BILL NUMBER: AB 1620	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Washington

                        FEBRUARY 23, 2001

   An act to add Chapter 2.7 (commencing with Section 995) to Part 1
of Division 2 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to crime
prevention.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1620, as introduced, Washington.  Crime prevention.
   Existing law establishes the California Gang, Crime, and Violence
Prevention Partnership Program, the Juvenile Crime Enforcement and
Accountability Challenge Grant Programs, and the Runaway Youth and
Families in Crises Projects, as specified.
   Existing law establishes the California Health and Human Services
Agency which consists of, among other departments, the Department of
Health Services and the State Department of Social Services, and
which includes the Office of Statewide Health Planning and
Development.
   This bill would create within the California Health and Human
Services Agency, an Office of Youth Violence Prevention with
specified duties, including, but not limited to, the consolidation,
coordination, administration, and review of existing programs
relating to at-risk youths and young adults, as defined;
administering a grant program that would take a public health
approach to preventing, intervening, and reducing crime, violence,
and gangs; and developing a statewide plan for consolidating
augmenting, allocating, and coordinating prevention programs.  The
plan would be developed with the approval of an advisory board.  The
office would be required to report annually to the Legislature
regarding the program, its outcome, and the target group of at-risk
youths and young adults participating in the program.  The bill would
provide that the Health and Human Services Agency shall be
responsible for developing a statewide plan to be known as the
California Violence Prevention and Public Health Plan that would make
recommendations regarding the augmentation, allocation,
implementation, and coordination of violence, crime, and gang
prevention programs and resources, to be submitted to the Legislature
within 2 years of the enactment of the bill.
   The bill also would establish the Youth Violence Prevention Fund
in the State Treasury and provide that, upon appropriation, funds
therein shall be used by the office to carry out the purposes of the
bill.  Funding for the Office of Youth Violence Prevention would be
provided from the General Fund in an amount equal to an unspecified
percentage of the operating budget of the Department of the Youth
Authority and from revenue raised through the issuance of a special
vehicle license plate for passenger vehicles of an unspecified
weight.  The fee would be an additional $50 for issuance of the
original registration and an additional $27 upon renewal of
registration, with specified amounts to be deposited into the Youth
Violence Prevention Fund or retained by the Department of Motor
Vehicles to help defray administrative costs.
   Vote:  majority.  Appropriation:  no.  Fiscal committee:  yes.
State-mandated local program:  no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Chapter 2.7 (commencing with Section 995) is added to
Part 1 of Division 2 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:

      CHAPTER 2.7.   VIOLENCE PREVENTION AND PUBLIC HEALTH ACT

   995.  This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the Violence
Prevention and Public Health Act.
   995.1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
   (a) Violence and crime are public health issues and must be
treated through a public health approach that:  (1) identifies
behavioral and environmental risk factors that contribute to the
occurrence of crime and violence, (2) implements protective factors
to prevent, intervene, and reduce crime and violence, and (3)
implements community guidelines for preventing, reducing, and
intervening in the commission of crime and violence.
   (b) The United States Department of Justice has estimated that
crime costs $490 billion dollars per year in the form of stolen or
damaged property, loss of productivity to society, loss of work time,
costs to operate law enforcement and the criminal justice system,
and pain and suffering of victims.  While the costs can be quantified
in monetary terms, it is the intangible costs of crime, fear,
isolation, anger, and loss of trust, that can never truly be
quantified or compensated for.
   (c) The health related costs of crime and violence are enormous.
The average cost to treat a gunshot victim in California in 1993 was
approximately twenty-five thousand eight hundred eighty-three dollars
($25,883).  In 1993, it cost $703 million dollars in direct medical
care to treat wounded gunshot victims and fatalities.  Over 80
percent of the medical care provided to gunshot victims were
uncompensated costs and were passed on to the California public in
1995.
   (d) In 1999, there were approximately 47 state programs that can
be classified as violence, crime, or gang prevention programs and
that are operated by 11 state departments within six separate
agencies.  Of these programs, approximately 17 target at-risk youth
and young adults and are specifically designed to prevent or reduce
violence, crime, or gang activity, while only a few programs
specifically follow the public health model approach.
   (e) Consolidating many of the state's violence, crime, and gang
prevention programs into one office will result in greater
efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and the sharing of resources,
information, and experience.  In 1994 and in 1996, respectively, the
Little Hoover Commission and the Task Force to Review Juvenile Crime
and the Juvenile Justice Response have both recommended that youth
violence and crime prevention programs be consolidated into a single
state agency to ensure greater effectiveness.
   (f) There is a practical and strong need to improve many of the
state's current prevention programs by requiring that they (1) target
at-risk youth and young adults and at-risk families, (2) be
community-based and collaborative, (3) follow the public health model
approach for preventing or reducing violence, crime, and game
activity, (4) identify measurable goals and objectives, including the
improvement of attitudes and behaviors toward violence, crime, and
gangs, and (5) be evaluated to ensure that goals and objectives are
being met and that attitudes and behaviors are being improved.
   (g) California has no comprehensive plan or strategy for
preventing violence, crime, and gang activity through preventive,
public health approaches.
   (h) Despite recent declines in the arrest and conviction rates of
violent, criminal, and gang offenders, the number of victims,
arrests, and convictions remain unacceptably high.
   (i) California expends a significant amount of its resources for
law enforcement, incarceration, courts, prosecution, and public
defense (approximately $15.5 billion dollars in 1994-95) while
spending under $250 million dollars for prevention programs targeting
at-risk youth and young adults.
   (j) The criminal justice approach to violence, crime, and gang
activity can not adequately bring violence, crime, and gang activity
to an acceptable level, and must be balanced with other strategies,
such as the prevention and public health approach, which can serve,
prevent, and reduce violence, crime, and gang activity.
   (k) There is a strong and practical need to develop new prevention
policies to require that (1) at-risk youth and young adults and
at-risk families are targeted to receive services, support or
activities, (2) prevention efforts be community-based and
collaborative, (3) prevention efforts follow the public health model
approach for preventing or reducing violence, crime, and gang
activity, (4) prevention efforts identify measurable goals and
objectives, including the improvement of attitudes and behaviors
toward violence, crime, and gangs, and (5) prevention efforts are
evaluated to ensure that goals and objectives are being met and that
attitudes and behaviors are being improved.
   (l) Local communities need assistance and resources for developing
and implementing effective strategies and programs to prevent,
intervene, and reduce violence, crime, and gang activity.
   (m) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this chapter
that the Office of Youth Violence Prevention be created to prevent,
intervene, and reduce violence, crime, and gang activity through
preventive, intervention, and public health strategies, that existing
prevention programs be consolidated into and coordinated by the
office for purposes of efficiency and cost effectiveness, that
existing prevention programs be improved to ensure effectiveness and
accountability, that a statewide plan be developed to ensure that
prevention strategies are carried out throughout the state in a
methodical and effective manner, and that new policy be established
to fill in gaps in services that can prevent, intervene, and reduce
at-risk youth and young adults and at-risk families from beginning or
continuing the cycle of violence, crime, or gangs.  However, in
consolidating existing prevention programs into the office, it is not
the Legislature's intent that resources for these programs be
eliminated, reduced, or affected in any way.
   995.2.  (a) An Office of Youth Violence Prevention is hereby
created within the Health and Human Services Agency.
   (b) The duties and responsibilities of the office shall include,
but not be limited to, all of the following:
   (1) Consolidate, coordinate, and administer existing
state-operated programs that are undertaken primarily for purposes of
preventing at-risk youth and young adults and at-risk families from
entering or continuing the cycle of crime, violence, and gangs.
These programs do not include those programs operated by local
government, such as probation programs.
   (2) Provide technical assistance and support to local communities,
cities, and counties in designing and implementing effective
programs and strategies for preventing and reducing the number of
at-risk youth and young adults and at-risk families from engaging in
crime, violence, and gangs.
   (3) Review state operated violence, crime, and gang prevention
programs to determine whether they are community-based and require
collaboration, whether they follow the public health model approach
in preventing or reducing violence, crime, and gang activity, whether
they identify specific goals and objectives, whether they require
measurable outcomes, including changes in attitudes and behaviors,
whether each program requires effective evaluation of the program,
and making recommendations and changes where appropriate to ensure
that these programs contain these components.
   (4) Administer a grant program as described in Section 995.3 that
makes resources available to community-based efforts that take a
public health approach to preventing, intervening, and reducing
crime, violence, and gangs.
   (5) Identify and disseminate information regarding the
availability of state, federal, public, and private funding that can
be used for violence, crime, or gang prevention or intervention
activities and services.
   (6) Apply for funding from state, federal, public, and private
sources that can be awarded to organizations through the grant
program.
   (7) Analyze state public policy to assess California's responses
to crime, violence, and gangs, and issuing recommendations to ensure
the state follows the public health model approach in undertaking
significant and effective prevention and intervention efforts to
prevent and reduce violence, crime, and gangs.
   (8) Evaluate existing state operated prevention and intervention
programs to determine their effectiveness in preventing or reducing
violence, crime, and gangs, as well as in improving attitudes toward
violence, crime, and gangs.
   (9) Develop a statewide plan for consolidating, augmenting,
allocating, and coordinating violence, crime, and gang prevention
programs and resources. The plan shall be developed with the
recommendations and approval of the advisory board established
pursuant to Section 995.6 and shall be known as the California
Violence Prevention and Public Health Plan.
   (10) Promote and advocate at all levels of government for the
provision, expansion, and funding of effective community-based
prevention and public health programs as part of a balanced strategy
for preventing and reducing violence, crime, and gangs.
   (11) Report to the Legislature, on or before January 1, 2004, and
annually thereafter, at least all of the following information:  (A)
activities taken by the office and their outcomes, (B) activities
taken to implement the California Violence Prevention and Public
Health Plan, and their outcomes, (C) the number of at-risk youth and
young adults and at-risk families, as defined in this chapter,
participating in violence, crime, and gang prevention programs
operated by the state and by the office, and the outcomes of their
participation, (D) the number of youth arrested for violence, crime,
or gang activity, the disposition of their arrest, and the number of
youth made wards of the courts, (E) the number of adults arrested for
violence, crime, or gang activity, and the disposition of their
arrest, and (F) the number of adults sentenced to jail, state, or
federal prison.
   (12) The office shall not engage, promote, or otherwise support
containment or suppression-type activities that include, but are not
limited to, types of activities that require the identification,
monitoring, or disclosure of gang members and juvenile and adult
offenders, to law enforcement agencies.
   995.3.  (a) A grant program is hereby established to carry out the
goals specified in subdivision (b).  The grant program shall be
administered by the Office of Youth Violence Prevention in accordance
with the provisions of this chapter.
   (b) Programs administered under the grant program required by this
section shall be designed at a minimum to do the following:
   (1) Improve attitudes and behaviors toward violence, crime, or
gangs.
   (2) Identify specific goals and objectives.
   (3) Take a public health model approach to preventing and reducing
crime by identifying risk factors, implementing protective factors,
and undertaking community campaign efforts.
   (4) Target at-risk youth and young adults, including both males
and females and those in or exiting the juvenile justice system, and
at-risk families.
   (5) Require the involvement of community-based organizations.
   (6) Require collaboration with other organizations and agencies
where appropriate.
   (7) Require that each program be objectively evaluated to
determine whether attitudes and behaviors toward violence, crime, or
gangs are being improved and whether program goals and objectives are
being met.
   (c) This grant program shall provide funding to, but not be
limited to funding, the following types of prevention and
intervention programs:
   (1) Community-based youth violence, crime, or gang prevention or
early intervention programs.
   (2) School-based youth violence, crime, or gang prevention
programs.
   (3) Early childhood intervention programs designed to prevent
violence, crime, or gangs, and which serve young children and
families at risk.
   (4) Family violence, domestic violence, and sexual assault
prevention programs.
   (5) Programs that provide shelter and support services to runaway
youth and their families.
   (6) Prevention programs that include alcohol and substance abuse
prevention efforts.
   (7) Intervention programs that provide support services to youth
and young adults in or exiting the juvenile justice system, and to
their families.
   (8) Prevention programs that include health care services.
   (9) Intensive home visiting programs that promote, improve, and
strengthen at-risk families.
   (10) Programs that (A) identify precursors to violence through the
collection of stratified random samples from communities to
ascertain prenatal exposure to drugs and alcohol, patterns of
behavior in preschools, elementary school incidents, and other
relevant data, (B) establish productive school, neighborhood, and
family environments to reduce substance abuse, antisocial behavior,
school learning, and other adverse events, and (C) assure adequate
recognition, and reinforcement for young people who take
responsibility for their community and engage in productive activity.

   995.4.  (a) At-risk youth and young adults are hereby defined to
include, but not limited to, persons between the ages of 0 to 25
years, inclusive, who fall into one of the following categories:
   (1) Prenatal exposure to alcohol or drugs.
   (2) Exhibit excessively aggressive or violent behavior.
   (3) Abuse alcohol, drugs, or controlled substances.
   (4) Have been emotionally, physically, or sexually abused.
   (5) Have entered the juvenile justice system.
   (6) Are identified by the juvenile justice system as being at
risk.
   (7) Are current or former gang members.
   (8) Have one or more family members who are current or former gang
members.
   (9) Are wards of the court, as defined in Section 601 or 602.
   (10) Have recently been released from the Department of the Youth
Authority, juvenile hall, boot camp, or other state or local
governmental youth detention facility.
   (b) At-risk youth and young adults may also include, but are not
limited to, persons between the ages of 0 to 25 years, inclusive, who
fall into no less than two of the categories identified in this
subdivision, or a combination of categories identified in this
subdivision and in subdivision (a):
   (1) Live in high crime or high violence neighborhood as identified
by state or federal agencies.
   (2) Live in a low-income neighborhood.
   (3) Are excessively absent from school or performing poorly in
school.
   (4) Come from socially dysfunctional families as diagnosed by a
social service or health professional.
   (5) Have run away from home.
   (c) At-risk families are defined to include, but are not limited
to, families that are comprised of at least one at-risk youth or
young adult as defined in this section or have been identified as at
risk of engaging in negligent, abusive, or criminal behavior.
   995.5.  (a) The following state programs that are designed to
prevent and deter youth violence, crime, or gangs, to target at-risk
youth and young adults, and do not require suppression activities and
the personnel that operate them shall be transferred to the Office
of Youth Violence Prevention within one to two years of the enactment
of this chapter:
   (1) The Board of Corrections, the At-Risk Youth Early Intervention
Program, the Juvenile Crime Enforcement and Accountability Challenge
Grant Program, and the Repeat Offender Prevention Grant program.
   (2) The California Department of Education, the Conflict
Resolution and Youth Mediation Program, the Gang Risk Intervention
Program Grant, the High Risk Youth Education and Public Safety
Program, and the Targeted Truancy and Public Safety Program.
   (3) The State Department of Social Services, the Community
Alternatives to Violence Program, and the Juvenile Crime Prevention
Initiative Program.
   (b) In consolidating the programs listed in subdivision (a) into
the Office of Youth Violence Prevention, it is the intent of the
Legislature that these programs continue to receive funding subject
to applicable legislation, if they are found to be promising or
effective in preventing or reducing violence, crime, or gang
activity, and if they are found to be promising or effective in
improving attitudes and behaviors of at-risk youth, young adults, or
families toward violence, crime, and gangs.
   (c) The office is not precluded from entering into a memorandum of
understanding with departments operating any of the programs
identified in this section for purposes of allowing the departments
to continue operating any of these programs if the program is
scheduled to terminate within one year of the date the program is to
be transferred to the office.
   (d) The Office of Youth Violence Prevention and the advisory board
described in Section 995.6 shall develop a plan for transferring
these programs to the office in a timely and orderly fashion.
   995.6.  (a) An advisory board shall be formed to meet at least
four times a year and to carry out the following duties:
   (1) Provide direction and make recommendations regarding the
activities, priorities, and policies of the office.
   (2) Provide comment and recommendations for a prevention plan to
be developed by the office pursuant to Section 995.8.
   (3) Take a visible and active role to inform the public of the
need for expanding and funding public health and prevention
strategies that can effectively prevent and reduce violence, gangs,
and crime.
   (4) Develop relationships with the public and private sector for
purposes of applying for and securing resources for the grant program
established pursuant to Section 995.3.
   (5) Assist the office in promoting prevention programs and
strategies in local communities.
   (6) Assist the office in developing state prevention and
intervention policy that fill in the gap in existing policy relating
to at-risk youth and young adults, and wards under the jurisdiction
of the juvenile justice system.
   (b) The advisory board shall be comprised of the following
members:
   (1) The Secretary of the California Health and Human Services
Agency.
   (2) The State Director of Health Services.
   (3) A local law enforcement officer to be appointed by the
Governor.
   (4) A representative of a school district or county office of
education that has implemented a collaborative, school-based
violence, crime, or gang prevention program that follows the public
health model approach, to be appointed by the Governor.
   (5) A professional with expertise in utilizing economic
development strategies for preventing or reducing violence and crime
to be appointed by the Governor.
   (6) A youth member under the age of 25 years, having experience in
programs, services, or activities related to the public health model
approach to preventing violence, crime, or gangs.
   (7) A chief probation officer to be appointed by the Attorney
General.
   (8) A criminologist or juvenile justice expert having specialized
knowledge of the public health model approach to violence, crime, or
gang prevention matters to be appointed by the Attorney General.
   (9) A social or health practitioner having expertise in taking a
public health model approach to violence, crime, or gang prevention
matters, to be appointed by the Speaker pro Tempore of the Senate.
   (10) A representative of a community-based organization that
provides alcohol and substance abuse education, prevention, and
treatment services, to be appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly.
   (11) One member who shall be a former youth offender presently
working in a community-based setting and taking a public health
approach to prevent youth from engaging in or continuing the cycle of
violence, crime, or gang activities to be appointed by the Secretary
of the Health and Human Services Agency.
   (12) Representatives of two community-based organizations which
follow the public health model approach in preventing or reducing
youth violence, crime, or gang activity to be appointed by the
Secretary of the Health and Human Services Agency.
   995.8.  (a) The Health and Human Services Agency shall be
responsible for developing a statewide plan known as the California
Violence Prevention and Public Health Plan which shall make
recommendations regarding the augmentation, allocation,
implementation, and coordination of violence, crime, and gang
prevention programs and resources.
   (b) The goal of the California Violence Prevention and Public
Health Plan is to reduce youth violence, crime and gang activity to a
reasonable level within 10 years, and to reduce it further or to
maintain it at a reasonable level thereafter.  The plan shall contain
measurable objectives for reaching this goal, which shall include,
but not be limited to, the following:
   (1) Identification of effective and promising prevention and
public health strategies that can reduce violence, crime and gang
activity.
   (2) Implementation of effective and promising prevention and
public health strategies in communities experiencing significant
levels of violence, crime, or gang activity.
   (3) The identification and procurement of resources which can
assist in reaching the plan's goal.
   (4) Recommendations for improving the effective delivery of
current and new prevention services, including the consolidation and
coordination of those services.
   (5) An evaluation of how local and state government responds to
youth violence, crime and gang activity and recommendations for
improving these responses.
   (6) Evaluation efforts to determine whether prevention and public
health strategies are reducing youth violence, crime and gang
activity.
   (c) The California Violence Prevention and Public Health Plan
shall contain all of the following:
   (1) Current information regarding the commission of crime and
violence in California, gangs and gang activity, research on the
effectiveness and cost effectiveness of violence, crime, and gang
prevention programs and strategies, and any other pertinent
information.
   (2) A summary of violence, crime, and gang prevention programs
operated by the state, and the level of funding allocated annually to
those programs.
   (3) Identification of "gaps" in prevention and early intervention
policies and services at the state and local levels.
   (4) Identification of risk factors that place at-risk youth and
young adults and at-risk families at risk for entering or continuing
the cycle of violence, crime, or gangs.
   (5) Identification of protective factors that can prevent and
reduce violence, crime, or gangs.
   (6) Identification of community guidelines for preventing and
reducing violence, crime, and gangs.
   (7) Short-term and long-term strategies and plans for implementing
protective factors and community guidelines which can prevent and
reduce violence, crime, and gang activity in each county that
experiences significant violence, crime, or gang activity.
   (8) A plan for securing resources and working with local
communities to implement these strategies and plan throughout the
state.
   (9) An identification of state-operated prevention and
intervention programs which shall be consolidated into the office and
an identification of those programs which shall be coordinated with
by the office.
   (d) In developing the plan, the Office of Youth Violence
Prevention and the advisory board described in Section 995.6 shall
take into consideration existing prevention and intervention efforts
being carried out, such as those undertaken by the California
Children and Families First Commission, and attempt to coordinate and
collaborate with and complement those efforts, where appropriate.
The office and advisory board shall also consider developing
short-term and long-term strategies and implementing them on a pilot
basis in certain counties and regions of the state.
   (e) The plan shall be submitted to the Legislature within two
years of the enactment of this chapter.
   995.9.  (a) The Youth Violence Prevention Fund is hereby created
in the State Treasury.  Funds received from private, state, or
federal sources for violence, crime, or gang prevention purposes may
be deposited into the fund.  Upon appropriation for those purposes by
the Legislature, these funds shall be used by the Office of Youth
Violence Prevention to carry out the purposes of this chapter.
   (b) Funding for the Office of Youth Violence Prevention shall be
provided from the General Fund in an amount equal to ____ percent of
the operating budget of the Department of the Youth Authority, and
shall increase annually by five to 10 percent until the operating
budget of the office equals the operating budget of the Department of
the Youth Authority.
   (c) Funding shall also be provided to the office from revenue
raised through the issuance of a special vehicle license plate.  The
special plates issued pursuant to this section shall be affixed only
to passenger vehicles weighing no more than ____ thousand pounds.
Plates issued under this section shall expire in accordance with the
Vehicle Code governing special license plates.  The design and color
of the plates shall be wholly within the discretion of the Department
of Motor Vehicles.  An applicant shall be charged a fifty dollar
($50) fee for original issuance in addition to the appropriate
vehicle registration fee, if applicable.  Of this fee, thirty-five
dollars ($35) shall be deposited into the Youth Violence Prevention
Fund and fifteen dollars ($15) shall be retained by the Department of
Motor Vehicles to help defray administrative costs.  For each
registration renewal period, a fee of twenty-seven dollars ($27)
shall be charged in addition to the registration fee.  Of this
twenty-seven dollar ($27) fee, twenty-five dollars ($25) shall be
deposited into the Youth Violence Prevention Fund and two dollars
($2) shall be retained by the Department of Motor Vehicles to help
defray administrative costs.