BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair A
2011-2012 Regular Session B
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AB 1956 (Portantino) 6
As Amended May 2, 2012
Hearing date: June 19, 2012
Welfare and Institutions Code
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JUVENILE JUSTICE:
TATTOO REMOVAL
HISTORY
Source: Author
Prior Legislation: AB 1122 (John A. Perez) - Chapter 661,
Statutes of 2011
SB 526 (Hayden) - Chapter 907, Statutes of 1997
SB 1700 (Hayden) - Chapter 842, Statutes of 1998
Support: California State PTA; California Correctional Peace
Officers Association; Polaris Project; Junior Leagues of
California; Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office;
Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking; Peace Officers
Research Association of California; Crime Victims Action
Alliance; Crime Victims United of California; California
State Sheriffs' Association; Chief Probation Officers of
California; California Probation, Parole and Correctional
Association; California Public Defenders Association; National
Association of Social Workers, California Chapter; California
Catholic Conference; California Attorneys for Criminal Justice;
Homeboy Industries
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Opposition:None Known
Assembly Floor Vote: Ayes 73 - Noes 0
KEY ISSUE
SHOULD THE CALIFORNIA VOLUNTARY TATTOO REMOVAL PROGRAM BE EXPANDED
TO SERVE INDIVIDUALS, BETWEEN 14 AND 24, WHO WERE TATTOOED FOR
IDENTIFICATION IN HUMAN TRAFFICKING OR PROSTITUTION, AS SPECIFIED?
PURPOSE
The purpose of this bill is to expand the California Voluntary
Tattoo Removal Program to serve individuals, between 14 and 24,
who were tattooed for identification in human trafficking or
prostitution, as specified.
Current statute requires the Division of Juvenile Facilities (as
successor to the Department of the Youth Authority) to
"purchase, after a competitive bidding process, two medical
devices that utilize a laser to remove a tattoo from a person's
skin. The department shall determine, through a competitive
bidding process, the placement of the two medical devices
pursuant to the following guidelines:
(1) One of the medical devices shall be located within
Los Angeles County and the other shall be located
within one of the following counties: Alameda, San
Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz.
(2) Possible sites may include: a licensed health
facility, a licensed health clinic, an educational
institution, or a probation office. The department
may enter into an agreement with a licensed health
facility to permit the health facility to use the
medical device when it is not needed for tattoo
removal pursuant to this section if the health
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facility provides tattoo removal services pursuant to
this section free of charge. (Welfare and
Institutions Code ("WIC") � 1915.)
Current law requires that the medical devices remain the
property of the state. However, they shall be used in
conjunction with the tattoo removal program pursuant to this
section for the functional life of the medical devices. (Id.)
Current law requires that candidates for tattoo removal under
this section "shall be screened by community groups working
collaboratively with the operators of the sites of the tattoo
removal devices. A male candidate for tattoo removal shall have
a tattoo on his lower arm, hand, neck, or head. A female
candidate for tattoo removal shall have a tattoo that would be
visible in a professional work environment. To be eligible for
participation, the presence of the tattoo must be deemed to
present either a threat to the personal safety of, or an
obstacle to the employability of, the candidate. Priority shall
be given to candidates who have a job offer that is contingent
upon removal of the tattoo. At the discretion of the
organization that screens a candidate, a candidate for this
tattoo removal may be required to complete 20 hours of
supervised public service work in order to participate in this
program. Parental consent shall be required before the tattoo
of any person under 18 years of age is removed." (Id.)
Current law requires that community groups recommended pursuant
to this subdivision meet the following criteria:
(1) Serve at-risk youth, ex-offenders, ex-convicts, or
current and former gang members.
(2) Possess an established record of providing
community-based services for at least one year, as
specified. (Id.)
Current law requires that community groups that participate in
this program and the operators of the sites of the tattoo
removal devices solicit the pro bono services of licensed health
care providers to participate in the program in order to
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increase the number of individuals served. (Id.)
Current law states that it "is the intent of the Legislature
that at least 200 tattoo removals shall be performed at each
tattoo removal site in its first year of operation. After two
years of operation, community groups that participate in this
program and the operators of each site shall
report to the Department of the Youth Authority on the number of
tattoo removals performed by each device and the success of the
program in assisting individuals to join the work force. By
March 1, 2000, the Department of the Youth Authority shall
report these findings to the Legislature." (Id.)
Current law states the further intent of the Legislature to
"expand these pilot programs as rapidly as possible to other
areas of the state where there is gang violence and where there
are active community-based gang violence prevention programs."
(Id.)
This bill would expand these provisions to include community
groups which serve victims of trafficking and prostitution, and
to include within these provisions individuals with tattoos
received for identification in trafficking and prostitution, as
specified.
This bill also includes legislative intent language concerning
federal grants, as specified. (See Comment 2, infra.)
RECEIVERSHIP/OVERCROWDING CRISIS AGGRAVATION
("ROCA")
In response to the unresolved prison capacity crisis, since
early 2007 it has been the policy of the chair of the Senate
Committee on Public Safety and the Senate President pro Tem to
hold legislative proposals which could further aggravate prison
overcrowding through new or expanded felony prosecutions. Under
the resulting policy known as "ROCA" (which stands for
"Receivership/Overcrowding Crisis Aggravation"), the Committee
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has held measures which create a new felony, expand the scope or
penalty of an existing felony, or otherwise increase the
application of a felony in a manner which could exacerbate the
prison overcrowding crisis by expanding the availability or
length of prison terms (such as extending the statute of
limitations for felonies or constricting statutory parole
standards). In addition, proposed expansions to the
classification of felonies enacted last year by AB 109 (the 2011
Public Safety Realignment) which may be punishable in jail and
not prison (Penal Code section 1170(h)) would be subject to ROCA
because an offender's criminal record could make the offender
ineligible for jail and therefore subject to state prison.
Under these principles, ROCA has been applied as a
content-neutral, provisional measure necessary to ensure that
the Legislature does not erode progress towards reducing prison
overcrowding by passing legislation which could increase the
prison population. ROCA will continue until prison overcrowding
is resolved.
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For the last several years, severe overcrowding in California's
prisons has been the focus of evolving and expensive litigation.
On June 30, 2005, in a class action lawsuit filed four years
earlier, the United States District Court for the Northern
District of California established a Receivership to take
control of the delivery of medical services to all California
state prisoners confined by the California Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation ("CDCR"). In December of 2006,
plaintiffs in two federal lawsuits against CDCR sought a
court-ordered limit on the prison population pursuant to the
federal Prison Litigation Reform Act. On January 12, 2010, a
three-judge federal panel issued an order requiring California
to reduce its inmate population to 137.5 percent of design
capacity -- a reduction at that time of roughly 40,000 inmates
-- within two years. The court stayed implementation of its
ruling pending the state's appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
On May 23, 2011, the United States Supreme Court upheld the
decision of the three-judge panel in its entirety, giving
California two years from the date of its ruling to reduce its
prison population to 137.5 percent of design capacity, subject
to the right of the state to seek modifications in appropriate
circumstances. Design capacity is the number of inmates a
prison can house based on one inmate per cell, single-level
bunks in dormitories, and no beds in places not designed for
housing. Current design capacity in CDCR's 33 institutions is
79,650.
On January 6, 2012, CDCR announced that California had cut
prison overcrowding by more than 11,000 inmates over the last
six months, a reduction largely accomplished by the passage of
Assembly Bill 109. Under the prisoner-reduction order, the
inmate population in California's 33 prisons must be no more
than the following:
167 percent of design capacity by December 27, 2011
(133,016 inmates);
155 percent by June 27, 2012;
147 percent by December 27, 2012; and
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137.5 percent by June 27, 2013.
This bill does not aggravate the prison overcrowding crisis
described above under ROCA.
COMMENTS
1. Stated Need for This Bill
The author states:
Section 1915 and 1916 (of the Welfare and Institutions
Code) limits the voluntary tattoo removal program to
ex-gang members. This bill will allow individuals who
were tattooed for the purpose of trafficking or
prostitution to be eligible for free tattoo removal.
2. Author's Amendments
The author intends to amend the uncodified intent language in
this bill as follows:
SEC. 3. It is the intent of the Legislature to
encourage the Board of State and Community Corrections
to extend , if available, federal Edward Byrne Memorial
Justice Assistance Grant funding to authorized prior
to the enactment of this measure for tattoo removal
programs under Sections 1915 and 1916 of the Welfare
and Institutions Code , to include programs serving to
serve individuals from 14 to 24 years of age,
inclusive, who were tattooed for identification in
trafficking or prostitution.
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