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
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           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
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            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