BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1054|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 1054
Author: Steinberg (D)
Amended: 4/7/14
Vote: 27
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 6-0, 4/22/14
AYES: Hancock, Anderson, De León, Liu, Mitchell, Steinberg
NO VOTE RECORDED: Knight
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-0, 5/23/14
AYES: De León, Walters, Gaines, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
SUBJECT : Mentally ill offender crime reduction grants
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill provides grants to counties to develop and
implement a comprehensive, cost-effective strategy to reduce the
rate of recidivism and re-incarceration of mentally ill
offenders.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1.Establishes the Board of State and Community Corrections
(BSCC) as an independent entity of the California Department
of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR).
2.Establishes the Council on Mentally Ill Offenders (COMIO)
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within the CDCR as a body including representatives from
mental health and the criminal justice system.
3.States it is the mission of the COMIO to investigate and
promote cost-effective approaches to meeting the long-term
needs of adults and juveniles with mental disorders who are
offenders or are likely to become offenders.
4.Defines mentally ill juvenile as "seriously emotionally
disturbed children or adolescents," particularly "minors under
the age of 18 years who have a mental disorder as identified
in the most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders, other than a primary substance use
disorder or developmental disorder, which results in behavior
inappropriate to the child's age according to expected
developmental norms."
5.Defines mentally ill adult as "an adult or older adult who has
a serious mental disorder," particularly "a mental disorder
that is severe in degree and persistent in duration, which may
cause behavioral functioning which interferes substantially
with the primary activities of daily living, and which may
result in an inability to maintain stable adjustment and
independent functioning without treatment, support, and
rehabilitation for a long or indefinite period of time.
This bill:
1.Requires the BSCC to administer and award competitive grants
to counties to expand or establish a continuum of graduated
responses to reduce crime and costs related to mentally ill
offenders. A continuum of graduated responses for mentally
ill offenders includes prevention, intervention, and
incarceration.
2.Defines mentally ill offenders as:
A. Adults and older adults who have a serious mental
disorder; and
B. Adults or older adults who require or are at risk of
requiring acute psychiatric inpatient care, residential
treatment, or outpatient crisis intervention because of
mental disorder with symptoms or psychosis, suicidality, or
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violence.
1.Requires counties to establish a strategy committee to be
eligible for mentally ill offender crime reduction grants.
2.Requires the strategy committee to do the following for grant
eligibility:
A. Consist of, at a minimum, the sheriff or director that
leads the administration of the county jail system,
representatives from other local law enforcement agencies,
the chief probation officer, the county mental health
director, a superior court judge, a client of a mental
health treatment facility, and representatives from service
providers for the mentally ill, as specified.
B. Develop a comprehensive, cost-effective plan to provide
a continuum of graduated responses including mental health
or substance treatment and provisions for long-term
stability of mentally ill offenders after release.
C. Identify specific outcome and performance measures and
plan for annual reporting to the BSCC for evaluation.
1.Requires the BSCC to award the grants for four years of
supplemental funding.
2.Allows grants to be awarded to specialized alternative custody
programs that offer "appropriate mental health treatment and
services."
3.Requires eligible counties to make available resources, which
may include in-kind contributions from participating agencies,
monetarily equivalent to at least 25% of the grant amount.
Requires the BSCC to prioritize proposals that provide
additional funding in excess of 25% of the grant amount.
4.Requires the BSCC to establish the minimum standards, funding
schedules, and procedures to award the grants. The BSCC will,
at a minimum, take into consideration the following:
A. Percentage of the jail population with severe mental
illness.
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B. Applicant's demonstrated ability to administer the
program.
C. Applicant's demonstrated ability to effectively provide
treatment and stability for severely mentally ill
individuals.
D. Applicant's demonstrated history of maximizing federal,
state, local, and private funding sources.
E. Likelihood of continued program operation after grant
funding ends.
1.Requires the BSCC to create an evaluation design that will
assess the effectiveness of the grant program in reducing
crime, the number of early releases due to jail overcrowding,
and local criminal justice costs.
2.Requires the BSCC to submit annual reports based on the
evaluation design after June 30, 2014, with a final report due
to the Legislature on or before December 31, 2019.
3.Appropriates $50 million from the Recidivism Reduction Fund to
the BSCC for grants and administration of this program and
requires that one-half of the money be used for juvenile
offenders and one-half of the money be used for adult
offenders.
4.Sunsets the provisions of this bill on January 1, 2024.
Comments
According to the author, "I have introduced SB 1054 - Mentally
Ill Offender Crime Reduction Grant (MIOCRG) Program with the
goal of reducing crime in our communities and breaking the
pattern of our jails and prisons being our de facto mental
health facilities.
SB 1054 re-establishes the successful community-based treatment
and services of the state's MIOCRG program. The re-established
program will give counties the resources they need to divert
mentally ill low-level offenders to treatment rather than jail,
with follow-up services for those released from jail to keep
them from reoffending.
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SB 1054 provides $50 million allocated to counties from SB 105's
(Steinberg, Huff, Chapter 310, Statutes of 2013) Recidivism
Reduction Fund (RRF). Half the grant funding would be dedicated
to adults with the other half focused on juveniles. A study
this year by the Board of State and Community Corrections shows
45% of youth in the California juvenile justice system have open
mental health cases.
The expansion of effective mental health treatment programs for
offenders in the adult and juvenile systems is key to reducing
repeat offenses in our communities. MIOCR grants will provide
the opportunity for counties to implement evidence based
programs that lead to cost effective solutions within the
criminal justice system.
Under the prior MIOCRG program established in 1998, counties
developed local projects including mental health courts,
enhanced community-based mental health and substance abuse
treatment, and vocational and employment training."
NOTE: See the Senate Public Safety Committee analysis for a
detailed background of the bill.
Prior Legislation
SB 105 (Steinberg, Chapter 310, Statutes of 2013) provided CDCR
with an additional $315 million (General Fund) in 2013-14 to
meet the requirements of a revised court order. This bill also
created the RRF and provided that a share of the $315 million be
deposited in the RRF if the amount necessary to meet the
requirements of the court order was less than the $315 million
appropriation.
AB 1811 (Laird, Chapter 48, Statutes of 2006) amended and
supplemented the Budget Act of 2006 appropriation amounts, and
provided $45 million (General Fund) for MIOCRG program funds to
be equally distributed between adult and juvenile offenders and
awarded on a competitive basis using criteria developed by the
Corrections Standards Authority.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: Yes Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
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According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
One-time appropriation: $50 million (Recidivism Reduction
Fund) in the 2014-15 fiscal year.
Total costs through 2019 to the BSCC of $2.5 million
(Recidivism Reduction Fund) from the RRF appropriation to
establish and administer the MIOCRG program, provide technical
assistance to counties, develop the evaluation assessment
tool, and report annually to the Legislature.
Significant future General Fund cost pressure to continue
funding the MIOCRG program given one-time availability of RRF
funds.
Unknown, potential significant future cost savings in state
and local criminal justice costs to the extent the services
provided through the MIOCRG program successfully reduce crime
and recidivism.
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/23/14)
American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy
Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs
Attorney General
California Psychological Association
California Attorneys for Criminal Justice
California Catholic Conference of Bishops
California Council of Community Mental Health Agencies
California Mental Health Directors Association
California Public Defenders Association
California State Association of Counties
California State Sheriffs' Association
Californians for Safety and Justice
Commonwealth
Counties of Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, and Santa Clara
Disability Rights California
Fight Crime
Invest in Kids California
Legal Services for Prisoners with Children
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
Los Angeles Probation Officers Union, AFSMC Local #685
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NAMI California
National Association of Social Workers
Riverside Sheriffs' Association
San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office
JG:e 5/23/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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