Sexually violent predators.

Plain English Breakdown

The bill summary and digest do not provide specific details on the immediate effects or enforcement mechanisms beyond declaring it an urgency statute.

Sexually Violent Predator Accountability Act

The Sexually Violent Predator Accountability, Fairness, and Enforcement Act requires the State Department of State Hospitals to ensure public safety when placing conditionally released sexually violent predators.

What This Bill Does

• Requires the State Department of State Hospitals to make sure that vendors consider public safety before placing a sexually violent predator who is being released on conditional terms.
• Requires the department to approve any potential placement location for a sexually violent predator before signing lease or rental agreements.

Who It Names or Affects

• Sexually violent predators who are being considered for conditional release.
• The State Department of State Hospitals and its vendors.

Terms To Know

sexually violent predator

A person convicted of a sexually violent offense who has a mental disorder that makes them likely to commit more such offenses.

conditional release

The process where a court allows a committed sexually violent predator to be released under certain conditions and supervision.

Limits and Unknowns

• Does not specify what happens if the department cannot find an appropriate placement location.
• Does not address how public safety is defined or measured in this context.

Official Summary Text

SB 379, as introduced, Jones.
Sexually violent predators.
Existing law provides for the civil commitment of a person who is determined to be a sexually violent predator. Existing law establishes a procedure by which a person committed as a sexually violent predator may petition for conditional release and requires the court, if it makes a specified determination, to place the person on conditional release. Existing law generally requires that a person released on conditional release pursuant to these provisions be placed in the person’s county of domicile prior to their incarceration unless extraordinary circumstances exist requiring placement outside the county, as specified. Existing law also prohibits the placement of a person released on conditional release within
1
/
4
mile of any public or private school, as specified.
Existing law defines a sexually violent predator as a person who has been convicted of a sexually violent offense and has a diagnosed mental disorder that makes the person a danger to others in that they are likely to engage in sexually violent criminal behavior. Existing law requires the State Department of State Hospitals to notify the sheriff or chief of police, or both, the district attorney, or the county’s designated counsel under specific circumstances, including when it makes a recommendation to the court for community outpatient treatment for a person committed as a sexually violent predator.
This bill, the Sexually Violent Predator Accountability, Fairness, and Enforcement Act, would require the State Department of State Hospitals to ensure department vendors consider public safety in the placement of a conditionally released sexually violent predator and approve a potential placement before a department employee or
vendor signs a lease or rental agreement for the placement of a sexually violent predator, as specified.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Current Bill Text

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