August 17, 2017

SB 185 (Hertzberg) – Crimes: infractions.
As Amended May 26, 2017 – Oppose

CSAC has growing concerns with the amended version of Senate Bill 185, by Senator Bob Hertzberg. SB 185, as amended, would reform court procedures and fine determinations related to infraction offenses and prohibit the suspension or hold of a driver license for a failure to pay fines. The issues being addressed in this measure have partially been addressed by the 2017-18 drivers’ license suspension budget trailer language. In addition, the Governor passed SB 405 by Senator Hertzberg which created a temporary traffic amnesty program. The information is still being collected and evaluated to see what the outcome of SB 405 was on collections and license suspensions. We are concerned that this bill is still moving through the legislative process in light of the work that has been done with these two efforts. For this reason we have taken an oppose position on this measure. SB 185 passed out of the Assembly Transportation Committee 9-4, passed out of the Assembly Public Safety Committee 5-0 and is waiting to be heard in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

AB 662 (Choi) – Restitution Tracking.
As Amended July 18, 2017 – Oppose

Another measure that has continued to move through the legislative process that is raising concerns is recently amended Assembly Bill 662, by Assembly Member Steven Choi. AB 662, as amended, would require a restitution collecting county agency or department to track restitution payments and send monthly notices to the individual responsible for paying restitution and quarterly statements to the victim detailing the payment status of the restitution order. By requiring county collection agencies to send out additional notices to defendants and victims, this measure would add significant staffing and workload costs to these agencies. The current 10% set aside for administrative cost of collecting victim restitution, does not cover additional accounting costs. AB 662 passed out of the Senate Public Safety Committee 7-0 and is set to be heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee on August 21, 2017.

AB 720 (Eggman) – Inmates: Psychiatric Medication: Informed Consent. As Amended July 13, 2017 – Support

Assembly Bill 720 by Assembly Member Susan Eggman would grant county jails the authority to administer involuntary psychiatric medication to non-sentenced individuals detained in their facilities as long as certain criteria are met. Existing law prohibits a person sentenced to imprisonment in a county jail from being administered any psychiatric medication without his or her prior informed consent or unless specific conditions exist. However, there are individuals who enter local detention facilities that need mental health treatment but have not been sentenced. AB 720 would assist in reducing harm to the inmate, other inmates or staff and addresses ongoing problems and challenges county jails are facing in addressing the mental health needs of inmates. AB 720 passed out of the Senate Public Safety Committee on 7-0 and is set to be heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee on August 21, 2017.

SB 421 (Wiener) – Sex Offender Tiered Registration System.
As Amended July 13, 2017 – Support

Senate Bill 421 by Senator Scott Wiener, as amended, would establish a statewide tiered sex offender registry system that includes juvenile and adult registrants. California has over 100,000 registered sex offenders and is in need of a registry system reform that focuses on high risk and violent sex offenders. Law enforcement agencies cannot effectively protect the community when they are in the office handling monthly or annual administrative paperwork for low risk offenders. By implementing a tiered sex offender registry system, SB 421 would be a proactive public safety policy that allows law enforcement agencies to concentrate their investigative efforts on ensuring that high risk and violent offenders comply with the law. The recent amendments to SB 421 add two registration tiers for juvenile registrants. SB 421 passed out of the Assembly Public Safety Committee 5-1 and is set to be heard in the Assembly Appropriations Committee on August 23, 2017.