Existing law generally regulates the granting and conditioning of parole, and places the duty to monitor parolees on the Division of Adult Parole Operations. Existing law, the Victim’s Bill of Rights Act of 2008: Marsy’s Law, as added by Proposition 9 at the November 4, 2008, statewide general election, provides that the Board of Parole Hearings or its successor in interest shall be the state’s parole authority and shall be responsible for protecting victims’ rights in the parole process.

This bill would provide that, except as specified, any prisoner who the head physician for the institution where the prisoner is located determines, as provided, is permanently medically incapacitated with a medical condition that renders the prisoner permanently unable to perform activities of basic daily living, and results in the prisoner requiring 24-hour care, and that incapacitation did not exist at the time of sentencing, shall be granted medical parole, if the Board of Parole Hearings determines that the conditions under which the prisoner would be released would not reasonably pose a threat to public safety. Those provisions would not apply to any prisoner sentenced to death or life in prison without possibility of parole or to any inmate who is serving a sentence for which parole pursuant to this bill is prohibited by any initiative statute. The bill would provide that these provisions shall not be construed to alter or diminish the rights conferred under the Victim’s Bill of Rights Act of 2008: Marsy’s Law. The bill would require a physician employed by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation who is the primary care provider for a prisoner to recommend that the prisoner be referred to the Board of Parole Hearings for consideration for medical parole if the physician believes the prisoner meets the medical criteria for medical parole. The bill would provide that the Board of Parole Hearings or the Division of Adult Parole Operations shall have the authority to impose any reasonable conditions on prisoners subject to parole pursuant to this bill, including, but not limited to, the requirement that parolees submit to electronic monitoring.

Existing law generally provides for the duties and functions of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Existing law provides that the State Department of Health Care Services is designated as the state agency with full power to supervise every phase of the administration of health care services and medical assistance for which grants-in-aid are received from the federal government or made by the state in order to secure full compliance with the applicable provisions of state and federal laws.

This bill would require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to, among other things, seek to enter into memoranda of understanding with the Social Security Administration and the State Department of Health Care Services, in addition to certain other entities, to facilitate prerelease agreements to help inmates initiate benefits claims, as specified. The bill would require the department to reimburse county public hospitals on a quarterly basis for the nonfederal share of Medi-Cal costs incurred by the county for individuals who have been granted medical parole and the county costs for providing health care services that are not allowable under Medi-Cal but are required by the state to be furnished to eligible persons who have been granted medical parole, including public guardianship health care services. The bill would require the department to provide, or provide reimbursement for, services associated with public guardianship of medical parolees, as specified. The bill would authorize the department to provide supplemental reimbursements to providers, as specified. The bill would require the department to establish contracts with appropriate medical providers in cases where medical parolees are ineligible for Medi-Cal, as specified.