HB2337 - 452R - House Bill Summary

House of Representatives

HB 2337

board of executive clemency; sunset

Sponsors: Representatives Voss, Brotherton, Senator Richardson

DP	Committee on Judiciary
DPA	Committee on Appropriations
DPA	Caucus and COW
X	Third Read
	As Passed the House

HB 2337 continues the Board of Executive Clemency (Board) for ten years.

Current Status

HB 2337 passed the Judiciary Committee unamended.

HB 2337 was amended in the Appropriations Committee to establish a study committee to examine various aspects of the Board and to reduce the continuation term to two years.

The Appropriations amendment was adopted in the Committee of the Whole.

History

The Board provides a separate and distinct decision authority for parole by modifying or rescinding parole, revoking both parole and community supervision releases and by providing the Governor with recommendations for clemency actions. Although parole was abolished for inmates whose offense dates occurred after January 1994, approximately 4,000 offenders who are or who will become parole eligible. In addition, the Board conducts hearings for both Disproportionality Reviews and in accordance with Proposition 200, which requires the Board to consider first time non-dangerous drug offenders for release.

The Board consists of five governor-appointed members who serve five-year terms. Arizona Revised Statutes (ARS) section 41-3002.07 terminates the Board on July 1, 2002.

Provisions

· Continues the Board until July 1, 2004.

§ Establishes a joint study committee on the Board consisting of

§ Three members from the House of Representatives

§ Three members from the Senate

§ One member representing the Judicial Department

§ One member who is a county attorney representing a county with a population of more than seven hundred fifty thousand persons

§ One member who is a county attorney representing a county with a population of less than seven hundred fifty thousand persons

§ One public member jointly appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate

§ Requires the board to:

§ Review state funding of the Board

§ Examine the makeup of the Board, its functions and staffing, using best practices from other states

§ Develop a plan for the implementation of a volunteer board to include a method for rotating appointees through a membership pool for hearings and a plan for the hearing of death penalty cases

§ States that the committee must submit a report of its findings and recommendations to the Governor, the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives on or before December 31,2002.

§ Makes technical and conforming changes.

HB 2337 was amended in the Appropriations Committee as follows:

§ States that the Board shall terminate in on July 1,2004.