Bill Text: CA AB2258 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: California Public Safety Commission.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-06-03 - To inactive file on motion of Assembly Member Bass. [AB2258 Detail]
Download: California-2009-AB2258-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 2258 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 1, 2010
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 6, 2010
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Bass
FEBRUARY 18, 2010
An act to add Title 6.5 (commencing with Section 4950) to
Part 3 of the Penal Code, relating to sentencing. An
act relating to public safety.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2258, as amended, Bass. California Public Safety Commission.
Existing law prescribes various penalties for criminal offenses.
This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to create
the California Public Safety Commission, an independent,
multijurisdictional body to work on issues related to the state's
criminal justice system, as specified.
This bill would create the California Public Safety Commission, an
independent, multijurisdictional body to provide a nonpartisan forum
for statewide policy development, information development, research,
and planning concerning criminal sentences and their effects. The
bill would state legislative findings and declarations regarding
criminal sentencing laws and policies. The bill would provide for the
appointment of an executive director and for the designation of the
commission's staff. The bill would provide that the commission's
staff shall spend its first 3 years solely getting organized,
creating procedures and partnerships, conducting research, and
collecting data, as specified. The bill would require state agencies
and departments to make their services, equipment, personnel,
facilities, and information available to the commission, as
specified. The commission would be required to develop information
systems to track, among other things, criminal cases entering the
courts and sentencing patterns for the state as a whole and for
geographic regions within the state.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes
no . State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. It is the intent of the Legislature to
create the California Public Safety Commission, an independent,
multijurisdictional body to work on issues related to the state's
criminal justice system. The commission would address issues
including, but not limited to, the state's sentencing structure and
possible solutions to curtail the cycle of recidivism. The commission
would review existing statutes, individual sentences, as well as
rehabilitation and public safety policies and alternatives. The
commission would also review policies and programs of other states
relating to these issues.
SECTION 1. Title 6.5 (commencing with Section
4950) is added to Part 3 of the Penal Code, to read:
TITLE 6.5. CALIFORNIA PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION
4950. (a) The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of the
following:
(1) There are more than 1,000 felony sentencing laws and more than
100 felony sentence enhancements across California codes.
(2) States with sentencing commissions have reduced overall crime
rates by increasing penalties for the most dangerous offenders and
expanding options for community-based sanctions for certain
low-level, nonviolent offenders.
(3) California currently lacks a reliable and comprehensive system
for collecting and analyzing data related to current and historical
sentencing practices.
(b) There is hereby established the California Public Safety
Commission, an independent, multijurisdictional body, to provide a
nonpartisan forum for statewide policy development, information
development, research, and planning concerning criminal sentences and
their effects.
4955. In creating the California Public Safety Commission, it is
the intent of the Legislature to enhance public safety, promote
effective crime-reduction strategies, base California's sentencing
practices on principles of fairness, justice, and accountability, and
ensure that public resources and taxpayer dollars are expended in a
way that most successfully protects the public from crime and reduces
criminal recidivism.
4960. (a) The Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court shall
appoint an executive director who shall be exempt from civil
service.
(b) The administrative duties of the commission shall be conducted
by commission staff physically sited in the Administrative Office of
the Courts (AOC). All of the commission's decisions, analyses,
recommendations, and other duties shall be independent of the AOC and
shall not reflect any position of the AOC or be represented as those
of the AOC.
(c) For the purposes of expenditures for the support of the
commission, including the expenses of the members of the commission,
the commission shall be deemed to be within the judicial branch of
state government, but the commission shall not be subject to the
control or direction of any officer or employee of the judicial
branch except in connection with the appropriation of funds approved
by the Legislature.
(d) The commission is a criminal justice agency within the meaning
of Section 13101.
4965. (a) The commission's staff shall spend its first three
years solely getting organized, creating procedures and partnerships,
conducting research, and collecting data.
(b) In discharging its responsibilities under subdivision (a), the
commission shall do the following:
(1) Collect information on all correctional populations in the
state.
(2) Survey correctional resources across state and local
governments.
(3) Conduct research into crime rates, criminal cases entering the
court system, sentences imposed and served for particular offenses,
and sentencing patterns for the state as a whole and for geographic
regions within the state.
(4) Consult available research and data on the current
effectiveness of sentences imposed and served.
(5) Study the experiences of other jurisdictions with sentencing
commissions.
(6) Identify and prioritize areas where necessary data and
research are lacking concerning the operation of the sentencing
system, and recommend to the Legislature means by which the
commission or other state agencies may be empowered to address those
needs.
(c) The commission shall, on an ongoing basis, develop information
systems to track criminal cases entering the court system; the
effects of offense, offender, victim, and case-processing
characteristics upon sentences imposed and served; sentencing
patterns for the state as a whole and for geographic regions within
the state; data on the incidence of and reasons for sentence
revocations; and other matters found by the commission to have
important bearing on the operation of the sentencing and corrections
system.
4970. (a) (1) Upon request from the commission, each agency and
department of state government shall make its services, equipment,
personnel, facilities, and information available to the greatest
practicable extent to the commission in the execution of its
functions. Information that is privileged under state or federal law
is exempted from this section.
(2) State agencies shall inform the commission if the information
requested is not available. If the commission is informed by a state
agency that information is not available, the commission may then
request that information from a local law enforcement agency which
may provide that information to the greatest extent practical.
(b) Upon request from the commission, state law enforcement
agencies, including parole officers, shall supply arrest and criminal
history records to the commission. County probation departments may
provide copies of presentence reports to the commission, upon
request.
(c) Any information obtained by the commission pursuant to this
section is confidential, and shall be maintained in a manner that
meets the highest standards of privacy and shall not be disclosed
other than for the purpose for which it was acquired.
(d) The commission shall have the authority to enter partnerships
or joint agreements with organizations and agencies from this and
other jurisdictions, including academic departments, private
associations, and other sentencing commissions, to perform research
needed to carry out its duties.
