BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1335
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Date of Hearing: January 23, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 1335 (Maienschein) - As Amended: January 8, 2014
Policy Committee: Public
SafetyVote: 7-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill makes specified sex crimes committed against victims
with mental disorders or physical or developmental disabilities
qualifying crimes for the One Strike Sex Law (15 or
25-years-to-life) and the vulnerable victim enhancement (one
year, or two years with a prior). Specifically, this bill:
Adds rape, sexual penetration, sodomy, and oral copulation,
committed against a person who is incapable of giving legal
consent, due to a mental disorder or developmental or physical
disability, to the list of offenses that qualify for application
of the One Strike Law and the vulnerable-victim enhancement.
FISCAL EFFECT
Unknown, potentially significant ongoing out-year costs for
increased state prison commitments.
In 2011 and 2012, about 50 offenders were sentenced to state
prison for the sex offenses covered by this bill. It is not
known how many, if any, would have qualified for the enhanced
punishment proposed by this bill. If only one person, however,
is sentenced annually under the expanded one-strike provisions
of this bill, annual GF costs would exceed $500,000 after 10
years. In addition, if only one person annually receives a
one-year enhancement, annual GF costs would be in the range of
$60,000.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . The author contends the one-strike law for serious
AB 1335
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sex offenses should also include sex offenses committed
against persons with mental disorders or physical or
developmental disabilities. According to the author, "Under AB
1335, the scope of existing penalty enhancements in Penal Code
section 667.9 will be expanded, thus allowing prosecutors to
obtain higher penalties when sex crimes are committed against
vulnerable individuals specifically where it is difficult or
impossible to prove force was used due to the nature of the
victim's disability.
2)Current law
a) Provides that rape, sodomy, oral copulation, or sexual
penetration against a victim incapable of giving legal
consent due to a mental disorder or developmental or
physical disability, as defined, is punishable by three,
six, or eight years in state prison.
b) Provides a one-year enhancement when the victim of a
specified offense is 65 years of age or older, blind, deaf,
developmentally disabled, a paraplegic, a quadriplegic, or
under 14 years old. The enhancement is two years if the
defendant has a prior conviction for one of those crimes.
c) Provides that rape, lewd and lascivious acts on a minor,
sexual penetration, sodomy, oral copulation, and continuous
sexual abuse of a child, are punishable by 15 or
25-years-to-life under specified circumstances, such as a
prior sex offense, kidnaping, torture, use of a deadly
weapon, administration of a controlled substance, or
commission during a burglary.
Analysis Prepared by : Geoff Long / APPR. / (916) 319-2081