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Name: Bourquez v. Superior Court of Sacramento
Case #: C055402
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 3 DCA
Opinion Date: 11/14/2007
Summary

The indeterminate term provisions of Welfare and Institutions Code section 6600 et seq. apply to persons confined as Sexually Violent Predators (SVP) for two years under the former version of section 6604. Petitioners had been subjected to involuntary two-year commitments pursuant to the Sexually Violent Predator Act and had petitions to extend their commitments pending when Senate Bill 1128 and Proposition 83 allowing for indefinite terms of commitment were passed. The court rejected petitioner’s argument that because the new legislation failed to expressly address the individual who had previously been committed for the two-year period, the individual was not subject to the indefinite term under the amended statute. Noting that inasmuch as the intent of the legislature in amending the statute was to continue the confinement of the SVP for an indefinite term, the statute applied to a person in appellant’s position and under the statute’s implied saving clause, the superior court has jurisdiction to proceed on the petitions under the new period of commitment.