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AB-906 Battery: state hospital patient.(1999-2000)

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AB906:v98#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Assembly  April 05, 1999

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 1999–2000 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 906

Introduced  by  Assembly Member Maldonado
 (Coauthor(s): Senator O'Connell)

February 25, 1999

An act to add Section 243.7 243.11 to the Penal Code, relating to battery.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 906, as amended, Maldonado. Battery: state hospital patient.
Under existing law, when a battery is committed against a school employee engaged in the performance of his or her duties, or in retaliation for an act performed in the course of his or her duties, and the person committing the offense knows or reasonably should know that the victim is a school employee, the battery is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by a fine not exceeding $2,000, or by both the fine and imprisonment. However, if an injury is inflicted on the victim, the battery is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year, or by a fine of not more than $2,000, or by imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months, or 2 or 3 years.
This bill would provide that any patient who is housed in a security area of a state hospital, as defined, who willfully and unlawfully commits a battery against, and inflicts injury upon, the person of another, shall be punished by imprisonment in a county jail not to exceed one year, or by imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months, or 2 or 3 years. The bill also would require that each case be reviewed by a psychiatrist or psychologist from the State Department of Mental Health not directly involved in the treatment of the patient in order to make specified determinations regarding the mental competency of the patient, and under certain conditions, the case would not be referred the executive director or a designee of each state hospital, in consultation with the district attorney of the county in which the hospital is located, develop procedures for reviewing cases subject to this provision and referring these cases to the district attorney. Because the bill would create a new crime, it would imposed a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: YES  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Section 243.7 243.11 is added to the Penal Code, to read:
243.7.

243.11.
 (a) Any patient who is housed in a security area of a state hospital who willfully and unlawfully commits a battery against, and inflicts injury upon, the person of another, shall be punished by imprisonment in a county jail not to exceed one year, or by imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months, or two or three years.

(b)Each case shall be reviewed by a psychiatrist or psychologist from the State Department of Mental Health not directly involved in the treatment of the patient to determine whether a mental disorder was one of the causes of or an aggravating factor in the commission of the battery and whether, as a result of that mental disorder, the patient was capable of knowing or understanding the nature and quality of his or her act or capable of distinguishing right from wrong at the time of the commission of the battery. The case shall only be referred to the district attorney if the clinician reviewing the case concludes that the patient was capable of knowing or understanding the nature and quality of his or her act or was capable of distinguishing right from wrong at the time of the commission battery.

(b) The executive director or a designee of each state hospital, in consultation with the district attorney of the county in which the hospital is located, shall develop procedures for the review of cases that are subject to this section and for referral of these cases to the local district attorney. These procedures shall include, but are not limited to, review and consideration of the patient’s mental status at the time of the battery and the seriousness of the injury caused by the battery.
(c) For purposes of this section, “security area” means all of Atascadero State Hospital, all of Patton State Hospital, and those areas of Napa and Metropolitan State Hospitals that are designated as security areas by the State Department of Mental Health.

SEC. 2.

 No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.