BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de León, Chair
AB 971 (Garcia) - Paratransit providers: criminal history
information.
Amended: August 12, 2013 Policy Vote: Public Safety 7-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: August 12, 2013
Consultant: Jolie Onodera
This bill does not meet the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 971 would authorize a social services
paratransit agency to receive state and local criminal history
information with respect to its contracted service providers for
the purpose of oversight and enforcement of the agency's
policies.
Fiscal Impact:
Increased workload costs to the Department of Justice (DOJ)
of $75,000 (Special Fund*) in Fiscal Year (FY) 2013-14 and
$90,000 in FY 2014-15. Ongoing costs are estimated to be
minor and absorbable.
Ongoing non-reimbursable costs to local criminal justice
agencies authorized to furnish local summary criminal
history information to paratransit agencies in order to
conduct background checks on employees of its contracted
service providers.
*Fingerprint Fees Account
Background: A "paratransit agency" is an entity formed by the
regional transportation planning authority as a nonprofit public
benefit corporation charged with administering a countywide
coordinated paratransit plan adopted pursuant to federal law.
Under current state law, these entities are deemed "public
agencies," as specified.
According to its website, Access Services, which administers the
paratransit program for Los Angeles County, "facilitates the
provision of complementary ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act]
paratransit services to certain persons with disabilities as
AB 971 (Garcia)
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required by 42 USC §12143 under the name "Access Paratransit."
Complementary ADA paratransit is a federally mandated civil
right for persons with disabilities who cannot ride the
accessible public fixed route buses and trains.
As required by applicable regulations, Access Paratransit
service is available for any ADA paratransit eligible individual
for any purpose and to or from any location within of a mile
of any fixed route bus operated by the Los Angeles County public
fixed route bus operators and within of a mile around METRO
Rail stations during the hours that the systems are operational.
Access Services facilitates Access Paratransit service by
entering into and administering federally funded regional
contracts with independent private transit providers, which
providers, in turn, supplies the reservation taking and
transportation service in conformance with the Plan, applicable
law and the contract."
Existing law requires the Attorney General (AG) to furnish state
summary criminal history information to specified entities when
that information is needed in fulfilling employment,
certification, or licensing duties, and authorizes the AG to
furnish such information to specified persons or entities for
specified purposes. Existing law provides a similar provision
with respect to mandating and authorizing a local agency (local
criminal justice agency) to furnish local summary criminal
history information to specified entities.
Proposed Law: This bill would authorize a social services
paratransit agency to receive specified state and local criminal
history information with respect to its contracted service
providers for the purpose of oversight and enforcement of the
agency's policies. Specifically, this bill:
Adds paratransit agencies to the list of entities to which
the AG is required to furnish state summary criminal history
information.
Adds paratransit agencies to the list of entities to which
local agencies (local criminal justice agencies) may furnish
local summary criminal history information.
Staff Comments: The DOJ has indicated the provisions of this
bill are estimated to result in an increase in fingerprint
submissions, thereby increasing workload costs for processing.
AB 971 (Garcia)
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Estimate costs of $75,000 in FY 2013-14, $90,000 in FY 2014-15,
and $25,000 in FY 2015-16 and ongoing.
This bill extends the option to local criminal justice agencies
to furnish local summary criminal history information to
paratransit agencies. The level of non-reimbursable costs are
unknown and would be dependent on the number of fingerprint
submissions to local agencies, but based on the estimated
workload to the DOJ, could potentially exceed $50,000 (Local) to
local criminal justice agencies to conduct background checks on
employees of contracted service providers.