BILL ANALYSIS
AB 503
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Date of Hearing: March 31, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
Dave Jones, Chair
AB 503 (Furutani) - As Introduced: February 24, 2009
SUBJECT : Battered women's shelters: grant program.
SUMMARY : Extends, from January 1, 2010 to January 1, 2014, the
sunset on the advisory council which provides consultation to
the Department of Public Health (DPH) Battered Women's Shelter
Program (BWSP).
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes, within DPH, Maternal and Child Health Branch, the
BWSP to administer grants to battered women's shelters for
comprehensive shelter-based services, including the following:
a) Emergency shelter for women and their children escaping
violent family situations;
b) Transitional housing programs which may include case
management, counseling, job training and placement, support
groups, and classes in parenting and family budgeting;
c) Advocacy and representation to pursue appropriate legal
options; and,
d) Other support services for battered women and their
children.
2)Establishes an advisory council, known as the Domestic
Violence Advisory Council (DVAC), which DPH is required to
consult with for the purposes of implementing the BWSP.
Requires the DVAC membership to include domestic violence
advocates; battered women service providers; representatives
of law enforcement, women's organizations, and other groups
involved with domestic violence; and, a service provider
serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.
Specifies that the DVAC comprises seven members appointed by
the Governor, three members each appointed by the Speaker of
the Assembly and the Senate Committee on Rules, and two
non-voting ex-officio members who are members of the
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Legislature.
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill has not been analyzed by a fiscal
committee.
COMMENTS :
1)PURPOSE OF THIS BILL . The author states the DVAC helps the
state allocate $20 million per year to 94 battered women's
shelters that provide counseling and protective services to
victims of domestic violence. According to the author, this
bill will help to guarantee that domestic violence shelters
receive the support they need from the state.
2)DOMESTIC VIOLENCE . According to the BWSP, which is now known
as the Domestic Violence Program (DVP), in California, in
2006, 115 women and 26 men were killed by spouses, ex-spouses,
intimate partners, or former partners. The California
Department of Justice reported 176,299 domestic
violence-related calls in 2006. Data from 2003 suggest that
more than half of these calls were for incidents involving
weapons. The 2003-04 California Women's Health Survey shows
that 8.6% of respondents had experienced some form of domestic
violence, including actual physical violence, threatened
violence, sexual abuse, and physical or emotional control, in
the past year. Women who reported experiencing physical
domestic violence were also nearly three times as likely to
report frequent mental distress in the past month as women who
had not experienced domestic violence.
3)DVP . According to DPH, the purpose of the DVP is to support
domestic violence agencies in providing comprehensive domestic
violence services to victims of domestic violence and their
children; reduce domestic violence in California; and, ensure
access to services for non-traditional users of domestic
violence services (such as people with disabilities, substance
abuse problems, and members of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and
transgender communities). The DVP provides grants to 94
domestic violence agencies that provide a variety of services,
including but not limited to 24-hour crisis hotlines, business
centers, emergency shelter, transitional housing, legal
assistance with restraining orders and custody disputes, court
and social advocacy, counseling for women and their children,
household establishment assistance, and community resource and
referral services. The DVP also provides technical assistance
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and training to local agencies to serve all victims of
domestic violence, regardless of gender. Finally, the DVP
maintains an external Web site to provide information for
shelters, domestic violence victims, the general public, and
researchers.
The DVP, in collaboration with DVAC and volunteer executive
directors of battered women's shelters, conducted a survey of
battered women's shelters which it published on the DVP Web
site in 2008. Of the 94 shelters, 71 (76%) responded to the
survey. These shelters combined reported serving 116,943
clients face-to-face and received 110,853 crisis calls in
fiscal year 2006-2007.
4)DVAC . According to a 2008 paper by the DVP, in 1998 DVAC was
charged with producing a strategic policy report of
recommendations to help guide future funding for domestic
violence programs. The policy recommendations were documented
in Preventing Domestic Violence: A Blueprint for the 21st
Century. DVAC has continued to meet, with at least three
meetings or conference calls shown for 2008 at the DVP grant
administration Web site. The DVAC discussion topics included
grant administration and funding and new program ideas for
serving the underserved.
5)SUPPORT . The California Partnership to End Domestic Violence
(CPEDV) and Interval House state in support of this bill that
members of the DVAC are leaders and experts in the domestic
violence field. CPEDV further states that the DVAC is
imperative to ensure that local domestic violence shelters
continue to receive the support they need from the State. The
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees,
AFL-CIO writes in support that it is important to maintain
transitional housing programs to help women and their children
find housing and jobs so they are not forced to choose between
returning to a violent relationship or becoming homeless, and
that the Legislature must support legal and other types of
advocacy and representation to help women pursue appropriate
legal options.
6)RELATED LEGISLATION .
a) SB 273 (Corbett), pending in the Senate, declares the
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intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would
address issues raised in a specified appellate court
decision and that would ensure that shelters providing
services to victims of domestic violence continue to
receive appropriate funding pursuant to provisions of the
BWSP.
b) AB 1003 (John A. Perez), pending in the Assembly,
revises a grant program which the Office of Emergency
Services administers for the development and support of
domestic violence programs and services for the gay,
lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community by stating
that funded activities are not limited to a specified list
of services.
7)PREVIOUS LEGISLATION .
a) AB 100 (Cohn), Chapter 462, Statutes of 2005, extends
the sunset on the DVAC from January 1, 2006 to January 1,
2010.
b) AB 442 (Committee on Budget), Chapter 1161, Statutes of
2002, extends the sunset of DVAC from January 1, 2003 to
January 1, 2006.
c) AB 1107 (Cedillo), Chapter 146, Statutes of 1999,
extends the sunset of DVAC from January 1, 1998 to January
1, 2003.
d) AB 3483 (Friedman), Chapter 197, Statutes of 1996, a
budget trailer bill, among other things, creates the DVAC
under the Maternal and Child Health Branch of DPH.
AB 3483 outlines the composition and purpose of DVAC and
sunsets the DVAC on January 1, 1998.
8)POLICY QUESTION . Given that the DVAC has been extended three
times since its inception, should the sunset on the DVAC be
deleted, rather than extended?
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees,
AFL-CIO
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California Partnership to End Domestic Violence
Interval House
Mothers of Lost Children
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Allegra Kim / HEALTH / (916) 319-2097