BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
834 (Florez)
Hearing Date: 05/27/2010 Amended: 04/13/2010
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-HernandezPolicy Vote: Public Safety
7-0
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BILL SUMMARY: This bill specifically authorizes the court, upon
convicting a defendant of a sexual offense against a minor, to
prohibit the defendant from harassing, intimidating, or
threatening the victim, victim's family members, spouse or
coworkers, or from encouraging another to do so, for a period of
up to 10 years. Violation of the court order would be punishable
as a misdemeanor (criminal contempt).
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 Fund
New misdemeanor Potentially significant local costs;
non-reimbursable Local
Loss of prison credits Potentially
significant state costs General
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STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE.
This bill authorizes the court to issue an order prohibiting sex
offenders whose victims were minors from harassing,
intimidating, or threatening the victim, and specified others,
and from "encouraging" another to do so. On its face, this law
creates a new specific category of criminal contempt, punishable
as a misdemeanor. Ordinarily, misdemeanors are under local
jurisdiction and are not considered a state cost. The specific
new misdemeanor authorized by this bill, however, applies only
to specified sex offenders after conviction. A large number of
these sex offenders would, upon conviction and issuance of the
court order, be serving sentences in state prisons.
To the extent that state prison inmates violate the court orders
authorized by the bill, they will lose 90 days of "good time"
credits against their sentences - three times the amount
currently allowed for the same offense under current Department
of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) regulations. Existing
regulations consider "Harassment of another person, group, or
entity either directly or indirectly through the use of the mail
or by any other means," to be a "serious disciplinary
infraction" punishable by 30 days of "good time" credit loss. By
providing that this offense would be punishable by a
misdemeanor, this bill would increase the credit loss and could
contribute to lengthier prison sentences for violators who are
in prison. (Inmates have an opportunity to earn credits back,
but there is no guarantee). Moreover, sex offenders (and those
convicted of certain other violent and/or serious crimes) can
earn only up to two days of "good time" credits for every six
days of their state prison sentences, instead of day-for-day
credits earned by other inmates. If even ten inmates violated
these court orders, the net cost of increased sentencing (60
days of additional credit loss over current penalties), this
bill would result increased GF costs of more than $50,000.