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. AB 1019 Page 2 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 AB 1019 Page 3 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 AB 1019 Page 4 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