BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1010
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 1010 (Mitchell)
As Amended August 11, 2014
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :21-12
PUBLIC SAFETY 5-1 APPROPRIATIONS 12-3
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|Ayes:|Ammiano, Jones-Sawyer, |Ayes:|Gatto, Bocanegra, |
| |Quirk, Skinner, Stone | |Bradford, Campos, |
| | | |Donnelly, Eggman, Gomez, |
| | | |Holden, Pan, Quirk, |
| | | |Ridley-Thomas, Lowenthal |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Melendez |Nays:|Bigelow, Jones, Linder |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Provides that the penalty for possession for sale of
cocaine base shall be the same as that for possession for sale
of cocaine hydrochloride powder cocaine.
1)Changes the penalty for possession for sale of cocaine base to
two, three, or four years of incarceration.
2)Specifies that probation can only be granted to a person
convicted of possession for sale of 28.5 grams or more of
cocaine base, or 57 grams or more of a substance containing at
least five grams of cocaine base, if the court finds unusual
circumstances demonstrating that probation promotes justice.
3)Authorizes seizure and forfeiture of a vehicle, boat or
airplane used as an instrumentality of drug commerce involving
cocaine base weighing 28.5 grams or more, or 57 grams or more
of a substance containing at least five grams of cocaine base.
4)Makes legislative findings that powder cocaine and cocaine
base are two different forms of the same drug, each producing
the same effects when ingested and that imposing higher
penalties and greater forfeitures on persons convicted of
crimes involving cocaine base is unjustified.
EXISTING LAW :
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1)Provides penalties for the following conduct involving
controlled substances: possession, possession for sale or
distribution, sale or distribution, and, manufacturing.
2)Classifies controlled substances in five schedules, with
generally lesser restrictions and penalties from Schedule I
through V. Schedule I controlled substances are deemed to
have no accepted medical use and cannot be prescribed.
Examples of drugs in the California schedules drugs follow:
a) Heroin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), cocaine base
and marijuana are Schedule I drugs.
b) Oxcycodone, cocaine, methamphetamine, and codeine are
Schedule II drugs.
c) Barbituates (tranquilizers, anabolic steroids and
specified narcotic, pain medications are Schedule III
drugs.
d) Benzodiazepines (Valium) and phentermine (diet drug) are
Schedule IV drugs.
e) Specified narcotic pain medications with active
non-narcotic active ingredients are Schedule V drugs.
3)Provides the following penalties for conduct involving cocaine
and cocaine base:
a) Simple possession (for personal use) of cocaine or
cocaine base: felony, with a jail term (Penal Code Section
1170(h)) of 16 months, two years or three years.
b) Possession for sale of cocaine: felony jail term of
two, three or four years.
c) Possession of cocaine base for sale - felony jail term
of three, four or five years.
d) Sale or distribution of cocaine or cocaine base: felony
jail term of three, four or five years.
e) Transportation for sale across noncontiguous counties of
cocaine or cocaine base: felony jail term of three, six or
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nine years.
4)Provides for seizure and forfeiture of a vehicle, boat or
airplane used as an instrumentality of drug commerce.
Specified provisions are triggered where the amount of cocaine
base involved in the offense weighed 14.25 grams
(approximately half an ounce) or more and where the amount of
cocaine weighed 28.5 grams (one ounce).
5)Provides that the court can only grant probation to a person
convicted of certain crimes if unusual circumstances exist
establishing that a grant of probation promotes justice. The
restriction applies to any case involving 14.25 grams or more
of cocaine base, or 57 grams or more of a substance containing
at least five grams of cocaine base. By comparison, the
restriction applies to any case involving 28.5 grams or more
of cocaine, or 57 grams or more of a substance containing
cocaine.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
1)Significant ongoing General Fund savings, potentially up to
$4.5 million, based on a six-month difference in time served
in state prison for 160 persons convicted of possession for
sale of cocaine base with a specified prior offense (the
average number of commitments over the past two years),
assuming full per capita prison costs.
2)Significant ongoing local, non-reimbursable incarceration
savings, potentially in the range of $6.5 million, based on
the 1,200 persons committed to state prison for possession for
sale of cocaine base in 2010 and 2011, prior to realignment,
and the 320 persons committed to state prison
post-realignment, in 2012 and 2013, assuming a per capita cost
of $30,000.
3)Incarceration savings would be offset to an unknown degree by
increased non-reimbursable probation costs, as a result of
authorizing probation for possession for sale of cocaine base
at the same volume threshold as cocaine powder. For order of
magnitude purposes, every 100 additional probation cases would
offset incarceration savings by about $500,000.
4)Unknown, likely minor, decrease in state and local asset
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forfeiture revenue to the extent increasing the volume
threshold for forfeiture reduces state and local asset
forfeitures. For order of magnitude purposes, state and local
law enforcement share about $25 million per year in asset
forfeitures, with a greater amount, in the range of $35
million annually, shared with the state through federal asset
forfeiture.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "SB 1010 will correct the
groundless disparity in sentencing, probation and asset
forfeiture guidelines for possession of crack cocaine for sale
versus the same crime involving powder cocaine that has resulted
in a pattern of racial discrimination in sentencing and
incarceration in California.
"Crack and powder cocaine are two forms of the same drug.
Scientific reports, including a major study published in the
Journal of the American Medical Association, demonstrate that
they have essentially identical effects on the human body.
Powder cocaine can be injected or snorted. Crack cocaine can be
injected or smoked, and is a product derived when cocaine powder
is processed with an alkali, typically common baking soda. Gram
for gram, there is less active drug in crack cocaine than in
powder cocaine.
"Whatever their intended goal, disparate sentencing guidelines
for two forms of the same drug has resulted in a pattern of
institutional racism, with longer prison sentences given to
people of color who are more likely than whites to be arrested
and incarcerated for cocaine base offenses compared to powder
cocaine offenses, despite comparable rates of usage and sales
across racial and ethnic groups."
Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion
of this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Gabriel Caswell / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744
FN: 0004519
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