Bill Text: CA SB391 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Inmates: parole hearings.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 6-2)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-01-31 - Returned to Secretary of Senate pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [SB391 Detail]
Download: California-2011-SB391-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: SB 391 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 18, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Senator Gaines
( Principal coauthors:
Assembly Members Bonilla, Huber, and
Nielsen )
( Coauthors: Senators La
Malfa and Wyland )
( Coauthors: Assembly Members
Beth Gaines and Logue )
FEBRUARY 15, 2011
An act to amend Section 4000 of the Vehicle Code,
relating to vehicles. An act to amend Section 3041 of,
and to add Section 3041.8 to, the Penal Code, relating to parole,
and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 391, as amended, Gaines. Vehicles: registration.
Inmates: parole hearings.
Existing law generally provides for the release of inmates from
prison on parole. Existing law requires, in the case of any inmate
sentenced pursuant to any provision of law other than specified
provisions of law providing for determinate sentences, that a panel
of 2 or more commissioners or deputy commissioners of the Board of
Parole Hearings meet with an inmate one year prior to the inmate's
minimum eligible parole release date to set a parole release date.
Existing law requires the panel, or the board if sitting en banc, to
set a release date at the meeting unless it determines that the
gravity of the current convicted offense or offenses, or that the
timing and gravity of current or past convicted offense or offenses,
is such that consideration of the public safety requires a more
lengthy period of incarceration, and that a parole date cannot be
fixed at the meeting.
This bill would instead require the panel or board to deny parole
for this class of inmate unless the inmate proves that the gravity of
the current convicted offense or offenses, or that the timing and
gravity of current or past convicted offense or offenses, is such
that consideration of the public safety does not require a more
lengthy period of incarceration, and that a parole date can be fixed
at the meeting. The bill would also make a related technical,
nonsubstantive change.
The bill would authorize the board to base its decision to deny
parole solely upon the circumstances of the current convicted offense
or offenses or the inmate's past criminal history, and would require
the board to give greater weight and consideration to those factors
than those of institutional behavior or psychiatric evaluations in
determining whether the inmate has proven that he or she does not
pose an unreasonable risk of danger to society if released from
prison. The bill would provide that the facts of the commitment
offense or offenses alone may support the ultimate conclusion that
the inmate has not proven that he or she does not pose an
unreasonable risk to public safety if released on parole.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.
Existing law prohibits a person from driving, moving, or leaving
standing upon a highway, or in an offstreet public parking facility,
any motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, pole or pipe dolly, or
logging dolly, unless it is registered and the appropriate fees have
been paid under the Vehicle Code or registered under the permanent
trailer identification program, with certain exceptions.
This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes in that
provision.
Vote: majority 2/3 . Appropriation:
no. Fiscal committee: no yes .
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares the
following:
(a) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this bill to
overturn the decision in In re Lawrence (2008) 44 Cal.4th 1181, which
has caused a spike in appellate litigation, wherein courts have
departed from their normal function of conducting deferential review
of a parole decision by the Board of Parole Hearings and have instead
delved into the subjective question of whether an inmate poses a
current risk to public safety. The vast majority of inmates evaluated
for parole pursuant to Section 3041 of the Penal Code stand
convicted of murder. Since the In re Lawrence ruling in 2008, the
number of parole grants from 2008 to 2010, inclusive, is more than
all the parole grants from 1980 to 2004, inclusive. In fact, during
the last 32 years, 42 percent of all parole grants have occurred
since 2008.
(b) The issue whether to grant parole is best left to the Board of
Parole Hearings as it has full access to an inmate's voluminous
file, and has an opportunity to see and evaluate the inmate as a
public safety risk by holding a hearing where the inmate and any
victims or next of kin are present.
(c) It is the intent of the Legislature to establish that the
protection of public safety should be the overarching criterion in
making parole decisions, and to provide that the burden rests with
each inmate to prove that he or she does not pose an unreasonable
risk to public safety.
(d) This act is intended to give meaning and weight to the
provisions of Marsy's Law by sparing crime victims and next of kin
the trauma of having dangerous life-imprisoned inmates released
improvidently by courts, and establishing that the public safety
concerns of crime victims and next of kin will be properly addressed
at a hearing that will have finality and not be disturbed by a court
absent a compelling justification.
SEC. 2. Section 3041 of the Penal Code
is amended to read:
3041. (a) In the case of any inmate sentenced pursuant to any
provision of law, other than Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section
1170) of Title 7 of Part 2, the Board of Parole Hearings shall meet
with each inmate during the third year of incarceration for the
purposes of reviewing the inmate's file, making recommendations, and
documenting activities and conduct pertinent to granting or
withholding postconviction credit. One year prior to the inmate's
minimum eligible parole release date a panel of two or more
commissioners or deputy commissioners shall again meet with the
inmate and shall normally set a parole release date
conduct the inmate's initial parole hearing as
provided in Section 3041.5. No more than one member of the panel
shall be a deputy commissioner. In the event of a tie vote, the
matter shall be referred for an en banc review of the record that was
before the panel that rendered the tie vote. Upon en banc review,
the board shall vote to either grant or deny parole and render a
statement of decision. The en banc review shall be conducted pursuant
to subdivision (e). The release date shall be set in a manner that
will provide uniform terms for offenses of similar gravity and
magnitude with respect to their threat to the public, and that will
comply with the sentencing rules that the Judicial Council may issue
and any sentencing information relevant to the setting of parole
release dates. The board shall establish criteria for the setting of
parole release dates and in doing so shall consider the number of
victims of the crime for which the inmate was sentenced and other
factors in mitigation or aggravation of the crime. At least one
commissioner of the panel shall have been present at the last
preceding meeting, unless it is not feasible to do so or where the
last preceding meeting was the initial meeting. Any person on the
hearing panel may request review of any decision regarding parole for
an en banc hearing by the board. In case of a review, a majority
vote in favor of parole by the board members participating in an en
banc review is required to grant parole to any inmate.
(b) The panel or the board, sitting en banc, shall set a
release date deny parole unless it
determines the inmate proves that the gravity of
the current convicted offense or offenses, or the timing and gravity
of current or past convicted offense or offenses, is such that
consideration of the public safety requires
does not require a more lengthy period of incarceration for
this individual the inmate , and that a
parole date, therefore, cannot can be
fixed at this meeting. After the effective date of this subdivision,
any decision of the parole panel finding an inmate suitable for
parole shall become final within 120 days of the date of the hearing.
During that period, the board may review the panel's decision. The
panel's decision shall become final pursuant to this subdivision
unless the board finds that the panel made an error of law, or that
the panel's decision was based on an error of fact, or that new
information should be presented to the board, any of which when
corrected or considered by the board has a substantial likelihood of
resulting in a substantially different decision upon a rehearing. In
making this determination, the board shall consult with the
commissioners who conducted the parole consideration hearing. No
decision of the parole panel shall be disapproved and referred for
rehearing except by a majority vote of the board, sitting en banc,
following a public meeting.
(c) For the purpose of reviewing the suitability for parole of
those inmates eligible for parole under prior law at a date earlier
than that calculated under Section 1170.2, the board shall appoint
panels of at least two persons to meet annually with each inmate
until the time the person is released pursuant to proceedings or
reaches the expiration of his or her term as calculated under Section
1170.2.
(d) It is the intent of the Legislature that, during times when
there is no backlog of inmates awaiting parole hearings, life parole
consideration hearings, or life rescission hearings, hearings will be
conducted by a panel of three or more members, the majority of whom
shall be commissioners. The board shall report monthly on the number
of cases where an inmate has not received a completed initial or
subsequent parole consideration hearing within 30 days of the hearing
date required by subdivision (a) of Section 3041.5 or paragraph (2)
of subdivision (b) of Section 3041.5, unless the inmate has waived
the right to those timeframes. That report shall be considered the
backlog of cases for purposes of this section, and shall include
information on the progress toward eliminating the backlog, and on
the number of inmates who have waived their right to the above
timeframes. The report shall be made public at a regularly scheduled
meeting of the board and a written report shall be made available to
the public and transmitted to the Legislature quarterly.
(e) For purposes of this section, an en banc review by the board
means a review conducted by a majority of commissioners holding
office on the date the matter is heard by the board. An en banc
review shall be conducted in compliance with the following:
(1) The commissioners conducting the review shall consider the
entire record of the hearing that resulted in the tie vote.
(2) The review shall be limited to the record of the hearing. The
record shall consist of the transcript or audiotape of the hearing,
written or electronically recorded statements actually considered by
the panel that produced the tie vote, and any other material actually
considered by the panel. New evidence or comments shall not be
considered in the en banc proceeding.
(3) The board shall separately state reasons for its decision to
grant or deny parole.
(4) A commissioner who was involved in the tie vote shall be
recused from consideration of the matter in the en banc review.
SEC. 3. Section 3041.8 is added to the
Penal Code , to read:
3041.8. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the panel or
board may base its decision to deny parole in cases involving inmates
specified in Section 3041 solely upon the circumstances of the
current convicted offense or offenses, the inmate's past criminal
history, including involvement in other criminal misconduct that is
reliably documented, and shall give greater weight and consideration
to these factors than those of institutional behavior or psychiatric
evaluations in determining whether the inmate has proven that he or
she does not pose an unreasonable risk of danger to society if
released from prison. The facts of the commitment offense or offenses
alone may support the ultimate conclusion that the inmate has not
proven that he or she does not pose an unreasonable risk to public
safety if released on parole.
SEC. 4. This act is an urgency statute necessary
for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety
within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go
into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to protect the public from offenders who are released on
parole due to less than adequate review of their probability of
reoffending once released into the community, it is necessary for
this act to take effect immediately.
SECTION 1. Section 4000 of the Vehicle Code is
amended to read:
4000. (a) (1) No person shall drive, move, or leave standing upon
a highway, or in an offstreet public parking facility, a motor
vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, pole or pipe dolly, or logging dolly,
unless it is registered and the appropriate fees have been paid under
this code or registered under the permanent trailer identification
program, except that an off-highway motor vehicle that displays an
identification plate or device issued by the department pursuant to
Section 38010 may be driven, moved, or left standing in an offstreet
public parking facility without being registered or paying
registration fees.
(2) For purposes of this subdivision, "offstreet public parking
facility" means either of the following:
(A) A publicly owned parking facility.
(B) A privately owned parking facility for which no fee for the
privilege to park is charged and that is held open for the common
public use of retail customers.
(3) This subdivision does not apply to a motor vehicle stored in a
privately owned offstreet parking facility by, or with the express
permission of, the owner of the privately owned offstreet parking
facility.
(b) No person shall drive, move, or leave standing upon a highway
a motor vehicle, as defined in Chapter 2 (commencing with Section
39010) of Part 1 of Division 26 of the Health and Safety Code, which
has been registered in violation of Part 5 (commencing with Section
43000) of that Division 26.
(c) Subdivisions (a) and (b) do not apply to off-highway motor
vehicles operated pursuant to Sections 38025 and 38026.5.
(d) This section does not apply, following payment of fees due for
registration, during the time that registration and transfer is
being withheld by the department pending the investigation of any use
tax due under the Revenue and Taxation Code.
(e) Subdivision (a) does not apply to a vehicle that is towed by a
tow truck on the order of a sheriff, marshal, or other official
acting pursuant to a court order or on the order of a peace officer
acting pursuant to this code.
(f) Subdivision (a) applies to a vehicle that is towed from a
highway or offstreet parking facility under the direction of a
highway service organization when that organization is providing
emergency roadside assistance to that vehicle. However, the operator
of a tow truck providing that assistance to that vehicle is not
responsible for the violation of subdivision (a) with respect to that
vehicle. The owner of an unregistered vehicle that is disabled and
located on private property, shall obtain a permit from the
department pursuant to Section 4003 prior to having the vehicle towed
on the highway.
(g) For purposes of this section, possession of a California
driver's license by the registered owner of a vehicle shall give rise
to a rebuttable presumption that the owner is a resident of
California.
