BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair A
2013-2014 Regular Session B
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AB 739 (Salas)
As Amended June 17, 2014
Hearing date: June 24, 2014
Government Code
JRD:sl
CORONERS
HISTORY
Source:Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood
Prior Legislation: None known
Support: California State Sheriffs' Association; Kings County
Sheriff's Office
Opposition:Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training
Assembly Floor Vote: Ayes 74 - Noes 0
KEY ISSUE
SHOULD VOLUNTEER AND PART-TIME PERSONNEL BE ALLOWED TO SERVE AS
RESERVE DEPUTY CORONERS, AS SPECIFIED?
PURPOSE
The purpose of this legislation is to specify who is a coroner's
appointed deputy or authorized deputy for the purpose of
performing inquests, as specified.
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Existing law specifies that coroners and deputy coroners, who
are regularly employed and paid in that capacity, are peace
officers whose authority extends to any place in the state for
the purpose of performing their primary duties or when making an
arrest, as specified. Existing law authorizes these peace
officers to carry firearms only if authorized and under terms
and conditions specified by their employing agency. (Penal Code
� 830.35.)
Existing law specifies that whenever any qualified person is
deputized or appointed by the proper authority as a reserve or
auxiliary sheriff or city police officer, a reserve deputy
sheriff, a reserve deputy marshal, a reserve police officer of a
regional park district or of a transit district, a reserve park
ranger, a reserve harbor or port police officer of a county,
city, or district as specified in Section 663.5 of the Harbors
and Navigation Code, a reserve deputy of the Department of Fish
and Game, a reserve special agent of the Department of Justice,
a reserve officer of a community service district which is
authorized under subdivision (h) of Section 61600 of the
Government Code to maintain a police department or other police
protection, a reserve officer of a school district police
department under Section 35021.5 of the Education Code, a
reserve officer of a community college police department under
Section 72330, a reserve officer of a police protection district
formed under Part 1 (commencing with Section 20000) of Division
14 of the Health and Safety Code, or a reserve housing authority
patrol officer employed by a housing authority defined in
subdivision (d) of Section 830.31, and is assigned specific
police functions by that authority, the person is a peace
officer, if the person qualifies as set forth in Section 832.6.
The authority of a person designated as a peace officer pursuant
to this paragraph extends only for the duration of the person's
specific assignment. (Penal Code � 830.6)
Existing law states that every person deputized or appointed, as
described in Section 830.6, shall have the powers of a peace
officer only when the person is a level I reserve officer
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deputized or appointed under 830.6 and assigned to the
prevention and detection of crime and the general enforcement of
the laws of this state, whether or not working alone, and the
person has completed the basic training course for deputy
sheriffs and police officers prescribed by the Commission on
Peace Officer Standards and Training. For level I reserve
officers appointed prior to January 1, 1997, the basic training
requirement shall be the course that was prescribed at the time
of their appointment. Reserve officers appointed pursuant to
this paragraph are required to satisfy the continuing
professional training requirement prescribed by the commission.
(Penal Code � 832.6)
Existing law requires the coroner to discharge the duties of a
sheriff in any action or proceeding in which the sheriff is a
party. (Government Code � 27469.)
Existing law requires the coroner to inquire into and determine
the circumstances, manner, and cause of all violent, sudden, or
unusual deaths; unattended deaths; deaths where the deceased has
not been attended by either a physician or a registered nurse,
who is a member of a hospice care interdisciplinary team, as
defined, in the 20 days before death; deaths related to or
following known or suspected self-induced or criminal abortion;
known or suspected homicide, suicide, or accidental poisoning;
deaths known or suspected as resulting in whole or in part from
or related to accident or injury either old or recent; deaths
due to drowning, fire, hanging, gunshot, stabbing, cutting,
exposure, starvation, acute alcoholism, drug addiction,
strangulation, aspiration, or where the suspected cause of death
is sudden infant death syndrome; death in whole or in part
occasioned by criminal means; deaths associated with a known or
alleged rape or crime against nature; deaths in prison or while
under sentence; deaths known or suspected as due to contagious
disease and constituting a public hazard; deaths from
occupational diseases or occupational hazards; deaths of
patients in state mental hospitals serving the mentally disabled
and operated by the State Department of State Hospitals; deaths
of patients in state hospitals serving the developmentally
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disabled and operated by the State Department of Developmental
Services; deaths under such circumstances as to afford a
reasonable ground to suspect that the death was caused by the
criminal act of another; and any deaths reported by physicians
or other persons having knowledge of death for inquiry by
coroner. (Government Code � 27491.)
Existing law requires the coroner or a deputy coroner to
personally sign the certificate of death in any case in which
the coroner conducts an inquiry described in the above
provision, except if inquiry determines that the physician of
record has sufficient knowledge to reasonably state the cause of
a death occurring under natural circumstances, the coroner may
authorize that physician to sign the certificate of death.
(Government Code � 27491.)
Existing law requires the coroner, in all cases in which a
person has died under circumstances that afford a reasonable
ground to suspect that the person's death has been occasioned by
the act of another by criminal means, upon determining that
those reasonable grounds exist, to immediately notify, by the
most direct communication available, the law enforcement agency
having jurisdiction over the criminal investigation.
(Government Code � 27491.1.)
Existing law authorizes the coroner or the coroner's appointed
deputy, on being informed of a death and finding it to fall into
the classification of deaths requiring his or her inquiry, to
proceed immediately to where the body lies, examine the body,
make identification, make inquiry into the circumstances,
manner, and means of death, and, as circumstances warrant,
either order its removal for further investigation or
disposition or release the body to the next of kin. (Government
Code � 27491.2(a).)
Existing law requires the coroner, or the coroner's appointed
deputy, on being notified of a death occurring while the
deceased was driving or riding in a motor vehicle, or as a
result of the deceased being struck by a motor vehicle, to take
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blood and urine samples from the body of the deceased before it
has been prepared for burial and make appropriate related
chemical tests to determine the alcoholic contents, if any, of
the body. Authorizes the coroner to perform other chemical
tests including, but not limited to, barbituric acid and
amphetamine derivative as deemed appropriate. (Government Code
� 27491.25.)
Existing law authorizes the coroner, in any death into which the
coroner is to inquire, to take charge of any and all personal
effects, valuables, and property of the deceased at the scene of
a death or related to the inquiry and hold or safeguard them
until lawful disposition of the items can be made. Authorizes
the coroner to lock the premises and apply a seal to the door or
doors prohibiting entrance to the premises, pending arrival of a
legally-authorized representative of the deceased. (Government
Code � 27491.3.)
This bill states that for the purpose of performing inquests, a
coroner's appointed deputy or authorized deputy is meant to
include the following:
a) Any deputy coroner who is regularly employed and paid in
that capacity.
b) Any part-time or volunteer personnel of a
sheriff-coroner's office who are level 1 Reserve Officers,
as described in section 832.6(a)(1) of the penal code.
This bill states that POST shall not reimburse any individual
agency for training or certification of any part-time or
volunteer personnel.
RECEIVERSHIP/OVERCROWDING CRISIS AGGRAVATION
For the last several years, severe overcrowding in California's
prisons has been the focus of evolving and expensive litigation
relating to conditions of confinement. On May 23, 2011, the
United States Supreme Court ordered California to reduce its
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prison population to 137.5 percent of design capacity within two
years from the date of its ruling, subject to the right of the
state to seek modifications in appropriate circumstances.
Beginning in early 2007, Senate leadership initiated a policy to
hold legislative proposals which could further aggravate the
prison overcrowding crisis through new or expanded felony
prosecutions. Under the resulting policy, known as "ROCA"
(which stands for "Receivership/ Overcrowding Crisis
Aggravation"), the Committee held measures that created a new
felony, expanded the scope or penalty of an existing felony, or
otherwise increased the application of a felony in a manner
which could exacerbate the prison overcrowding crisis. Under
these principles, ROCA was applied as a content-neutral,
provisional measure necessary to ensure that the Legislature did
not erode progress towards reducing prison overcrowding by
passing legislation, which would increase the prison population.
In January of 2013, just over a year after the enactment of the
historic Public Safety Realignment Act of 2011, the State of
California filed court documents seeking to vacate or modify the
federal court order requiring the state to reduce its prison
population to 137.5 percent of design capacity. The State
submitted that the, ". . . population in the State's 33 prisons
has been reduced by over 24,000 inmates since October 2011 when
public safety realignment went into effect, by more than 36,000
inmates compared to the 2008 population . . . , and by nearly
42,000 inmates since 2006 . . . ." Plaintiffs opposed the
state's motion, arguing that, "California prisons, which
currently average 150% of capacity, and reach as high as 185% of
capacity at one prison, continue to deliver health care that is
constitutionally deficient." In an order dated January 29,
2013, the federal court granted the state a six-month extension
to achieve the 137.5 % inmate population cap by December 31,
2013.
The Three-Judge Court then ordered, on April 11, 2013, the state
of California to "immediately take all steps necessary to comply
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with this Court's . . . Order . . . requiring defendants to
reduce overall prison population to 137.5% design capacity by
December 31, 2013." On September 16, 2013, the State asked the
Court to extend that deadline to December 31, 2016. In
response, the Court extended the deadline first to January 27,
2014 and then February 24, 2014, and ordered the parties to
enter into a meet-and-confer process to "explore how defendants
can comply with this Court's June 20, 2013 Order, including
means and dates by which such compliance can be expedited or
accomplished and how this Court can ensure a durable solution to
the prison crowding problem."
The parties were not able to reach an agreement during the
meet-and-confer process. As a result, the Court ordered
briefing on the State's requested extension and, on February 10,
2014, issued an order extending the deadline to reduce the
in-state adult institution population to 137.5% design capacity
to February 28, 2016. The order requires the state to meet the
following interim and final population reduction benchmarks:
143% of design bed capacity by June 30, 2014;
141.5% of design bed capacity by February 28, 2015; and
137.5% of design bed capacity by February 28, 2016.
If a benchmark is missed the Compliance Officer (a position
created by the February 10, 2016 order) can order the release of
inmates to bring the State into compliance with that benchmark.
In a status report to the Court dated May 15, 2014, the state
reported that as of May 14, 2014, 116,428 inmates were housed in
the State's 34 adult institutions, which amounts to 140.8% of
design bed capacity, and 8,650 inmates were housed in
out-of-state facilities.
The ongoing prison overcrowding litigation indicates that prison
capacity and related issues concerning conditions of confinement
remain unresolved. While real gains in reducing the prison
population have been made, even greater reductions may be
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required to meet the orders of the federal court. Therefore,
the Committee's consideration of ROCA bills -bills that may
impact the prison population - will be informed by the following
questions:
Whether a measure erodes realignment and impacts the
prison population;
Whether a measure addresses a crime which is directly
dangerous to the physical safety of others for which there
is no other reasonably appropriate sanction;
Whether a bill corrects a constitutional infirmity or
legislative drafting error;
Whether a measure proposes penalties which are
proportionate, and cannot be achieved through any other
reasonably appropriate remedy; and,
Whether a bill addresses a major area of public safety
or criminal activity for which there is no other
reasonable, appropriate remedy.
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COMMENTS
1. Need for Legislation
According to the author:
In large, rural counties like Kern, it can take hours for
staff to arrive at an accident scene, which results in
extraordinary costs for local law enforcement. The use of
part-time or volunteer personnel with the appropriate training
and credentials would allow for greater efficiencies without
jeopardizing public safety.
AB 739 will provide for volunteer and/or part time personnel
to serve as reserve deputy coroners. These employees would be
required to abide by the established eligibility and training
standards (including PC 832 certification), currently required
of full time coroner personnel. This language is permissive
and intended to help sheriffs in counties, like Kern, respond
to incidents in remote areas in a more time and cost effective
manner.
2. Effect of Legislation
In holding that deputy coroners are not "active law
enforcement," the Court of Appeal discussed the essential duties
that deputy coroners are tasked to perform. (Riverside
Sheriffs'Association v. Board of Administration, California
Public Employees' Retirement System (2010) 184 Cal.App.4th 1.)
As stated by the court:
Deputy coroners conduct investigations into the causes of
death, as opposed to investigating crimes. While most
death scenes do not involve criminal conduct, some do,
and in such cases, the coroner's investigation supports
and parallels that of the appropriate law enforcement
agency. A deputy coroner's duties include: receiving
reports of death from physicians, law enforcement and
hospital personnel; initiating investigations at death
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scenes to determine if death is due to homicide, suicide,
accident or nontraumatic causes; securing scientific and
pathological evidence such as clothing, weapons, drugs,
body fluids; fingerprinting and attempting to identify
the decedent; locating and notifying relatives of the
decedent; speaking with physicians about the decedent's
medical history and checking other medical records to
determine the cause of death; ordering autopsies or other
services from skilled technicians to aid in arriving at
an exact cause of death; testifying in court; and
preparing and signing death certificates. A deputy
coroner's determination about the cause of death may
initiate a criminal investigation. (Id. at 6-7.)
According to the California State Sheriffs' Association, "In
large, rural counties it can take hours for staff to arrive at
an accident scene, which results in extraordinary costs for
local law enforcement." This legislation seeks to remedy this
issue by allowing any part-time or volunteer personnel of the
coroner's office, who meet the same background, training, and
certification requirements established by POST for deputy
coroners regularly-employed by the Sheriff's Department, to
respond to scenes and perform the appropriate inquiry.
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