Agenda

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LEGISLATION COMMITTEE

Meeting Date:	02/13/2017
Subject: Reentry and Justice Related Bills of Interest
Submitted For:	LEGISLATION COMMITTEE
Department:	County Administrator
Referral No.:	2017-04
Referral Name:	Reentry and Justice Related Bills of Interest
Presenter:	L. DeLaney	Contact:

Information

Referral History:

The Legislation Committee reviews and makes recommendations to the Board of Supervisors on bills that may affect the County reentry and justice-related efforts.

Referral Update:

The Board of Supervisors' adopted 2017 State Platform includes policies related to the law and justice systems, Public Safety Realignment, and reentry efforts.

These policies include #189 related to bail reform: SUPPORT legislative reform of current bail provisions that will replace reliance on money bail with a system that incorporates a pretrial risk assessment tool and evidence-based pretrial release decisions. The current reliance on fixed bail schedules and commercial money bonds ignores public safety factors and unfairly penalizes poor people who are awaiting trial. Bail reform in this manner will ensure that only dangerous persons who cannot be safely supervised in the community while they are awaiting trial will be held in custody pretrial. Locally, our County has moved in this direction with an AB109 funded pretrial program.

The Platform also includes policy #154 related to CalFresh enrollment: SUPPORT a federal waiver that would allow county social services agencies to process CalFresh applications for jail inmates and suspend rather than terminate CalFresh eligibility when a recipient is detailed in a county jail for a period of less than a year.

Three bills have been introduced that deal with these subject matters. Staff recommends that the Legislation Committee considers finding these bills consistent with the Board of Supervisors' adopted 2017 State Platforma and directs staff to prepare and distribute letters of support.

AB 42 (Bonta): Bail Reform and SB 10 (Hertzberg): Bail: Pretrial Release: Two bills that have been introduced thus far. The bills are essentially similar and state the intent of the Legislature to reduce the number of people detained pretrial and to ensure that people are not held simply because of their inability to afford bail: “It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to safely reduce the number of people detained pretrial, while addressing racial and economic disparities in the pretrial system, to ensure that people are not held in pretrial detention simply because of their inability to afford money bail.”

SB 10 would require the court to release a defendant being held for a misdemeanor offense on his or her own recognizance unless the
court makes an additional finding on the record that there is no condition or combination of conditions that would reasonably ensure
public safety and the appearance of the defendant if the defendant is released on his or her own recognizance.

SB 10 was referred to the Senate Committee on Public Safety, which is chaired by Senator Nancy Skinner. AB 42 is pending referral in the Assembly.

AB 42 is included as Attachment A. SB 10 is included as Attachment B.

SB 167 (Skinner): Supplemental Security Income & CalFresh: Preenrollment

This bill would require the Secretary of California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to establish a Memorandum of Understanding with the federal Social Security Administration to allow a person incarcerated in a correctional institution to apply for and receive a replacement social security card and to allow the administration to provide SSI claims under the pre-release program. In addition, this bill would require the Department of Social Services to request a waiver to allow for the pre-enrollment of otherwise eligible applicants to the CalFresh program up to one month prior to the applicant's reentry into the community from county jail or state prison.
Status: Introduced on 1/23/17.

This bill is sponsored by the County Welfare Directors Association (CWDA) and Western Center on Law and Poverty. SB 167 was referred to the Senate Committees on Human Services and Public Safety. Senator Steve Glazer is on the Human Services Committee.

Urban Counties of California (UCC) Position: Pending.

SB 167 is included as Attachment C.

Recommendation(s)/Next Step(s):

CONSIDER finding that a position of "Support" on AB 42 (Bonta): Bail Reform, SB 10 (Hertzberg): Bail: Pretrial Release, and SB 167 (Skinner): Supplemental Security Income & CalFresh: Preenrollment, is consistent with the Board of Supervisors' adopted 2017 State Platform and direct staff to prepare and distribute advocacy letters as needed.

Attachments
Attachment A: AB 42
Attachment B: SB 10
Attachment C: SB 167