omnibus bill from the
Senate. It makes technical changes."
2)Amendment to Health and Safety Code Section 12101 : Currently,
subsequent arrest and conviction information is not provided
for explosives permit holders under Health and Safety Code
Section 12101. The change in this bill will allow the DOJ to
provide such information to local agencies.
3)Amendment to Penal Code Section 290.011 : The Sex Offender
Registration Act requires persons convicted of registerable
sex offenses in out-of-state, federal, or military courts to
register in the State of California. While it is clear that a
sex offender from another jurisdiction who moves into a
residence has five working days to register [Penal Code
Section 290(b)], it is not clear that a transient registerable
sex offender convicted in another jurisdiction has five
working days after entering California to register. This
amendment clarifies the duty of such a transient sex offender
to register.
4)Amendment to Penal Code Section 290.46(n) : When Megan's Law
requirements were first established, the DOJ and other
entities such as local law enforcement agencies were very
active in developing and implementing the various aspects of
the statutory mandates. These activities included developing
the original data base for information dissemination and
making it available to the public. These efforts culminated
in the development and implementation of the Megan's Law
Internet Web site during 2004. At that time, the annual
reports were filled with updates on the activities needed to
accomplish the goals set forth by the Legislature. In recent
years, Megan's Law requirements have stabilized and the
actions of the affected entities have become routine.
Consequently, the annual report has become a restatement of
information from prior years' reports, with no new
information. The established success of the Megan's Law
public notification process has obviated the need for an
annual update.
5)Amendment to Penal Code Section 484b : Penal Code Section 484b
(Diversion of Construction Funds) makes it an alternate
felony/misdemeanor to divert in excess of $1,000 in
construction funds. The statute also makes it a misdemeanor
to divert less than $1,000 in construction funds and, thus,
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fails to address a diversion of $1,000 exactly. The statute
should be amended to make it a misdemeanor to divert $1,000 or
less in construction funds.
6)Amendment to Penal Code Section 11102.1(d)(3) : In order for a
person to be certified to roll fingerprint images for non-law
enforcement purposes, the applicant must submit a copy of his
or her fingerprints along with a notarized written
application. This notarization requirement is unique to this
application type and is redundant in light of the fact that
fingerprints must be submitted along with the application,
thus, this requirement should be deleted.
7)Amendment to Welfare and Institutions Code Section
827.9(b)(1) : This bill amends WIC Section 827.9(b)(1) to
allow for vital information sharing with other law enforcement
agencies in neighboring states. Over the last few years,
there has been a tremendous increase in the number of gang
members who are living, or now residing, in neighboring states
(such as Nevada and Arizona). Some of these gang members are
juveniles. In an effort to better communicate and share
information with other law enforcement agencies, California
has developed a computer information sharing system called,
"CopLink". The problem law enforcement has encountered is
that WIC Section 827.0(b)(1) only allows law enforcement to
share information on juveniles between California law
enforcement agencies. Thus, states sharing information with
California law enforcement do not have reciprocity to
California's information or databases through CopLink. This
amendment grants interstate access.
8)Amendment to Welfare and Institutions Code Section 6603.5 : AB
2410 (Nava), Chapter 155, Statutes of 2008, ensures the
protection of the name, address, telephone number, and other
personal identifying information of victims and witnesses from
being released to a respondent, his/her family, or any other
person in sexually violent predator petitions. In drafting
the regulations to implement the provisions of AB 2410, BPH
and DMH requested more explicit authority as to whom they may
authorize the release of personal identifying information.
9)Argument in Support : According to the California District
Attorneys Association (the sponsor of this bill), "As you
know, the utility of this measure is to make minor and
technical changes to various statutes relating to crime and
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criminal procedure in a way that results in no opposition. We
understand and agree with the custom and practice t hat
requires the removal f any provision that draws opposition to
ensure that this bill remains completely non-controversial."
10)Prior Legislation :
a) SB 1241 (Margett), Chapter 699, Statutes of 2008, made
various technical, non-substantive, and clarifying changes
to the law.
b) SB 425 (Margett), Chapter 302, Statutes of 2007, made
various technical, non-substantive, and clarifying changes
to the law.
c) SB 1422 (Margett), Chapter 901, Statutes of 2006, made
various technical, non-substantive, and clarifying changes
to the law.
d) SB 1107 (Public Safety Committee), Chapter 279, Statutes
of 2005, made various technical, non-substantive, and
clarifying changes to the law.
e) SB 1796 (Public Safety Committee), Chapter 405, Statutes
of 2004, made various technical, non-substantive, and
clarifying changes to the law.
f) SB 851 (Public Safety Committee), Chapter 468, Statutes
of 2003, made various technical, non-substantive, and
clarifying changes to the law.
g) SB 1852 (Public Safety Committee), Chapter 545, Statutes
of 2002, made various technical, non-substantive, and
clarifying changes to the law.
h) SB 485 (Public Safety Committee), Chapter 473, Statutes
of 2001, made various technical, non-substantive, and
clarifying changes to the law.
i) SB 832 (Public Safety Committee), Chapter 853, Statutes
of 1999, made various technical, non-substantive, and
clarifying changes to the law.
j) SB 1880 (Public Safety Committee), Chapter 606, Statutes
of 1998, made various technical, non-substantive, and
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clarifying changes to the law.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California District Attorneys Association (Sponsor)
Sonoma County Board of Supervisors
Opposition
None
Analysis Prepared by : Nicole J. Hanson / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744