To: Sonoma County Board of Supervisors
Department or Agency Name(s): Probation Department, District Attorney, Public Defender
Staff Name and Phone Number: Shane Lewis, 565-3150; Christine Williams, 565-2145; Jeremy Scannell, 565-3869
Vote Requirement: 4/5th
Supervisorial District(s): Countywide
Title:
Title
Community Corrections Partnership FY 2022-23 Budget and Position Allocation Adjustments
End
Recommended Action:
Recommended action
A) Adopt a resolution amending the department allocation lists of the District Attorney’s Office by adding 1.0 full-time equivalent (FTE) Deputy District Attorney IV, and of the Public Defender’s Office by converting 2.0 FTE time-limited allocations to ongoing effective May 31, 2023, utilizing funding provided by the Sonoma County Community Corrections Partnership via California Public Safety Realignment Act (Assembly Bill 109). (Majority)
B) Adopt a resolution adjusting the Fiscal Year 2022-23 Adopted Budgets for the District Attorney’s Office, Public Defender’s Office, and Probation Department to add expenditure appropriations for the new and converted position allocations and adjusting reimbursements from the AB109 Public Safety Realignment Fund and SB 678 Community Corrections Performance Incentive Fund. (4/5th Vote Required)
(4/5th Vote Required)
end
Executive Summary:
In response to a federal court order to reduce prison overcrowding, California’s Public Safety Realignment Act (Assembly Bill 109) took effect in 2011 and mandated sweeping changes to the criminal justice system by shifting the responsibility for managing select adult offenders from the state to each of the 58 counties. To assist counties in handling this increased workload, the state provides dedicated funding derived from a 1.0625% state sales tax. Each year, the Community Corrections Partnership (CCP) recommends a plan to deploy this funding toward various programs in Sonoma County’s criminal justice system. The Board accepted this plan on July 12, 2022 and the corresponding funding recommendations through the FY 22-23 budget process.
Occasionally, after the budget is adopted, funding requests are submitted to the CCP requesting either one-time expenditures or ongoing funding. Three County Departments, Probation, District Attorney’s Office, and the Public Defender, submitted such requests, which were approved by the CCP’s Executive Committee on August 29, 2022. Today’s recommended Board action is to enact the necessary budgetary adjustments and position changes to the corresponding Departmental budgets totaling $403,122 in the current fiscal year.
Discussion:
Each year, the Sonoma County Community Corrections Partnership (CCP) considers available funding and local criminal justice system needs as it develops a AB 109 Realignment implementation plan intended to protect public safety by ensuring sufficient detention capacity for those convicted of more serious offenses while focusing on evidence-based rehabilitation and supportive services for those who can be safely supervised in the community. The CCP develops its plan in accordance with the recommendations of Sonoma County’s Criminal Justice Master Plan, by investing in the Day Reporting Center and pretrial services, both key recommendations of the Master Plan, with additional funds allocated to the Sheriff’s Office, Probation Department, Health Services, Human Services, District Attorney, and Public Defender. Additionally, the CCP consistently allocates annual funding toward data collection and evaluation of funded programs, to support effective service delivery and constant quality improvement.
The CCP began deliberating this plan at its January 31, 2022, meeting following the January 10 release of the Governor’s proposed FY 22-23 budget, and it approved the plan on February 14, 2022. At each year’s deliberations, the CCP evaluates Sonoma County’s public safety needs vis-à-vis available public safety realignment funding, a relatively volatile source due to its reliance solely on sales tax revenues. This year, the Governor’s proposed budget projected slightly higher revenues in FY 22-23 and 23-24 than previously expected. This favorable development followed a positive surprise in FY 21-22, in which the CCP received record-high growth funding-$4.7 million-based on both strong sales tax receipts and Sonoma County’s better-than-average performance at reducing probationers’ return to incarceration, the primary measure upon which performance-based growth funding relies. In light of these positive revenue developments and a growing fund balance, the CCP identified and funded several unmet needs across five different departments. The vast majority of expanded programming focuses on substance use treatment, behavioral health support, and pretrial services.
Following the CCP’s FY 22-23 budget approval, the Governor’s May revised budget again exceeded expectations, leading to record high projected revenue of approximately $19.6 million. These strong revenue projections have resulted in an estimated FY 22-23 year-end fund balance of $14.7 million. As such, the CCP’s Executive Committee met on August 29, 2022 to consider requests from three Departments-Probation, Public Defender and the District Attorney-to enhance vital services in support of the Sonoma County justice system. All of these requests were approved by the CCP Executive Committee.
For the first three months of Fiscal Year 2022-23 (July through September), the state’s actual sales tax receipts have fallen 4.9% below its budgeted forecast. If this trend continues, it has the potential to negatively impact the County’s future 2011 Realignment funding allocation going forward. While 2011 Realignment revenue receipts were strong through FY 2021-22, as mentioned above, this latest downward trend presents a potential risk to the CCP’s ability to fund all of its existing programs and services at current levels in the future. The CCP Executive Committee will continue monitoring sales tax receipts in upcoming months and refine its fiscal forecasts, which will be used to inform its budget discussions scheduled to start in January 2023.
District Attorney’s Office
Deputy District Attorney IV: Post-conviction relief legislation has created the need for the District Attorney’s Office to conduct extensive review and litigation of complex cases. The increased caseload resulting from this legislation is not manageable with the existing resources and the approval of this position will provide two full-time equivalent positions dedicated to addressing the required legislative mandates and post-conviction relief and will ensure that justice is served for the petitioner and that victims and the community are protected. Examples of legislation and the impact are as follows:
1) Senate Bill (SB) 1437, enacted in 2017, essentially redrafted the laws defining murder. Legislation allows for a petition procedure through which qualifying defendants may seek to vacate their murder convictions and obtain resentencing. It applies retroactively to all murder convictions in Sonoma County. Recent amendments to the law (currently codified in Penal Code section 1172.6(d)) increase the workload at the resentencing hearings. The District Attorney’s Office is currently evaluating and/or actively litigating no less than 43 such petitions, many which will require a resentencing hearing. The litigation resulting from SB 1437 impacts prosecutors, DA investigators, victim advocates, and most importantly, surviving family members who are retraumatized.
2) SB 384 went into effect on January 1, 2021, and effectively transitioned California’s lifetime sex offender registration scheme to a “three tier” structure. In doing so, every sex registrant can petition the court for termination of his/her lifetime registration requirement. In turn, the District Attorney’s Office must investigate each petition to determine whether the petitioner has fulfilled previous registration requirements, and whether community safety would be significantly enhanced by continued registration. SB 384 has increased the workload for prosecutors, investigators, and victim advocates who must notify victims when a petition is filed.
3) AB 333, enacted on October 8, 2021, changed many of the legal requirements used to prove up “gang” cases pursuant to PC section 186.22. Among other things, AB 333 requires that the crime be committed for some purpose other than “reputational” benefit to that gang, a frequently utilized legal theory. AB 333, while not retroactive, affects all cases not yet final on appeal as of 1/1/22.
4) SB 483, effective January 1, 2022, greatly expands the number of inmates who can seek post-conviction relief. SB 180 (passed in 2017) and SB 136 (passed in 2019) previously eliminated “prior drug conviction” enhancements (H&S section 11370.2) and “prison prior” enhancements (P.C. section 667.5(b) except in limited circumstances. Both laws were not retroactive and only applied to convictions not yet final on appeal. SB 483 changed this by clearly stating “it is the intent of the Legislature to retroactively apply [SB180 and SB130] to all persons currently serving a term of incarceration in jail or prison for these repealed sentence enhancements.” As a result, all inmates whose current sentence contains a prison/drug prior can request a resentencing hearing regardless of the finality of the case. The Writs, Appeals, Legal Research Unit (WALRU) is currently handling five such resentencings in addition to at least one other being handled outside the unit. WALRU has identified another 13 inmates who potentially must be resentenced under SB 483. Further, SB 483 (codified in Penal Code sections 1171 and 1171.1) requires the court to “apply any other changes in law that reduce sentences or provide for judicial discretion so as to eliminate disparity of sentences and to promote uniformity of sentencing.” Arguably, once a petition for resentencing is filed to strike a prison/drug prior, the petitioner can also request resentencing under all new laws currently in effect. (WALRU is currently litigating at least one such case where a petition to strike a prison prior is accompanied by a request to strike a gang enhancement pursuant to P.C. 1171.1.)
In all cases wherein an offender seeks resentencing or dismissal of charges, it is necessary to assign experienced attorney time to ensure that a thorough review is made, and that justice is served. This post-conviction relief prosecutor will also assist on criminal appeals and writs of mandate or prohibition resulting, in part, from the implementation of AB 109. They will appear in court for oral argument and will draft complex legal documents including legal memos for the District Attorney and attorney staff. They will work with advocates to ensure that victims’ rights under Marsy’s Law are upheld. The addition of another attorney will enable WALRU to be more effective in litigating petitions for resentencing, some of which may result in dismissal of criminal charges, the release of violent offenders into the community, and the retraumatization of crime victims and their families. Overall, the addition of a deputy district attorney to handle this caseload will result in an expeditious review and resolution of cases in compliance with time limits imposed by the legislation or the courts which ultimately will benefit the petitioner, the court, crime victims, and the community at large.
Probation Department
Probation Assistant: Serving as Sonoma County’s hub of evidence-based programming for individuals with felony convictions, the Day Reporting Center (DRC) serves adults reentering the community from jail or prison. Services include life, parenting, and vocational skills, mental health and substance abuse treatment, eligibility services, and cognitive behavioral intervention. Major criminal justice research institutions, such as the Center for Effective Public Policy and the School of Criminal Justice at the University of Cincinnati, have shown that these programs improve public safety and reduce recidivism. Currently realigned individuals represent 32% of the DRC population.]
Probation Assistants are the face of the DRC to both clients and the public at large and are an integral part of DRC operations. This critical position is responsible for duties such as screening entrants to ensure facility and staff safety, communication and collaboration with community-based organizations who provide services and connection to local resources, facilitating court-ordered chemical testing, co-facilitating Evidence-Based Programs (EBP) classes on site, acting as liaison between DRC and supervising deputy probation officers, as well as performing the bulk of support and clerical tasks at the DRC. The Probation Assistant position is also crucial to the department for succession planning and staff retention.
In FY 19-20, CCP-funded departments were asked to make budget cuts to stabilize the CCP’s fund balance. As part of its cuts, Probation funded one of the DRC’s three Probation Assistants from a separate Special Revenue Fund. That source, the Community Corrections Performance Incentives Fund (CCPIF), is now declining rapidly and cannot continue supporting this position. Aside from this position, the CCPIF financially supports several Adult Probation Officers.
Given the unsustainable level of CCPIF expenditures and the CCP’s strong fund balance recovery from FY 19-20 levels, Probation requests restoration of the Probation Assistant to the CCP budget to continue providing continued support for the ongoing operations of the DRC.
Office of the Public Defender
1. Social Service Worker III: The Public Defender’s Office (PD) currently has a social worker position funded by a two-year Indigent Defense grant from the California Board of State Community Corrections (BSCC). This funding ends on May 31, 2023. Therefore, the Community Corrections Partnership will be funding this position beginning on June 1, 2023 on an ongoing basis.
The Social Worker has helped meet the growing demand to assess clients’ increasingly complex needs and to connect clients with necessary services. For instance, the Social Worker is responsible for assisting clients to find services that may qualify as alternatives to incarceration, developing factors in mitigation to reduce incarceration exposure, and working collaboratively with local criminal and social justice partners to assist clients to find transitional housing.
Also, the Social Worker connects clients with mental health services, drug and alcohol services, and other social services options. This client-centered work bolsters the department’s goal to improve clients’ quality of life while also making the community safer. Finally, the Social Worker greatly reduces attorney time and costs by handling critical social service functions that would otherwise consume an inordinate number of attorneys’ working hours.
2. Deputy Public Defender IV: The Public Defender’s Office currently has a post-conviction relief attorney position funded by a two-year grant from the California Board of State Community Corrections (BSCC). This funding ends on May 31, 2023. To allow these integral client services to continue, the CCP will fund this position beginning on June 1, 2023.
California post-conviction relief legislation has created significant workload for public defender offices. The general Post-Conviction Relief (PCR) attorney is assigned this workload and provides clients the following necessary forms of post-conviction relief:
• Expungements (Penal Code section 1203.4 et seq.)
• Record sealing (Penal Code section 851 et seq.)
• Termination and/or re-tiering of registration requirements (Penal Code section 290.5)
• Resentencing clients with specific sentence enhancements (SB 483)
• Writs of Habeas Corpus (with various requests for relief) filed by people incarcerated in state prison
Most of the position’s workload consists of record expungement requests. These expungements help clients move forward with their lives by removing barriers to housing and employment. To date, the Public Defender has filed approximately 380 expungement petitions and currently have a backlog of over 200 additional cases.
The total impact of these requests to the AB 109 Public Safety Realignment Special Revenue Fund is $403,122 in FY 22-23. As all these program enhancements were identified as “ongoing” by their respective agencies, it is anticipated that these costs will be incorporated into the CCP’s future fiscal planning for FY 23-24 and beyond and will be prioritized annually alongside all currently funded programs and any other additional requests.
Strategic Plan:
N/A
Prior Board Actions:
July 12, 2022 - Board accepted Community Corrections Partnership FY 22-23 Public Safety Realignment Implementation Plan
April 06, 2021 - Board accepted the Indigent Defense grant award from the California Board of State Community Corrections
Fiscal Summary
|
Expenditures |
FY 22-23 Adopted |
FY23-24 Projected |
FY 24-25 Projected |
|
Budgeted Expenses |
$87,261 |
$909,100 |
$936,373 |
|
Additional Appropriation Requested |
$315,861 |
|
|
|
Total Expenditures |
$403,122 |
$909,100 |
$936,373 |
|
Funding Sources |
|
|
|
|
General Fund/WA GF |
|
|
|
|
State/Federal |
$403,122 |
$909,100 |
$936,373 |
|
Fees/Other |
|
|
|
|
Use of Fund Balance |
|
|
|
|
Contingencies |
|
|
|
|
Total Sources |
$403,122 |
$909,100 |
$936,373 |
Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
The Deputy District Attorney IV’s prorated salary, benefits, and internal service cost for FY 22-23 is $275,096 (annualized at $318,975), and one-time costs of $3,500 for computer equipment and related software. Future year costs assume a 3% cost of living adjustment.
The Probation Assistant’s prorated salary, benefits, and internal service cost for FY 22-23 is $87,261 (annualized at $116,348). Expenditures for this existing position are already included in the department’s FY 22-23 Adopted Budget. Future year costs assume a 3% cost of living adjustment.
The Public Defender Social Worker’s prorated salary, benefits, and internal service cost for FY 22-23 is $12,252 (annualized at $147,024). Future year costs assume a 3% cost of living adjustment.
The Deputy Public Defender’s prorated salary, benefits, and internal service cost for FY 22-23 is $25,023 (annualized at $300,274). Future year costs assume a 3% cost of living adjustment.
The funding will be provided Sonoma County Community Corrections Partnership via California Public Safety Realignment Act (Assembly Bill 109) through its annual budget process.
|
Staffing Impacts: |
|
|
|
|
Position Title (Payroll Classification) |
Monthly Salary Range (A-I Step) |
Additions (Number) |
Deletions (Number) |
|
Deputy District Attorney IV |
$12,527.94 -$15,227.28 |
1.0 |
|
Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
The Deputy District Attorney IV will enable the District Attorney’s Office to be more effective in litigating petitions for resentencing and will result in a more expeditious review and resolution of increased case load resulting from post-conviction relief legislation.
There are no staffing impacts associated with converting time-limited allocations to ongoing. Converting the Deputy Public Defender IV and the Social Service Worker III allocations to ongoing will allow the Public Defender’s office to continue the work that has been started under the Indigent Defense grant.
Attachments:
Position Resolution
Budget Resolution
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
N/A