Sexually violent predators.

Existing law provides for the civil commitment of a person who is determined to be a sexually violent predator. Existing law establishes a procedure by which a person committed as a sexually violent predator may petition for conditional release. Existing law requires the counsel for the committed individual, the sheriff or the chief of police of the locality for placement, and the county counsel and the district attorney of the county of domicile, or the designees of each of those entities, to provide assistance and consultation in the State Department of State Hospitals' process of locating and securing housing within the county and requires those individuals to provide appropriate contact information for their respective office to the department. Existing law also requires the department to convene a committee of those individuals. Existing law generally requires the committed individual to be placed in their county of domicile before their incarceration, but authorizes consideration of, and placement in, an alternative placement county in extraordinary circumstances. When the department makes a recommendation for conditional release or community outpatient treatment, existing law requires the department to notify specified persons of its recommendation and include specified information. This bill would additionally require the sheriff or the chief of police of an alternative placement locality and the county counsel and the district attorney of an alternative placement county, as specified, to provide assistance and consultation in the department's process of locating and securing housing for a sexually violent predator and to provide appropriate contact information for their office to the department. The bill would include these individuals in the committee meeting the department is required to convene and would also authorize those committee meetings to be held by teleconference. The bill would require the above-described notice to be sent electronically and by certified mail. By imposing a higher level of service on local government, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.