BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2200
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 21, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 2200 (Solorio) - As Introduced: February 18, 2010
Policy Committee: Public
SafetyVote: 7-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill requires the California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation (CDCR) to establish a three-year reentry program
to assist up to 200 state or county youths between the ages of
16 and 23, who are economically disadvantaged, with community
reintegration upon parole or discharge. Gang-affiliated youth
shall have program enrollment priority. Specifically, this bill:
1)Specifies that priority be given to existing local programs,
and defines eligible programs as programs that offer
education, counseling, substance abuse treatment and job
training services, focusing on work experience and skills
training apprenticeships related to housing construction for
low-income families.
2)Requires CDCR to provide $20,000 per enrolled youth per year
to each eligible program to defray program costs, and maintain
statistical program information regarding enrollment and
success measurements.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Assuming the intent of this bill is to provide state support
to existing programs, the annual GF cost of providing $20,000
per ward/parolee, with a cap of 200 program participants,
would be $4 million.
2)State administrative costs, likely in the range of $150,000 to
oversee the program, including the required statistical
program review.
AB 2200
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COMMENTS
1)Rationale . The author's intent is not to create new reentry
programs, but to provide support for existing YouthBuild USA
programs in California. According to the author, YouthBuild
(YB) has an impressive track record of helping at-risk youth
follow a career path out of poverty. With classroom training
and vocational training at the job site, youth graduating from
the program learn valuable and life-sustaining skills in the
construction trades. These youth in turn make lasting
contributions to their communities by building affordable
housing units, becoming role models for other youth and
children, and learning from private industry mentors how to
lead productive, successful lives.
According to the author, YB USA is a nationally and
internationally recognized organization focused on improving
the lives of at-risk youth. YB has developed a proven academic
and job training curriculum for young people lacking a high
school diploma who fall below federal poverty levels and have
a criminal history. YB has assisted over 130 community-based
organizations and public entities to establish YB programs.
YB programs provide classroom instruction geared toward
attainment of GED and construction training skills.
Participants receive a stipend and join work crews to build
affordable housing in their communities. Participants also
receive intensive counseling services and learn about personal
responsibility. In California, there are 26 YB programs, none
of which receive state funding. (It is not clear from the
YouthBuild website whether any of YouthBuild's programs
receive state funding.)
2)YouthBuild is a national program, based out of Massachusetts
in which low-income young people work toward their GED or high
school diploma while learning job skills by building
affordable housing for homeless and low-income people.
Emphasis is placed on leadership development and community
service. According to the YouthBuild website:
"There are now 273 YouthBuild programs in 45 states,
Washington, DC, and the Virgin Islands. 92,000 YouthBuild
students have built 19,000 units of affordable, increasingly
green, housing since 1994.
AB 2200
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"The national YouthBuild network benefits from extraordinary
public-private partnerships. Local YouthBuild programs and
YouthBuild USA receive financial support from diverse public
and private, national and local sources. YouthBuild USA works
with federal funding agencies to assure the quality and
increase the impact of local YouthBuild programs. Primary
funding for local YouthBuild programs comes from the U.S.
Department of Labor under the federal YouthBuild program,
administered by the Employment and Training Administration
(ETA), which makes grants directly to local sponsors of
YouthBuild programs on a competitive basis.
"All YouthBuild students are poor and many have had experience
with foster care, juvenile justice, welfare, and homelessness.
Participants spend 6 to 24 months in the full-time program,
dividing their time between the construction site and the
YouthBuild alternative school. Community- and faith-based
nonprofit organizations sponsor most programs, although some
are sponsored by public agencies. Each YouthBuild program
raises private and public funds to support itself."
3)Prior legislation, AB 1049 (Solorio), 2007, virtually
identical to AB 2200, and was vetoed for fiscal reasons. The
governor stated, "?while this bill specifies that the pilot
program shall be created only to the extent that funds are
appropriated for that purpose, it provides no funding for the
actual administrative costs that will be necessary for the
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to
implement the program."
Analysis Prepared by : Geoff Long / APPR. / (916) 319-2081