Bill Text: CA AB920 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Jails: county inmate welfare funds.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2016-08-25 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 178, Statutes of 2016. [AB920 Detail]
Download: California-2015-AB920-Chaptered.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 920 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 178
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE AUGUST 25, 2016
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR AUGUST 25, 2016
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 1, 2016
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 15, 2016
AMENDED IN SENATE SEPTEMBER 3, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE SEPTEMBER 1, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 28, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 23, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 8, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Gipson
FEBRUARY 26, 2015
An act to add Section 4025.5 to the Penal Code, relating to jails,
and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 920, Gipson. Jails: county inmate welfare funds.
Existing law authorizes the sheriff of each county to maintain an
inmate welfare fund to be kept in the treasury of the county into
which profit from a store operated in connection with the county
jail, 10% of all gross sales of inmate hobbycraft, and any rebates or
commissions received from a telephone company, as specified, are
required to be deposited. Existing law authorizes the sheriff to
expend money from the fund to assist indigent inmates, prior to
release, with clothes and transportation expenses, as specified.
Existing law authorizes inmate welfare funds to be used to augment
county expenses determined by the sheriff to be in the best interests
of the inmates, and requires the sheriff to submit an itemized
report of those expenditures annually to the board of supervisors.
This bill would create a program that authorizes the sheriff or
county officer responsible for operating jails of certain counties to
spend money from the inmate welfare fund for the purpose of
assisting indigent inmates with the reentry process within 30 days
after the inmate's release from the county jail or other adult
detention facility. The bill would specify that the assistance
provided may include work placement, counseling, obtaining proper
identification, education, and housing. The bill would specify that
money from the inmate welfare fund shall not be used under the
program to provide services that are required to be provided by the
sheriff or county, as specified. The bill would require, if a county
elects to participate in the pilot program, a county sheriff or
county officer responsible for operating a jail to include specified
additional information in the itemized report of expenditures to the
board of supervisors, including the number of inmates the program
served.
This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to
the necessity of a special statute for the counties described above.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 4025.5 is added to the Penal Code, to read:
4025.5. (a) There is hereby created a program in the Counties of
Alameda, Kern, Los Angeles, Marin, Napa, Orange, Sacramento, San
Bernardino, San Francisco, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara,
Santa Clara, Stanislaus, and Ventura. In each county, the sheriff or
the county officer responsible for operating the jails may expend
money from the inmate welfare fund to provide indigent inmates, after
release from the county jail or any other adult detention facility
under the jurisdiction of the sheriff or the county officer
responsible for operating the jails, assistance with the reentry
process within 30 days after the inmate's release. The assistance
provided may include work placement, counseling, obtaining proper
identification, education, and housing.
(b) This section does not authorize money from the inmate welfare
fund to be used to provide any services that are required to be
provided by the sheriff or the county. Money in the fund shall
supplement existing services, and shall not be used to supplant any
existing funding for services provided by the sheriff or the county.
(c) As part of the itemized report of expenditures required to be
submitted to the board of supervisors pursuant to Section 4025, any
sheriff or county officer responsible for operating a jail of a
county that participates in the program shall include in the report
all of the following:
(1) How much money was spent pursuant to this section.
(2) The number of inmates the program served.
(3) The types of assistance for which the funds were used.
(4) The average length of time an inmate used the program.
SEC. 2. The Legislature finds and declares that a special law is
necessary and that a general law cannot be made applicable within the
meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution
because of the unique circumstances in the Counties of Alameda, Kern,
Los Angeles, Marin, Napa, Orange, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San
Francisco, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara,
Stanislaus, and Ventura.
SEC. 3. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to grant local officials responsible for operating jails
in the Counties of Alameda, Kern, Los Angeles, Marin, Napa, Orange,
Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Francisco, San Diego, San Luis
Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Stanislaus, and Ventura authority
to better assist indigent inmates with the reentry process at the
earliest possible time, it is necessary for this act to take effect
immediately.
