BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 1016 Page 1 Date of Hearing: June 29, 2016 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Lorena Gonzalez, Chair SB 1016 (Monning) - As Introduced February 11, 2016 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Public Safety |Vote:|7 - 0 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No SUMMARY: This bill extends the sunset date from January 1, 2017, to January 1, 2022, for provisions of law which provide that the court shall, in its discretion, impose the term or enhancement that best serves the interest of justice. FISCAL EFFECT: SB 1016 Page 2 Unknown annual GF increase or decrease to the extent this measure results in longer or shorter prison terms. While it is unlikely this bill will significantly alter current sentencing patterns, even a minor increase in the number of offenders deviating from the middle term drives significant costs or savings, given the large base of offenders. However, the fiscal impact of extending the sentencing provisions is unclear because the costs are determined by the behavior and decisions of individual judges in sentencing hearings COMMENTS: Background/Purpose. In 2007, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in the Cunningham v. California decision that California's determinate sentencing statutes violated the Sixth Amendment and were therefore unconstitutional. The determinate sentencing scheme, in place since the 1970's, allowed the courts with a three-tiered sentencing option consisting of a higher, more-severe term, a middle term, and a lower, less-severe term. The legislative fix put in place by SB 40 (Romero), Chapter 7, Statutes of 2007, included a sunset date which has been extended and approved by the Legislature through four different bills, almost all of which received no opposition votes by members of the Legislature. The current determinate sentencing laws will sunset on January 1, 2017, and if the sunset date is not extended, California's entire sentencing scheme will become unconstitutional once again. SB 1016 will extend the sunset to January 1, 2022, and continue to allow the choice of which of the three determinate sentencing options apply to an offender to rest within the sound discretion of the court. SB 1016 Page 3 Analysis Prepared by:Pedro r. Reyes / APPR. / (916) 319-2081