AB 947

Under current law, a person who has been found to be a sexually violent person

may be involuntarily committed to the Department of Health Services for control,

care, and treatment. If a person is committed and placed in institutional care, the

person may periodically petition the court for supervised release. If a court

determines that supervised release is appropriate, the court must order the person's

county of residence to prepare a report that identifies one appropriate residence for

the person. Under this bill, the county must notify all state senators and assembly

members, as well as mayors, who represent districts in which the person may be

placed. Additionally, while preparing the report, this bill requires the county to hold

a public hearing and provide notice of the hearing to persons who reside in areas in

which the person may be placed and to local elected officials, including school board

members, who represent areas in which the person may be placed. If an attendee

objects to a proposed residence or area, the committee must review the objection. The

bill also prohibits using a residence that is adjacent to or shares an aldermanic

district with another residence of a person on supervised release or using the same

residence for housing persons on supervised release for a total of more than three

years.

Under current law, once the court approves a residence as part of a supervised

release plan, the court must notify law enforcement agencies that a person will be

placed on supervised release. The bill requires the law enforcement agencies to, at

least ten working days before the person is placed, mail notification of the placement

to community members. The community members entitled to receive notification

under the bill are based on the assessment by the law enforcement agency of what

best protects the public. Also, under the bill, at least five days before the person is

placed, DHS must hold a public hearing in the neighborhood of placement. A

representative from DHS and a representative from the Department of Corrections

must attend the meeting to answer questions.

The bill requires quarterly meetings, with representatives from DHS and DOC,

to update residents and to hear complaints, answer questions, and address issues

and requires DHS to appoint a person to be a local point of contact liaison while the

person is on supervised release. The bill also requires DHS to ensure that residences

housing persons on supervised release are maintained and that no person on

supervised release is housed in a residence that is owned or managed by a person who

has more than five ordinance or code violations involving building or property

maintenance standards. Under the bill, DHS must reimburse local governments

that incur policing costs due to the placement of a person on supervised release.

Under current law, persons on supervised released are tracked using global

positioning system tracking monitored by DOC. The bill requires DOC to create a

plan for responding to GPS alerts that the person has violated a condition of release.

The plan must include notification to persons who reside within a specified radius