BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 220
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          Date of Hearing:   March 15, 2011
          Consultant:           Stefani Salt


                         ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
                                 Tom Ammiano, Chair

                 AB 220 (Solorio) - As Introduced:  February 1, 2011
           

          SUMMARY  :  Requires the Director of the Office of Gang and Youth 
          Violence Policy (OGYVP) to make recommendations to consolidate 
          and streamline existing state agency gang and youth violence 
          grant programs with a goal toward giving priority to grant 
          programs that employ evidence-based practices.  Specifically, 
           this bill  :  

          1)Authorizes the Director to create a working group, as 
            specified, to assist in this effort and declares the Director 
            the head of this group.  

          2)Requires OGYVP to report the working group's findings to the 
            Legislature and the Governor by June 1, 2012.

           EXISTING LAW  :

          3)Establishes OSVGP within the Office of Emergency Services 
            (OES).  ÝPenal Code Section 13827(a).]

          4)Creates the California Emergency Management Agency (Cal-EMA).  
            States that, unless context clearly requires otherwise, the 
            term "Office of Emergency Services" should be construed to 
            refer to Cal-EMA.  ÝGovernment Code Section 8585(a).]

          5)Mandates that OSVGP is responsible for coordinating and 
            assisting schools, parents, community groups and 
            organizations, and law enforcement agencies with information 
            and innovative strategies to help prevent violence and gang 
            involvement.  Requires OCVGP to identify and administer 
            funding for these efforts.  ÝPenal Code Section 13827(b).]

          6)Defines "criminal street gang" as an ongoing  organization, 
            association, or group of three or more persons, whether formal 
            or informal, having as one of its primary activities the 
            commission of one or more enumerated offenses, having a common 








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            name or identifying sign or symbol, and whose members engage, 
            or have engaged, in a pattern of criminal gang activity.  
            ÝPenal Code Section 186.22(f).]

           FISCAL EFFECT  :   Unknown

           COMMENTS  :   

           1)Author's Statement  :  According to the author, "The Office of 
            Gang and Youth Violence Policy (OGYVP), administered by the 
            California Emergency Management Agency, identifies and 
            evaluates gang and youth violence programs and strategies, as 
            well as funds those efforts through the California Gang 
            Reduction, Intervention, and Prevention Program (CalGRIP). 

          The Director of the OGYVP reviews, allocates, and distributes 
            CalGRIP grants.  To make the CalGRIP grant disbursement 
            process more efficient and accountable, it is necessary to 
            consolidate the volume of funding streams and give priority to 
            programs that employ evidence-based practices."

           2)Background  :  According to the information provided by the 
            author, "The amount of funding streams has made the process of 
            reviewing, allocating, and distributing gang violence 
            prevention grants cumbersome, delayed and fragmented.  
            Evidence-based programs that reduce recidivism need to be 
            prioritized for funding."

           3)Evidence-Based Practices  :  According to OGYVP's November 2010 
            report to the Legislature, "Only in the past 20 years have 
            social scientists, policy-makers, and practitioners begun to 
            understand which programs and strategies in fact prevent and 
            reduce youth crime.  This growing body of knowledge rests on 
            the type of evaluation that is used to determine the efficacy 
            of new drugs: does the treatment group fare significantly 
            better than the control or comparison group.   OGYVP has 
            promoted the understanding and implementation of these 
            programs through its own publications, conferences and 
            workshops, and CalGRIP grants.

          "These programs - known as 'evidence-based practices' - are not 
            a panacea.  They are relatively few in number, can be 
            difficult to implement, do not apply to all circumstances that 
            call for intervention, and do not exclude the possibility that 
            unevaluated programs may be effective.  Nevertheless, as 








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            stewards of public safety . . . , OGYVP believes that state 
            funds are best spent in support of local programs and 
            strategies that will be effective, according to the most 
            rigorous evaluations.  To that end, OGYVP has 
          incentivized - not required - the implementation of such 
            programs through new grant funding.

          "Evidence-based practices, because they are new and often run 
            counter to traditional organizational approaches, are 
            challenging to implement correctly.  To increase the 
            likelihood of successful implementation, OGYVP has required 
            organizations that have been awarded funding for such programs 
            1) to engage experts who will provide training and technical 
            assistance, and 2) to report their outcome data (e.g., 
            reduction in crime rates) so that their communities and the 
            state can understand the extent of success and the need (if 
            any) for program adjustment."  (OGYVP, Report to the 
            Legislature, November 29, 2010, p. 3-4.) 

          According to the University of California Irvine's Center for 
            Evidence-Based Corrections, "Evidence-based policy is an 
            approach that helps people make well-informed decisions about 
            policies and programs by putting the best available evidence 
            from research at the heart of policy development and 
            implementation. This approach stands in contrast to 
            opinion-based policy, which relies heavily on either the 
            selective use of evidence (e.g., on single studies 
            irrespective of quality) or on the untested views of 
            individuals or groups, often inspired by ideological views and 
            speculative conjecture."  ÝUniversity of California Irvine 
            Center for Evidence-Based Corrections, 
             (as of March 9, 2010).]

          Requiring OGYVP to prioritize grant programs that utilize 
            evidence-based practices does not appear to create any legal 
            issues under current law.

           4)Related Legislation  :  AB 526 (Dickinson) requires the 
            Secretary of Emergency Management to identify and implement 
            evidence-based practices to address gang and youth violence.  
            AB 526 also requires Cal-EMA to make recommendations on the 
            most effective role of the agency in developing a plan to 
            shift state-funded crime prevention and juvenile justice 
            programs toward evidence-based practices over a three-year 
            period.  AB 526 is currently pending hearing by the Assembly 








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            Governmental Organization Committee and has been 
            double-referred to this Committee should AB 526 pass the 
            Assembly Governmental Organization Committee.

           5)Previous Legislation  :

             a)   AB 1439 (Solorio), of the 2009-2010 Legislative Session, 
               was vetoed.  This bill is a reintroduction of AB 1439.  

             b)   AB 616 (Blumenfield), of the 2009-2010 Legislative 
               Session, would have required the OSVGP to use federal money 
               from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to 
               provide grants to certified local conservation corps for 
               programs for at-risk young adults.  AB 616 was held on the 
               Assembly Appropriations Committee's Suspense File.

           6)Arguments in Support  :  According to the  American Federation of 
            State, County and Municipal Employees  , "In dealing with the 
            prevalent gang and youth violence problems in California, 
            consolidating the available expertise is essential to 
            maximizing the effectiveness of programs to mitigate these 
            problems.  ÝThis bill] would implement a system to effect such 
            a consolidation . . .  Ýand] greatly aid state agencies in 
            their efforts by providing guidance and oversight, as well as 
            overarching standards to unite the agencies in their work."

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :   

           Support 
           
          American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
          Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs
          California Attorneys for Criminal Justice
          California YouthBuild Coalition
          Los Angeles Probation Officers' Union,
            AFSCME, Local 685
          Riverside Sheriffs' Association

           Opposition 
           
          None

           
          Analysis Prepared by  :    Stefani Salt / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744 









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