Opinion ID: 2514218
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Amended Statute Applies by Its Terms Here.

Text: The parties seem to assume that amended section 4852.01(d) applies to persons seeking a certificate of rehabilitation after January 1, 1998, the amendment's effective date, if they were convicted of a specified sex crime at any time. Under such a construction, the certificate is unavailable to the petitioner even though he committed his crimes and allegedly reformed before the amended statute took effect. We agree the Legislature intended this result. In preventing some convicted sex offenders from invoking the certificate of rehabilitation scheme, section 4852.01(d) does not state that the underlying crime must occur, or that a conviction must be entered, after January 1, 1998. Nor does the amendment purport to exempt from its operation individuals who were eligible to pursue a certificate of rehabilitation before that time, but who failed to do so. Rather, the amendment declares that the certificate of rehabilitation procedure in section 4852.01 et seq. shall not apply to persons convicted of violating particular sex crime statutes. (§ 4852.01(d).) This language is unqualified, and its meaning is plain. No one who has ever been convicted of a specified offense can use the statutory scheme to request or receive a certificate of rehabilitation with the amended statute in effect. To hold that the amendment does not apply based on the age of the underlying crimes or for some other reason, we would have to engraft onto section 4852.01(d) exceptions and limitations that find no support in its literal terms. We decline to rewrite the statute or to artificially restrict its scope. The legislative history supports our determination that the amended statute applies under the circumstances of the present case. These materials disclose several reasons for the amendment, and suggest an intent to immediately affect the broadest possible range of cases. [20] First, based on the high recidivism rate, persons convicted of the sex crimes listed in section 4852.01(d) were deemed to be a threat to the public long after their crimes are committed and any sentence is served. (Assem. Com. on Public Safety, Analysis of Assem. Bill No. 729 (1997-1998 Reg. Sess.) as introduced Feb. 26, 1997, pp. 1, 3.) The Legislature doubted that rehabilitation could be verifi[ed] in such cases; it assumed a risk of reoffense exists even where a judicial finding of reform is made, and feared the public might be lulled into a false sense of security under such circumstances. ( Id. at p. 3.) The Legislature determined that the public is best protected by denying potential recidivists access to certificates of rehabilitation altogether. ( Ibid. ) Next, the Legislature found that even before section 4852.01(d) was amended, convicted sex offenders received no practical benefit under the statutory scheme. (Sen. Com. on Public Safety, Analysis of Assem. Bill No. 729 (1997-1998 Reg. Sess.) as amended May 5, 1997, p. 3.) Information from the Governor's Office revealed that pardons based `on certificates of rehabilitation are rare for persons convicted of the sex crimes listed in section 4852.01(d). (Assem. Com. on Public Safety, Analysis of Assem. Bill No. 729 (1997-1998 Reg. Sess.) as introduced Feb. 26, 1997, p. 4.) The Legislature also predicted that fewer convicted sex offenders would seek or obtain certificates of rehabilitation in light of two then recent changes in other statutes. (Sen. Com. on Public Safety, Analysis of Assem. Bill No. 729 (1997-1998 Reg. Sess.) as amended May 5, 1997, p. 3.) Such changes were identified ( ibid.), as follows: (1) the amendment of section 290.5, which ended the ability of many sex offendersincluding those covered by section 4852.01(d)to use a certificate of rehabilitation to remove the duty to register under section 290 (see ante, fn. 16), and (2) the enactment of section 4852.13(b), which prevents certificates of rehabilitation from being granted to sex offenders who remain a threat to minors (see ante, fn. 12). Finally, the Legislature sought to avoid the waste of public resources that would occur if certificates of rehabilitation were routinely requested and denied in sex offense cases. (Sen. Com. on Public Safety, Analysis of Assem. Bill No. 729 (1997-1998 Reg. Sess.) as amended May 5, 1997, pp. 3, 5.) Lawmakers were keenly aware of provisions in section 4852.01 et seq. allowing petitioners to seek certificates of rehabilitation at public expense, obligating public agencies to investigate and litigate those petitions, and compelling the superior court to hold hearings in such cases. (Assem. Com. on Public Safety, Analysis of Assem. Bill No. 729 (1997-1998 Reg. Sess.) as introduced Feb. 26, 1997, pp. 3-4.) Section 4852.01(d) sought to reduce the burdensome effect of these provisions by barring requests for certificates of rehabilitation that have little or no chance of success. (Assem. Com. on Public Safety, Analysis of Assem. Bill No. 729 (1997-1998 Reg. Sess.) at p. 3.) In light of the foregoing concerns, the Legislature must have intended to bar persons convicted of the targeted sex crimes from receiving certificates of rehabilitation under section 4852.01(d) as soon as it took effect. A contrary construction would prolong the risk to the public of granting such certificates to convicted sex offenders who had not genuinely reformed, and would postpone the cost-saving benefits which the measure was expected to produce. For instance, if section 4852.01(d) were found to apply only to qualifying sex crimes committed after its January 1, 1998, effective date, the statute would have no effect until the perpetrator of a post-1997 crime had been convicted, served his sentence, completed a lengthy period of rehabilitation, and sought relief under the statutory scheme. Such a construction would effectively delay implementation of the statute for many years after its enactment. We cannot conceive the Legislature intended to postpone and frustrate section 4852.01(d)'s aims in this manner. [21] Consistent with the parties' apparent understanding of the amended statute, we conclude section 4852.01(d) applies to Ansell based on his 1980 convictions under section 288, subdivision (a), and section 288a, subdivision (c). His request for a certificate of rehabilitation was properly denied unless the amendment is unconstitutionalan issue we now address.