Numerous public safety bills were signed by Governor Newsom which will affect the County to varying degrees. Below is a list of significant public safety Assembly Bills (AB) and Senate Bills (SB) that have been identified as having an impact on recent actions by the Board of Supevisors and possibily on future actions of the Board.

AB 1185 (County board of supervisors: sheriff oversight.) - This bill authorizes a county to establish a sheriff oversight board to assist the board of supervisors with those duties as they relate to the sheriff, either by action of the board of supervisors or through a vote of county residents; authorizes a county, either by action of the board of supervisors or through a vote of county residents, to establish an office of the inspector general to assist the board of supervisors with these duties as they relate to the sheriff; and authorizes the chair of the oversight board and the inspector general to issue a subpoena or subpoena duces tecum when deemed necessary to investigate a matter within their jurisdiction. This law will take effect January 1, 2021.

AB 1869 (Criminal Fees.) - This bill by the Assembly Committee on Budget repeals the authority to collect various criminal justice administrative fees upon conviction or arrest and also appropriate $65 million annually for five years to counties to backfill associated revenue losses. The bill expresses the intent of the Legislature to pursue legislation with the Budget Act of 2021 to finalize the funding allocation methodology for distribution to counties.

This bill, effective July 1, 2021, repeals the following administrative fees:

1) Government Codes 27712 (public defense fee), 27753 (cost of counsel), 29550(c) (criminal justice administration fee), 29550(f) (administrative screening fee and citation processing fee), 29550.1 (criminal justice administration fee), 29550.2 (county booking fee), 29550.3 (city booking fee), and

2) Penal Codes 1203 (interstate compact supervision), 1203.016(g) (adult home detention administrative fee), 1203.018(j)(electronic monitoring administrative fee), 1203.1b (probation department investigation/progress report fee), 1203.1e (parole supervision fee), 1208.2(b) (program administrative fee), 1210.15 (continuous electronic monitoring fee), 3010.8 (parole continuous electronic monitoring fee), 4024.2(e)(work furlough administrative fee), 6266 (work furlough program fee), 987.4 (minor public defense fee), 987.5 (public defense registration fee), and 987.8 (public defense fee).

The administrative fees related to the public defense, probation, criminal justice administration fee, and alternative custody included in the bill were also included in the County's moratorium on certain criminal justice fees. The inclusion of these fees in this bill will need to be taken into consideration when the Board of Supervisors considers the elimination of these fees.

SB 823 (Juvenile justice realignment: Office of Youth and Community Restoration) - This bill creates a new state agency, the Office of Youth and Community Restoration (OYCR), and sets forth provisions for the forthcoming closure of the Divison of Juvenile Justice and transfers the responsibility for the supervision of these youth to the Counties. Among other requirments of this bill, a subcommittee of the Juvenile Justice Cocordinating Council is required to develop a plan that addresses the supervision and programming strategies for this realigned population. This plan will be submitted to the Board of Supervisors with recommendations for the funding allocation that the county will receive, as well as to the OYCR, once the agency is established. Probation will be responsible for the supervision and aftercare needs of this population, including any related contracting needs to support their successful transition back into the community.

SB 1290 (Juveniles: costs.) - This bill vacates certain county-assessed or court-ordered costs imposed before January 1, 2018, against parents and guardians of youth subject to the juvenile delinquency system and against persons aged 18 to 21 subject to the criminal justice system. This bill is an extension of SB 190 (Mitchell, 2017), which limits the authority of local agencies to assess and collect specified fees against families of persons subject to the juvenile delinquency system. Since the County Board of Supervisors had previously taken action in 2017 to eliminate juvenile fees, this bill will not require further action by the County.

Other significant legislation that will impact County departments include:

AB 1950 (Probation: length of terms.) - This bill restricts the period of probation for a misdemeanor, except where specified, to not longer than one year, and for a felony, except as specified, to not longer than two years. This shortened allowable timeframe could potentially impact the Deputy Probation Officer’s ability to effectively apply dosage-based evidence based practices. The Probation Department will be closely monitoring this to identify any unintended increase in violations as a result.

AB 3234 (Public Safety.) - This bill authorizes a judge in the superior court to offer misdeameanor diversion to a defendant over the objection of the prosecuting attorney, and continue diverted cases for a period not to exceed 24 months. Per the bill, if the defendant complies with all terms of diversion, the Judge is required to dismiss the action against the defendant. While in most cases these individuals would not be formally supervised by the Probation Department, this will significantly impact the duties of the court officers. The Judges often rely upon these deputies to make referrals and track program completion for defendants on "court probation." Additionally, this will potentially increase the need for additional programs and services that can be made available for these individuals.

AB 3364 (Judiciary omnibus) - This bill enacts numerous technical changes to several of the California codes as part of the judiciary omnibus bill. One of the technical changes in AB 3364 is the delay of implementation of provisions of SB 10 (Hertzberg), Chap. 244, Stats. 2018, which repeals the cash bail system and instead requires Pretrial Assessment Services to assess a person arrested or detained according to a risk assessment instrument and specifies the procedures for the detention or release of that person until October 1, 2021. The results of Proposition 25, the Replace Cash Bail with Risk Assessments Referendum, will impact this legislation. Staff is continuing to track this legislation.

Additionally, a list of bills impacting the Probation Department has been provided by the Chief Probation Officer in Attachment A. Some of the bills noted in the attachment are included in the list above, but it also includes other bills impacting the department's operations.