BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair A
2011-2012 Regular Session B
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AB 2015 (Mitchell) 5
As Amended May 25, 2012
Hearing date: July 3, 2012
Penal Code
MK:dl
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE: TELEPHONE CALLS
ARRESTED CUSTODIAL PARENTS
HISTORY
Source: California Latinas for Reproductive Justice
Forward Together
Prior Legislation: AB 760 (Nava) - Chapter 635, Stats. 2005
AB 1941 (Chan) - Held in Senate Appropriations
Committee, 2004
AB 2316 (Mazzoni) - Ch. 965, Stats.
2000
AB 2315 (Mazzoni) - Vetoed September
29, 2000
ACR 52 (Mazzoni) - No vote taken in
Assembly Appropriations, 1999-2000
SB 1802 (Schiff) - No vote taken on
Assembly Floor, 1998
SB 1221 (Calderon) - Ch. 132,
Stats.1996
SB 475 (Presley) - Ch. 820, Stats.1991
ACR 38 (Filante) - Ch. 38, Stats. 1991
AB 4289 (Mojonnier) - No vote taken in
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Assembly Judiciary, 1986
AB 836 (Mojonnier) - Ch. 440,
Stats.1985
SB 304 (Presley) - Ch. 309, Stats.1983
SB 14 (Presley) - Ch.978, Stats.1982
SB 276 (Garcia) - Ch. 1088, Stats.1977
Support: Access Women's Health Justice; API Equality Northern
California; the California Healthy Nail Salon
Collaborative; Violence Prevention Coalition of Greater
Los Angeles; Youth Law Center; California Attorneys for
Criminal Justice; California Catholic Conference;
California Immigrant Policy Center; California Public
Defenders Association; ACLU; Womens Community Clinic;
National Council of Jewish Women; Bay Area Communities
for Health Education; Community Health Partnership;
Services, Immigrant; National Latina Institute for
Reproductive Health; National Association of Social
Workers; National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum;
MALDEF; Los Angeles Dependency Lawyers, INC.; Legal
Services; Law Students for Reproductive Justice; for
Prisoners with Children; Rights & Education Network;
Labor/Community Strategy Center; Justice Now; Friends
Committee on Legislation of California; Forward
Together; Fresno Barios Unidos; First Focus Campaign
for Children; Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of
Los Angeles; The Center for Young Women's Development;
Center for Restorative Justice Works; Californians
United for a Responsible Budget; the County Welfare
Directors Association of California; California Rural
Legal Assistance Foundation; California Communities
United Institute; California Attorneys for Criminal
Justice; Books not Bars; Asian Pacific Environmental
Network; Asian Law Alliance; Asian Americans for Civil
Rights and Equality; Applied Research Center; Central
American Resource Center; Women's Heath Specialists;
Mexican American Legal Defense and Education fund; Act
for Women and girls; a number of individuals
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Opposition:California State Sheriffs' Association
Assembly Floor Vote: Ayes 78 - Noes 0
KEY ISSUE
SHOULD THE LAW REQUIRE THAT AN ARRESTING OR BOOKING OFFICER INQUIRE
IF AN ARRESTED PERSON IS A CUSTODIAL PARENT AND IF SO INFORM THE
PERSON OF HIS OR HER RIGHT TO MAKE ADDITIONAL PHONE CALLS TO ARRANGE
CHILD CARE?
PURPOSE
The purpose of this bill is to require an arresting or booking
officer to inquire if an arrested person is a custodial parent
with responsibility for a minor child, and to require that a
sign be posted in a conspicuous place informing an arrested
custodial parent of his or her right to two additional phone
calls for the purpose of arranging for the care of the child or
children in the parent's absence.
Existing law provides that immediately upon being booked and,
except where physically impossible, no later than three hours
after arrest, an arrested person has a right to make at least
three completed phone calls, as specified. (Penal Code �
851.5(a).)
Existing law states that at any police facility or place where
an arrestee is detained, a sign posted in a conspicuous place,
in bold black type, shall inform an arrestee of his or her right
to make free phone calls, as specified, to three of the
following:
An attorney of his or her choice, or if he or she has no
funds, the public defender or other attorney assigned to
assist indigents;
A bail bondsman; and
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A relative or other person. (Penal Code � 851.5(b).)
Existing law provides that if, upon questioning during the
booking process, an arrested person is identified as a custodial
parent with responsibility for a minor child, the arrested
person shall be entitled to two additional phone calls at now
expense if the calls are completed to telephone numbers within
the local calling area to a relative or other person for the
purpose of arranging for the care of the minor child or children
in the parents absence. (Penal Code � 851.5(c).)
This bill provides that as soon as practicable upon being
arrested, and except where physically impossible, no later than
three hours after arrest, the arresting or booking officer shall
inquire if an arrested person is a custodial parent with
responsibility for a minor child, and to notify the arrested
person of his or her right to two additional telephone calls for
the purpose of arranging for the care of a child or children in
the parent's absence.
This bill requires that at any police facility or place where an
arrestee is detained, a sign be posted in a conspicuous place
with bold black letters informing an arrestee who is a custodial
parent with responsibility for a minor child of his or her right
to two additional telephone calls at no expense if the telephone
calls are within the local calling area, or at his or her own
expense if outside the local calling area, for the purpose of
arranging for the care of the child or children in the parent's
absence.
This bill requires that the posted signs make the specified
notification in any non-English language spoken by a substantial
number of the public served by police facility or place of
detainment.
This bill states that the rights and duties relating additional
phone calls for custodial parents with responsibility for minor
children shall be enforced regardless of the arrestee's
immigration status.
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This bill provides that upon being released or transferred for
any reason, or being held for immigration reasons, an arrestee
or detainee shall be informed of the right to, and may request
to, make at least two telephone calls to notify a child
caregiver or family member of the release, transfer, or hold and
the location to which he or she will be transferred.
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
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.
For the last several years, severe overcrowding in California's
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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
137.5 percent by June 27, 2013.
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This bill does not aggravate the prison overcrowding crisis
described above under ROCA.
COMMENTS
1. Need for This Bill
According to the author:
Current law allows arrested custodial parents the right
to make at least two telephone calls to arrange for
care of their minor children, but does not require that
an arrestee be informed of this right. Increased
involvement of state and local law enforcement agencies
in immigration enforcement has led to citizen children
being separated from their non-citizen parents and
unnecessarily being placed in the foster system with
non-relatives.
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AB 2015 clarifies that an arresting or booking officer
is responsible to inquire whether an arrestee is a
custodial parent, and if so to notify the arrestee of
the right to make telephone calls to arrange for care
of his or her minor children. It also requires that an
arrestee be allowed to make additional telephone calls
to maintain contact with the designated caregiver of
the children upon transfer or placement of an ICE hold.
The recent Applied Research Center study "Shattered
Families" concluded that approximately 6% of foster
cases in Los Angeles County (approximately 1,200
children) involve children of deported parents.
2. Notification of the Right to Phone Calls
Existing law provides that upon arrest a person who is the
custodial parent with responsibility for a child shall have the
right to make two additional phone calls for the purpose of
arranging for the care of the minor child in his or her absence.
Supporters of this bill say however there are gap and
inconsistencies in the notification of parents of their right to
the additional phone calls which can lead to children needlessly
being taken in by child protective services and placed in foster
care. This bill would provide that as soon as practicable the
arresting officer shall inquire whether the arrestee is a
custodial parent and if so inform the arrestee of his or her
right to two additional phone calls. The bill also provides
that any police facility where the arrestee is detained shall
post a sign notifying custodial parents of the right to two
phone calls. The sign shall also be translated into languages
that a substantial number of people in the community speak.
3. Two Additional Calls Upon Transfer
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This bill also provides that if a custodial parent is
transferred for any reason, being held for immigration reasons
or released to federal custody, that parent can make two
additional calls to inform the caregiver of his or her children
of the transfer, release, or hold and the location where they
are to be transferred if known.
4. Support
In support, the Violence Prevention Coalition of Greater Los
Angeles states:
AB 2015 helps ensure that close friends and family
members are called on to care for an arrestee's minor
child instead of unnecessarily adding to the burden of
already over-burdened child welfare and foster systems.
AB 2015 represents a win-win situation: local
governments and the state save money while children are
cared for in a way that can diminish the trauma of a
parent being arrested. The long-term costs of inaction
far outweigh the initial investment to ensure that
parents and children benefit from the strengthening and
implementation of existing law.
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