BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 310 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 17, 2013 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Mike Gatto, Chair AB 310 (Alejo) - As Amended: March 20, 2013 Policy Committee: Public SafetyVote: 6-0 Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: SUMMARY This bill adds South Monterey County and Salinas to the list of communities with a high incidence of gang violence that are specifically referenced by the California Gang, Crime, and Violence Prevention Partnership Program (CGCVPP), and appropriates $3 million (GF) to the Department of Justice (DOJ) to implement the CGCVPP Program. FISCAL EFFECT Appropriates $3 million (GF) to the DOJ. COMMENTS 1)Rationale . The author's intent is to provide funding for the type of preventative gang intervention techniques intended to be used by the CGCVPP. According to the author, "The purpose of this bill is to reduce gang violence in vulnerable communities, including, but not limited to city of Salinas and South Monterey County." The author further notes "A survey conducted by the Governor's Office of Gang and Youth Violence Policy estimates that, between 2005 and 2009, over one-third of homicides in California, and half of homicides in Los Angeles County, were reported to be related to gang activity." 2)The CGCVPP program was established by AB 963 (Keely), 1997. The bill designated 15 communities to receive grants for community-based crime and violence prevention programs. The program received about $3 million per year until it was eliminated in 2003-04. AB 310 Page 2 3)Is DOJ the appropriate funding designee? Should the Legislature wait for the recommendations for the January 1, 2014 gang program/funding recommendations of the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) ? Aside from the obvious merit of preventative gang intervention programs, should the Legislature appropriate a significant amount of funding to a program that was created in 1997, never funded, and has not been reviewed or updated since its creation? 4)State gang-related programs under review by the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC). AB 526 (Dickinson), Statutes of 2012, requires the BSCC to: a) By January 1, 2014, develop funding allocation policies to ensure no less than 70% of funding for gang and youth violence suppression, intervention, and prevention programs is for evidenced-based programs. b) Identify delinquency and gang intervention and prevention grants that have a similar program purpose, are allocated to the same entities, serve the same target populations, and have the same desired outcomes, for the purpose of consolidating grant funds and programs and moving toward a unified single delinquency intervention and prevention grant application process in adherence with federal guidelines and mandates. c) Develop incentives for units of local government to develop comprehensive regional partnerships. As background to AB 526's gang funding/program consolidation efforts, in 2009, the Assembly Committee on Accountability and Administrative Review held a hearing on youth crime prevention and funding, which resulted in AB 526. In addition, the former Office of Gang and Youth Policy Violence (OGYVP), which is under the administration of the BSCC but is not funded, recommended to the Assembly Select Committee on Delinquency Prevention and Youth Development that requiring or incentivizing local agencies to form regional partnerships and pool gang related funding will deliver services to a broader target population and maximize state funding at the local level. OGYVP also recommended grouping different funding streams that serve the same AB 310 Page 3 purpose and establishing a single application process to reduce redundancy among local agencies. The intent of AB 526 was to address the concern that as many as 17 state agencies allocate funding to programs addressing juvenile justice, delinquency and youth development, with little coordination and collaboration. 5)Salinas and Hollister received gang-related grants in 2012, 2013 and 2014 . The California Gang Reduction, Intervention and Prevention Program (CalGRIP), under the administration of the BSCC, is funded through the State Restitution Fund and provides grants to cities for gang prevention, intervention, reentry, education, job training and skills development, family and community services and/or suppression activities. Awards, totaling $9.2 million, have been granted to 20 cities for 2013 and 2014, including Salinas ($423,000) and Hollister ($422,000). In addition, Salinas was the sole Northern California recipient of a grant from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance for the Safe Neighborhoods Project ($400,000) in 2012. Analysis Prepared by : Geoff Long / APPR. / (916) 319-2081