Bill Text: CA AB1846 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Parole hearings: victim attorneys.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-05-19 - In committee: Held under submission. [AB1846 Detail]
Download: California-2021-AB1846-Amended.html
Amended
IN
Assembly
March 10, 2022 |
Introduced by Assembly Member Valladares |
February 08, 2022 |
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YESBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 3043.4 is added to the Penal Code, to read:3043.4.
(a) Upon appropriation by the Legislature, the Board of Parole Hearings shall establish a program to provide a victim of a crime, the victim’s next of kin, or a member of a victim’s family, who has the right to appear in person or by remote testimony at a parole suitability hearing, with compensation for reasonable actual attorney’s fees and costs if all of the following conditions are met:(d)If the victim, the victim’s next of kin, or a member of the victim’s family did not receive notice that the prosecuting district attorney’s office would not be sending a representative to the parole hearing, that person may ask the board to postpone the hearing in order to permit the person to either hire an attorney or, if one was already hired, additional time to prepare. Upon a request from the person
pursuant to this subdivision, the board shall postpone the hearing for 30 days.
(e)If the prosecuting district attorney’s office does not send a representative, the attorney representing the victim, the victim’s next of kin, or a member of the victim’s family shall have standing to present arguments and to offer rebuttal arguments relating to the severity and facts of the inmate’s crime, the risk to public safety presented by the release of the inmate, and the inmate’s lack of rehabilitation, including any arguments available under existing law regarding the impact of the inmate’s crime on the victim pursuant to Section 28 of Article I of the California Constitution and any other statutory or case law regarding victims’ rights. Nothing in this section is intended to preclude the person’s attorney from making any arguments permitted pursuant to existing law, including in situations where the district attorney sends a representative to the
parole hearing.
(f)
(g)If the prosecuting district attorney’s office does not intend to send a representative to the parole hearing, the victim, the victim’s next of kin, or the member of the victim’s
family, and their attorney, shall receive a copy of all court and prison records that the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation would otherwise send to the district attorney’s office.
(h)Nothing in this section precludes a victim, the victim’s next of kin, or a member of the victim’s family from speaking personally at the parole hearing in addition to arguments and rebuttal arguments made by their attorney.
(i)
(j)