BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 1019
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:  April 16, 2013
          Counsel:       Shaun Naidu


                         ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
                                 Tom Ammiano, Chair

                   AB 1019 (Ammiano) - As Amended:  March 21, 2013


           SUMMARY  :  Requires the Superintendent for Correctional Education  
          to set goals and priorities for career technical education  
          (CTE), also referred to as vocational education, within the  
          California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR).   
          Specifically,  this bill  :  

          1)Makes legislative findings that given that, as of June 2012,  
            60.8 % of state prison inmates have a medium to high need for  
            academic or career technical programs, and it has been shown  
            that CTE programs are both effective at reducing recidivism  
            and cost effective to the state, it is the intent of the  
            Legislature in requiring CDCR, within its existing resources,  
            to set both short- and long-term goals for CTE programs.

          2)Requires the CDCR, based upon its goals and priorities, a CTE  
            program established, given the CDCR's goals and priorities, to  
            take into account all of the following factors:

             a)   Whether the program aligns with the workforce needs of  
               high demand sectors of the state and regional economies;

             b)   Whether there is an active job market for the skills  
               being developed where the inmate will likely be released;

             c)   Whether the program increases the number of inmates who  
               obtain a marketable and industry or apprenticeship  
               board-recognized certification, credential, or degree;

             d)   Whether there are formal or informal networks in the  
               field that support finding employment upon release from  
               prison; and

             e)   Whether the program will lead to employment in  
               occupations with a livable wage.









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          3)Requires the CDCR, using data to support evidence-based  
            policymaking, to develop standards and criteria for evaluating  
            the effectiveness of CTE programs with review by the  
            California Rehabilitation Oversight Board.

          4)Replaces the term "vocational education programs" with "career  
            technical education programs."

           EXISTING LAW  : 

          1)Requires the Secretary of CDCR to appoint a Superintendent of  
            Correctional Education, who shall oversee and administer all  
            prison education programs. (Penal Code Section 2053.4.)

          2)Requires the Superintendent of Correctional Education to set  
            both short- and long-term goals for inmate literacy and  
            testing and vocational education programs and to establish  
            priorities for prison academic and vocational education  
            programs.  (Penal Code Section 2053.4.)

          FISCAL EFFECT  :  Unknown

           COMMENTS  :   

           1)Author's Statement  :  According to the author, "California has  
            a unique opportunity given the changes that have been brought  
            by realignment, to rethink programming opportunities for  
            prisoners. This bill recognizes that rehabilitation includes  
            developing a set of skills related to successful reentry into  
            the workforce. It does not mandate what to teach or how the  
            subject is to be taught but sets a framework for decision  
            making within CDCR. This bill would require in law that CDCR  
            set goals for vocational programs as it currently does for  
            academic programs and base its decisions on evidence based  
            data."

           2)Background  :  Existing law requires that the Superintendent of  
            Correctional Education to set goals and priorities for  
            literacy and testing programs but does not set the same  
            requirement for the goals and priorities for CTE programs.

           3)Effectiveness of CTE Programs  :  As argued by the proponents of  
            this bill, CTE programs in prisons reduce recidivism rates and  
            have been found to be cost effective.  As the author states,  
            the Washington State Institute for Public Policy found that  








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            CTE programs reduced recidivism by 9% and resulted in a net  
            savings per participant of $13,700 annually.  
                
           4)Effectiveness of the Prison Educational System as Implemented  :  
             According to the Legislative Analyst's Office, as of 2008,  
            "the current set of CDCR education programs reach only a small  
            segment of the inmate population who could benefit from them.   
            The CDCR now enrolls about 54,000 inmates in education  
            programs for a system with 173,000 inmates, and barely  
            one-half of those-27,000 inmates-are in the core traditional  
            academic vocational training programs ? most likely to improve  
            the educational attainment of inmates and thus their  
            employability upon their release."  (Legislative Analyst's  
            Office, From Cellblocks to Classrooms: Reforming Education to  
            Improve Public Safety (February 2008) p. 11.)  

             CDCR, however, states that the decline of state prison inmate  
            populations due to criminal justice realignment "has provided  
            the opportunity to increase access and improve its  
            rehabilitative programs, which will significantly lower  
            California's recidivism rate."  (CDCR, The Future of  
            California Corrections (2012) In-Prison Rehabilitative  
            Programs, p. 21.)  
             
           5)Argument in Support  :  According to the  Service Employees  
            International Union, Local 1000  , "Career technical or  
            vocational education has been shown to reduce recidivism.  A  
            study published by the Washington State Institute for Public  
            Policy on a variety of programs found that one of the most  
            successful in reducing recidivism was career technical  
            education, reducing recidivism by 9 percent and resulted in a  
            net savings per participant of $13,700 annually.  This bill  
            takes language from these two sources, including the findings  
            from the January 2013 report on [career technical education]  
            to the State Board of Education and asks the department to  
            develop standards and criteria that could be used to evaluate  
            the effectiveness of their programs as well."

           6)Related Legislation  :  AB 494 (V. Manuel Perez) would codify  
            plans of CDCR to improve academic programing offered to  
            inmates in the prison system.

           7)Prior Legislation  :  AB 900 (Solorio), Chapter 7, Statutes of  
            2007, among other things, implemented requirements to increase  
            to inmate education participation rates, reduce teacher  








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            vacancies, and conduct risk and needs assessments of inmates  
            sent to prison.

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :   

           Support 
           
          Service Employees International Union, Local 1000 (Sponsor)
          American Civil Liberties Union
          California Correctional Peace Officers Association
          California Public Defenders Association
          Legal Services for Prisoners with Children

           Opposition 
           
          None
           

          Analysis Prepared by  :    Shaun Naidu / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744