Administration of Justice update 6/20/2014
Correctional Facilities Construction
SB 863 (Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee) –
Support
As Amended June 16, 2014
CSAC is pleased to stand in strong support of SB 863, a budget trailer bill that would re-enact the provisions associated with a $500 million investment in local correctional facilities construction, with a focus on treatment and rehabilitative programs as passed earlier this week in the public safety trailer bill (AB 1468). This funding, made available through a competitive grant process, is a significant and much-needed boost to counties that have assumed vast new responsibilities for criminal offenders since 2011.
CSAC views this critical investment as part of the foundation to ensure counties can be successful with the AB 109 population. Most county jails, with the exception of those most recently constructed, were designed for short stays and do not offer space for programming, medical or behavior health treatment, visitation, or exercise needed to safely and compassionately manage local jail populations. The sustained success of counties is tied to the ability to design better beds that recognize the changed environment in a post-realignment world and facilitate improved reentry of the offender population into the community and reducing recidivism.
SB 863 seeks to correct a technical error, by codifying the bond capacity provisions in a stand-alone measure, as required by the Attorney General for a clean bond opinion. SB 863 passed by both the Assembly and Senate on June 19 and was signed into law along with the main budget and other trailer bills.
Court Witnesses: Local Agency Employees
AB 2727 (Frazier) – Support
As Introduced February 21, 2014
CSAC is pleased to support Assembly Bill 2727 authored by Assembly Member Jim Frazier which would increase the deposit amount paid to local public agencies when an employee is subpoenaed to appear as a witness in civil litigation.
Specifically, this bill increases the amount that a party must pay to a local agency for each day an employee is required to remain in attendance and participate in court-related activities pursuant to a civil subpoena issued at the party’s request. The current deposit amount under existing law is $125 dollars per day. Assembly Bill 2727 would increase this amount to $275 dollars per day.
CSAC agrees with the author’s view that current law has not kept pace with inflation and today’s deposit amount established 19 years ago does not sufficiently reflect the change in employee salaries and expenses over time. Given that the bill will bring the deposit amount into conformity with other state and county employees subpoenaed pursuant to civil litigation, CSAC supports this measure.
The bill awaits action on the Senate floor.
Counties: Search and Rescue Costs
AB 2151 (Wagner) – Support
As Amended May 13, 2014
CSAC supports Assembly Bill 2151 authored by Assembly Member Don Wagner, which would allow a city or county to seek reimbursement from residents in specified instances when search and rescue costs are incurred.
Specifically, this measure allows a city or county to seek reimbursement from a resident when search and rescue efforts necessitate the use of extraordinary methods and certain acts or omissions were a contributing factor to the need for search and rescue. The bill would further require a person who is deemed as having the ability to pay to remit those funds to the city or county within 30 days.
Recent amendments require that a county or city wishing to implement the reimbursement provisions in the bill may only do so if the board of supervisors of that county or city passes a resolution or ordinance consistent with the bill.
Given the amount of staff and resources often involved in complex and time sensitive rescue efforts, in our view, this measure provides a much-needed cost assistance tool to ensure that search and rescue expenses do not greatly exceed a county’s financial capacity. For these reasons, CSAC supports the measure.
Assembly Bill 2151 passed out of Senate Governance and Finance, with amendments suggested in committee to narrow the application of the bill and harmonize its provisions to a previous version of statute.
Mandatory Supervision
AB 2199 (Muratsuchi) – Support
As introduced February 20, 2014
AB 2199, by Assembly Member Al Muratsuchi, would authorize the court to direct specified defendants to pay all or a portion of the reasonable cost of probation-related services.
Specifically, AB 2199 responds to the December 2013 (Peo. v. Fandinola) appellate court opinion that found that neither section 1203.1b of the California Penal Code, nor any other statutory provision permits charging probation fees to a person on mandatory supervision. As a result, this bill simply amends current law to allow the court to order an individual on mandatory supervision to contribute toward the reasonable costs of probation-related services and fees. As you recall, mandatory supervision was a status created under 2011 Public Safety Realignment to give counties needed tools to manage the realigned criminal justice population.
From the county perspective, AB 2199 makes a great deal of sense given that there is virtually no difference between the probation-related duties and responsibilities associated with mandatory supervision and other types of probation services where defendants currently contribute toward the cost of supervision. AB 2199 is a necessary and reasonable statutory correction. All existing provisions regarding the ability to set up payment plans and evaluate a defendant’s ability to pay remain. For these reasons, CSAC supports AB 2199.
The bill awaits action on the Senate Floor.
Vehicle Registration Fees
AB 2393 (Levine) – Support
As introduced February 21, 2014
AB 2393, by Assembly Member Marc Levine, would allow counties to impose an increased vehicle registration fee to provide additional funding for fingerprint identification programs used by local law enforcement to identify individuals involved in specified vehicular crimes.
Specifically, AB 2393 would amend Vehicle Code Section 9250.19 to allow counties to impose an increased vehicle registration fee from $1 to $2 for non-commercial vehicles and from $2 to $4 for commercial vehicles to fund fingerprint identification programs which are used by local law enforcement to identify human remains and criminal suspects involved in vehicular crime. For those counties not previously imposing a vehicle registration fee to fund fingerprint identification programs, AB 2393 also allows these counties to opt-in and begin charging at the same rate as currently participating counties.
A fiscal analysis of these county-imposed registration fees performed in 2011 found that the surcharge generates approximately $29 million annually for the 45 participating counties. Further, the analysis concluded that all costs to the Department of Motor Vehicles and the State Controller’s Office are fully recovered from fee revenues.
Given the current – and continuing – fiscal challenges facing counties and local law enforcement, CSAC believes the increased vehicle registration fee provided for in AB 2393 will go a long way towards enhancing local efforts to enforce vehicle code violations and keep our roadways safe.
This bill was approved by the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee and now awaits a hearing in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Criminal Procedure: Video Appearances
AB 2397 (Frazier) – Support
As Amended June 16, 2014
AB 2397, by Assembly Member Jim Frazier, amends current law to allow for increased use of video technology for inmate court appearances. The bill is co-sponsored by the California State Sheriffs’ Association and the Chief Probation Officers of California.
Specifically, the bill would authorize a defendant who does not wish to be personally present for noncritical portions of trial to submit an oral waiver in open court prior to the proceeding, or submit a written request to the court and would allow the court to grant the request in its discretion. Further, if the defendant is represented by counsel, the bill provides that a defendant’s attorney shall not be required to be personally present with the defendant for noncritical portions of the trial if the audio video conferencing system or other technology allows for private communication between the defendant and the attorney. Finally, the bill makes legislative findings making it clear that the bill does not expand or limit the right of a defendant to be personally present with his or her counsel at a particular proceeding as required by the California Constitution.
This bill has the potential to reduce costs associated with various judicial hearings and specified proceedings for local law enforcement without limiting inmate access to due process under the law. For these reasons CSAC is pleased to support the measure.
This bill awaits action on the Senate floor.
Realignment Resources
Health Care and County Jail Populations
Focusing on an area of interest to counties, the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) released a report this week highlighting the opportunities associated with the implementation of both the Affordable Care Act and AB 720 (Skinner, 2013). In examining jail data provided by counties, the PPIC explores the usage of health care of county jail systems and the higher needs presented by jail detainees. Further, the report discusses in detail the opportunities afforded by federal health care implementation as well as AB 720 of 013 that seeks to remove enrollment barriers to expand enrollment of jail inmates in expanded health care coverage.
CSAC has also focused on the intersection of health care and local criminal justice systems through our joint realignment training efforts and plan to build on those efforts in the coming months. In the meantime, we encourage counties to read the PPIC report and review relevant resources available on our realignment training page.