BILL NUMBER: AB 1239	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JANUARY 4, 2010

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Solorio

                        FEBRUARY 27, 2009

   An act to  amend Section 2053.4 of   add
Section 2054.3 to  the Penal Code, relating to prisoners.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1239, as amended, Solorio. Prisoners: prison education
programs. 
   Existing law establishes various prison education programs. 

   This bill would require that funding for those programs be based
not on the total prison population, but on the number of prisoners
requiring those programs, as determined by assessments, as specified.
 
   Existing law requires the Director of the Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation to appoint a Superintendent of
Correctional Education to oversee and administer all prison education
programs.  
   This bill would provide, on and after January 1, 2011, that these
long- and short-term goals and priorities, and the progress being
made toward meeting these goals, shall be reported annually by the
Superintendent of Correctional Education to the appropriate
subcommittees of the Assembly Committee on Budget and Senate
Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review so that the progress towards
meeting these goals can be considered and assessed during budget
deliberations beginning in 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 2054.3 is added to the 
 Penal Code   , to read:  
   2054.3.  In order to increase participation and completion rates
for academic and vocational education programs, funding for those
programs shall not be based upon the total prison population, but
upon the number of prisoners requiring those programs, as determined
by the assessments performed pursuant to Section 3020.  

  SECTION 1.    Section 2053.4 of the Penal Code is
amended to read:
   2053.4.  The Director of Corrections and Rehabilitation shall
appoint a Superintendent of Correctional Education, who shall oversee
and administer all prison education programs. The Superintendent of
Correctional Education shall set both short-term and long-term goals
for inmate literacy and testing, and shall establish priorities for
prison education programs. On and after January 1, 2011, these long-
and short-term goals and priorities, and the progress being made
toward meeting these goals, shall be reported annually by the
Superintendent of Correctional Education to the appropriate
subcommittees of the Assembly Committee on Budget and Senate
Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review so that the progress towards
meeting these goals can be considered and assessed during budget
deliberations beginning in 2011.