(1) Existing law, commencing July 1, 2022, subject to an appropriation in the annual Budget Act, requires the Department of Justice, on a monthly basis, to review the records in the statewide criminal justice databases and to identify persons who are eligible for arrest record relief or automatic conviction record relief by having their arrest records, or their criminal conviction records, withheld from disclosure or modified, as specified. Under existing law, an arrest or conviction record is eligible for this relief if, among other criteria, the arrest or conviction occurred on or after January 1, 2021.
This bill would instead allow an arrest or conviction that occurred on or after January 1, 1973, to be considered for relief.
(2) Existing law, the California Community Corrections Performance Incentives Act of 2009, authorizes each county to establish a Community Corrections Performance Incentives Fund, and authorizes the state to annually allocate moneys into the State Community Corrections Performance Incentives Fund to be used for specified purposes relating to improving local probation supervision practices and capacities.
Existing law requires the Director of Finance, in consultation with certain entities, to annually calculate a statewide performance incentive payment and a county performance incentive payment, based upon specified performance metrics, for each eligible county, and to distribute those payments in the following fiscal year, as specified.
This bill would appropriate $122,829,397 from the General Fund to the State Community Corrections Performance Incentives Fund
to, in lieu of the above provisions, be allocated to counties, as specified, for the 2021–22 fiscal year.
(3) Existing law authorizes a court upon the recommendation of the district attorney of the county in which the defendant was sentenced, to recall the sentence of a defendant who has been committed to state prison or county jail and resentence that defendant to a lesser sentence, as specified. Existing law authorizes a district attorney to use their discretion in conducting prosecutions.
This bill would establish the County Resentencing Pilot Program to support and evaluate a collaborative approach to a district attorney’s exercise of their discretion to petition to recall an individual’s case for resentencing. The bill would designate a county’s district attorney’s office and public defender’s office as pilot participants. The bill would authorize a participating district
attorney’s office to contract with a qualified community-based organization, as specified. The bill would require that each participating district attorney’s office create and implement a written policy that states the factors, criteria, and processes to be used in evaluating an individual’s case for a petition to recall the sentence. The bill would require that funding be used to for the purposes of resentencing individuals consistent with the requirements of the pilot program, including ensuring adequate staffing of deputy district attorneys, paralegals, deputy public defenders, and support staff. The bill would require participating district attorney’s offices to keep data, as specified, and collect it using a template provided by an evaluator. The bill would require the evaluator to conduct its analysis in a manner that allows for comparison between participating counties and assess, among other things, challenges in implementation, a cost study, and recidivism outcomes. The bill would require state
agencies to cooperate with, and provide information to, the evaluator upon request. The bill would require the evaluator to provide 2 preliminary reports to the Legislature and a final report, at the end of the program.
(4) Existing law grants the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) authority to operate the state prison system and gives the department jurisdiction over various state prisons and other institutions, including Deuel Vocational Institution. Existing law requires the department to identify 2 state-owned and -operated prisons for closure, as specified.
This bill would make the provisions authorizing the establishment and operation of Deuel Vocational Institution inoperative on October 1, 2021, and would repeal those provisions on July 1, 2022.
(5) Existing law
establishes the Board of Parole Hearings that is composed of 17 commissioners appointed by the Governor, and subject to Senate confirmation, for staggered 3-year terms. Under existing law, the board conducts parole consideration hearings, parole rescission hearings, and parole progress hearings for adults, among other responsibilities. Existing law requires the board, when it performs its functions by meeting en banc in either public or executive sessions to decide matters of general policy, to have at least 7 members present.
This bill would increase the number of commissioners on the board to 21. The bill would also require the board to have at least a majority of commissioners holding office present on the date a matter of general policy is heard.
Existing law permits an inmate to be present and to ask and answer questions on their own behalf at all hearings for the purpose of reviewing an inmate’s parole suitability, or
the setting, postponing, or rescinding of parole.
This bill would authorize the board to conduct proceedings by videoconference and would require that all references to a participant’s statutory right to meet, be present, appear, or to represent the interests of the people or another participant at a proceeding to be satisfied by the participant’s appearance by videoconference at the proceeding.
Existing law authorizes the board to meet and transact business in panels. Existing law requires, in the event of a tie vote, that a matter be referred to a randomly selected committee comprised of a majority of the commissioners specifically appointed to hear adult parole matters and who are holding office at the time.
This bill would instead require that matter be referred for an en banc review by the board, with the commissioners involved in the tie vote recused from the review. The bill
would require the commissioners conducting the review to consider the full record that was before the panel that resulted in the tie vote, and would limit the review to that record.
Existing law requires the board to provide written notice at least 30 days before it meets to review or consider the parole suitability of any inmate sentenced to a life sentence to the judge of the superior court before whom the inmate was tried and convicted, the attorney who represented the defendant at trial, the district attorney of the county in which the offense was committed, and the law enforcement agency that investigated the case. Existing law authorizes the judge of the superior court before whom the inmate was tried and convicted to forward to the board any unprivileged information from the trial or sentencing proceeding regarding the inmate, witnesses, or victims, or other relevant persons, or any other information, that is pertinent to the question of whether the board
should grant parole, as specified. Existing law requires the board to review and consider all information received from any person and to consider adjusting the conditions of parole to reflect comments or concerns.
This bill would eliminate the requirement that written notice of the parole suitability hearing be provided to the judge of the superior court before whom the inmate was tried and convicted, and would eliminate the authorization of that judge to send unprivileged information from the trial or sentencing proceeding to the board. The bill would require the board only to consider all relevant and reliable information received from any person, and to consider imposing special conditions of parole to reflect those comments or concerns.
(6) Existing law establishes the California Reentry and Enrichment (CARE) Grant program to provide grants to community-based organizations (CBOs) that provide
rehabilitative services to incarcerated individuals. Existing law requires the CDCR to establish a steering committee to establish grant criteria, select grant recipients, and determine grant amounts and number of grants. Existing law requires that members of the steering committee serve without compensation, except for reimbursement for expenses.
This bill would require the CDCR, prior to the release of the grant application, to survey all adult prisons to determine which are able to support new programs by the grantees and to include a list of those prisons in the request for grant applications. The bill would also provide a $100 per day compensation, up to a maximum of $5,000 per member per year, for steering committee members who are not government employees who are continuing to receive their regular salary while participating in the committee as part of their job.
(7) Existing law prohibits the
transfer of an inmate to a community correctional reentry facility unless certain conditions have been met, including that the inmate is not currently serving a sentence for a conviction of a violent felony, as defined, the inmate has less than one year left to serve in a correctional facility, and the inmate has not been convicted previously of an escape.
This bill would, instead, prohibit the transfer of an inmate to a community correctional reentry facility unless, among other conditions, the inmate does not have a current or prior conviction for an offense that requires registration as a sex offender, the inmate has less than 2 years left to serve in a correctional institution, and the inmate does not have a history, within the prior 10 years, of an escape.
(8) Existing law establishes the California Sex Offender Management Board under the jurisdiction of the CDCR to address
issues, concerns, and problems related to the community management of sex offenders. The board consists of 17 members, as specified.
This bill would add the Executive Director of the Office of Youth and Community Restoration within the California Health and Human Services Agency, or a designee who has expertise in the treatment or supervision of juvenile sex offenders, and a licensed mental health professional with experience treating juvenile sex offenders and who can represent those who provide evaluation and treatment for juvenile sex offenders, who would be appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly, to the board, bringing the total membership to 19.
(9) Existing law establishes the Board of State and Community Corrections to provide statewide leadership, coordination, and technical assistance to promote effective state and local efforts and partnerships in
California’s adult and juvenile criminal justice system, as specified. Existing law requires the board to inspect each local detention facility in the state at least biennially, including juvenile halls and similar facilities used for the confinement of any minor, as specified.
This bill would authorize any officer, employee, or agent of the board, as specified, to enter and inspect any area of a local detention facility, without notice, to conduct those inspections.
(10) Existing law authorizes the CDCR to use the training academy at Galt, the training center in Stockton, or a training academy established for the California City Correctional Center. Under existing law, a cadet who attends an academy is required to complete the specified course of training before they may be assigned as a peace officer. Existing law requires the department to provide 520 hours of training to each
correctional peace officer cadet.
This bill would require the department to adhere to the training standards developed by the Commission on Correctional Peace Officer Standards and Training (CPOST) at all locations where training is provided. The bill would reduce the minimum number of hours of training the department is required to provide each correctional peace officer cadet who commences training on or after July 1, 2021, from 520 hours to 480 hours. The bill would require, commencing July 1, 2021, a new correctional officer to complete new employee orientation and on-the-job observational training totaling a minimum of 160 hours upon graduation from the academy.
(11) Existing law requires the Office of Emergency Services (OES) to establish a protocol for the examination and treatment of victims of sexual abuse and attempted sexual abuse, including child sexual abuse, and the
collection and preservation of evidence therefrom. Existing law prohibits the costs incurred by a qualified health care professional, hospital, clinic, sexual assault forensic examination team, or other emergency medical facility for the medical evidentiary examination from being charged to a victim of the assault. Under existing law, the local law enforcement agency in whose jurisdiction the alleged offense was committed is required to reimburse the cost of a medical evidentiary examination within 60 days. Existing law authorizes the local law enforcement agency to seek reimbursement from OES, to be funded with specified federal funds, and to offset the cost of conducting the medical evidentiary examination of a sexual assault victim who is undecided at the time of an examination whether to report to law enforcement.
This bill would authorize the appropriate local law enforcement agency to seek reimbursement from OES, using the specified federal funds, for the cost
of conducting the medical evidentiary examination of a sexual assault victim who has decided not to report the assault to law enforcement at the time of the examination. The bill would also authorize local law enforcement to seek, and would require OES to pay at an established rate, reimbursement for the cost of conducting the medical evidentiary examination of a sexual assault victim who has determined, at the time of the examination, to report the assault to law enforcement.
(12) Existing law subjects a minor between 12 and 17 years of age, inclusive, who violates any federal, state, or local law or ordinance, and a minor under 12 years of age who is alleged to have committed specified serious offenses, to the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, which may adjudge the minor to be a ward of the court. Existing law authorizes the court to commit a minor to a juvenile home, ranch, camp, or forestry
camp. Existing law establishes the Division of Juvenile Justice within the CDCR to operate facilities to house specified juvenile offenders.
This bill would authorize a juvenile court to order placement of a ward at the Pine Grove Youth Conservation Camp if specified criteria are met, including if the county has entered into a contract with the Division of Juvenile Justice and the division has found the ward amenable. The bill would authorize the division to enter into contracts with counties to operate the Pine Grove Youth Conservation Camp through a state-local partnership, or other management arrangement, to train justice-involved youth in wildland firefighting, as specified.
(13) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.