BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 5 X1
Page 1
Date of Hearing: September 7, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON BUDGET
Bob Blumenfield, Chair
SB 5 X1 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review) - As Amended:
September 2, 2011
SENATE VOTE : Vote not relevant
SUBJECT : Public Safety Realignment
SUMMARY : Makes various technical, clarifying, and conforming
changes to implement the 2011 public safety realignment proposal
as contained in AB 109 (Committee on Budget), Chapter 15,
Statutes of 2011; AB 117 (Committee on Budget), Chapter 39,
Statutes of 2011; and AB 116 (Committee on Budget), Chapter 136,
Statutes of 2011 pertaining to the public safety realignment of
2011. Specifically, this bill :
1)Refines the definition of felony crimes punishable by
imprisonment in county jail as stated in subdivision (h) of
Penal Code Section 1170.
a) The following crimes as felonies are subject to
imprisonment in state prison and not county jail:
i) Penal Code section 4501.1 (battery on peace officer
by gassing);
ii) Penal Code section 4530 (escape from prison
facility);
iii) Penal Code section 12021.5 (possession of firearm
during street gang crime); and
iv) Penal Code section 12025 (unlawfully carrying a
concealed firearm).
b) The following crimes as felonies are subject to
imprisonment in county jail if otherwise statutorily
qualified:
i) Health and Safety Code � 11355 (sale or furnishing
substance falsely represented to be a controlled
substance); and,
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ii) Health and Safety Code � 11382 (sale or furnishing
substance falsely represented to be a controlled
substance).
c) Clarifies exception to felony jail incarceration,
including out-of-state convictions.
1)Clarifies the application of sentencing enhancements and
penalties for priors to state prison and jail felony terms.
2)Conforms county jail custody credits to the equivalent state
prison inmate custody credits, including fire camp. Also
makes technical changes to make pre-sentence credits
consistent with post-sentence credits and excludes periods of
"flash" incarceration from credits at county jails.
3)Specifies how post-release community supervision applies to
"grandfathered" parolees who were paroled from state prison
prior to October 1, 2011. These amendments clarify that any
discretionary discharge of a grandfathered parolee after six
consecutive months of being violation free will not apply to
parolees who, 1) are subject to a parole period that exceeds
three years; 2) were imprisoned for a serious or violent
offense; or 3) are required to register as a sex offender, as
specified. These amendments also provide that grandfathered
parolees being held for a parole violation in state prison on
October 1, 2011, upon completion of a revocation term on or
after November 1, 2011, shall be subject to parole or
post-release community supervision according to their offense
history, as provided by the 2011 public safety realignment
measures previously enacted. These amendments further clarify
that parolees in county jail on October 1, 2011 serving a
parole revocation term who are released from jail without
returning to a state facility on or after October 1, 2011
shall remain under the jurisdiction of CDCR state parole.
These amendments clarify that any parolee in jail or state
prison pending a final adjudication of a parole revocation
charge prior to October 1 may be returned to state prison for
up to 12 months, as specified, and that any subsequent parole
revocations of a parolee on post-release community supervision
shall be served in county jail.
4)Conforms the release to post-release community supervision
with current state parole practice that prohibits these
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persons from being released on a holiday or weekend.
5)Creates a process for inter county transfers of persons
subject to post-release community supervision.
6)Clarifies the role of post-release community supervision by
expressly including language that does the following:
a) Includes the availability of continuous electronic
monitoring;
b) States that any period of time during which a person has
absconded shall not be credited towards any period of
post-release supervision;
c) Authorizes peace officers to arrest a person on
post-release supervision where there is probable cause to
believe the person is violating a term of release;
d) Authorizes county supervising officers to seek a
warrant, and a court or its subordinate officer to issue, a
warrant for the person's arrest, as specified;
e) Adds tolling language suspending the supervision period
where a person subject to supervision is subject to an
arrest warrant for failure to appear;
f) Provides that every person subject to post-release
community supervision, and their residences and
possessions, are subject to search or seizure at any time
of the day or night with or without a warrant, by a
supervising agent or peace officer; and,
g) Expands the sole and exclusive authority of the sheriff
over the county jail to include a cross-reference to
persons confined for a violation of the terms and
conditions of post-release community supervision.
1)Clarifies that sex offender and lifer state parolees who are
convicted of a new non-serious, non-violent, non-sex felony
while on parole will continue to be subject to state parole
for a period at least as long as the parole period they were
subject to when they committed the new crime.
2)Clarifies that existing statutory provisions that allow for
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persons who are subject to up to three years of parole
supervision may be discharged from parole after six months of
continuous parole supervision do not apply to persons
imprisoned for committing a violent or serious felony, or who
are required to register as a sex offender.
3)Allows counties without an established public defender's
office to access funds for those purposes from the "District
Attorney and Public Defender Account."
4)Makes technical revisions concerning operative dates of the
2011 public safety realignment.
5)Appropriates $1,000 to California Department of Correction and
Rehabilitation.
6)States legislative intent language concerning the enactment of
the 2011 public safety realignment with respect to the
management of the prison population and expressly states it
constitutes the approval required by Section 2 of Chapter 706
(Statutes of 2007) relating to the conversion of a female
prison to a male prison.
7)Makes non-substantive chaptering amendments.
8)Adds an appropriation allowing this bill to take effect
immediately upon enactment.
COMMENT: This bill continues the implementation of the 2011
Public Safety Realignment, which moved the responsibility for
custody of certain low-level felons, parolees, and juveniles
from the State to the counties. The framework for this transfer
was contained in AB 109 (Committee on Budget), Chapter15,
Statutes of 2011, which was enacted in March of 2011. In June,
AB 117 (Committee on Budget), Chapter 39, Statutes of. 2011, was
enacted and AB 116 (Committee on Budget) Chapter 136, Statutes
of 2011 provided for the implementation of the transfer of this
responsibility.
This bill reflects the input from local public safety, counties,
and other stakeholders and adds more specificity regarding the
implementation of this shift in responsibility, which will occur
on October 1, 2011. Much of the bill is intended to address
specific concerns from these stakeholders that parts of the
current statute regarding local custody and post release
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programs could be misinterpreted. As a result, the bill
includes several provisions to clarify and define elements of
these new programs, to address these concerns.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION : None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Marvin Deon / BUDGET / (916) 319-2099