FINAL BILL REPORT

                  HB 1081

                         C 167 L 95

                     Synopsis as Enacted

Brief Description:  Specifying sentencing conditions for felons who commit additional felonies.

Sponsors:  Representatives Radcliff, Blanton, Costa, Koster, Ballasiotes, Cole, Dickerson, Basich and Mitchell; by request of Department of Corrections.

House Committee on Corrections

Senate Committee on Human Services & Corrections

Background:  The sentencing of adult felons is governed by Washington's Sentencing Reform Act (SRA).  Under the SRA, some offenders are eligible to be put on community supervision.

"Community supervision" means a period of time during which a convicted offender is in the community but is subject to conditions imposed by the sentencing judge.  Some conditions that the judge can impose are prohibitions against having contact with the victim or prohibitions against drug or alcohol use.

Sometimes a person who is serving a period of community supervision commits another offense.  The person's sentence for that second offense might result in a second period of community supervision, and it might result in the imposition of conditions that were not imposed in the first order of community supervision. When this happens, current law does not allow the judge to give effect to the restrictive conditions in the second sentence before the second period of community supervision actually begins.  Accordingly, if the judge orders the second period of community supervision to begin only after the first period is completed, then the new restrictive conditions cannot go into effect until that future date.

Summary:  When a person who is already serving a period of community supervision is sentenced to a second period of community supervision, the judge may order any conditions imposed under the second sentence to go into effect immediately, even if the second period of community supervision itself does not begin until the first period is completed.

Violation of these conditions would constitute a violation of whichever community supervision order is then in effect.

Votes on Final Passage:

House     94 0

Senate    41 0

Effective:  July 23, 1995