BILL NUMBER: SB 564	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  MAY 5, 2009
	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 2, 2009

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Hollingsworth

                        FEBRUARY 27, 2009

   An act to add Section 6610 to the Welfare and Institutions Code,
relating to sexually violent predators.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 564, as amended, Hollingsworth. Sexually violent predators.
   Existing law provides for the civil commitment of criminal
offenders who have been determined to be sexually violent predators
for treatment in a secure state hospital facility, as specified.
Existing law also sets forth provisions governing the release of
sexually violent predators from state custody.
   This bill would require sexually violent predators who are
released  from civil commitment in a state hospital 
 into a forensic conditional release program  after January
1, 2010, to be placed in a reentry facility administered by the
State Department of Mental Health until suitable housing is found
 , but would preclude failure to be place in a reentry  
facility from being grounds for preventing conditional release 
.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


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

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature hereby finds and declares the
following:
   (a) The High Risk Sex Offender and Sexually Violent Predator Task
Force, in their December 2006 report, stated that, "[h]omeless
releases cause an unacceptable and unnecessary risk to the public
because the individual cannot be properly supervised and many of the
terms and conditions of release cannot be enforced (such as global
positioning satellite monitoring, curfews, and associations with
other felons). The Task Force believes that the release of any SVP
without a home into the community creates an unacceptably high risk
to the public and the SVP  , and is making specific
recommendations in this report to improve the SVP placement process."
  . 
   (b) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature to provide
appropriate reentry housing for SVPs until suitable residential
housing may be found.
  SEC. 2.  Section 6610 is added to the Welfare and Institutions
Code, to read:
   6610.  Notwithstanding any other law, any sexually violent
predator who is released  from civil commitment in a state
hospital   into a forensic conditional release program
 after January 1, 2010, pursuant to this article shall be placed
in a reentry facility administered by the State Department of Mental
Health until suitable housing is found for the sexually violent
predator.  The failure of the department to place a person in a
reentry facility shall not be grounds to prevent conditional release
of the person who has demonstrated that he or she would not be a
danger to   others whi   le under supervision and
treatment in the community.