Existing law requires the court, in a case involving a conviction of a serious or violent felony resulting in a sentence of 15 years or more, to order that the defendant be provided reasonable access to discovery materials upon the prosecution of a postconviction writ of habeas corpus or a motion to vacate judgment and a showing that good faith efforts to obtain discovery materials from trial counsel were made and were unsuccessful. Existing law defines "discovery materials" as materials in the possession of the prosecution and law enforcement authorities that the defendant would have been entitled to at the time of trial. Existing law requires trial counsel to retain copies of files for criminal convictions of serious or violent felonies resulting in a sentence greater than 15 years for the duration of the client's imprisonment. Existing law authorizes trial counsel to retain those copies digitally, if every item is preserved. This bill would authorize reasonable access, except as specified, to discovery materials for felonies resulting in a sentence of incarceration in the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The bill would broaden the definition of "discovery materials" to include, among other things, materials from any prosecutor who tried or worked on the case that tend to negate guilt, or mitigate the sentence or offense. The bill would clarify the definition of "the prosecution" to include the prosecuting agency and counsel for the respondent to a habeas corpus petition. The bill would require the prosecutor, in order to shield jury selection notes from disclosure, to make a foundational proffer describing how information in their file would bear on their case strategy. The bill would require the court, upon a showing of good cause by the prosecutor, to conduct an in camera review and order necessary redactions. The bill would clarify that good cause to shield jury selection notes from disclosure is shown when the prosecution did not exercise any peremptory challenges during jury selection. The bill would additionally require trial counsel, for all criminal convictions on or after July 1, 2026, that result in a sentence of incarceration in the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to retain digital color copies of every item in the file. By increasing the duties of public defenders, this bill would create 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.
Existing law makes it a misdemeanor to have specified tools or other items, with the intent to feloniously break or enter into a building or other specified place. Existing law makes it a misdemeanor to make, alter, or repair specified instruments if the person knows or has reason to believe the instrument is intended to be used in the commission of a misdemeanor or felony. This bill would add key programming devices, key duplicating devices, and signal extenders, as defined, to the list of instruments that are an element of the above offenses. By expanding the scope of an existing crime, this 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law authorizes, until January 1, 2026, the Counties of Alameda, Butte, Nevada, and Santa Clara to establish a pilot program to operate a deferred entry of judgment pilot program for eligible defendants who are 18 years of age or older, but under 21 years of age, on the date the offense was committed, as specified. Existing law requires a probation department to submit data relating to the effectiveness of the pilot program to the Division of Recidivism Reduction and Re-Entry, within the Department of Justice. Existing law requires a participating county to submit an evaluation of its pilot program's impact and effectiveness to the Assembly and Senate Committees on Public Safety, no later than December 31, 2024. This bill would extend the pilot program, for the Counties of Butte, Nevada, and Santa Clara, to January 1, 2029, and would require an evaluation to be submitted to the Assembly and Senate Committees on Public Safety no later than December 31, 2027. Existing law requires the Board of State and Community Corrections to review a county's pilot program to ensure compliance with specific federal law. This bill would instead require the Office of Youth and Community Restoration to review a county's pilot program for compliance and would require the office to report findings from the review to the board.
Existing law prohibits a juvenile who is adjudged a ward of the juvenile court due to the commission of specified serious or violent offenses from subsequently owning, possessing, or having under their custody or control a firearm until they are 30 years of age. A violation of this prohibition is punishable as a misdemeanor or as a felony. Existing law also prohibits certain other persons, including a person who is convicted of a felony offense, from owning, possessing, or having under their custody or control a firearm or ammunition. Existing law requires a person subject to those orders to relinquish any firearms or ammunition they own, possess, or have under their custody or control and specifies the procedures to be used to relinquish those firearms or ammunition. Those procedures, among other things, require the court to provide specific instructions to the defendant and to assign the matter to a probation officer to investigate whether the defendant owns, possesses, or has under their custody or control any firearms, require a law enforcement agency to update the Automated Firearms System to reflect any firearms that were relinquished to the agency pursuant to these procedures, and require a defendant to timely file a completed Prohibited Persons Relinquishment Form. Existing law makes it an infraction for a defendant to fail to timely file that form. This bill would make those procedures to relinquish firearms or ammunition applicable to a juvenile who is prohibited from owning, possessing, or having under their custody or control a firearm until they are 30 years of age. By expanding the scope of a crime and expanding the duties of local probation departments and law enforcement agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law allows a search warrant to be issued upon probable cause, supported by affidavit, naming or describing the person to be searched or searched for, and particularly describing the property, thing, or things and the place to be searched. Existing law also specifies the grounds upon which a search warrant may be issued, including, among other grounds, that the property or things to be seized include a firearm that is owned by, or in the possession of, or in the custody or control of, a person prohibited from owning, possessing, or having the custody and control of a firearm pursuant to specified provisions of law, and the court has made a finding that the person has failed to relinquish the firearm as required by law. This bill would additionally allow a search warrant to be issued when the property or things to be seized include a firearm that is owned by, or in the possession of, or in the custody or control of, a juvenile who is subject to the prohibition on owning or possessing a firearm until they are 30 years of age when the court has made a finding that the person has failed to relinquish the firearm as required by law. This bill would declare that its provisions are severable. 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law provides that a county jail is kept by the sheriff of the county in which the jail is situated and is to be used for specified purposes, including for the confinement of persons sentenced to imprisonment in the county jail upon a criminal conviction. Existing law authorizes the board of supervisors to credit each prisoner confined in or committed to county jail up to $2 for each 8 hours of work performed in jail. This bill would instead authorize the board to credit each prisoner with a sum of money to be determined by the board.
Under existing law, the Legislature finds and declares that the purpose of sentencing is public safety achieved through punishment, rehabilitation, and restorative justice, and that programs should be available for incarcerated persons, including educational, rehabilitative, and restorative justice programs that are designed to promote behavioral change and to prepare all incarcerated persons for successful reentry into the community. Existing law directs the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to maintain a mission statement consistent with these principles. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations relating to corrections and rehabilitation, including, among others, that the Legislature recognizes that life in prison can never be the same as life in a free society, and that active steps should be taken to make conditions in prison as close to normal life as possible, aside from loss of liberty, to ensure that this normalization does not lead to inhumane prison conditions. The bill would direct the department to maintain a mission statement consistent with the principles of normalization and dynamic security, and would require the department to facilitate access for community-based programs. Existing law provides that the primary objective of adult incarceration is to facilitate the successful reintegration of the individuals in the department's care back to their communities equipped with the tools to be drug-free, healthy, and employable members of society by providing education, treatment, and rehabilitative and restorative justice programs in a safe and humane environment. This bill would include that the primary objective of adult incarceration is to promote personal growth for all residents in the department's care. The bill would also provide that the department should develop training for all correctional staff on the principles of normalization and dynamic security in order to meaningfully effectuate these principles.
Existing law defines a battery as any willful and unlawful use of force or violence upon the person of another. Existing law provides that when a battery is committed against the person of an operator, driver, or passenger on a bus, taxicab, streetcar, cable car, trackless trolley, or other motor vehicle, as specified, and the person who commits the offense knows or reasonably should know that the victim is engaged in the performance of their duties, the penalty is imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, a fine not exceeding $10,000, or both the fine and imprisonment. Existing law also provides that if the victim is injured, the offense would be punished by a fine not exceeding $10,000, by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year or in the state prison for 16 months, 2, or 3 years, or by both that fine and imprisonment. This bill would expand this crime to apply to an employee, public transportation provider, or contractor of a public transportation provider. By expanding the scope of an existing crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law authorizes any employer or collective bargaining representative whose employee has suffered harassment, unlawful violence, or a credible threat of violence from any individual, which can reasonably be construed to be carried out or to have been carried out at the workplace, to seek a temporary restraining order and an injunction on behalf of the employee and other employees of the employer. This bill would clarify that "unlawful violence" includes battery committed against the person of an operator, driver, or passenger on a bus, taxicab, streetcar, cable car, trackless trolley, or other motor vehicle, as specified, or against an employee, public transportation provider, or contractor of a public transportation provider. The bill would also clarify that the definition of "employer" for the above-described provision includes a joint powers authority or a public transit operator. 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law authorizes a judge in the superior court in which a misdemeanor is being prosecuted to offer misdemeanor diversion to a defendant. Existing law, upon successful completion of the terms, conditions, or programs ordered by the court, makes the arrest upon which the diversion was imposed deemed to have never occurred, except as specified relating to application to be a peace officer. This bill, the Safer Communities Through Opportunities Act, would authorize a court to exercise its discretion to grant pretrial diversion on a felony offense, subject to certain exceptions. The bill would authorize the court to consider information from, among others, the prosecutor and the defense in determining whether or not to grant diversion and would prohibit a court from granting diversion unless it finds that the diversion plan mitigates any unreasonable risk of danger to public safety and that the defendant is likely to benefit from the services provided in the diversion plan. The bill would authorize a court to consider reinstating criminal proceedings in certain circumstances, such as the commission of a misdemeanor committed while the defendant is receiving pretrial diversion services that shows a propensity for violence, among others. The bill would require the court to dismiss the criminal allegations if it finds that the defendant has complied with the terms and conditions during the diversion period. The bill would require the court, if the court reduces the felony to a misdemeanor, to follow existing misdemeanor diversion proceedings.
(1) Existing law requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to establish and implement a community treatment program, under which a woman sentenced to state prison who has one or more children under 6 years of age is eligible for release with the woman's children to a public or private facility in the community suitable to their needs. Existing law authorizes the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to enter into contracts with public or private agencies to provide housing, sustenance, supervision, and services, subject to the approval of the Director of General Services. This bill would remove the requirement that the contracts be approved by the Director of General Services. The bill would authorize the department to enter into long-term contracts, not to exceed 10 years, for the transfer of prisoners to, or placement of prisoners in, facilities under contract pursuant to these provisions. The bill would require that the secretary advertise potential contracts under these provisions and would require that priority be given to certain community treatment programs, as specified. (2) Under existing law, the primary responsibilities of the State Public Defender are to represent those persons who are entitled to representation at public expense in specified proceedings, to provide assistance and training to specified attorneys, and to engage in related efforts for the purpose of improving the quality of indigent defense. This bill would exempt contracts entered into or amended by the State Public Defender to implement those duties from specified contract register requirements, specified small business procurement, disabled veteran business, and public contracting provisions, and from the review or approval of any division of the Department of General Services. (3) Existing law creates within the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation the Prison Industry Authority and Prison Industry Board. Existing law continues in existence within the department the Prison Industry Authority and the Prison Industry Authority Board, among other entities. This bill would revise these provisions to rename the Prison Industry Authority as the California Correctional Training and Rehabilitation Authority, and to rename the Prison Industry Board as the California Correctional Training and Rehabilitation Board. The bill would make these provisions operative only if SB 857 of the 2025–26 Regular Session is enacted and takes effect on or before January 1, 2026. (4) Existing law, the California Public Records Act, generally requires public records to be open for inspection by the public. Existing law provides numerous exceptions to this requirement. Under existing law, the personnel records of peace officers and custodial officers are confidential and not subject to public inspection. Existing law provides certain exemptions to this confidentiality, including the reports, investigations, and findings of certain incidents involving the use of force by a peace officer. Existing law makes records relating to an investigation conducted by a local detention facility into a death incident, as defined, available to public inspection, as specified. Existing law establishes the Board of State and Community Corrections, with the mission of, among other things, promoting legal and safe conditions for youth, inmates, and staff in local detention facilities. Existing law creates the position of Director of In-Custody Death Review within the board. This bill would authorize the director to have access to, and authority to, examine and reproduce records of any local detention facility, as specified. By increasing duties on local governments, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (5) Existing law, the California Community Corrections Performance Incentives Act of 2009, authorizes each county to establish a Community Corrections Performance Incentives Fund, and provides annual payments to the counties for purposes relating to improving local probation supervision practices and capacities. Existing law continuously appropriates the State Community Corrections Performance Incentives Fund for these incentive payments. Existing law, as part of those annual payments, requires the Director of Finance, in consultation with certain entities, to annually calculate a statewide performance incentive payment and a county performance incentive payment for each eligible county. Existing law requires the director to calculate those payments based on, among other things, the cost to the state to incarcerate in a contract facility and supervise on parole an offender who fails local supervision and is sent to prison. This bill would instead make that calculation based on the per capita cost to the state to incarcerate in a state prison and supervise on parole an offender who fails local supervision and is sent to prison, calculated pursuant to specified formulas. Existing law also requires that calculation to be based on an estimate of the number of felons on probation, mandatory supervision, and postrelease community supervision each county successfully prevented from being incarcerated in state prison, determined based on the reduction in the county's probation and mandatory supervision failure rate as calculated annually for that year and the county's failure rate from the previous year. This bill would instead calculate that estimate based on the actual number of individuals under one of those forms of supervision admitted to state prison from each county in the previous calendar year subtracted from each county's baseline admission to prison rate for those forms of supervision, as specified, multiplied by the average daily population of those forms of supervision for each county in the previous calendar year. Existing law additionally requires the Director of Finance to calculate a statewide performance incentive payment for each county using a formula based on the county's return to prison rate and the county's highest year of funding that the county received from the California Community Incentive Grant Program from the 2011–12 fiscal year to the 2014–15 fiscal year, inclusive, as specified. This bill would repeal those provisions. The bill would additionally, beginning with the 2025–26 fiscal year, appropriate $103,668,010 to the State Community Corrections Performance Incentives Fund from the General Fund, to be distributed to counties, as specified. The bill would decrease a county's appropriation pursuant to these provisions by a factor of 10% for each percentage point the county return to prison rate exceeds its baseline return to prison rate, as specified. Existing law additionally requires the Director of Finance to calculate a statewide performance incentive payment based on the number of felons on probation, mandatory supervision, or postrelease community supervision that were successfully prevented from being incarcerated in the state prison, multiplied by 35% of the state's costs to incarcerate a prison felony offender in a contract facility, as specified. This bill would instead multiply that number by 25% of the average of the state's per capita cost to incarcerate a prison felony offender in a state prison and supervise an individual on parole. By changing the distribution of continuously appropriated funds and making a new appropriation, this bill would make an appropriation. (6) 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. (7) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.
The Budget Act of 2018 appropriated $50,000,000 to the Board of State and Community Corrections for a grant program, known as the Adult Reentry Grant Program, for the purpose of awarding competitive grants to community based organizations to support offenders formerly incarcerated in state prison. The Budget Act of 2018 allocated a specified amount of those funds for, among other things, rental assistance, rehabilitation of existing property or buildings, and to support the warm hand-off and reentry of offenders transitioning from prison to communities. Subsequent budget acts have continued to fund the program. This bill, instead, commencing July 1, 2026, and upon appropriation of funds, would transfer the administration of the grant program to the Department of Housing and Community Development. The bill would require the department, on or before December 1, 2026, to modify the grant program to provide 5-year renewable grants to geographically diverse regional administrators responsible for funding permanent supportive housing and reentry services for eligible people, as specified. The bill would require the department to issue proposed guidelines or a draft notice, as specified, establishing the grant program and require the department to competitively score applicants applying for grant funds as regional administrators. The bill would require the department to work collaboratively with the State Department of Health Care Services, Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and homeless continuums of care, and seek to work collaboratively with county probation departments, to establish a process for referrals of people eligible to participate in the program, as specified. The bill would also require the department to establish specified benchmarks to promote and track ideal outcomes from the program. This bill would require the department to distribute program funds by executing contracts with awarded regional administrators and would impose certain requirements on those regional administrators. The bill would prescribe eligibility requirements for a person scheduled for release from, or who has been be formerly incarcerated in, state prison, to participate in the program. The bill would require program funds to be used for specified purposes, including specified administrative fees, permanent housing, rental and operating subsidies, incentives to landlords, and voluntary multidisciplinary services, as specified. The bill would require the department, upon implementation of the program, to design an evaluation and hire an independent evaluator to assess outcomes from the program, and would require the evaluation to be submitted to specified committees of the Legislature. This bill would require the board to continue to oversee and administer existing program grants that have not yet expired, using resources allocated to the board through funds allocated by the Budget Act of 2025. This bill would require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to establish a process to engage an individual scheduled for discharge, within at least 210 days of the scheduled release date, for the purpose of assessing the individual's risk of homelessness upon discharge, as specified.
