BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 384| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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 CONTINUED SB 384 Page 2 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 CONTINUED SB 384 Page 3 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. CONTINUED SB 384 Page 4 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 **** END **** CONTINUED SB 384 Page 5 CONTINUED