Changes to the Megan’s Law sex offender registry and penalties for gun and drug crimes were part of a series of major criminal justice reforms Gov. Jerry Brown signed this weekend.

He also loosened the penalty enhancements eligible for judges to use during sentencing for drug crimes, and stripped away mandatory additional penalties for the use of a gun in the commission of a crime.

Brown released a series of announcements Sunday regarding pending legislation he’s signed into law over the weekend.

One of the more controversial measures, SB 384, would create a more detailed system for sex offender classification, as opposed to a blanket lifetime registration, which is the case under current law.

(Below is a Megan’s Law sex offender registry map for the Santa Clarita Valley.)

Commencing January 1, 2021, SB 384 establishes three tiers of registration based on specified criteria, for periods of at least 10 years, at least 20 years, and life, respectively, for a conviction of specified sex offenses, and 5 years and 10 years for tiers one and two, respectively, for an adjudication as a ward of the juvenile court for specified sex offenses, as specified.

The bill also lets the Department of Justice to place a person in a tier-to-be-determined category for a maximum period of 24 months if his or her threat level can’t be immediately ascertained.

There were four main arguments given by law enforcement officials for support for the measure: a) based on a survey of several municipal law enforcement agencies in California, law enforcement agencies spend between 60-66 percent of their resources dedicated for sex offender supervision on monthly or annual registration paperwork because of the large numbers of registered sex offenders on our registry; b) removing low risk offenders from the registry frees up law enforcement officers to monitor the high risk offenders; c) law enforcement cannot protect the community effectively when they are in the office doing monthly or annual paperwork for low risk offenders, when they could be out in the community monitoring high risk offenders; d) the public is overwhelmed by the number of offenders displayed online in each neighborhood and do not know which offenders are considered low risk and which offenders are considered high risk and therefore truly dangerous.

Senate Bill 180, which Brown also signed into law, reduces the sentencing enhancements available to judges in drug-related crimes:

Specifically, it “imposes on a person convicted of a violation of, or of conspiracy to violate, specified crimes relating to controlled substances a sentence enhancement to include a full, separate, and consecutive 3-year term for each prior conviction of, or for each prior conviction of conspiracy to violate, specified controlled substances crimes, including possession for sale and purchase for sale of opiates, opium derivatives, and hallucinogenic substances.

This bill would instead limit the above sentence enhancement to only be based on each prior conviction of, or on each prior conviction of conspiracy to violate, the crime of using a minor in the commission of offenses involving specified controlled substances.”

SB 620 affected how judges are supposed to sentence criminals who use firearms to commit illegal acts.

Existing law requires that a person who personally uses a firearm in the commission of a felony be punished by an additional and consecutive term of imprisonment in the state prison for 3, 4, or 10 years. The law also requires a person who personally uses an assault weapon or a machinegun in the commission of a felony be punished by an additional and consecutive term of imprisonment in the state prison for 5, 6, or 10 years. Existing law requires a person who personally uses a firearm to commit certain specified felonies to be punished by an additional and consecutive term of imprisonment in the state prison for 10 years, or for 20 years if he or she discharged the firearm, or for 25 years to life if he or she discharges the firearm and proximately causes great bodily harm.

Existing law prohibits the court from striking an allegation or finding that would make a crime punishable pursuant to these provisions. SB 620 deletes the prohibition on striking an allegation or finding and, instead, would allow a court, in the interest of justice and at the time of sentencing or re-sentencing, to strike or dismiss an enhancement otherwise required to be imposed by the above provisions of law.

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