BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 926 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 22, 2015 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Jimmy Gomez, Chair AB 926 (Jones-Sawyer) - As Amended April 6, 2015 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Public Safety |Vote:|5 - 2 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No SUMMARY: This bill implements an earned-compliance-credit program which provides eligible parolees with the opportunity to reduce the length of parole and direct the savings to job training and housing support for parolees. Specifically, this bill: AB 926 Page 2 1)Requires the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to establish rules and regulations for implementing an earned compliance credit program, as specified, that provides eligible parolees with the opportunity to reduce their period of parole supervision upon compliance with their parole conditions. 2)Requires CDCR to annually provide specific information to the Director of the Department of Finance (DOF) and the Legislative Analyst's Office to allow DOF to calculate the annual savings accrued to the state from implementation of the program. 3)Establishes and continuously appropriates the Save Communities Grant Program Fund (Fund). The State Controller (SCO) is required to transfer annually from the GF to the Fund an amount equal to the state savings 4)Requires CDCR to establish the Safe Communities Grant Program (Program) in consultation with several state agencies and after at least two public hearings. CDCR is to allocate, by January 1, 2018, monies deposited in the Fund to counties to provide employment and housing support for parolees. FISCAL EFFECT: 1)CDCR one-time costs in excess of $1 million (GF) to modify the existing parolee tracking system to provide the appropriate earned credits on a monthly basis. 2)CDCR annual costs in excess of $500,000 (GF) for staff to AB 926 Page 3 administer the grant program. AB 926 states CDCR shall allocated moneys deposited in the Program to counties. 3)CDCR one-time costs of $200,000 (GF), $100,000 to establish the required programs and $100,000 to adopt regulations to provide for the required credit. 4)Redirection of GF savings in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Fund (special fund), and cost to CDCR by the same amount in the form of grants to counties for employment and housing support, and specific administrative costs to DOF and SCO. (AB 926 species that costs to DOF and SCO shall be deducted from the Fund.) COMMENTS: 1)Purpose. According to the author, "There is a growing momentum among states seeking to safely reduce corrections costs and reduce recidivism. California has the opportunity to take this policy one step further by reinvesting resources to ensure greater reductions in recidivism and improve outcomes for individuals, families and communities. This bill creates an earned compliance credit program that provides eligible parolees with the opportunity to reduce their period of parole supervision upon compliance with their parole conditions. Savings from the reduced parole supervision shall be reinvested into job training and housing support for state parolees to reduce recidivism." 2)Background. Under current law, most parolees can be discharged from parole early if they successfully complete a certain period of parole and there is not good cause to retain them. When a parolee serves a period of time on continuous AB 926 Page 4 parole (i.e. without violations, revocations, or absconding), the parole board must conduct a discharge review. Depending on the underlying commitment offense and the statutorily-imposed length of parole, different time periods apply in determining the presumptive discharge date. For example, if a parolee has a three-year parole term, he or she is eligible for discharge after one year, assuming the parolee has had successful continuing parole. Likewise, a parolee with a five-year parole term can be discharged after three years if the parolee has been on parole continuously. Unless the board acts to retain the parolee after the presumptive discharge date, the parolee is discharged from parole. The earned compliance credits proposed by this bill will presumably advance the possible discharge dates. 3)Argument in Support: The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, the sponsor of this bill, writes, "There is a growing momentum among states to safely reduce correction costs and reduce recidivism. Gone are the days of increasing penalties and building supermax prisons - states are now engaging in reforms that downsize the prison apparatus and incentivize and reward positive behavior and participation. According to a report by the Association of State Correctional Administrators, 6 out of 7 state respondents who implemented an earned compliance credit program stated that public opinion on the reduction of community supervision has not been a problem in managing the program. Further, 6 out of 7 states that have an earned compliance credit program for parolees or probationers have seen reductions in costs for supervision. Similar to these efforts, AB 926 will help save the state be reducing the costs associated with parole supervision and the costs associated with returns to prison." However, staff points out there will be no savings to the state since the bill requires all GF savings be deposited in the new AB 926 Page 5 Fund for allocation to counties for specific support services. 4)Argument in Opposition: The California District Attorneys Association states, "Requiring the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and Board of Parole Hearings to establish a credit program may sound better than proposing to cut supervision periods in half, but, in reality, that's exactly what AB 926 does. 5)Related Legislation: AB 512 (Stone), pending in this committee, increases the number of weeks of additional program credit reductions that may be awarded to a prisoner. Analysis Prepared by:Pedro R. Reyes / APPR. / (916) 319-2081