BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 365
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 365 (Wolk)
As Amended September 11, 2013
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :Vote not relevant
PUBLIC SAFETY 7-0
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|Ayes:|Ammiano, Melendez, | | |
| |Jones-Sawyer, Mitchell, | | |
| |Quirk, Skinner, Waldron | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Makes changes to jail construction and juvenile facility
funding which is allocated by the Board of State Community
Corrections (BSCC). Specifically, this bill :
1)Moves $80 million from AB 900 Phase I funding to AB 900 Phase II
funding.
2)Allows a county which has been conditionally awarded financing to
construct a juvenile facility to apply to the BSCC for redirection
of the conditional award to another county that will be the lead
county if the original county determines that joint participation
in a shared regional facility would benefit the needs of the
counties involved.
3)Authorizes BSCC to redirect the conditional award if it determines
that redirection would result in cost savings, regional
efficiencies, increased services, and improved outcomes.
4)Specifies that redirection may only be considered prior to any
approval or establishment of the project by the board.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Authorizes the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
(CDCR), a participating county, and the State Public Works Board
(SPWB) to acquire, design, and construct a local jail facility
approved by the Corrections Standards Authority (CSA, now the
BSCC), as specified, or a site or sites owned by, or subject to a
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lease or option to purchase held by, a participating county. The
ownership interest of a participating county in the site or sites
for a local jail facility must be determined by the SPWB to be
adequate for purposes of its financing in order to be eligible
under this chapter.
2)Authorizes the SPWB to issue up to $445.771 million in revenue
bonds, notes, or bond anticipation notes, as specified, to finance
the acquisition, design, or construction, and a reasonable
construction reserve, of approved local jail facilities, as
specified, and any additional amount to pay for the cost of
financing, as specified. Proceeds from the revenue bonds, notes,
or bond anticipation notes may be used to reimburse a
participating county for the costs of acquisition, preliminary
plans, working drawings, and construction for approved projects.
3)Allows a participating county that has received a conditional
award under this financing program to relinquish its conditional
award, provided that no state moneys have been encumbered in
contracts let by the county, and may reapply for a conditional
award under the financing program set forth in this chapter.
4)Authorizes the SPWB to issue up to $774.229 million in revenue
bonds, notes, or bond anticipation notes, to finance the
acquisition, design, or construction, and a reasonable
construction reserve, of approved local jail facilities, as
specified, to pay for the cost of financing. Proceeds from the
revenue bonds, notes, or bond anticipation notes may be used to
reimburse a participating county for the costs of acquisition,
preliminary plans, working drawings, and construction for approved
projects.
5)Authorizes the SPWB to issue up to $300 million in revenue bonds,
notes, or bond anticipation notes to finance the acquisition,
design, renovation, or construction, and a reasonable construction
reserve, of approved local youthful offender rehabilitative
facilities.
6)Establishes the BSCC, abolishes the CSA, and states that
references in statute to the CSA shall now refer to the BSCC.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : According to the author, "The amendments to SB 365 would
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free-up some funds that are currently stranded for county public
safety projects.
"The Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) has authority
to issue lease-revenue bonds to fund the construction of county
jails. As you know, many counties received funds under AB 900.
However, one county that was awarded funds later decided to
relinquish their award.
"The relinquishing of AB 900 funds occurred after both phases of AB
900 awards had occurred. Due to the timing, these returned funds are
now stranded, as the BSCC has no authority under existing law to
reissue these funds.
"The first provision of the proposed amendments would adjust the
amount of lease revenue bonds that the BSCC can issue, to reflect
the relinquished funds and repurposing them. According to the BSCC,
the immediate beneficiaries of this provision would be Monterey and
Sonoma Counties, as those counties are next in line to receive
awards as funds become available. This would not allow any county to
'jump the line' - just the opposite, the BSCC would simply keep
working down their existing list of potential grantees.
"The second provision of SB 365 would authorize a county that was
awarded funds from SB 81 for juvenile facilities to pool resources
with one or more other counties to build a regional facility to
serve juveniles. The bill also authorizes the funds to be used
outside of the recipient county, if the regional facility would
improve and enhance services. Colusa County was awarded such a
grant but the juvenile justice realignment has resulted in very few
juvenile wards being in custody, making the construction of a
Colusa-only facility inefficient from a cost and programming
perspective. Yuba and Sutter Counties already operate a joint
facility. Section 2 of the bill would allow Colusa to join the
Yuba-Sutter JPA and pool their county resources to expand and
upgrade the joint facility in Yuba to serve all three counties. This
facility may also be able to serve juveniles from other parts of the
state as well.
"At this crossroads in the County-State fiscal relationship with
regard to public safety, prison overcrowding and realignment, the
proposed amendments to SB 365 will free -up already appropriated
funding and provides counties autonomy to work together to address
capacity is deeply appreciated and much needed."
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Background on local jail construction funds : AB 900 (Solorio),
Chapter 7, Statutes of 2007, authorized $1.2 billion in state lease
revenue bond funding for the construction of local jail facilities.
AB 900 split the funding into two phases. The first phase of
funding was allocated as conditional awards in November 2009 and
approximately $620 million was awarded to the following counties:
San Bernardino, San Joaquin, Kern, Santa Barbara, San Diego, San
Luis Obispo, Solano, Madera, Calaveras, Amador, and San Benito.
Phase I originally included $750 million, but since only $620
million was awarded, the remaining funds were shifted to Phase II in
AB 111 (Budget Committee). AB 111 also removed requirements that
4,000 local jail beds and 2,000 reentry beds be constructed prior to
making the Phase II jail funds available. AB 111 also changed the
preferences for counties seeking jail construction funding to the
counties that have the largest percentage of inmates in state prison
in 2010. Previously, preference had been given to counties that
helped to site reentry facilities, establish mental health day
treatment and crisis care, and establish continuum of care programs
for parolees.
Subsequent legislation, AB 94 (Budget Committee), Chapter 23,
Statutes of 2011, allowed participating counties that received Phase
1 conditional awards to relinquish the awards and reapply, provided
that no state moneys have been encumbered. AB 94 also added a
funding preference to counties that relinquish their conditional
awards, provided that those counties continue to assist the state in
siting reentry facilities.
Most recently, under SB 1022 (Budget Committee), Chapter 42,
Statutes of 2012, up to $500 million in financing authority is
conditionally available. The BSCC released a request for proposals
regarding use of SB 1022 jail construction money in July 2013. (See
SB 1022 - Request for Proposals Background,
.) SB
1022 also shifted $171.3 million from AB 900 Phase I to Phase II.
This bill reduces the Phase I authorization to $365.771 million and
increase the Phase II authorization to $854.229 million; effectively
shifting $80 million from Phase I to Phase II. These funds became
available because San Joaquin County recently relinquished an award
of $80 million.
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Background on juvenile facility construction funds : SB 81 (Budget
Committee), Chapter 175, Statutes of 2007, authorized $100 million
in lease revenue bonds for the construction of new local facilities
for youthful offenders. The purpose of this financing program was
to support the rehabilitation of youthful offenders at the local
level. As such, rehabilitation must be a core component of the
operational philosophy of the facility subject to construction,
expansion or renovation. In 2010, AB 1628 (Budget Committee),
Chapter 729, Statutes of 2010, added $200 million in lease-revenue
bond financing authority to this construction financing program.
The request for proposals for the juvenile facilities construction
projects contemplated that counties might partner up to submit a
proposal for a regional facility project. (See pages 10, 14 and 21
of SB 81 Request for Proposals Issued July 15, 2008, listed on
BSCC's Web site
http://www.bscc.ca.gov/programs-and-services/fso/services .)
Analysis Prepared by : Sandy Uribe / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744 FN:
0002837