Opinion
Dеfendants sentenced to prison for criminal conduct are entitled to credit against their terms for all actual days of presentence and postsentence custody (Pen. Code, 1 §§ 2900, subd. (c), 2900.5, subds. (a), (b)) and while in prison custody, can earn postsentence good behavior/worktime credits (§ 2931) or prison worktime credits (§ 2933) to shorten the period of incarceration. Defendants detained in a county jail, or other equivalent specifiеd facility, “prior to the imposition of sentence,” may also be eligible for presentence good behavior/worktime credits (collectively referred to as conduct credits) of up to two days for every four days of actual custody. (§ 4019, subds. (a)(4), (b), (c), (e), (f).) Section 2933.1, subdivision (c), adopted in 1994, limits the authorized award of presentence conduct credits to a maximum of 15 percent of a defendant’s actual period of prеsentence confinement for specified felons, including murderers. In this case, a jury convicted defendant for a murder that was committed on May 22, 1998. We granted review to determine whether the 15 percent limitation on presentence conduct credits applies to convicted murderers, such as defendant, who were sentenced under the 1978 version of section 190, which designates the punishment for murder. 2 As explained below, we conсlude that section 2933.1 applies to limit defendant’s award of presentence conduct credits.
*41 Factual Background
The information charged that defendant murdered his wife on May 22, 1998. (§ 187.) It further alleged that he personally used a dangerous weapon, a knife, during the commission of the crime. (§ 12022, subd. (b)(1).) The jury found defendant guilty of second degree murder and found the personal-use allegation to be true. The trial court imposed a sentence of 15 years to life on thе murder conviction (§ 190), and a one-year consecutive determinate term on the personal-use finding. The court awarded defendant 336 days for actual time served (§ 2900.5, subd. (a)) and 50 days of presentence conduct credits (§ 4019, subds. (b), (c)). In calculating the presentence conduct credits, the court limited those credits to 15 percent of the actual time served under section 2933.1, subdivision (c). 3
Defendant appealed and claimed, among other things, that the trial court miscalculated his presentence conduct credits under section 2933.1. Agreeing with defendant that the trial court erred in limiting those credits, the Court of Appeal awarded defendant full presentence conduct credits, as authorized under section 4019. The court modified the judgment by increasing the presentence conduct credits from 50 days to 168 days, but otherwise affirmed the conviction.
Defendant sought review herе on an instructional issue not before us. The Attorney General filed a letter, which we deemed to be an answer, contesting the modification of sentence. We granted review solely on the credits issue.
Discussion
As in the Court of Appeal, defendant asserts that his murder sentence was based on the 1978 version of section 190, which had been adopted by the electorate by the passage of the Briggs Initiative. He argues that, because sectiоn 2933.1 was enacted by the Legislature in 1994 without voter approval, the limitation of presentence conduct credits against that sentence was an invalid modification of the Briggs Initiative. For the reasons stated below, we disagree.
On November 7, 1978, the voters amended section 190 by the passage of the Briggs Initiative. The amendment increased the punishment for first
*42
degree murder from an indeterminate term of life imprisonment to a term of 25 years to life, and for second degree murder from a term of five, six, or seven years to 15 years to life in state prison. (Prop. 7, as approved by voters, Gen. Elec. (Nov. 7, 1978); see Note, Deering’s Ann. Pen. Code (1985 ed.) foll. § 190, p. 82;
People
v.
Bright
(1996)
At the time the Briggs Initiative was approved, article 2.5 contained only provisions rеlating to prison conduct credits: sections 2930 (notice to prisoners about availability of credits), 2931 (good behavior and participation credits), and 2932 (forfeiture of such credits). (Stats. 1976, ch. 1139, § 276, pp. 5146-5149;
In re Oluwa
(1989)
In 1988 and 1994, the voters again approved legislative amendments to section 190 by the passage of Propositions 67 and 179, respectively. The amendments increased the penalties for certain designated murders not applicable here, consistent with the purpose of the Briggs Initiative to increase the punishmеnt for persons convicted of murder. (Stats. 1987, ch. 1006, § 1, pp. 3367-3368, approved by voters as Prop. 67, eff. June 8, 1988; Ballot Pamp., Primary Elec. (June 7, 1988) analysis and text of Prop. 67, pp. 8-9; and see Legis. Counsel’s Dig., Sen. Bill No. 402, 4 Stats. 1987 (1987-1988 Reg. Sess.) Summary Dig., p. 335; Stats. 1993, ch. 609, § 3, p. 3266, approved by voters as Prop. 179, eff. June 8, 1994; Ballot Pamp., Primary Elec. (June 7, 1994) analysis, text, and argument in favor of Prop. 179, pp. 22-23, 29; Legis. Counsel’s Dig., Sen. Bill. No. 310, 5 Stats. 1993 (1993-1994 Reg. Sess.) Summary Dig., pp. 236-237; see Notes, Deering’s Ann. Pen. Code (2001 supp.) foll. § 190, pp. 38-39.)
*43 At the timе of the murder in this case (May 1998), the credits provision in subdivision (a) of former section 190, as amended effective 1994, read: “Except as provided in subdivision (b), Article 2.5 (commencing with Section 2930) of Chapter 7 of Title 1 of Part 3 shall apply to reduce any minimum term of 15, 20, or 25 years in the state prison imposed pursuant to this section, but the person shall not otherwise be released on parole prior to that time.” (Stats. 1993, ch. 609, § 3, p. 3266.)
In 1994, the Legislature added section 2933.1 to article 2.5 as an urgency measure. (Stats. 1994, ch. 713, § 1, p. 3448.) For specified felons, section 2933.1 limits presentence conduct credits authorized under section 4019.
(People v. Buckhalter
(2001)
Murder is one of the qualifying felony offenses specified in section 667.5, subdivision (c)(1).
Relying on
In re Oluwa, supra,
A statute enacted by voter initiative may be changed only with the approval of the electorate unless the initiative measure itself permits amendment or repeal without voter approval. (Cal. Const., art. II, § 10, subd. (c).) The Briggs Initiative did not authorize the Legislature to amend its provisions without voter approval.
(In re Oluwa, supra,
207 Cal.App.3d at pp. 445-446.) “ ‘It is a well established principle of statutory law that, where a statute adopts by specific reference the provisions of another statute, regulation, or ordinance, such provisions are incorporated in the form in which they exist at the time of the reference and not as subsequently modified .... [Citations.] [¶] . . . [¶] . . . [T]here is a cognate rule, recognized as applicable to many cases, to the effect that whеre the reference is general instead of specific, such as a reference to a system or body of laws or to the general law relating to the subject in hand, the referring statute takes the law or laws referred to not only in their contemporary form, but also as they may be changed from time to time, and ... as they may be subjected to elimination altogether by repeal. [Citations.]’ ”
(Palermo v. Stockton Theatres, Inc.
(1948)
*45
In
Oluwa,
the issue was whether the defendant, who was sentenced to 15 years to life for second degree murder, was entitled to a more favorable credit calculation for postsentence worktime credits under section 2933.
(In re Oluwa, supra,
In this case, the Court of Appeal recognized that, unlike the expansion of credits in Oluwa, the limitation of credits by section 2933.1 does not directly contradict the intention of the electorate in approving the Briggs Initiative. It nevertheless concluded that “the limitation of credits effects no less an amendment of section 190.”
We disagree. Tо determine the meaning of a statute, we seek to discern the sense of its language, in full context, in light of its purpose.
(In re Cervera
(2001)
Thus, the first clause, in referring to the
availability
of credits under “Article 2.5 (commencing with Section 2930) ... to reduce any minimum term” for those defendants sentenced under former section 190, was specifically rеferring only to the availability of pastsentence conduct credits. This clause, authorizing the availability of postsentence conduct credits to reduce a murder term, when read together with the second clause, “but such person shall not otherwise be released on parole prior to such time,” reflects the voters’ intent to establish the
absolute
minimum prison term a convicted murderer must serve,
after
the award of the term-shortening postsentence conduct credits. (See
People
v.
Jenkins
(1995)
In arguing that the trial court’s limitation of his presentence conduct credits was an improper legislative amendment, defendant assumes thаt he is entitled to full presentence conduct credits under section 4019. However, in *47 determining electorate intent, we believe that the language of former section 190 presents an ambiguity. On the one hand, the phrase, “but such person shall not otherwise be released on parole prior to such time” (italics added), can be interpreted to impliedly prohibit the award of any conduct credits, other than postsentence conduct credits, to murderers. Under this constructiоn, defendant is not entitled to any presentence conduct credits under section 4019.
On the other hand, another reasonable interpretation is that former section 190, in referring specifically to article 2.5 prison conduct credits, was addressing
only
the manner in which postsentence conduct credits can apply to reduce a murder sentence without any reference to presentence conduct credits. Because the statute does not preclude the award of presentence conduct credits to defendants convicted of murder, section 4019, which generally authorizes such credits, remains operative. Under this construction, defendant is not precluded from an award of presentence conduct credits under section 4019. This interpretation is consistent with the Attorney General’s position. He concedes that convicted murderers whose cases fall into the window period between the effective dates of section 2933.1 and Proposition 222 are entitled to some presentence conduct credits. Moreover, because an ambiguity in the statutory language should be construed “ ‘as favorably to the defendant as its language and the circumstances of its application may reasonably permit’ ”
(People v. Garcia
(1999)
*48
Oluwa
is distinguishable because it involved the legislative amendment of article 2.5 postsentence conduct credits. (See
People v. Aguirre, supra,
Conclusion
We reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeal relating to the credits issue and remand the case to that court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
George, C. J., Kennard, J., Baxter, J., Werdegar, J., Brown, J., and Moreno, J., conсurred.
Notes
All further undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.
In June 1998, almost two weeks after the murder in this case, the voters approved the legislative amendment to section 190 and the legislative enactment of section 2933.2 by the passage of Proposition 222. (Stats. 1996, ch. 598, §§ 1, 3-4; Stats. 1997, ch. 413, § 1; Prop. 222, as approved by voters, Primary Elec. (June 2, 1998);
People y. Herrera
(2001)
At trial, defendant failed to object to the trial court’s limitation of presentence conduct credits under section 2933.1. However, the Attorney General concedes that defendant did not waive the issue regarding the appropriate formula for calculating the presentence conduct credits.
(People
v.
Aguirre
(1997)
Defendant was sentenced under former section 190 as it was amended by the passage of Proposition 179 in 1994. He maintains that former section 190 incorporated by specific reference the code sections contained in article 2.5 at the time of the Briggs Initiative. Government Code section 9605 supports his position. It provides in pertinent part that “Where a section or part of a statute is amended, it is not to be considered as having been repealed and reenacted in the amended form. The portions which are not altered are to be considered as *44 having been the law from the time when they were enacted; the new provisions are to be considered as having been enacted at the time of the amendment; and the omitted portions are to be considered as having been repealed at the time of the amendment.” The voter-approved amendments to former section 190—Proposition 67 in 1988 and Proposition 179 in 1994— did not substantively change the credits provision in the 1978 version of the Briggs Initiative. Because there werе no changes to the credits provision, there were no reenactments. (In re Oluwa, supra, 207 Cal.App.3d at pp. 446-447.) In any event, even if the 1994 version of former section 190 refers to article 2.5 in effect at the time Proposition 179 was approved, there were no dispositive changes to article 2.5 between the passages of the Briggs Initiative in 1978 and Proposition 179 in 1994. Article 2.5, at the times the Briggs Initiative and Proposition 179 were approved, contained only provisions that authorized the award of postsentence prison conduct credits. In addition, Proposition 179 was approved before the effective date of section 2933.1.
In 1982, the Legislature expanded the postsentence credits scheme, contained in article 2.5, by adding sections 2933 (worktime credit), 2934 (waiver of right to receive good behavior credits), and 2935 (additional reduction of sentence for heroic aсt) to that article. (Stats. 1982, ch. 1234, §§ 4-6, pp. 4551-4553.) Section 2933 allows inmates to reduce their sentences by a maximum one-half for “ ‘performance in work, training or education programs . . . ”
(In re Oluwa, supra,
Allowing section 4019 conduct credits against the sentences of convicted murderers under former section 190 does not appear to contravene the electorate’s intent. Under section 4019, defendant is entitled to a maximum of two additional days for every four days of actual custody in county jail. (§ 4019, subds. (a)(4), (b), (c), (e), (f);
People
v.
Buckhalter, supra,
Before 1982, section 4019 provided presеntence conduct credits for certain city and county jail detainees, including misdemeanants in jail custody, both before and after conviction and sentencing (§ 4019, subd. (a)(l)-(3)), but did not expressly allow such credits to persons detained in jail on felony charges before conviction and sentencing. (Stats. 1976, ch.
*48
286, § 4, pp. 595-596;
People v. Sage, supra,
26 Cal.3d at pp. 504, 507.) In
People v. Sage, supra,
26 Cal.3d at pages 506-509, we held that this discrepancy in the presentence jail treatment of misdemeanants and felons violated equal protection.
(People
v.
Buckhalter, supra,
26 CalAth at p. 36.) In 1982, the Legislature codified
Sage
by the addition of subdivision (a)(4) to section 4019. (Stats. 1982, ch. 1234, § 7, pp. 4553-4554;
People v. King
(1992)