BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1913
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Date of Hearing: April 18, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1913 (Skinner) - As Amended: March 19, 2012
Policy Committee: Public
SafetyVote: 5-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill allows a person on post-release community supervision
(PRCS) status to apply for bail pending a revocation hearing.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Specifies that bail pending PRCS revocation is the sole
discretion of the court.
2)Specifies criteria the court must consider when considering
bail pending PRCS revocation, including the nature of the
charges and the original commitment offense, public safety
concerns, likelihood of the applicant appearing, and community
ties.
3)Requires the county agency responsible (generally the
probation department) for filing the revocation petition to
promptly notify the district attorney and victim of a bail
application.
4)Specifies that any bail set pursuant to this section is in
addition to any other bail ordered for any other pending
criminal charges.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Assuming this bill is necessary to allow PRCS bail
applications, annual GF state trial court costs could be in
the range of $700,000. This assumes 5,500 petitions to revoke
PERCS, with 50% of these applying for bail pursuant to this
bill, requiring an average of 30 minutes of court time.
According to the Judicial Council estimates, which assume
AB 1913
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longer hearings, these costs could be considerably higher.
It is not clear, however, that courts could not grant PRCS
bail applications under current law, which would disassociate
the costs from this bill. Moreover, it is possible courts
would not entertain many PRCS bail applications given that
revocation is a last resort and the time spent in custody
pending revocation is not likely to be much more than a week.
2)To the extent this bill is necessary and successful in
reducing jail overcrowding, statewide local detention savings
could be in the range of $1.5 million, assuming 2,725
offenders avoid an average of one week in county jail.
3)Requiring notification of victims creates a reimbursable
mandate that could run in the range of $200,000 for locating
and contacting victims. It is not clear why creating a victim
notification mandate is necessary.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . According to the author and the sponsors, Aladdin
Bail Bonds and the American Bail Association, this bill
clarifies the right of persons on PRCS to pursue bail while
facing revocation, which helps alleviate jail overcrowding and
assists in rehabilitation.
2)Opposition . According to the Chief Probation Officers of
California (CPOC), the length of time a person on PRCS would
await a revocation hearing is about five days, making this
type of short-term bail not practical. "While we share the
same concerns as it relates to available space in county
jails, CPOC takes into account that once an inmate has
violated the conditions of their release, they have already
exhausted and taken all steps with regard to treatment
services and other rehabilitative resources available to them.
In this scenario revocation is the last resort. The law
requires probation to exhaust all other options so by the time
they are in a revocation proceeding, they would not likely
qualify for bail. Lastly, the county agency responsible for
filing revocation is the probation department who would now
have to give a notice to the District Attorney and other
stakeholders, thus adversely affecting their workload."
3)PRCS is a creation of the 2011 correctional realignment . Under
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realignment, counties assumed supervision of all offenders
released from prison, other than violent and serious
offenders, high risk sex offenders, mentally disordered
offenders, and third-strikers, all of whom are supervised by
state parole. Each county Board of Supervisors designates a
county agency to be responsible for PRCS. Once released to
PRCS, CDCR retains no jurisdiction. Offenders on PRCS are
subject to up to three years of local supervision, with
mandatory conditions of release, much like probation and
parole conditions. PRCS provides for intermediate sanctions
before PRCS is revoked for a violation, including flash
incarcerations for up to 10 days.
Whether on state parole or PRCS, no offender may be returned
to prison on a parole
revocation except for persons who received
life-with-possibility-of-parole. All parole revocations are
served in county jail and can only be up to 180 days.
PRCS revocations are heard by local courts, while parole
revocations remain under the jurisdiction of the Board of
Parole Hearings until July 1, 2013, at which time the parole
revocation process will become a local court-based process and
Board of Parole Hearings jurisdiction will be limited to
lifers, medical parole hearings, mentally disordered offenders
and sexually violent predators.
Analysis Prepared by : Geoff Long / APPR. / (916) 319-2081