California Senate Democratic leaders have imposed a nine-month moratorium on all bills that they believe would worsen California's overcrowded prison population. Specifically, Senate Public Safety Committee Chair Senator Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) has placed a hold on any legislation that imposes new crimes or lengthens criminal sentences while the state attempts to address the issue of prison overcrowding.

As a result of the moratorium, dozens of Senate and Assembly bills will not be heard in committee until January 2008 and a number of them have already been defeated purely on this basis. The moratorium is drawing significant criticism from Republicans who are pushing to build more prisons. They are accusing Senator Romero of sending the wrong message to criminals.

Although it is clear that any bills that would impose new crimes or lengthen sentences will be defeated this year, Senator Romero has indicated that those bills that seek to reduce the prison population will not be affected. It is for this reason that CVUC and victims across California must continue to voice their concerns to the Legislature over California’s public safety policies and the potential for early release of inmates that pose a real and serious threat to public safety in our neighborhoods.

2007 Legislative Preview

AB 79 (Galgiani): Parole – SPONSOR/SUPPORT

Despite a valiant effort by CVUC to move its sponsored bill, AB 79 (Galgiani), the bill faced significant opposition that could not be overcome in 2007. With the overarching concern over prison overcrowding, sentencing reform, prison reform, parole reform and more, it was clear that this was not the year for extending parole denials for inmates that are unlikely to receive a parole date in the near future.

Inmates who are serving life sentences with the possibility of parole are eligible for parole pursuant to Penal Code § 3046. When the Board of Parole Hearings (BPH) denies parole, the inmate’s next hearing is scheduled to reflect their decision, i.e., one year later if they believe the inmate is nearly ready for release (or might be) or longer denials (two, three or five years) if they do not believe the inmate has accepted responsibility for the crime, undergone education/rehabilitation or exhibited good behavior while in prison. (Although to avoid appeals by the inmates, many times the BPH provides short denials – e.g. one or two years.) Under this framework, it is possible for an inmate to receive a new parole hearing every year even though the U.S. Supreme Court has noted that about 90% of all prisoners are found unsuitable for parole at the initial hearing, while 85% are found unsuitable at the second and subsequent hearings. This is a staggering finding particularly given the fact there is a backlog of cases at the BPH.

The issues of backlog and the trauma victims must endure by facing their offender and testifying against his/her release year after year could have been resolved this year if a more practical framework, as was proposed under AB 79, were in place. The bill would have limited the frequency of parole hearings for those individuals that are found unsuitable resulting in parole denial.

While CVUC has decided to hold AB 79 (Galgiani), we will be working during the interim to identify any potential opportunities to strengthen the bill for next year. We appreciate all of our supporters who have submitted support letters on behalf of AB 79 (Galgiani).

AB 426 (Galgiani): Felonies: Serious & Violent– SUPPORT/SPONSOR

For years, CVUC has urged the Legislature to define “non-violent” and “non-serious” as it relates to various classes of offenders. In the past, this has included attempts to alter three-strikes and this year conversations dealing with the prison crisis has included talk about releasing non-violent, non-serious offenders. CVUC has argued that these terms are misleading as many inmates that are considered “non-violent” or “non-serious” have has previous convictions for serious or violent crimes or there case was plea-bargained to a lesser, nonviolent crime that is truly violent or serious. Additionally, there are number of crimes such as "exploding destructive device to terrorize," "taking a hostage to prevent arrest or as a shield," "child abuse likely to produce great bodily injury or death," "stalking," "rape by false pretense/trick," "pimping/pandering a minor," "providing minor for lewd purposes" are just a few examples of "non-violent" offenses.

In an effort to be proactive on this issue, Assemblymember Galgiani and CVUC have introduced AB 426 that would add some of the crimes that are currently considered non-violent and non-serious to the list of violent and serious felonies. This measure will help to ensure that crimes that are truly violent and serious are treated as such under the law.

With the Senate Democratic moratorium placed on bills that would add new crimes of lengthen sentences, CVUC will have an uphill battle on this bill as we did on AB 79 (Galgiani).

Stay tuned for updates on this very important piece of legislation…

AB 261 (Lieber): Sex Offenders: Statute of Limitations – SUPPORT

CVUC is pleased to support AB 261 (Lieber), sponsored by the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CalCASA) and San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, which was heard in the Assembly Public Safety Committee on March 27th. The bill would add sex offenses, including rape, sodomy, lewd or lascivious acts, oral copulation, continuous sexual abuse of a child, forcible acts of sexual penetration, and flight of a sex offender to avoid prosecution, to the list of crimes for which there is no statute of limitation for prosecution.

The bill passed out of the Committee and is now pending hearing in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

AB 1133 (Dymally): Three Strikes – OPPOSE

Existing law under “Three Strikes" provides for various sentencing enhancements for persons convicted of one or more felonies and who have one or more prior felony convictions for felonies defined as either "serious" or "violent." Those who receive a third strike conviction are sentenced to 25 years to life. Additionally, those convicted of a second strike will have their sentence doubled.

AB 1133 (Dymally) would provide that if the current felony is not a serious or violent felony the person would be sentenced to the enhancement under the 3 strikes provisions that is applicable to a person with one prior conviction. Under this legislation, three strikes would not apply if the current conviction is for a drug offense, a felony sex offense, involved the use of firearms or deadly weapons, or involved great bodily injury, or if any of the prior offenses was a sexually violent offense, any of certain sex offenses involving a child, homicide, or a serious or violent felony punishable by life imprisonment or death. Additionally, it would provide a procedure for individuals to petition for re-sentencing to a lesser sentence.

This bill essentially guts the “Three Strikes” law that and would require the re-sentencing and release of thousands of felons that juries, judges and prosecutors have decided should serve their sentences. Additionally, the bill would significantly limit the crimes that would be considered for a third strike, all of which are heinous, atrocious crimes. Such crimes include: human trafficking for purposes of prostitution, stalking, murder for hire, elder abuse, hate crime felonies, and more.

AB 1133 will be heard in the Assembly Public Safety Committee on Tuesday, April 10th. Please send your letters of opposition to: