BILL ANALYSIS �
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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 Le�n, 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 Le�n, 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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