BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 439| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- CONSENT Bill No: AB 439 Author: Bloom (D) Amended: 4/8/15 in Assembly Vote: 21 SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: 7-0, 6/9/15 AYES: Jackson, Moorlach, Anderson, Hertzberg, Leno, Monning, Wieckowski SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8 ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 77-0, 4/30/15 (Consent) - See last page for vote SUBJECT: Protective orders: batterer's program SOURCE: Executive Committee of the Family Law Section of the State Bar DIGEST: This bill requires a restrained party, who has been ordered to participate in a batterer's program, to register for the program by the deadline ordered by the court, or within 30 days if no deadline is indicated. This bill requires that at the time of enrollment, the restrained party sign all necessary program consent forms for the program to release specified documents, including attendance records, to the court and the protected party, and to provide the court and the protected party with specified information regarding the program. This bill additionally requires the Judicial Council, by July 1, 2016, revise or promulgate forms as necessary to effectuate the above provisions. ANALYSIS: AB 439 Page 2 Existing law: 1)Authorizes a court, under the Domestic Violence Prevention Act, to issue and enforce a domestic violence restraining order, including an emergency protective order, a temporary restraining order, and a permanent restraining order. (Fam. Code Sec. 6300 et seq.) 2)Provides that after notice and a hearing, a court may require a restrained party to participate in a batterer's program approved by the probation department, as provided. (Fam. Code Sec. 6343.) This bill: 1)Provides, commencing July 1, 2016, that if the court orders a restrained party to participate in a batterer's program pursuant, the restrained party shall do all of the following: Register for the program by the deadline ordered by the court, but if no deadline is ordered by the court, the restrained party shall register no later than 30 days from the date the order was issued; At the time of enrollment, sign all necessary program consent forms for the program to release proof of enrollment, attendance records, and completion or termination reports to the court and the protected party, or his or her attorney; and Provide the court and the protected party with the name, address, and telephone number of the program. 1)Requires, by July 1, 2016, the Judicial Council to revise or promulgate forms as necessary to effectuate the provisions above. Background With the establishment of pro-arrest policies in the 1980s, increasing numbers of batterers were seen in criminal courts across the country. Initially, many batterers were sentenced to jail. Many victims began complaining that while they wanted the AB 439 Page 3 domestic violence to stop, they did not want their partners incarcerated. Thus, today most District Attorneys prosecute domestic violence cases as misdemeanors, rather than as felonies. In order to hold batterers accountable without sentencing them to jail time, many batterers are ordered to participate in batterer's intervention programs. These 52-week programs are at the center of California's criminal justice response to domestic violence. Although early evaluations suggested that batterer's intervention programs reduced domestic violence, subsequent studies showed little to no reduction. This is, in part, because so many participants fail to complete their programs. Estimates of non-completion offered by probation officers is somewhere between 30% and 50%, and the only county that tracks this data reported a non-completion rate of 89%. ("Reducing Domestic Violence and Other Criminal Recidivism: Effectiveness of multilevel batterers intervention program." Coulter, Martha; VandeWeerd, Carla, Source: Violence and Victims, Volume 24, Number 2, 2009, p. 6.) However, when batterers complete the assigned programs, the risk of arrest, for both domestic violence and other crimes, is lowered. (Id. at 139-152.) Accordingly, the law now requires, that when a defendant is convicted of criminal domestic violence, the court and the probation department are notified when the defendant enrolls in a court-ordered batterer's intervention program and also notified if the defendant fails to complete the program. However, when courts issue civil domestic violence prevention orders, there is no corresponding requirement that the court be informed of the batterer's enrollment in, or completion of, the program. To help ensure that batterers complete court-ordered programs in a timely manner, this bill requires a restrained party register for a court-ordered program by the deadline provided by the court, or within 30 days if no deadline is indicated. This bill also aids in data collection by requiring that the restrained party sign all necessary program consent forms for the program to release information, including attendance records, to the court and the protected party. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:YesLocal: No AB 439 Page 4 SUPPORT: (Verified6/22/15) Executive Committee of the Family Law Section of the State Bar (source) California Partnership to End Domestic Violence California Police Chiefs Association OPPOSITION: (Verified6/22/15) None received ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: The Executive Committee of the Family Law Section of the State Bar, sponsor of this bill, writes: Under existing law, the victim of domestic violence does not have a way of monitoring the restrained party's enrollment and progress in a court ordered batterer's program. The victim and his or her attorney does not have any way of ensuring that the restrained party has timely enrolled and completed the program successfully. Due to confidentiality, the program will not release confirmation of the restrained party's enrollment, attendance and either successful completion or termination of the program. And yet, this information is shared in a criminal domestic violence case. This information is necessary and important as it enables the court and the victim to ascertain if the restrained party is taking steps to address the issues and actions that led to the issuance of a restraining order, and whether the restrained party is making progress in the program. Such information is valuable to the court and the victim as it can provide the court with information to protect the victim and allow the court to continue monitoring the restrained party's progress and any threat to the victim, as well as address any continued restrictions or modifications to a parenting plan, to ensure the protection of the minor children. AB 439 Page 5 ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 77-0, 4/30/15 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Chang, Chau, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins NO VOTE RECORDED: Campos, Chávez, Gomez Prepared by:Nichole Rapier / JUD. / (916) 651-4113 6/23/15 11:35:10 **** END ****