BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
SB 179 (Pavley)
Hearing Date: 4/11/2011 Amended: As Introduced
Consultant: Jolie Onodera Policy Vote: Public Safety 7-0
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BILL SUMMARY: SB 179 would provide that for any person subject
to a sexually violent predator (SVP) proceeding, an order issued
by a judge that the petition supports a finding of probable
cause to believe that the individual is likely to engage in
sexually violent predatory behavior upon his or her release,
shall toll the period of parole from the date that person is
released from prison until a specified court order is entered as
follows:
1) If the judge, following a probable cause hearing,
dismisses the petition, the date the judge enters the order
of dismissal;
2) If the judge or jury is not satisfied beyond a
reasonable doubt that the person is a SVP, the date the
judge enters the order;
3) If the person is committed to the Department of Mental
Health (DMH) as a SVP and subsequently a court orders that
the person be unconditionally discharged, the date the
judge enters the order.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Fund
Increased parole supervision Unknown; likely major
costs;General
costs annual costs ranging from $25 to
$250, beginning 2021-22
(see Staff Comments)
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STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Tolling is the pausing or delaying of the running of the period
of time set forth by a statute. Under existing law, as amended
by Proposition 83 (Jessica's Law) in November 2006, the parole
period of any person found to be a SVP is tolled from the point
of SVP commitment until that person is found to no longer be a
SVP, at which time the period of parole, or any time remaining
shall begin to run. This bill would start the tolling sooner for
SVP commitments, from the date of release from prison through
the SVP commitment trial process, until the person is no longer
SB 179 (Pavley)
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found to be a SVP. This bill would also toll the period of
parole for any person not ultimately committed as a SVP but
subject to a probable cause hearing, from the date of release
from prison until the order of dismissal following a probable
cause hearing or through the disposition of the SVP commitment
trial process.
The SVP commitment process can be lengthy, in which case some
sex offenders may be released from custody with reduced periods
of parole supervision to be served in the community, as a
portion of their parole period has elapsed pending the outcome
of the SVP trial process. DMH indicates the average length of
time from the court's finding of
probable cause to the outcome of a SVP commitment trial is
approximately 4.5 years per case, with roughly 100 SVP
commitment trials completed annually.
This bill would not change the length of parole to be served,
but would result in more time on parole being served in the
community in lieu of time on parole elapsing during the trial
process. As the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
(CDCR) does not incur parole supervision costs during the SVP
trial process, increasing the length of parole to be served in
the community will result in increased supervision costs.
According to CDCR, the annual cost of parole supervision for sex
offenders is approximately $25,000 which includes supervision,
GPS monitoring, and case management costs, as well as treatment
costs required under Chelsea's Law (Chapter 219/2010) that
require all registered sex offenders to participate in an
approved sex offender management program as a condition of
parole.
An additional 4.5 years of parole supervision to be served in
the community would result in increased costs of $112,500 per
parolee on average, or total costs of $11.2 million for every
100 SVP commitment trials completed. These additional costs
would be delayed for at least ten years to 2021-22, and would be
incurred over time as parolees reach the conclusion of their
parole periods under existing law.
It is unknown how many parolees would be impacted at any one
time, but the annual cost of parole supervision for two parolees
would meet the threshold for referral to the Suspense File.
SB 179 (Pavley)
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