Bill Text: CA SB132 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Amended

California Senate Bill 132 (Prior Session Legislation)

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

Bill Title: Corrections.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Passed) 2020-09-26 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 182, Statutes of 2020. [SB132 Detail]

Download: California-2019-SB132-Amended.html

Amended IN Assembly September 06, 2019

Amended IN Assembly September 03, 2019

Amended IN Senate May 17, 2019

Amended IN Senate March 14, 2019

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill

No. 132

Introduced by Senator Wiener
(Coauthor: Senator Galgiani)
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Mark Stone)

January 14, 2019

An act to add Sections 2605 and 2606 to the Penal Code, relating to corrections.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 132, as amended, Wiener. Corrections.

Existing law establishes the state prisons under the jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Existing law authorizes a person sentenced to imprisonment in the state prison or a county jail for a felony to be, during the period of confinement, deprived of those rights, and only those rights, as is reasonably related to legitimate penological interests.

This bill ~~would~~ would, commencing January 1, 2021, require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to, during initial intake and classification, ask each individual entering into the custody of the department to specify the individual’s gender identity and sex assigned at birth, and, if the individual’s gender identity is different from their sex assigned at birth, their gender pronoun and honorific. The bill would prohibit the department from disciplining a person for refusing to answer or not disclosing complete information in response to these questions. The bill would authorize a person under the jurisdiction of the department to update this information. The bill would prohibit staff and contractors from failing to consistently use the gender pronoun and honorific an individual has specified in verbal and written communications with or regarding that individual that involve the use of a pronoun or honorific.

The bill would require the department, for a person who has a gender identity that differs from their sex assigned at birth, to only conduct a search of that person according to the search policy for their gender identity or according to the gender designation of the facility where they are housed, based on the individual’s search preference. The bill would additionally require the department to house the person in a correctional facility designated for men or women based on the individual’s preference, except as specified.

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

This act shall be known, and may be cited, as “The Transgender Respect, Agency, and Dignity Act.”

SEC. 2.

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) The United States Supreme Court recognized that incarcerated transgender individuals are particularly vulnerable to sexual abuse and sexual harassment and that disregarding the known risks to a transgender woman constitutes deliberate indifference in violation of the federal constitution.

(b) In California, a study of the state’s prisons found that the rate of sexual assault for transgender women in those prisons was 13 times higher than for men in the same prisons.

(c) Official data collected by the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics confirm that, nationwide, incarcerated transgender individuals experience exceptionally high rates of sexual victimization. In a 2011–12 survey, almost 40 percent of incarcerated transgender individuals reported experiencing sexual victimization while incarcerated compared to 4 percent of all incarcerated individuals.

(d) A congressional study found that instances of prison rape often go unreported, and that “most prison staff are not adequately trained or prepared to prevent, report or treat inmate sexual assaults.”

(e) Forty percent of transgender women respondents reported harassment from other incarcerated individuals.

(f) Thirty-eight percent reported being harassed by correctional officers or staff.

(g) Correctional officers and other incarcerated people predominantly refer to transgender women as men, using masculine pronouns.

SEC. 3.

Section 2605 is added to the Penal Code, to read:

2605.

(a) During the initial intake and classification process, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shall ask each individual entering into the custody of the department to specify the individual’s:

(1) Gender identity of female, male, or nonbinary, and sex assigned at birth.

(2) Gender pronoun and honorific if the individual’s gender identity is different from their sex assigned at birth.

(b) A person incarcerated by the department may not be disciplined for refusing to answer, or for not disclosing complete information in response to, the questions pursuant to this section.

(c) At any time, a person under the jurisdiction of the department may inform designated facility staff of their gender identity, and designated facility staff shall promptly repeat the process of offering the individual an opportunity to specify the gender pronoun and honorific most appropriate for staff to use in reference to that individual, in accordance with subdivision (a).

(d) Staff and contractors of the department shall not consistently fail to use the gender pronoun and honorific an individual has specified in all verbal and written communications with or regarding the individual that involve use of a pronoun and honorific.

(e) For the purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:

(1) “Gender pronoun” means a third-person singular personal pronoun, such as “he,” “she,” or “they.”

(2) “Honorific” means a form of respectful address typically combined with an individual’s surname.

(f) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2021.

SEC. 4.

Section 2606 is added to the Penal Code, to read:

2606.

(a) An individual incarcerated by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation who has a gender identity that differs from their sex assigned at birth, with or without a diagnosis of gender dysphoria or any other physical or mental health diagnosis, and regardless of anatomy, shall be:

(1) Addressed in a manner consistent with the incarcerated individual’s gender identity.

(2) If lawfully searched, searched according to the search policy for their gender identity or according to the gender designation of the facility where they are housed, based on the individual’s search preference. If the incarcerated individual’s preference or gender identity cannot be determined, the search shall be conducted according to the gender designation of the facility where they are housed.

(3) Housed at a correctional facility designated for men or women based on the individual’s preference.

(4) Have their perception of health and safety given serious consideration in any bed assignment, placement, or programming decision within the facility in which they are housed pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) or subdivision (b), as consistent with the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act.

(b) If the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has management or security concerns with an incarcerated individual’s search preference pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) or preferred housing placement pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (a), the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, or the secretary’s designee, shall, before denying a search preference or housing the incarcerated individual in a manner contrary to the person’s preferred housing placement, certify in writing a specific and articulable basis why the department is unable to accommodate that search or housing preference.

(c) The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shall not deny a search preference pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) or a housing placement pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) based on any discriminatory reason, including, but not limited to, any of the following:
(1) The anatomy, including, but not limited to, the genitalia or other physical characteristics, of the incarcerated person.
(2) The sexual orientation of the incarcerated person.
(3) For a denial of a housing preference pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (a), a factor present among other people incarcerated at the preferred type of facility.
~~(c)~~

(d) The incarcerated individual shall receive a copy of the written statement described in subdivision (b) and, within a reasonable time following the individual’s receipt of the statement, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shall provide the individual with a meaningful opportunity to verbally raise any objections to that denial, and have those objections documented.

~~(d)~~

(e) If an incarcerated individual raises concerns for their health or safety at any time, their housing and placement shall be reassessed.

(f) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2021.