SB 812

Current law provides that if any bill introduced in the legislature creates a new

crime or revises a penalty for an existing crime and the bill is referred to a standing

committee, the chairperson of the standing committee may request the Joint Review

Committee on Criminal Penalties to prepare a report on the bill. If the bill is not

referred to a standing committee, the speaker of the assembly, if the bill is introduced

in the assembly, or the presiding officer of the senate, if the bill is introduced in the

senate, may request the Joint Review Committee on Criminal Penalties to prepare

a report on the bill. If a report is requested, current law requires the report to contain

the costs that are likely to be incurred or saved if the bill is enacted, the consistency

of the penalties proposed in the bill with existing penalties, any alternative language

needed to conform penalties, and whether the acts criminalized under the bill are

already prohibited under current law.

This bill provides that if any bill introduced in either the assembly or senate

creates a new crime or revises a penalty for an existing crime, the bill must be

referred to the Joint Review Committee on Criminal Penalties and that the bill may

not be passed by the house in which the bill is introduced until the committee

prepares and submits its report. The bill also requires the report to contain an

economic impact statement regarding the likely economic effects of the proposal on

racial groups, economic classes, and gender groups, including a finding on whether

the proposal is likely to have a disparate impact on a racial group, economic class,

or gender group. The bill also allows the Joint Review Committee on Criminal

Penalties to prepare for the legislature and the director of state courts reports on acts

passed in previous sessions that created a crime or revised a penalty for a crime.

Finally, this bill requires that any report must reflect the opinions of all members of

the committee.