SB 18

Bill Subjects

Abstract

Existing law establishes certain values for determining if theft or certain other property crimes are punishable as felonies or not. Existing law provides that for many of these crimes, the threshold is $400, while the thresholds for certain other crimes are $100, $200, and $1,000, as specified. This bill would increase certain of those thresholds, for example, by increasing certain $400 thresholds to $950. By increasing local incarceration costs, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law provides for a 6-month reduction in a prisoner's term of confinement for every 6 months of full-time performance by the prisoner in a qualified work, training, or education program, as specified. Existing law provides that for every 6 days served in a specified local detention center following an arrest and prior to the imposition of a prison sentence for a felony conviction, 2 days shall be deducted from his or her period of confinement, as specified. This bill would instead provide that certain prisoners shall earn one day of credit for every one day served either in the state prison or in a local facility prior to delivery to the state prison. This bill would provide for up to 6 weeks of additional credit for the successful completion of certain programs offered by the department, as specified. This bill would also expand an existing program for extra time credits for inmates assigned to conservation camps to apply to inmates who are assigned to correctional institutions as inmate firefighters and to inmates who have completed the training for either of those assignments, as specified. This bill would also revise the time credits for certain prisoners confined or committed to a county jail or other specified facilities, as provided. This bill would also provide criteria for the denial and loss of these credits, and would make various conforming and technical changes. Existing law establishes provisions authorizing the department to oversee programs for the purposes of reducing parolee recidivism. This bill would authorize each county to establish a Community Corrections Performance Incentives Fund (CCPIF) and would authorize the state to annually allocate money into a State Corrections Performance Incentives Fund to be used for certain purposes relating to improving local probation supervision practices and capacities, as specified. This bill would require the Director of Finance, in consultation with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, the Chief Probation Officers of California, and the Administrative Office of the Courts, to make various calculations relating to the costs of incarceration, probation failure rates, and estimated numbers of adult felony probationers who are successfully prevented from being sent to prison per county, as specified. This bill would require the Department of Finance, in consultation with other specified agencies, to annually calculate 5% of the savings to the state attributed to those counties that successfully reduce the number of adult felony probationers sent to prison, and the bill would authorize those savings to be used to provide high performance grants to county probation departments to reduce recidivism among adult felony probationers. This bill would also require each county using CCPIF funds to identify and track specific outcome-based measures, as specified, and report to the Administrative Office of the Courts on the effectiveness of the programs paid for by the CCPIF. This bill would require each county's community corrections programs to be developed and implemented by the probation department, as advised by a local Community Corrections Partnership. This bill would require specified local officials to serve as part of that Community Corrections Partnership. Because this bill would increase the duties for certain local officials, it would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to release a prisoner on a specified period of parole after the expiration of a specified term of imprisonment. Under existing law, the department is authorized to return a parolee to prison if the Board of Parole Hearings determines that the parolee violated the terms of his or her parole, as specified. This bill would prohibit the department from returning certain parolees to prison, placing a parole hold on the parolee, or reporting the parolee to the Board of Parole Hearings for a violation of parole, as specified. Existing law requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to establish certain pilot programs to assist parolees in the successful reintegration of those parolees into the community. This bill would require the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to establish a parole reentry accountability program for parolees who have been sentenced to a determinate term of imprisonment. The bill would require the department to employ a parole violation decisionmaking instrument to determine the most appropriate sanctions for parolees who violate their parole conditions. The bill would require the department to adopt regulations that make appropriate changes in policies and procedures to reflect the bill's intent. The bill would also authorize the department to refer these parolees, if they have a history of substance abuse or mental illness and violate their parole conditions, to a reentry court program. The bill would require the secretary, subject to available funding, to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Administrative Office of the Courts for the purpose of the establishment and operation of parolee reentry programs, as specified. The bill would require the Judicial Council, in collaboration with the department, to design and perform an evaluation of the program to assess its effectiveness in reducing recidivism among parolees and reducing parole revocations. The bill would also require the Judicial Council, in collaboration with the department, to submit a final report of its findings to the Legislature and the Governor, as specified. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to declare a fiscal emergency and to call the Legislature into special session for that purpose. The Governor issued a proclamation declaring a fiscal emergency, and calling a special session for this purpose, on December 19, 2008. This bill would state that it addresses the fiscal emergency declared by the Governor by proclamation issued on December 19, 2008, pursuant to the California Constitution.