BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1294
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 11, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1294 (Furutani) - As Amended: April 25, 2011
Policy Committee: Public
SafetyVote: 7-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill requires county juvenile probation departments,
subject to an appropriation for this purpose, to identify
community reentry programs and eligible youthful offenders, and
coordinate enrollment. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires a county juvenile probation department to determine
whether specified youth (economically disadvantaged 16 to
23-year-old) are eligible for one or more community reentry
programs, as defined, not more than 45 days before the youth
is scheduled to be released from a facility or program
operated by a county juvenile probation department.
2)Requires a county probation department, upon determination of
eligibility, to coordinate an evaluation for enrollment and
the actual enrollment of the youth into a community reentry
program no less than 20 days before release.
3)Defines community reentry program as a program operated by a
nonprofit organization or a school district that serves
youthful offenders, including those identified as gang
members, former gang members, or those whose immediate family
are members of a gang, and which provides a wide array of
educational and counseling services.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)State-reimbursable mandated ongoing costs, likely in the
hundreds of thousands of dollars to reimburse county probation
departments for identifying programs and eligible youth, and
for enrollment and follow-up efforts.
AB 1294
Page 2
This bill essentially mandates what county probation
departments do now, but requires the state to reimburse county
probation departments. Also, it is not clear that many reentry
programs exist that could meet the qualifications established
in this bill.
2)Ongoing significant pressure, in the hundreds of thousands of
dollars, on local governments to fund additional programming,
to the extent such programming exists.
It is not clear how counties would support the cost of such
programming, if available. The bill specifies that the
eligibility and enrollment processes are contingent upon an
appropriation - presumably from the state to the locals - but
the cost of the programming itself is not mentioned.
COMMENTS
Rationale. The author and sponsor, California Youthbuild
Coalition, hope to reduce recidivism and increase community
reintegration by requiring county probation to more proactively
match youthful offenders with community programs.
According to the author, "AB 1294 requires county probation
departments to identify local reentry programs and enroll the
youth even before they are released from custody. By
immediately transitioning these youth into educational and job
training programs, they will have an opportunity to begin a
productive life and avoid future trouble with the law."
Analysis Prepared by : Geoff Long / APPR. / (916) 319-2081