BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
AB 2520 (Maienschein) - Parole: primary mental health
clinicians.
Amended: August 4, 2014 Policy Vote: Public Safety 7-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: August 4, 2014
Consultant: Jolie Onodera
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 2520 would:
Require an independent professional appointed by the Board
of Parole Hearings (BPH), at the request of a prisoner, to
consult with the prisoner's primary mental health clinician,
if any, prior to making a recommendation to the BPH
regarding parole suitability of a potentially mentally
disordered offender (MDO).
Require the BPH, at the request of a prisoner under a life
sentence, to consult with the prisoner's primary mental
health clinician, if any, at any hearing BPH conducts as
part of its determination whether to set, postpone, or
rescind a parole release date.
Fiscal Impact:
Potentially significant ongoing costs in the range of
$200,000 to $400,000 (General Fund) for MDO consultations.
Based on 1,350 MDO hearings per year, assuming 50 percent of
inmates request a consultation that requires on average one
to two hours (including time for identification and
notification of the clinician, scheduling, potential travel,
and the consultation itself).
Potential ongoing costs of about $37,500 to $75,000
(General Fund) to provide consults requested by inmates
serving life sentences. Based on 240 parole consideration
hearings for these inmates, assuming 50 percent of inmates
request a consultation that requires on average one to two
hours for the process.
One-time costs of about $100,000 (General Fund) for the
CDCR to promulgate regulations for the MDO elective
consultation process.
Ongoing minor costs (General Fund) to the Department of
AB 2520 (Maienschein)
Page 1
State Hospitals (DSH) to the extent mandated activities can
be carried out over the telephone.
Unknown future savings/costs to the extent the additional
consultations result in fewer or additional MDO commitments,
and fewer or additional releases to parole for lifer
inmates.
Background: Existing law provides that prior to release on
parole, the person in charge of treating the prisoner and a
practicing psychiatrist or psychologist from the Department of
State Hospitals (DSH) have evaluated the prisoner at a CDCR
facility, and a chief psychiatrist of the CDCR has certified to
the BPH that the prisoner has a severe mental disorder, that the
disorder is not in remission, or cannot be kept in remission
without treatment, that the severe mental disorder was one of
the causes or was an aggravating factor in the prisoner's
criminal behavior, that the prisoner has been in treatment for
the severe mental disorder for 90 days or more within the year
prior to his or her parole release day, and that by reason of
his or her severe mental disorder the prisoner represents a
substantial danger of physical harm to others.
For prisoners being treated by the DSH, as specified, the
certification shall be by a chief psychiatrist of the CDCR, and
the evaluation shall be done at a state hospital by the person
at the state hospital in charge of treating the prisoner and a
practicing psychiatrist or psychologist from the CDCR.
If the professionals doing the evaluation do not concur that the
prisoner is a MDO, and a chief psychiatrist has certified the
prisoner to the BPH, the BPH shall order a further examination
by two independent professionals. If at least one of the
independent professionals who evaluate the prisoner concurs with
the chief psychiatrist's certification of the issues, the
prisoner shall be treated as an MDO.
Proposed Law: This bill would:
Require an independent professional appointed by the Board
of Parole Hearings (BPH), at the request of a prisoner, to
consult with the prisoner's primary mental health clinician,
if any, prior to making a recommendation to the BPH
regarding parole suitability of a potentially mentally
disordered offender (MDO).
Require the BPH, at the request of a prisoner under a life
AB 2520 (Maienschein)
Page 2
sentence, to consult with the prisoner's primary mental
health clinician, if any, at any hearing BPH conducts as
part of its determination whether to set, postpone, or
rescind a parole release date.
Staff Comments: The provisions of this bill will require
additional staff time to arrange and provide additional
consultations by independent professionals for MDO hearings and
lifer hearings. The CDCR would also incur one-time costs of
about $100,000 to promulgate regulations for these mandated
processes.
Based on 1,350 MDO hearings per year, and assuming 50 percent of
inmates request a consultation that requires on average one to
two hours of time for scheduling, notification, potential
travel, and the consultation itself, ongoing costs are estimated
in the range of $200,000 to $400,000 for MDO consultations.
Based on 240 parole consideration hearings per year for lifer
inmates, and assuming 50 percent of inmates request a
consultation that requires on average one to two hours of time
for scheduling, notification, and the consultation itself,
ongoing costs are estimated at $37,500 to $75,000 to provide
consultations requested by inmates serving life sentences.
The DSH has indicated minor ongoing costs to the extent the
consultations that they participate in can be conducted over the
telephone.
To the extent the additional consultations result in fewer or
additional MDO commitments and releases to parole for lifer
inmates would result in an unknown amount of future savings or
costs in supervision and incarceration of these inmates.