BILL NUMBER: AB 503 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 23, 2009
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 14, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Furutani
FEBRUARY 24, 2009
An act to amend Section 124250 of the Health and Safety Code,
relating to domestic violence.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 503, as amended, Furutani. Battered women's shelters: grant
program.
Existing law requires the Maternal and Child Health
Branch Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health Division
of the State Department of Public Health to administer a
comprehensive shelter-based services grant program for battered women'
s shelters, and requires the department, in implementing that
program, to consult with an advisory council that remains in
existence until January 1, 2010.
This bill would delete the date upon
extend the period during which the advisory council would
cease to exist remain in existence to January
1, 2015. The bill also would require the State Department of Public
Health to consult with the California Emergency Management Agency to
consider the consolidation of their respective domestic violence
programs and report conclusions to the Legislature by June 30, 2011
.
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. Section 124250 of the Health and Safety Code is amended
to read:
124250. (a) The following definitions shall apply for purposes of
this section:
(1) "Domestic violence" means the infliction or threat of physical
harm against past or present adult or adolescent female intimate
partners, and shall include physical, sexual, and psychological abuse
against the woman, and is a part of a pattern of assaultive,
coercive, and controlling behaviors directed at achieving compliance
from, or control over, that woman.
(2) "Shelter-based" means an established system of services where
battered women and their children may be provided safe or
confidential emergency housing on a 24-hour basis, including, but not
limited to, hotel or motel arrangements, haven, and safe houses.
(3) "Emergency shelter" means a confidential or safe location that
provides emergency housing on a 24-hour basis for battered women and
their children.
(b) The Maternal and Child Health Branch
Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health Division of the State
Department of Public Health shall administer a comprehensive
shelter-based services grant program to battered women's shelters
pursuant to this section.
(c) The Maternal and Child Health Branch
Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health Division shall administer
grants, awarded as the result of a request for application process,
to battered women's shelters that propose to maintain shelters or
services previously granted funding pursuant to this section, to
expand existing services or create new services, and to establish new
battered women's shelters to provide services, in any of the
following four areas:
(1) Emergency shelter to women and their children escaping violent
family situations.
(2) Transitional housing programs to help women and their children
find housing and jobs so that they are not forced to choose between
returning to a violent relationship or becoming homeless. The
programs may offer up to 18 months of housing, case management, job
training and placement, counseling, support groups, and classes in
parenting and family budgeting.
(3) Legal and other types of advocacy and representation to help
women and their children pursue the appropriate legal options.
(4) Other support services for battered women and their children.
(d) (1) The Maternal and Child Health Branch
Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health Division of the
State Department of Public Health shall conduct a minimum of one site
visit per grant term to each agency funded to provide shelter-based
services to battered women and their children. The purpose of the
site visit shall be a performance assessment of, and technical
assistance for, each agency visited. The performance assessment shall
include, but need not be limited to, a review of all of the
following:
(A) Progress in meeting program goals and objectives.
(B) Agency organization and facilities.
(C) Personnel policies, files, and training.
(D) Recordkeeping, budgeting, and expenditures.
(E) Documentation, data collection, and client confidentiality.
(2) Subsequent to each site visit conducted under paragraph (1),
the Maternal and Child Health Branch
Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health Division shall
provide a written report to the agency summarizing the agency's
performance, any deficiencies noted, and any corrective action
needed.
(3) If an agency receives funding from both the Maternal
and Child Health Branch Maternal, Child and Adolescent
Health Division of the State Department of Public Health and
the Domestic Violence Program in the Office of Emergency
Services California Emergency Management Agency
during any grant cycle, the Maternal and Child Health Branch
Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health Division
and the Comprehensive Statewide Domestic Violence Program shall, to
the extent feasible, coordinate agency site visits and share
performance assessment data with the goal of improving efficiency,
eliminating duplication, and reducing administrative costs.
(e) In implementing the grant program pursuant to this section,
the State Department of Public Health shall consult with an advisory
council that shall remain in existence until January 1, 2015
. The council shall be composed of not to exceed 13 voting
members and two nonvoting ex officio members appointed as follows:
(1) Seven members appointed by the Governor.
(2) Three members appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly.
(3) Three members appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules.
(4) Two nonvoting ex officio members who shall be Members of the
Legislature, one appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly and one
appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules. Any Member of the
Legislature appointed to the council shall meet with, and participate
in the activities of, the council to the extent that participation
is not incompatible with his or her position as a Member of the
Legislature.
The membership of the council shall consist of domestic violence
advocates, battered women service providers, and representatives of
women's organizations, law enforcement, and other groups involved
with domestic violence, and at least one representative of service
providers serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender
community for purposes of domestic violence. At least one-half of the
council membership shall consist of domestic violence advocates or
battered women service providers from organizations such as the
California Partnership to End Domestic Violence.
It is the intent of the Legislature that the council membership
reflect the ethnic, racial, cultural, and geographic diversity of the
state.
(f) The department shall collaborate closely with the council in
the development of funding priorities, the framing of the Request for
Proposals, and the solicitation of proposals.
(g) (1) The Maternal and Child Health Branch
Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health Division of the
State Department of Public Health shall administer grants, awarded as
the result of a request for application process, to agencies to
conduct demonstration projects to serve battered women and their
children, including, but not limited to, creative and innovative
service approaches, such as community response teams and pilot
projects to develop new interventions emphasizing prevention and
education, and other support projects identified by the advisory
council.
(2) For purposes of this subdivision, "agency" means a state
agency, a local government, a community-based organization, or a
nonprofit organization.
(h) It is the intent of the Legislature that services funded by
this program include services for battered women in underserved
communities, including the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender
community, and ethnic and racial communities. Therefore, the
Maternal and Child Health Branch Maternal, Child and
Adolescent Health Division of the State Department of Public
Health shall do all of the following:
(1) Fund shelters pursuant to this section that reflect the
ethnic, racial, economic, cultural, and geographic diversity of the
state.
(2) Target geographic areas and ethnic and racial communities of
the state whereby, based on a needs assessment, it is determined that
no shelter-based services for battered women exist or that
additional resources are necessary.
(i) The director may award additional grants to shelter-based
agencies when it is determined that there exists a critical need for
shelter or shelter-based services.
(j) As a condition of receiving funding pursuant to this section,
battered women's shelters shall do all of the following:
(1) Provide matching funds or in-kind contributions equivalent to
not less than 20 percent of the grant they would receive. The
matching funds or in-kind contributions may come from other
governmental or private sources.
(2) Ensure that appropriate staff and volunteers having client
contact meet the definition of "domestic violence counselor" as
specified in subdivision (a) of Section 1037.1 of the Evidence Code.
The minimum training specified in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of
Section 1037.1 of the Evidence Code shall be provided to those staff
and volunteers who do not meet the requirements of paragraph (1) of
subdivision (a) of Section 1037.1 of the Evidence Code. The
State Department of Public Health shall consult with the California
Emergency Management Agency to consider the consolidation
of their respective domestic violence programs and report conclusions
to the Legislature by June 30, 2011.