Bill Text: CA SB1310 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Trespass: illegal signs.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2016-11-30 - From committee without further action. [SB1310 Detail]
Download: California-2015-SB1310-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: SB 1310 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 28, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Senator Leno
FEBRUARY 19, 2016
An act to add amend Section
3055 to 556.4 of the Penal Code, relating to
parole. trespass.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1310, as amended, Leno. Elderly Parole Program.
Trespass : illegal signs.
Existing law makes it a misdemeanor to place or maintain any sign,
picture, transparency, advertisement, or mechanical device for the
purpose of advertising on public or private property without lawful
permission or consent of the owner. Existing law allows information
that appears on the advertisement to be used as evidence to establish
the fact that a person or entity is responsible for posting the
advertisement.
This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to these
provisions.
Existing law requires the Board of Parole Hearings to meet with an
inmate during the 6th year prior to the inmate's minimum eligible
parole release date to document the inmate's activities and conduct
pertinent to parole eligibility. Existing law, the Victims' Bill of
Rights Act of 2008: Marsy's Law, as added by Proposition 9 at the
November 4, 2008, statewide general election, requires the panel, or
the board if sitting en banc, to set a release date at the meeting,
unless it determines that consideration of the public and victim's
safety requires a more lengthy period of incarceration, and that a
parole date cannot be fixed at the meeting. Existing law requires the
board to schedule the next parole consideration hearing 15, 10, 7,
5, or 3 years after any hearing at which parole is denied. Existing
law allows the board to advance a hearing set pursuant to these
provisions to an earlier date when a change in circumstances or new
information establishes a reasonable likelihood that consideration of
the public and victim's safety does not require an additional period
of incarceration.
Existing law, as added by Proposition 184, adopted November 8,
1994, and amended by Proposition 36, adopted November 6, 2012,
commonly known as the Three Strikes Law, imposes increased penalties
for certain recidivist offenders. In particular, it requires that, in
addition to any other enhancement or penalty provisions that may
apply, if a defendant has 2 or more prior felony convictions, the
term for the current felony conviction shall be an indeterminate term
of imprisonment in the state prison for life with a minimum term of
the greatest of 3 times the term otherwise provided as punishment for
each current felony conviction subsequent to the 2 or more prior
felony convictions, imprisonment in the state prison for 25 years, or
the term determined by the court for the underlying conviction,
including any applicable enhancement or punishment provisions. The
initiative measure enacting the Three Strikes Law prohibits the
Legislature from amending the act except by a statute passed by a 2/3
vote or by a statute that becomes effective only when approved by
the electors.
This bill would establish the Elderly Parole Program, for
prisoners who are 50 years of age or older, who have served 15 years
of their sentence, and who have a reentry plan identifying
residential, financial, and social integration plans. When
considering the release of an inmate who meets this criteria, the
bill would require the board to consider whether age, time served,
and diminished physical condition, if any, have reduced the elderly
prisoner's risk for future violence. The bill would also require the
Board of Parole Hearings to consider whether a prisoner will qualify
for the program when determining the prisoner's next parole
suitability hearing.
Vote: 2/3 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. Section 556.4 of the Penal
Code is amended to read:
556.4. For purposes of this article, information that appears on
any a sign, picture, transparency,
advertisement, or mechanical device such as, but not limited to, the
following, may be used as evidence to establish the fact, and may
create an inference, that a person or entity is responsible for the
posting of the sign, picture, transparency, advertisement, or
mechanical device:
(a) The name, telephone number, address, or other identifying
information regarding the real estate broker, real estate brokerage
firm, real estate agent, or other person associated with the firm.
(b) The name, telephone number, address, or other identifying
information of the owner or lessee of property used for a commercial
activity or event.
(c) The name, telephone number, address, or other identifying
information of the sponsor or promoter of a sporting event, concert,
theatrical performance, or similar activity or event.
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares
all of the following:
(a) On February 10, 2014, the three-judge court overseeing the
California prison overcrowding class action case (Coleman v. Brown
(2013) 952 F.Supp.2d 901) issued an order that, among other things,
requires the state to implement an Elderly Parole Program so that
prisoners who are 60 years of age or older and who have been
incarcerated at least 25 years on their current sentence will be
referred to the Board of Parole Hearings (BPH) to determine
suitability for parole. The BPH implemented this Elderly Parole
Program on October 1, 2014.
(b) Under the existing Elderly Parole Program hearings, prisoners
who are 60 years of age or older and who have been incarcerated 25
years or more on their current sentence serving either a determinate
or indeterminate sentence, and who have not yet had an initial parole
suitability hearing are referred by the California Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to the BPH and scheduled for an
Elderly Parole Program Suitability hearing.
(c) Under the existing Elderly Parole Program hearings, prisoners
who are 60 years of age or older and who have been incarcerated 25
years or more on their current term and who have already been denied
parole at the initial suitability hearing are considered for a new
hearing under the Elderly Parole Program.
(d) The BPH currently reviews all three-year denials annually to
determine if a more prompt parole consideration hearing should be
considered. Under the existing Elderly Parole Program, the BPH
includes within that annual review whether any prisoner meets the
elder parole eligibility criteria, and if so whether to schedule a
hearing.
(e) Under the existing Elderly Parole Program, prisoners who have
lengthier denial periods can file petitions with the BPH asking that
their hearing be advanced because they meet the eligibility criteria
for elder parole.
(f) The BPH may deny parole if an elderly prisoner's release would
pose an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety. Parole
suitability hearing decisions for elderly parole inmates are reviewed
in the same manner as all other parolees under eligibility
consideration, pursuant to criteria specified by Section 2281 of
Title 15 of the California Code of Regulations. However, for all
Elderly Parole Program hearings, the BPH risk assessments consider
whether age, time served, and diminished physical condition, if any,
reduce elderly prisoners' risk for future violence.
(g) The number of elderly prisoners in California state prisons
will continue to increase exponentially. In 2013, the CDCR reported a
population of prisoners 50 years of age and older as 27,580 and the
population of prisoners 55 years of age and older as 14,856.
(h) Costs associated with geriatric medical needs begin to
accumulate at 50 years of age, given that there is an overwhelming
consensus that the age of 50 constitutes a point when prisoners are
considered elderly. In 2010, the LAO estimated from other state
projections that incarcerating elderly offenders costs two to three
times more than for the general prison population. In 2010, the
average cost of incarcerating an inmate was approximately $51,000.
(i) Older persons have significantly low arrest rates. In 2001,
the federal arrest rate for persons 40 to 44, inclusive, years of age
was 0.73 percent. The rate decreases by about one-half every five
years, dropping to 0.46 percent for persons 45 to 49, inclusive,
years of age and 0.26 percent for persons 50 to 54, inclusive, years
of age. For persons 50 to 59, inclusive, years of age, the arrest
rate plummets to 0.14 percent.
(j) There is a lower risk of recidivism among elderly prisoners,
according to CDCR statistics. In 2013, CDCR reported that only 33.8
percent of persons who were 60 years of age and older, returned to
prison after one year from being released from prison. Recidivism
rates for persons 50 to 54, inclusive, years of age and 55 to 59,
inclusive, years of age after one year from being released from
prison were 39.9 and 38.3 percent, respectively.
SEC. 2. Section 3055 is added to the Penal
Code, to read:
3055. (a) The Elderly Parole Program is hereby established, to be
administered by the Board of Parole Hearings.
(b) A prisoner shall be considered for parole under the Elderly
Parole Program if he or she meets all of the following conditions:
(1) The prisoner is 50 years of age or older.
(2) The prisoner has served 15 years of his or her sentence.
(3) The prisoner has a reentry plan identifying residential,
financial, and social integration plans.
(c) When considering the release of a prisoner specified by
subdivision (b) pursuant to Section 3041, the board shall give
special consideration to whether age, time served, and diminished
physical condition, if any, have reduced the elderly prisoner's risk
for future violence.
(d) When scheduling a parole suitability hearing date pursuant to
subdivision (b) of Section 3041.5 or when considering a request for
an advance hearing pursuant to subdivision (d) of Section 3041.5, the
board shall consider whether the prisoner meets or will meet the
criteria specified in subdivision (b).
