BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Senator Gloria Romero, Chair S
2007-2008 Regular Session B
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SB 1261 (Cox) 1
As Introduced February 15, 2008
Hearing date: April 1, 2008
Penal, Public Contract and Welfare and Institutions Codes
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DIVISION OF JUVENILE FACILITIES:
WARD LABOR
HISTORY
Source: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
Prior Legislation: SB 737 (Romero) - Chapter 10, Statutes of
2005
SB 987 (Romero) - 2007, currently held in Assembly
Appropriations
Support: Unknown
Opposition:None known
KEY ISSUE
SHOULD THE STATUTORY PROVISIONS PERTAINING TO THE OPERATION OF WORK
PROGRAMS FOR WARDS COMMITTED TO THE DIVISION OF JUVENILE FACILITIES
AND INMATES IN ADULT FACILITIES BE CONSOLIDATED, TO REFLECT THE
REORGANIZATION OF THE YOUTH AND ADULT CORRECTIONAL AGENCY IN 2005?
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PURPOSE
The purpose of this bill is to consolidate statutory provisions
pertaining to the operation of work programs for wards committed
to the Division of Juvenile Facilities and inmates in adult
facilities, as specified, to reflect the reorganization of the
Youth and Adult Correctional Agency in 2005.
Existing law establishes the Prison Industry Authority ("PIA")
for specified purposes, including the operation of work programs
for prisoners, as specified. (Penal Code 2801.)
Current law establishes a permanent revolving fund to be known
as the Prison Industries Revolving Fund, as specified. (Penal
Code 2806.)
Current law requires that, with the approval of the Department
of Finance, there shall be transferred to, or deposited in, the
Prison Industries Revolving Fund money appropriated from
any source including sources other than state appropriations, as
specified. (Penal Code 2816.)
Current law authorizes the PIA general manager to order any
authorized public works project involving construction,
renovation, or repair of prison facilities to be performed by
inmate labor, as specified. (Id.)
This bill shifts this authority from the general manager of PIA
to its chairperson (by statute, the Secretary of the Department
of Corrections and Rehabilitation), in consultation with the PIA
board.
This bill additionally includes juvenile justice facilities and
juvenile wards within the scope and language of this provision.
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Current law creates the "Inmate Construction Revolving Account"
in the Prison Industries Revolving Fund, as specified.
This bill changes the name of this fund to the "Inmate and Ward
Construction Revolving Account."
Current law authorizes the Chief Deputy Secretary for Juvenile
Justice to "require wards of the Youth Authority to perform work
necessary and proper to construct, renovate, or maintain
facilities of the Youth Authority," as specified. (Welfare and
Institutions Code "WIC" 1760.6.)
This bill would repeal this section.
Current law provides that, as specified, "all day labor utilized
by the Department of Corrections shall be performed by
individuals who are represented by a duly authorized employee
representative unless individuals with that qualification are
not reasonably available." (Public Contract Code 10122.5.)
This bill would technically correct this provision to refer to
the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Current law provides that the Division of Juvenile Facilities
"may provide for the payment of wages to wards of the Youth
Authority for work performed pursuant to this section, the sums
earned to be paid in reparation, or to the parents or dependents
of the ward, or to the ward, in any manner and in any
proportions as the department directs." (WIC 1760.6.)
This bill would repeal and reenact this language into a new code
section, and would revise it to cross-reference the Penal Code
section authorizing the Prison Industries Revolving Fund,
described above.
RECEIVERSHIP/OVERCROWDING CRISIS AGGRAVATION IMPLICATIONS
California continues to face an extraordinary and severe prison
and jail overcrowding crisis. California's prison capacity
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remains nearly exhausted as prisons today continue to be
operated with a significant level of overcrowding.<1> A year
ago, the Legislative Analyst's office summarized the trajectory
of California's inmate population over the last two decades:
During the past 20 years, jail and prison
populations have increased significantly. County
jail populations have increased by about 66
percent over that period, an amount that has been
limited by court-ordered population caps. The
prison population has grown even more dramatically
during that period, tripling since the
mid-1980s.<2>
The level of overcrowding, and the impact of the population
crisis on the day-to-day prison operations, is staggering:
As of December 31, 2006, the California Department
of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) was
estimated to have 173,100 inmates in the state
prison system, based on CDCR's fall 2006
population projections. However, . . . the
department only operates or contracts for a total
of 156,500 permanent bed capacity (not including
out-of-state beds, . . . ), resulting in a
shortfall of about 16,600 prison beds relative to
the inmate population. The most significant bed
shortfalls are for Level I, II, and IV inmates, as
well as at reception centers. As a result of the
bed deficits, CDCR houses about 10 percent of the
inmate population in temporary beds, such as in
dayrooms and gyms. In addition, many inmates are
housed in facilities designed for different
security levels. For example, there are currently
about 6,000 high security (Level IV) inmates
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<1> Analysis of the 2007-08 Budget Bill: Judicial and Criminal
Justice, Legislative Analyst's Office (February 21, 2007); see
also, court orders, infra.
<2> California's Criminal Justice System: A Primer.
Legislative Analyst's Office (January 2007).
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housed in beds designed for Level III inmates.
. . . (S)ignificant overcrowding has both
operational and fiscal consequences. Overcrowding
and the use of temporary beds create security
concerns, particularly for medium- and
high-security inmates. Gyms and dayrooms are not
designed to provide security coverage as well as
in permanent housing units, and overcrowding can
contribute to inmate unrest, disturbances, and
assaults. This can result in additional state
costs for medical treatment, workers'
compensation, and staff overtime. In addition,
overcrowding can limit the ability of prisons to
provide rehabilitative, health care, and other
types of programs because prisons were not
designed with sufficient space to provide these
services to the increased population. The
difficulty in providing inmate programs and
services is exacerbated by the use of program
space to house inmates. Also, to the extent that
inmate unrest is caused by overcrowding,
rehabilitation programs and other services can be
disrupted by the resulting lockdowns.<3>
As a result of numerous lawsuits, the state has entered into
several consent decrees agreeing to improve conditions in the
state's prisons. As these cases have continued over the past
several years, prison conditions nonetheless have failed to
improve and, over the last year, the scrutiny of the federal
courts over California's prisons has intensified.
The federal court has appointed a receiver to take over the
direct management and operation of the prison medical health
care delivery system from the state. The crisis has continued
to escalate and, in July of last year, the federal court
established a three-judge panel to consider placing a cap on the
number of prisoners allowable in California prisons. It is
anticipated that the court will reach its decision this year.
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<3> Analysis 2007-08 Budget Bill, supra, fn. 1.
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In his order establishing the judicial panel, Judge Thelton
Henderson stated in part:
It is clear to the Court that the crowded
conditions of California's prisons, which are now
packed well beyond their intended capacity, are
having - and in the absence of any intervening
remedial action, will continue to have - a serious
impact on the Receiver's ability to complete the
job for which he was appointed: namely, to
eliminate the unconstitutional conditions
surrounding delivery of inmate medical health
care.
. . . (T)his case is also somewhat unique in that
even Defendants acknowledge the seriousness of the
overcrowding problem, which led the Governor to
declare a state of emergency in California's prisons
in October 2006. While there remains dispute over
whether crowded conditions are the primary cause of
the constitutional problems with the medical health
care system in California prisons, or whether any
relief other than a prisoner release order will
remedy the constitutional deprivations in this case,
there can be no dispute that overcrowding is at
least part of the problem. . . . The record is
equally clear that the Receiver will be unable to
eliminate the constitutional deficiencies at issue
in this case in a reasonable amount of time unless
something is done to address the crowded conditions
in California's prisons. This Court therefore
believes that a three-judge court should consider
whether a prisoner release order is warranted . . .
. (Hon. Thelton Henderson, Order dated July 23,
2007 in Plata v. Schwarzenegger (N.D. Cal) No.
C01-1351 TEH (citations omitted).)
Similarly, Judge Lawrence Karlton stated:
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There is no dispute that prisons in California
are seriously and dangerously overcrowded. ()
The record suggests there will be no appreciable
change in the prison population in the next two
years. (Hon. Lawrence K. Karlton, Senior Judge,
United States District Court, Order dated July
23, 2007 in Coleman v. Schwarzenegger (E.D.
Cal.) No. S90-0520 LKK JFM P (citations
omitted).)
This bill does not appear to aggravate the prison overcrowding
crisis outlined above.
COMMENTS
1. Stated Need for This Bill
The author states:
SB 1261 conforms the statutes related to the Juvenile
Offender Day Labor program to those of the adult
Inmate Day Labor program, allowing both programs to
operate under the same laws, utilize the same
accounting system and operate out of the same
revolving fund. SB 737 (Romero), Chapter 10, Statutes
of 2005, consolidated California Department of
Corrections and the California Youth Authority into
the California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation. However, the controlling statutes for
the Juvenile Offender Day Labor program were not
amended at that time to conform to the adult Inmate
Day Labor program, resulting in both programs
operating under separate statutes and accounting
systems.
2. Author's Amendments
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The author intends to offer the following largely technical
amendments in Committee, to revise the bill's amendments to
Penal Code section 2816 (Section 1 of the bill) as follows
(changes to the bill as currently in print):
2816. With the approval of the Department of Finance,
there shall be transferred to, or deposited in, the
Prison Industries Revolving Fund for purposes
authorized by this section, money appropriated from
any source including sources other than state
appropriations. Notwithstanding subdivision (b) (i)
of Section 2808, the
Secretary of the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation chairperson, in consultation with the
board, may order any authorized public works project
involving construction, renovation, or repair of
prison by inmate labor, or juvenile
justice facilities to be performed by inmate or ward
labor , when the total expenditure does not exceed the
project limit established by paragraph one of Section
10108 of the Public Contract Code. Projects
entailing expenditure of greater than the project
limit established by paragraph one of Section 10108 of
the Public Contract Code shall be reviewed and
approved by the chairperson, in consultation with the
board , the Secretary of the Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation .
Money so transferred or deposited shall be
available for expenditure by the department for the
purposes for which appropriated, contributed or made
available, without regard to fiscal years and
irrespective of the provisions of Sections 13340 and
16304 of the Government Code. Money transferred or
deposited pursuant to this section shall be used only
for purposes authorized in this section.
3. What This Bill Would Do
As explained above, this bill is intended to make conforming
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amendments consistent with the reorganization of the Youth and
Adult Correctional Agency in 2005 pursuant to SB 737 (Romero).
In that reorganization, with respect to juvenile justice the
California Youth Authority was merged into the new Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation as the Division of Juvenile
Facilities, the Division of Juvenile Programs, and the Division
of Juvenile Parole Operations under the Chief Deputy of Juvenile
Justice. Current statute continues to reflect, however, the
structure of the CYA with respect to the use of ward labor. In
particular, current law, which also continues to contain
obsolete references to the California Youth Authority ("CYA"):
authorizes the director of CYA to require wards to
perform work necessary and proper to construct, renovate,
or maintain facilities of the Youth Authority, and use
hired or staff labor forces, so long as wards of the Youth
Authority are utilized as a majority of the labor force and
so long as the estimated cost of the project, if
contracted, does not exceed the project limit, as
specified;
authorizes CYA to provide for the payment of wages to
wards of the Youth Authority for work performed, as
specified;
provides mechanisms for proceeding with a project when
the department has not completed the project within the
year of appropriation, as specified; and
specifies that "at least 90 percent of any non-ward day
labor utilized by the department in conjunction with ward
labor shall be performed by individuals who are represented
by a duly authorized employee representative unless
individuals with that qualification are not reasonably
available." (WIC 1760.6.)
This bill would repeal this section, and add references to wards
and juvenile justice facilities in the following sections of
existing law:
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amends Penal Code section 2816, which as amended by this
bill would authorize the Secretary of CDCR and the
chairperson of the Prison Industry Association (who by
statute also is the Secretary of CDCR) to order specified
public works projects involving both adult prison and
juvenile justice facilities to be performed by inmate or
ward labor, as specified;
amends the Inmate Construction Revolving Fund (Penal
Code 2817) to include a reference to wards;
recasts as a new section existing law to authorize CDCR
to pay wages to wards who perform work under these
sections, as specified; and
technically amends section 10122.5 of the Public
Contract Code to correct the reference to the Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation.
The bill makes additional technical conforming amendments.
4. Related Bill
This measure contains provisions also in SB 987 (Romero),
currently held and under submission in the Assembly
Appropriations Committee. SB 987 contains additional provisions
relating to reorganization clean-up, whereas this measure is
limited to the issue of ward labor.
SB 1261 (Cox)
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