BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 324
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 324 (Buchanan)
As Amended February 7, 2012
2/3 vote. Urgency
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|ASSEMBLY: | |(April 25, |SENATE: |31-0 |(February 17, |
| | |2011) | | |2012) |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
(vote not relevant)
Original Committee Reference: B.,P., & C.P.
SUMMARY : Specifies that juvenile offenders who have been
adjudicated for an offense requiring registration as a sex
offender may be committed to the California Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation's Division of Juvenile Facilities
(DJF).
The Senate amendments delete the Assembly version of this bill,
and instead:
1)Stipulate the court may commit a juvenile to DJF for the
commitment of an offense requiring registration as a sex
offender, as referenced in Penal Code (PC) Section 290.008.
Doing so addresses the December 12, 2011, decision in In re
C.H. (2011) 53 Cal.4th 94, wherein the California Supreme
Court ruled that current law does not expressly authorize
commitment of a juvenile sex offender to the DJF if the
offender was not adjudicated for a Welfare and Institutions
Code (WIC) 707(b) offense (the citation generally used to
identify serious and violent offenses).
2)Stipulate that wards ineligible for DJF commitment do not
include wards required to register as sex offenders.
3)Authorize counties to contract with DJF to house wards who
were in DJF custody on December 12, 2011, whose commitment was
recalled as a result of the C.H. case. (The state's intent is
to not charge the counties for such arrangements.)
As passed by the Assembly , this bill required the Department of
General Services, when selecting locations for state-owned or
-leased buildings exceeding 10,000 square feet, to consider the
residential location of the workforce to be housed, and the
AB 324
Page 2
availability of transit service.
FISCAL EFFECT :
1)Foregone General Fund (GF) savings in the range of $10 million
per year for about two years to continue housing 65 wards
prohibited from DJF placement pursuant to the C.H. ruling of
December 12, 2011. (The proposed budget assumes these wards
would be housed at DJF.)
Since the 65 wards who were in DJF custody as of December 12,
2011, are no longer DJF-eligible, and are in various
stages of release to local custody and care, this bill
authorizes counties to contract with the state to house these
wards. DJF would not charge the counties for these contracts.
Based on a per capita cost of $163,000 and an average of 24
months in DJF custody, if counties contracted with the state
for all 65 wards, the cost would be about $10 million per year
for two years.
2)Unknown out-year annual GF costs in the range of $7 million to
house PC Section 290.008 wards, assuming 22 commitments per
year and a two-year average length-of-stay. (This assumes the
budget proposal to not charge the counties $125,000 per DJF
commitment, as part of the January 2012 budget trigger cuts,
is maintained.)
3)Should the bill fail, there will be analogous annual
nonreimbursable costs to local governments to place these
wards in appropriate local settings/programs if DJF is not an
option.
4)Unknown, likely minor, GF trial court savings to the extent
restoring DJF as an option for PC Section 290.008 wards
results in fewer adult filings for offenders who, prior to
C.H., would have been charged as juveniles and housed in DJF.
COMMENTS :
Rationale . Sponsored by the California District Attorneys
Association (CDAA) and the California Probation Officers
Association (CPOC), this bill would clarify that a juvenile
offender adjudicated for a specified sex offense may be
committed to the DJF, regardless of whether the juvenile
AB 324
Page 3
has also been adjudicated for a current or prior offense
under WIC Section 707(b).
According to the author, to ensure that juvenile offenders
who have committed sex offenses remain eligible for DJF
commitment, current law must be amended to clarify the
intent of the Legislature in enacting juvenile justice
realignment in 2007. AB 324 clarifies what most
stakeholders and practitioners understood to be the law
after juvenile realignment: that a juvenile offender with
either a WIC Section 707(b) offense or a PC Section
290.008(c) sex offense is eligible for DJF commitment.
Background . In 2007, SB 81 and SB 191 (juvenile offender
realignment) were enacted to restrict DJF eligibility to the
most serious juvenile offenders, so-called 707(b) offenders.
Following enactment of SB 81 and SB 191, WIC Section 731
specified that only 707(b) offenses were eligible for DJF
commitment, while WIC Section 733 specified who was ineligible
for DJF, including wards who have not committed a 707(b)
offense, "Unless the offense is a sex offense set forth in
subdivision (c) of Section 290.008 of the Penal Code." (PC
Section 290.008 references registerable sex offenses.)
While legislative analyses of SB 81 and SB 191 clearly and
explicitly state the Legislature did not intend to exclude any
registerable sex offenders from DJF eligibility, the California
Supreme Court, reversing the judgment of the Court of Appeal,
ruled the grammatical construction of the two sections trumped
the contention of the Attorney General that the intent of the
Legislature was to include all registerable sex offenses (Penal
Code Section 290.008), and that as a result, only a ward who has
committed a 707(b) offense may be committed to the DJF.
Sexual offenses requiring registration as a sex offender that
are not included in WIC Section 707(b) include assault with
intent to commit a sexual offense, non-forcible rape, sodomy and
oral copulation, continuous sexual abuse of a child, and lewd or
lascivious acts with a minor. Of the 65 juvenile offenders
currently housed by DJF who were committed for a non-707(b)
offense, 51 were committed for non-forcible lewd and lascivious
acts with a minor.
In re C.H. involved a 13-year-old offender who admitted
molesting his three-year-old sister and two other siblings. He
AB 324
Page 4
was adjudicated under PC Section 288(a) and placed on probation.
After four probation violations for failure to comply with
program placement rules, including 90 days in juvenile hall
custody, the juvenile court committed C.H. to DJF and its sex
offender program. C.H. appealed the juvenile court order, but
the Court of Appeal rejected the claim that C.H. was ineligible
for DJF commitment because PC Section 288(a) was not listed in
WIC Section 731.
The California Supreme Court, however, reversed the Court of
Appeal, stating, "The question before us, however, is one of
statutory construction of two provisions with a plain meaning -
not one of policy choice. Our holding must be based on how
sections 731(a)(4) and 733((c) are written, not on our view of
what could or should have been enacted. Needless to say, the
Legislature is free to reconsider the policy set out in the
current statutes if it wishes to do so."
Status of wards affected by the C.H. decision . In January, the
Division of Juvenile Justice sent letters to presiding judges of
the juvenile court advising them of the C.H. decision, providing
them with a roster of youth committed to DJF from their
respective counties who may have been ineligible for DJF
commitment under the decision, and to request that the court
take appropriate action for all cases determined by the court to
be affected by C.H. As of February 15, 13 wards have been
removed from DJF to their county of commitments. Of the 65
wards currently at issue, 57 are currently over the age of 17.
The average age at commitment was 16. Of 170 sex offenders
currently housed in DJF, 38% are subject to C.H.
Support includes, CDAA, CPOC, Service Employees International
Union (SEIU) Local 1000 and the Peace Officers Research
Association of California (PORAC).
Opposition includes the California Public Defenders Association
(CPDA) and California Attorneys for Criminal Justice (CACJ), who
contend several of the offenses addressed by this bill should
not be eligible for DJF commitment.
Analysis Prepared by : Geoff Long / APPR. / (916) 319-2081
FN:
AB 324
Page 5
0003132