BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 616
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 13, 2009

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Kevin De Leon, Chair

                 AB 616 (Blumenfield) - As Amended:  April 13, 2009 

          Policy Committee:                              Public  
          SafetyVote:  7-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:               

           SUMMARY  
           
          This bill requires the Office of Gang and Youth Violence Policy  
          (OSVGP) within the Office of Emergency Services (now the  
          California Emergency Management Agency), to provide grants of up  
          to $500,0000 from funds received from the American Recovery and  
          Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) to local conservation corps for  
          programs for at-risk young adults. 

          Specifies the grants are to be awarded to local conservation  
          corps that help at-risk youth to succeed by providing job  
          training, education, and work skills training with an emphasis  
          on environmental and service projects that benefit the  
          community, including housing rehabilitation, emergency and  
          disaster relief, graffiti abatement, park improvements, bike and  
          pedestrian trail building and restoration, or other conservation  
          and community service projects. 

           FISCAL EFFECT
           
          Indeterminate allocation of ARRA funds, presumably in the low  
          millions of dollars, depending on the availability of ARRA funds  
          for this purpose. 

          Cal-EMA anticipates receiving about $150 million in ARRA funds  
          in 2009-$135 million in Byrne Justice Assistance Grants, $3  
          million from Victims of Crime Act funding and $13.5 million from  
          Violence Against Women Act funding. Allocation of ARRA funding  
          is currently under consideration. It is not clear whether the  
          grants envisioned in this measure would qualify under federal  
          and state qualifications for allocation.    









                                                                  AB 616
                                                                  Page  2

           COMMENTS
           
           1)Rationale  . The author's intent is to provide funding for crime  
            prevention programs for at-risk youth. According to the  
            author, "Community conservation corps are among the most  
            effective programs for at-risk youth, offering structured  
            programs to help teenagers and young adults overcome personal  
            challenges through much-needed support in job training,  
            education, mentoring, and work experience while contributing  
            to the local community. Through conservation and community  
            service projects such as restoring park trails, roadside  
            cleanup, highway landscape planting and assisting in major  
            emergencies such as fires, earthquakes and floods, these  
            at-risk youths are taught job skills and exposed to a life  
            other than street crime."

           2)Technical Amendment  . Change OES to Cal-EMA.
           Analysis Prepared by :    Geoff Long / APPR. / (916) 319-2081