BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                            



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                                    THIRD READING


          Bill No:  SB 384
          Author:   Gaines (R) and DeSaulnier (D)
          Amended:  5/7/13
          Vote:     27 - Urgency

           
           SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE  :  7-0, 4/30/13
          AYES:  Hancock, Anderson, Block, De León, Knight, Liu, Steinberg

           SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE  :  9-0, 6/5/13
          AYES:  Liu, Wyland, Block, Correa, Hancock, Hueso, Huff,  
            Monning, Torres

           SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE  :  7-0, 8/30/13
          AYES:  De León, Walters, Gaines, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg


           SUBJECT  :    California Memorial Scholarship Program

           SOURCE  :     Author


           DIGEST  :    This bill extends the deadlines by which eligible  
          victims of 9/11 must be notified of their eligibility for, and  
          must inform and execute agreements to participate in, the  
          California Memorial Scholarship Program administered by the  
          Scholarshare Investment Board (SIB).

           ANALYSIS  :    Existing provisions in the California Constitution  
          state that all persons who suffer losses as a result of criminal  
          activity shall have the right to restitution from the  
          perpetrators of these crimes.  Restitution shall be ordered in  
          every case unless compelling and extraordinary reasons exist to  
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          the contrary.  The Legislature shall adopt provisions to  
          implement this section during the calendar year following  
          adoption of this section.

          Existing law:

          1.States legislative intent that a victim of crime who incurs  
            any economic loss as a result of the commission of a crime  
            shall receive restitution directly from any defendant  
            convicted of that crime.

          2.Directs the court to order a defendant to make restitution to  
            the victim or victims of the defendant's crime.  The court  
            shall order full restitution for the losses caused by the  
            defendant's crime unless the court finds and states compelling  
            and extraordinary reasons for not doing so. 

          3.Creates the Victims of Crime Program, administered by the  
            California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board  
            (VCGCB), to reimburse victims of crime for the pecuniary  
            losses they suffer as a direct result of criminal acts.   
            Indemnification is made from the Restitution Fund, which is  
            continuously appropriated to the VCGCB for these purposes.  

          4.Creates the California Memorial Scholarship Program  
            administered by the Scholarshare Investment Board to provide  
            scholarships for surviving dependents of California residents  
            killed as a result of injuries sustained during the Terrorist  
            attacks of September 11, 2001. 

          5.Provides that the VCGCB will identify all persons who are  
            eligible for scholarships under the California Memorial  
            Scholarship Program by July 1, 2003. 

          6.Provides that persons eligible, or the parent or guardian of  
            an eligible person, shall inform the Scholarshare Investment  
            Board of their decision on whether to participate in the  
            program and shall execute agreements no later than July 1,  
            2005.

          This bill:

          1.Extends the deadline by which the VCGCB must identify all  
            persons who are eligible for scholarships from July 1, 2003 to  

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            July 1, 2014.

          2.Extends the deadline by which eligible persons, or the parent  
            or guardian of an eligible person, must inform the SIB whether  
            they choose to participate in the program and execute  
            agreements to do so from July 1, 2005 to July 1, 2015.

           Background
           
          This bill changes the time of notification of the eligible  
          participants to July 1, 2014, and extends the time in which  
          agreements shall be executed to July 1, 2015.

          The California Memorial Scholarship Program was established for  
          the surviving dependents of 9/11 victims.  The scholarship is  
          administered by Scholarshare but notification of the victims was  
          to be made by the VCGCB.  According to the author, the  
          notification was not done in a timely or complete manner and  
          thus many eligible participants did not meet the deadline for  
          stating their interest.  This bill intends to remedy that  
          problem by extending the time frames in which the VCGCB must  
          provide notice and the time in which the interested persons must  
          sign an agreement. 

           Comments
           
          According to the author:

               Per the recent Auditor's report on the specialty license  
               plate program, there have been inexcusable errors in the  
               implementation of the Memorial Scholarship Program which  
               provides educational scholarships to eligible dependents of  
               victims of the 9/11 attacks.  In 2002 the Memorial License  
               Plate was created with the accompanying fund and  
               scholarship program, with specific instructions to the  
               Victim's Compensation Board to identify and notify  
               potential scholarship recipients of their eligibility and  
               invite them to participate in the program.  There was a  
               deadline set out for not only notification, but then a  
               follow-up date for which the students or their  
               parents/guardians had to notify the Board of their  
               acceptance of the scholarship and participation in the  
               program.  


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               The Victim's Compensation Board did not meet their  
               statutory deadline for notification- in fact they far  
               surpassed it, only leaving a quarter of the time allotted  
               for students to not only realize they were eligible, but  
               then decide to participate.  The Board also did not do the  
               outreach that was instructed to be done to inform  
               potentially eligible dependents.  

               It is because of this lack of adherence to statute that the  
               authors of this bill want to re-open the Memorial  
               Scholarship Program and give eligible students who may not  
               have had the time or notification the first time around,  
               the ability to participate in a scholarship that was put in  
               place specifically to assist them.  This bill will give a  
               new window of time for the Victim's Compensation Board to  
               identify, outreach, and sign up eligible participants for  
               this scholarship program utilizing revenues still being  
               received from the specialty memorial license plates. 

           FISCAL EFFECT  :    Appropriation:  No   Fiscal Com.:  Yes    
          Local:  No

          According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:

           Increased eligibility:  Potentially significant costs, to the  
            extent that additional individuals who are eligible to  
            participate in the scholarship program are identified and  
            choose to participate (Anti-terrorism Fund). 

           Administration:  Both the VCGCB and the SIB report that any  
            additional costs and workload would be minor and absorbable  
            within each agency's existing resources.




          JG:nl  8/31/13   Senate Floor Analyses 

                         SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  NONE RECEIVED

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