BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
SB 926 (Beall) - Statute of limitations: felony sex crimes.
Amended: March 17, 2014 Policy Vote: Public Safety 6-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: May 12, 2014 Consultant: Jolie Onodera
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: SB 926 would extend the statute of limitations
for the commencement of prosecution for specified felony sex
offenses against a victim under the age of 18, from anytime
prior to the victim's 28th birthday to any time prior to the
victim's 40th birthday. This bill would provide that the
extended period would only apply to crimes that were committed
on or after January 1, 2015, or for which the statute of
limitations in effect prior to January 1, 2015, has not run as
of January 1, 2015.
Fiscal Impact:
Potentially significant future state costs (General Fund) for
new commitments to state prison that otherwise would not have
occurred in the absence of the extended statute of
limitations. CDCR statistics indicate an average of 1,700
commitments annually to state prison for the specified sex
offenses with an average length of stay exceeding 10 years.
Five to 10 additional prison commitments per year after 10
years would increase state costs in excess of $1.5 million to
$3.1 million annually.
Potentially significant ongoing increase in state court costs
(General Fund*) to the extent the extension of the statute of
limitations for prosecution for specified felony sex offenses
results in additional criminal actions.
*Trial Court Trust Fund
Background: Existing law provides for the following four
statutory periods within which the commencement of prosecution
of sex crimes can occur, including sex offenses against minors:
1. The first period is the general limitations period
for prosecuting sex crimes, which is within 10 years
after the commission of the offense. (Penal Code (PC) �
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801.1(b))
2. The second period, which this bill proposes to
change, applies if the crime is alleged to have been
committed against a person when that person was under
the age of 18, in which case prosecution may commence
any time up to the victim's 28th birthday. (PC � 801.1)
3. A third period allows that when the 10-year
limitations period has lapsed, a criminal complaint may
be filed within one year of the date a person of any
age reports to law enforcement that he or she was a
victim of a child sex crime, if the crime involved
"substantial sexual conduct", as specified, and there
is independent evidence that corroborates the victim's
allegation, which must be proved by clear and
convincing evidence if the victim is 21 years of age or
older at the time of the report. (PC � 803(f))
4. A fourth period is available at all times: a
criminal complaint may be filed within one year of the
date on which the identity of a suspect is conclusively
established by DNA testing in sex crime cases if the
DNA is analyzed in a timely manner, as specified. (PC �
803 (g))
Proposed Law: This bill would extend the statute of limitations
for prosecution of the felony sex offenses of rape, sodomy,
child molestation, oral copulation, continuous sexual abuse of a
child, or forcible sexual penetration (PC �� 261, 286, 288,
288.5, 288a, 289, or 289.5), that is alleged to have been
committed when a victim was under 18 years of age, from any time
prior to the victim's 28th birthday to any time prior to the
victim's 40th birthday.
This bill provides that the extended time period will only apply
to crimes committed on or after January 1, 2015, or for which
the statute of limitations that was in effect prior to January
1, 2015, has not run out as of January 1, 2015.
Prior Legislation: SB 111 (Alquist) Chapter 479/2005 extended
the statute of limitations for prosecution of specified felony
sex offenses allegedly committed when the victim was under 18
years of age to any time prior to the victim's 28th birthday.
SB 131 (Beall) 2013 would have extended the statute of
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limitations for civil actions for recovery of damages suffered
as a result of childhood sexual abuse, as specified. This bill
was vetoed by the Governor with an extensive veto message:
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/13-14/bill/sen/sb_0101-0150/sb_131_
vt_20131012.html
Staff Comments: By extending the statute of limitations from a
victim's 28th birthday to a victim's 40th birthday, this bill
could result in additional prosecutions that otherwise would not
have occurred in the absence of this extension, subsequently
resulting in new convictions and commitments to state prison.
Arrest data from the Department of Justice (DOJ) indicates over
12,600 arrests annually over the past five years (2009-2013)
under the felony sex offenses specified (PC � 261, 286, 288,
288.5, 288a, 289, 289.5), with about 4,550 annual arrests (36
percent) leading to convictions. It is unknown what percentage
of annual arrests have been time-barred from prosecution under
existing law or how many new arrests would occur due to the
extended statute of limitations, but to the extent additional
prosecutions could proceed, additional workload and costs would
be imposed on the courts.
The prison term triads for the specified sex offenses vary and
include ranges such as 9, 11, or 13 years for any person who
commits rape or sodomy upon a child under 14 years of age, to up
to 16 years for continuous sexual abuse of a child under PC �
288.5. The magnitude of new costs for commitments to state
prison would be dependent on the underlying crimes and the
sentencing terms attached to those offenses. While costs in any
one year may not be significant, the cumulative effect over time
of overlapping sentences could be substantial. CDCR data
indicates the average length of stay for commitments to prison
under the specified PC sections exceeds 10 years. An additional
five to ten commitments to state prison annually after 10 years
would result in annual costs of over $1.5 million to $3.1
million (General Fund).
The U.S. Supreme Court has ordered the CDCR to reduce the prison
population to 137.5 percent of the prison system's design
capacity by February 28, 2016. Although public safety
realignment has achieved significant reductions in the prison
population, and the 2014-15 Governor's Budget projects meeting
the population cap in the near-term, the analysis by the
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Legislative Analyst's Office suggests that CDCR's long-term
prison caseload will likely exceed this cap. Because
California's institutions already exceed the population limit,
any near-term and future increases to the state's prison
population would likely require the state to pursue one of
several options including contracting-out for additional bed
space or releasing current inmates early onto parole.