SB 1134

Under current law, a prison inmate who is serving a bifurcated sentence for certain felonies committed on or after December 31, 1999 may petition the sentencing court to adjust their sentence if the the inmate has served at least 85 percent of the confinement in prison portion of their sentence for a Class C to E felony or 75 percent for a Class F to I felony. When an inmate files a petition, the sentencing court may either deny the petition or hold the petition for further consideration. If the court holds the petition for further consideration, the court must notify the district attorney of the inmate’s petition. If the district attorney objects to adjustment of the inmate’s sentence within 45 days of receiving notification, the court must deny the inmate’s petition.

Current law provides several grounds for such a petition, including that there has been a change in law or procedure related to sentencing or revocation of extended supervision effective after the inmate was sentenced that would have resulted in a shorter term of confinement in prison or, if the inmate was returned to prison upon revocation of extended supervision, a shorter period of confinement in prison upon revocation, if the change had been applicable when the inmate was sentenced. Under current law, in such case, the only sentence adjustment that a court may make is to reduce the term of confinement in prison and make a corresponding increase in the term of extended supervision, unless an extension of the term of extended supervision would result in a longer term of extended supervision than the maximum that the offender could have received if the change in law or procedure had been applicable when the inmate was originally sentenced. In that case, the court may reduce the length of the term of extended supervision so that the term of extended supervision does not exceed the maximum term of extended supervision that the offender could have received if the change in law or procedure had been applicable when the inmate was originally sentenced.

This bill provides that an inmate may also file such a petition if there has been a change in law or procedure related to sentencing that would have resulted in a shorter term of extended supervision. The bill also provides that when a sentencing court modifies any sentence because of a change in law or procedure related to sentencing or revocation by reducing a term of confinement in prison, the court must reduce the length of the term of extended supervision so that the term of extended supervision does not exceed the maximum term of extended supervision that the offender could have received if the change in law or procedure had been applicable when the inmate was originally sentenced or the maximum term of extended supervision for the offense at the time the petition for sentence adjustment was filed, whichever is shorter.

Because this bill creates a new crime or revises a penalty for an existing crime, the Joint Review Committee on Criminal Penalties may be requested to prepare a report.