BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
AB 906 (Galgiani)
Hearing Date: 08/25/2011 Amended: 07/06/2011
Consultant: Jolie Onodera Policy Vote: Judiciary 5-0
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BILL SUMMARY: AB 906 would expand eligibility to participate in
the Safe at Home (SAH) Program to include a witness who has
testified in a murder trial, as specified.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Fund
Expanded SAH Costs potentially in excess of $200
toGeneral
eligibility SOS; ongoing operating costs authorized
to be offset by fees
Letter from prosecutingUnknown; state-reimbursable costsGeneral
attorney dependent on extent of applications
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STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE. AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED.
Under existing law, the Safe at Home Program is administered by
the Secretary of State (SOS) and provides victims of domestic
violence, sexual assault, stalking, or reproductive healthcare
workers with a substitute mailing address in order to protect
the confidentiality of the participant's home, work, or school
address. This bill would expand eligibility to participate in
the SAH Program to include witnesses who have testified in a
murder trial, as specified.
In addition to meeting current program requirements, this bill
would require murder witnesses applying for participation to
submit a letter from the prosecuting attorney that the applicant
was a witness in a murder trial and that his or her testimony
was substantially related to the murder charge. Although the
decision of whether to provide the letter would be within the
discretion of the prosecuting attorney, the attorney would
AB 906 (Galgiani)
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likely be required to review the request and associated
information in order to determine whether a letter is warranted.
For those cases not granted a letter, a written response or
communication with the witness for the decision would be likely.
By imposing additional duties on local prosecuting attorneys,
costs associated with providing the required letters would be
state-reimbursable. The potential costs are unknown and would be
dependent on the number of requests for application to the
program.
It is unknown how many murder trial witnesses would choose to
participate in the SAH Program. As there are approximately 150
to 200 murder trials annually in Los Angeles County, the number
of murder trials statewide is estimated to range between 400 to
550 trials per year. The number of witnesses who testify in each
case is also unknown but could range from one individual to 100
persons per trial. The provision requiring a prosecuting
attorney to provide a letter indicating substantial testimony
should narrow the potentially eligible caseload considerably,
however.
The SOS indicates the current funding for the SAH Program is
approximately $1.04 million (General Fund), serving 2,735
participants. The SOS estimates additional staffing costs of
approximately $200,000 would be required in order to establish
the new category of participants, develop new procedures, and
provide training.
The bill allows a fee to be charged for enrollment as well as
for the costs of maintaining the program. Operating costs
associated with enrollment would include processing of
applications, printing, mailing, and postage. Based on the
current funding of the program, the annual cost per participant
is approximately $380 per participant. The bill provides that
payment of a fee to be determined by the SOS must accompany an
application and shall not exceed the reasonable costs of
enrolling in the program. The ability to offset the ongoing
costs of the program would be dependent upon the number of
participants in the program and the fee established by SOS.
This bill further provides that a participant who entered as a
murder witness shall be terminated from the program upon
conviction of a misdemeanor or felony if the offense was
committed on or after the date of application for the SAH
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Program. It is unclear how SOS would obtain notice of this
information, as the bill does not specifically indicate how the
information is to be received. To the extent SOS would be
required to obtain and review information from local law
enforcement, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation,
and/or the courts could result in unknown but potentially
significant costs. Additionally, the potential cost to entities
to provide this information to SOS is unknown.
The author's proposed amendments would delete the provision of
the bill requiring termination from the program upon conviction
of a crime and would expand eligibility for letters from the
prosecuting attorney to include those subpoenaed to testify in a
murder trial.