#TeamJustice is a coalition of partners who are committed to doing the work in state legislations to create meaningful changes in our criminal justice system under the equity and justice lens for the Black and Brown communities.
#MomsAgainstTorture and #TeamJustice are advocating for you to SUPPORT AB1630 in this 2022 legislative cycle.
Bill Summary: Vulnerable Defendant’s Right to a Fair Trial
Existing law presumes that a defendant is competent unless shown, by a preponderance of evidence, that the defendant is incompetent. Existing law also requires the counsel for the defendant to offer evidence in support of the allegation of mental incompetence and, if they decline to do so, authorizes the prosecution to do so.
AB1630 will:
Improve record-keeping and communication, so courts have updated competency findings for defendants
Increase access to diversion programs by making them part of the competency evaluation
Shift the burden to the State to prove competence once a court-appointed evaluator has concluded a defendant is incompetent to stand trial.
Bill Status:
AB1630 was passed out of Suspense File to a floor vote on 5/19/22 and will be going to a vote on the Assembly Floor during the week on 5/23/2022.
Hundreds of bills will be voted on this week. Please contact your representative so they know you want them to support AB1630.
Time-sensitive action item
Four steps to make sure AB1630 passes out of the Assembly this week!
Go to Find Your Assembly Representative, enter your address and hit "locate."
Click on your Assemblymember's name to go to the official website.
Click the link to the contact form from the home page or menu The form will ask you to "Select An Issue" from a dropdown menu. Each Assemblymember's dropdown options are different, but all should include something like "Other Legislation" or "Bill Comments."
Adjust the template message below to include your information and anything you would like to add about why you support AB1630
If your Assemblymember is Dr. Weber, you can simply thank her for introducing AB1630 in the Assembly. There would be no Vulnerable Defendant's Right to a Fair Trial Act without her leadership. You won't need much of the template below, but you can certainly share with Dr. Weber why you care about the issue.
If your Assemblymember is one of the other Democrats on the Assembly Appropriations Committee (Isaac Bryan, Lisa Calderon, Wendy Carrillo, Mike Fong, Jesse Gabriel, Eduardo Garcia, Chris Holden, Marc Levine, Bill Quirk, Robert Rivas, Lori Wilson), you can thank them for voting to pass AB1630 out of the Appropriations Committee last week.
If your Assemblymember is one of the Republicans on the Assembly Appropriations Committee (Frank Bigelow, Megan Dahle, Laurie Davies, Vince Fong), you can share your disappointment with their "No" vote in Committee and let them know why they should change their vote this week when the bill comes to the floor.
Message template:
Greetings,
I am writing to urge the Assemblymember to support AB1630 when it comes to the Assembly floor for a vote this week.
AB 1630 addresses issues with California’s Incompetence to Stand Trial procedures that have caused poor individuals with mental illness to be cycled through the criminal legal system instead of receiving adequate treatment. This is a priority reform area for the State. As of November 2021, there were 1,700 individuals waiting in jail for competency restoration treatment.
AB 1630 will implement three of the recommendations published by the Incompetence to Stand Trial Work Group in November 2021. Specifically, AB1630 will amend provisions of the Penal Code to increase accountability, discourage unnecessary trials, and promote early access to treatment for the vulnerable individuals who become system-involved as the result of a mental illness.
I am asking the Assemblymember to SUPPORT AB1630.
BONUS:
Call Your CA Rep at their Capitol Office using this formula:
(916)319-20xx xx=your assembly district #
Call script: Hello, I am a constituent of Assemblymember _____________’s in [city/district]. I am calling to urge the Assemblymember to support AB1630 when it comes to the Assembly floor for a vote this week. The Vulnerable Defendant's Right to a Fair Trial Act upholds due process for defendants deemed incompetent to stand trial and puts a stop to one of the ways individuals with mental illness are cycled through the criminal legal system instead of receiving adequate treatment. Please SUPPORT AB1630. Thank you!
If you’re on your phone and want to click-through to a number that will call automatically go to: Assemblymember Contacts