BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    




                    Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
          
                                          AB1799  (Baugh)
          
          Hearing Date:8/23/00            Amended:8/7/00         
          Consultant: Lisa Matocq         Policy Vote:Pub Saf 6-0
          ____________________________________________________________ 
          ___
          BILL SUMMARY:   AB 1799 eliminates the $10,000 cap on  
          compensation for wrongful incarceration, and specifies that  
          the rate shall instead be $100 per day of incarceration,  
           subject to legislative appropriation  , and excludes such  
          compensation from the definition of gross income for state  
          income tax purposes. 

                              Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
           Major Provisions                 2000-01           2001-02              
           2002-03               Fund  
          Compensation                                Indeterminable costs      
                              General
                                     
          
          STAFF COMMENTS:  SUSPENSE FILE.   Current law provides that  
          a person wrongfully convicted of a felony and imprisoned in  
          state prison may submit a claim to the State Board of  
          Control (SBC) for pecuniary loss suffered by him or her;  
          the maximum amount of compensation is $10,000.  However, AB  
          110 (Baugh, Ch. 619, St. of 1999) appropriated $620,000 to  
          Kevin Lee Green who was exonerated after spending 17 years  
          in prison for second-degree murder, attempted murder, and  
          assault with a deadly weapon.  The amount was based on $100  
          per day of imprisonment, the rate California Department of  
          Corrections (CDC) pays inmates when it is unable to release  
          a prisoner on the scheduled release date.
           
          It is unknown how many persons could be impacted by the  
          provisions of this bill, although it is likely only a very  
          few.  According to SBC, of the 22 claims that have been  
          submitted since 1981, only four have been approved, or on  
          average about one every five years.  Also, in a Sept. 1999  
          report, Postconviction DNA Testing:  Recommendations for  
          Handling Requests, the U.S. Department of Justice found  
          that "more than 60 convictions in the U.S. have been  
          vacated on the basis of DNA testing".  Of those, four were  
          in California, where the average time served was 10 years.   
          For illustrative purposes, if once every five years the  










          Legislature appropriated $365,000 (the equivalent of 10  
          years served) to an individual, increased costs would  
          average $73,000 annually.  The tax revenue loss would  
          average about $6,570 annually. 

          SB 1342 (Burton), awaiting action in the Assembly  
          Appropriations Committee,  establishes a procedure for a  
          defendant who was convicted in a criminal case to request  
          postconviction testing of DNA evidence if the technology  
          was not available at the time of the trial, as specified.