BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
AB 909 (Gray) - Metal theft: task force.
Amended: July 2, 2013 Policy Vote: Public Safety 7-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: August 30, 2013
Consultant: Jolie Onodera
SUSPENSE FILE. AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED.
Bill Summary: AB 909 would require the Department of Justice
(DOJ) to establish, administer, and regularly evaluate the Metal
Theft Task Force Program, to provide grants to regional task
forces for the purposes of enhancing the capacity of local law
enforcement and prosecutors to deter, investigate, and prosecute
metal theft and related recycling crimes. This bill would
establish the Metal Theft Task Force (MTTF) Fund, to consist of
funding from federal, industry, and private sources to be made
available upon appropriation by the Legislature. The bill
specifies no General Fund is to be deposited into the MTTF nor
used to implement the bill's provisions. The provisions of this
bill would become operative on January 1, 2015.
Fiscal Impact (as proposed to be amended):
Significant one-time and ongoing costs potentially in excess
of $230,000 to $350,000 (Special Fund*) to the DOJ for
personnel and equipment costs to implement and administer the
statewide program. Any costs in excess of those determined
"actual and necessary administrative costs," would be borne by
other fund sources.
Additional one-time costs potentially in excess of $500,000 to
$1 million for the mandated development of a statewide
database on metal theft and recycling crimes. Costs would be
dependent on the parameters and complexity of the database.
Ongoing costs in the low hundreds of thousands of dollars for
maintenance and quality control. As the bill restricts funding
for development and maintenance to up to 10 percent of MTTF
Funds, any excess costs would be borne by other fund sources.
Major funding from the newly established MTTF Fund in the
millions of dollars, consisting of funds from the federal
government, industry, and private sources, would be required
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to support the activities of regional task forces statewide.
Potential future cost-savings statewide to the courts, state
prison/county jail systems, and law enforcement, as well as to
businesses in the form of reduced economic loss, to the extent
the operation of the program results in savings realized
through crime prevention, crime suppression, and prosecutions
resulting from the program.
*Metal Theft Task Force (MTTF) Special Fund
Background: This bill makes the following uncodified findings
and declarations: "The theft of metal is a serious problem in
California. Losses due to metal theft are not limited to the
value of the metal taken, but frequently include the cost of
repairing or replacing the infrastructure, component, or item
from which the metal was removed, which greatly exceeds the
value of the metal itself. The United States Department of
Energy estimates that metal theft costs United States businesses
approximately one billion dollars ($1,000,000,000) annually."
Under existing law, the Central Valley and Central Coast Rural
Crime Prevention Programs serve 13 counties (Fresno, Kern,
Kings, Madera, Merced, Monterey, San Benito, San Joaquin, San
Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Stanislaus, and Tulare),
for the operation of rural crime prevention task forces to
strengthen the ability of law enforcement agencies in rural
areas to detect and monitor agricultural- and rural-based
crimes, including metal theft. Chapter 43/2012, the Public
Safety Realignment budget trailer bill, deleted the sunset on
both programs, thereby making the programs operative
indefinitely. Additionally, Chapter 43/2012 allocates a portion
of funds deposited into the Enhancing Law Enforcement Activities
Subaccount of the 2011 Local Revenue Fund to these two programs
for Fiscal Year 2012-13 and thereafter.
Proposed Law: This bill seeks to provide local law enforcement
and district attorneys with the tools necessary to successfully
interdict the commission of metal theft and related metal
recycling crimes. Specifically, this bill:
Requires the DOJ to establish the Metal Theft Task Force
Program.
Provides that administration of the overall program and
the evaluation and monitoring of all grants made pursuant
to the program be performed by the DOJ.
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Establishes the MTTF Fund within the State Treasury, the
funds of which would be available upon appropriation by the
Legislature for the purposes as set forth in the bill.
Provides that the MTTF Fund shall consist of moneys
deposited from the federal government, industry, and
private sources. General Fund moneys shall not be deposited
into the fund nor used to implement the provisions of this
bill.
Requires the MTTF Fund to be administered by the DOJ,
and provides that the DOJ may adopt regulations as needed
to administer the provisions of the bill.
Requires moneys appropriated to the DOJ for the program
to be expended to fund programs that enhance the capacity
of local law enforcement and prosecutors to deter,
investigate, and prosecute metal theft and related
recycling crimes.
Provides that after deduction of the DOJ's actual and
necessary administrative costs, MTTF Funds shall be
expended to fund programs to enhance the capacity of local
law enforcement and prosecutors to deter, investigate, and
prosecute metal theft and related recycling crimes.
Specifies that funds distributed under this program to
be expended for the exclusive purpose of deterring,
investigating, and prosecuting metal theft and related
recycling crimes.
Provides that up to 10 percent of the funds may, upon
appropriation, be used for developing and maintaining a
statewide database on metal theft and related recycling
crimes for use in developing and distributing intelligence
information to participating law enforcement agencies.
Requires the DOJ to develop specific guidelines and
administrative procedures for the selection of regional
task forces to receive funds under the program, as
specified.
Provides that priority shall be given to regional task
forces outside of the 13 counties funded under the rural
crime prevention programs authorized under existing law.
Provides that the guidelines shall include specified
selection criteria to be considered by the DOJ in awarding
grant funds such as the number of metal theft or related
recycling crimes filed and investigated in the prior year,
the number of victims involved, the aggregate monetary loss
suffered by the victims, local funds available to assist
the regional task force, and the number of licensed
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recycling facilities in the region.
Requires each regional task force that has been awarded
funds, upon reapplication for funds in each successive
year, to submit a detailed accounting of funds received and
expended, as specified.
Requires the DOJ to regularly review the effectiveness
of the program in deterring, investigating, and prosecuting
metal theft and related recycling crimes and requires the
DOJ to present a report to the Governor and Legislature,
based on information provided by the regional task forces
in an annual report to the DOJ.
Provides that the program will not be implemented until
the Department of Finance determines that sufficient funds
have been deposited in the MTTF Fund, to be established
under this bill, to implement the provisions of the bill
and funds have been made available upon appropriation of
the Legislature.
Delays the operative date of the provisions of the bill
to January 1, 2015.
Prior Legislation: AB 2298 (Ma) Chapter 823/2012, prior to its
chaptered version, was substantially similar to this measure but
delegated the establishment and oversight of the MTTF to the
Board of State and Community Corrections. This bill was amended
significantly to require a study by the DOJ on the prevalence of
metal theft in California and make recommendations to the
Legislature in a report addressing the tools and resources that
would be required by local law enforcement and district
attorneys in order to successfully interdict the commission of
metal theft and related metal recycling crimes.
AB 2768 (Poochigian) Chapter 327/1996 created the Rural Crime
Prevention Program, a three-year pilot program, which authorized
the County of Tulare to enter into a joint-powers agreement to
share resources, personnel hours, and information regarding
rural crimes, including metal theft.
AB 374 (Matthews) Chapter 719/2002 extended the operation of the
Rural Crime Prevention Program to July 1, 2005, and renamed the
program the Central Valley Rural Crime Prevention Program.
SB 44 (Denham) Chapter 18/2003 authorized the counties of
Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, and San
Benito, until July 1, 2010, to develop the Central Coast Rural
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Crime Prevention Programs modeled on the Central Valley Rural
Crime Prevention Programs, to be administered by the county
sheriff's office in Monterey County and by the district
attorney's office in each of the other four counties.
AB 186 (Maze) Chapter 755/2008 extended the operation of the
Central Valley Rural Crime Prevention Program to January 1,
2012.
SB 121 (Denham) Chapter 31/2009 extended the operation of the
Central Coast Rural Crime Prevention Programs to July 1, 2013,
and repeals these provisions January 1, 2014.
SB 1023 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review) Chapter 43/2012,
among other provisions, deleted the provisions repealing the
authorization for the Central Valley Rural Crime Prevention
Program and Central Coast Rural Crime Prevention Program,
thereby making the programs operative indefinitely.
Staff Comments: The provisions of this bill are not operative
until January 1, 2015, and the program will not be implemented
until the Department of Finance determines that sufficient
non-General Fund funds have been deposited in the MTTF Fund to
implement the provisions of the bill and funds have been made
available upon appropriation of the Legislature.
If implemented, this bill will impose substantial new duties on
the DOJ, the costs of which may not be fully covered by the
newly created MTTF Fund. The DOJ would be required to establish
and provide administrative oversight for the new statewide
program, and would be required to develop specific guidelines
and administrative procedures for the selection of regional task
force grantees. Ongoing monitoring and evaluation of all grants
issued under the program, as well as at least one report to the
Legislature and Governor would also be required. Although not
mandated, it is likely the DOJ would also develop regulations to
administer the provisions of this bill, resulting in additional
one-time workload.
The DOJ has indicated the operational costs to implement and
administer the program will be in the range of $230,000
initially, and approximately $350,000 annually thereafter for
staffing and operating expenses.
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This bill provides for the deduction of the DOJ's "actual and
necessary" administrative costs from available MTTF Funds. While
the determination of actual administrative costs is relatively
clear, the bill does not specify what would constitute
"necessary" costs, what entity would make that determination, or
how that determination would be made. As a result, there could
be exposure to other funds (non-General Fund) for any
administrative costs deemed to be unnecessary.
This bill requires the development and maintenance of a
statewide database on metal theft and related recycling crimes
for use in developing and distributing intelligence information
to participating law enforcement agencies. The bill does not
specify the entity responsible for the development and
maintenance of the database, but it is assumed this
responsibility would be placed on the DOJ. As the bill provides
that only up to 10 percent of MTTF Funds may, upon
appropriation, be used for the database, any additional costs
would be charged against some other non-General Fund. It is also
not clear how the 10 percent threshold would be determined - for
example, up to 10 percent of funds appropriated in any one year
or up to 10 percent of total funds in the MTTF Fund in any one
year. Costs to develop the database are unknown at this time but
are likely to be in excess of $500,000 to $1 million, and would
be dependent upon the size and complexity of the database, the
amount of data to be collected, access and interconnectivity
issues with law enforcement agencies, among other issues.
Ongoing costs to maintain, monitor, and perform quality control
on the database would likely incur costs in the low hundreds of
thousands of dollars annually for staffing and associated
operating expenses.
It is estimated that funding in the millions of dollars would be
required to support the activities of the regional task forces
to ensure law enforcement and prosecutors are equipped with the
necessary personnel and tools to successfully combat metal theft
and related recycling crimes. This bill establishes the MTTF
Fund to consist of funds from the federal government, industry,
and private sources. However, it is unclear how the moneys for
the fund would be obtained. To the extent the DOJ is tasked with
engaging with the federal government or other potential grantors
to solicit funding, as well as grant writing, in order to obtain
the necessary funding to implement and sustain the program,
additional workload would be placed on the DOJ.
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Although implementation is contingent upon DOF determination
that sufficient non-General Funds are available, there is no
mechanism to suspend the duties and responsibilities of the DOJ
in the event that future funding for the MTTF Fund does not
materialize to sustain the administrative and operational needs
of this program. As a result, there could be significant future
ongoing costs to the DOJ that would need to be funded through
alternative fund sources.
The proposed author amendments specify that no General Fund
moneys will be used to start-up, implement, or support the
ongoing administration of the program, and clarify that until
there are sufficient funds to start-up, implement, and support
the ongoing administration of the program, the DOJ will not be
required to implement the provisions of the bill.