BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1093
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Date of Hearing: April 21, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON JOBS, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, AND THE ECONOMY
Eduardo Garcia, Chair
AB 1093
(Eduardo Garcia) - As Introduced February 27, 2015
SUBJECT: Public safety: supervised population workforce training:
grant program
SUMMARY: Makes modifications to the Supervised Population Workforce
Training Grant Program (SPWTG Program), which is administered by the
California Workforce Investment Board (CWIB), for the purpose of
expediting the allocation of funds in the 2014-15 fiscal year.
Specifically, the bill:
1)Authorizes the state to delegate the responsibility for determining
the sufficiency of prior assessments to one or more local workforce
investment boards.
2)Allows applicants to address one or both of education and training
needs of the formerly incarcerated individuals. Current law
requires each applicant to address both.
3)Expands the content of the CWIB overall assessment of the program to
include:
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a) Identification of the education and workforce readiness of
supervised population entering the program and how that impacted
the types of services needed and offered.
b) Whether the metrics used to evaluate the individual grants
were sufficiently aligned with the objectives of the program.
4)Includes an urgency clause and takes effect immediately.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes the CWIB, comprised of members appointed by the Governor
and the appropriate presiding officer(s) of each house of the
Legislature, and specifies that the executive director of the CWIB
report to the Secretary of the California Labor and Workforce
Development Agency. The CWIB is responsible for assisting the state
in meeting the requirements of the federal Workforce Investment Act
of 1998 (WIA), as well as assisting the Governor in the development,
oversight, and continuous improvement of California's workforce
investment system.
2)Creates the SPWTG Program, administered by the CWIB, to award grant
funding for vocational training and apprenticeship opportunities for
offenders under county jurisdiction who are on probation, mandatory
community supervision, or post-release community supervision.
3)Requires CWIB to administer the SPWTG Program through a public
process, as specified, with preference for counties (a) with a
demonstrated collaborative working relationship with local workforce
investment boards; (b) with a workforce training program in place
for the supervised population; and (c) that offer a funding match.
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4)Requires SPWTG recipients to report to the CWIB regarding their use
of the funds and workforce training program outcomes upon completion
of the grant period and requires CWIB to assess and report on the
outcomes of the program, as specified, to the Legislature by January
1, 2018.
5)Creates in the State Treasury the Recidivism Reduction Fund for
moneys to be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for
activities designed to reduce the state's prison population,
including, but not limited to, reducing recidivism. Funds in the
Recidivism Reduction Fund are available to be transferred to the
State Community Corrections Performance Incentives Fund. In
2014-15, $1 million was approved for allocation through the SPWTG
Program.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
POLICY ISSUE FRAME:
This bill proposes to provide greater flexibility and assessment to an
existing workforce training and job placement program serving men and
women who are reentering communities from incarceration, AB 2060 (V.
Manuel Pérez), Chapter 383, Statutes of 2014. The need for this type
of assistance has been advocated by many constituencies, including,
but not limited to advocates for formerly incarcerated adults,
criminal justice policy researchers, law enforcement, and business and
community leaders.
While a final report on the SPWTG Program will not be available until
2018, the CWIB has indicated that the existing program is moving
forward without significant challenges. The author has stated that
given the short court mandated timeline it is appropriate to make
changes to the program now so that it could be ready for additional
state funding in 2015-16.
In deliberating the merits of the measure, Members may wish to
consider the challenges formerly incarcerated individuals face in
reentering society and the social and financial cost to society for
the state's high recidivism rate. The Comment section of the analysis
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includes additional information on these issues.
COMMENTS:
1)Author's Purpose: According to the author, "With orders from the
U.S. Supreme Court to reduce its prison population, the state needs
smart, effective policies to help local jurisdictions achieve
realignment goals and reduce recidivism. Workforce development for
the re-entry population is a practical strategy for improving access
to a stable job. It helps improve offender outcomes, reduce the
likelihood of recidivism, and promote community safety and
stability. AB 1093 makes key program changes to the 2014 bill [AB
2060 (V. Manuel Perez)]."
2)Solicitation for Proposals: The CWIB issued a Solicitation for
Proposal (SFP) on March 20, 2015 for the SPWTG Program. The SFP
calls for applications that expand existing, mature collaborative
relationships between county-based Community Corrections
Partnerships and Local Workforce Investment Boards(LWIB) in support
of innovative strategies that accelerate educational attainment and
re-employment for the supervised population.
Funding for the program is limited to $1 million, which will be
deployed to applicants that best help the state meet these four
overarching program goals:
Train up to 100 supervised population participants.
Improve labor market and skills outcomes for the supervised
population through the development of strategies that fill gaps,
accelerate processes, or customize services to ensure greater
access to workforce services and employment opportunities.
Create new modes for service delivery and funding alignment
that can be replicated across the State and tailored to regional
needs.
Leverage the State's investment with commitments from
industry, labor, public, and community-based partners.
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--------------------------------------------------------------
| Key Dates - Supervised Population Workforce Training Grant |
| Program |
--------------------------------------------------------------
|-----------------------------------------------+--------------|
|CWIB Releases the Solicitation for Proposal |March 20, |
| |2015 |
|-----------------------------------------------+--------------|
|Proposals due to the CWIB by 3:00 p.m. |April 17, |
| |2015 |
|-----------------------------------------------+--------------|
|Award Announcements |May 1, 2015 |
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
| Source: Solicitation for Proposal, Supervised Population |
|Workforce Training Grant Program |
--------------------------------------------------------------
At the April 8, 2015, hearing of the Assembly Budget Subcommittee 5
on Transportation and Public Safety, the CWIB testified on the
implementation of the program. Committee members discussed the
possibility of additional funding being provided to the SPWTG
Program. AB 1093 includes an urgency clause, provides for greater
program flexibility, and increases the outcome evaluation criteria
should additional money be appropriated to the program.
1)Court Actions related to Prison Overcrowding: For decades,
California's prison system has faced significant challenges in
meeting both its basic security and rehabilitation responsibilities.
Designed to house an inmate population of 80,000, the state prison
population has remained well above that mark. In 2006, the
California prison population hit its peak with over 170,000 men and
women being housed within the state prison system.
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The resulting conditions were the subject of two federal class
actions. In the first case, Coleman v. Brown (filed 1990), the
District Court found that prisoners with serious mental illness did
not receive minimal, adequate care and after over a decade of
remediation the Special Master assigned to the case reported that
the system's mental health care continued to seriously and
negatively be impacted by overcrowding. In the second case a decade
later, Plata v. Brown (filed 2001), the state conceded deficiencies
in prison medical care violated prisoners Eighth Amendment rights
and stipulated to remedial injunction. When the state failed to
comply with the injunction, the plaintiffs in both cases moved to
convene a federal three-judge court panel, as empowered under the
Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995, in order to command the state
to reduce the prison population. The cases were ultimately
consolidated and, in August 2009, the three-judge panel found that
prison overcrowding was the primary reason that the state was unable
to provide inmates with constitutionally adequate health care. The
court ordered the state reduce its inmate population to no more than
137.5% of the design capacity in the prisons operated by the CDCR by
June 2013 [Plata/Coleman v. Brown].
In 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the three-judge panel's order
for the state to reduce its prison population to 137.5% of the
prison design capacity or approximately 46,000 inmates at the time
of the decision. Over the ensuing years, the deadlines for reaching
the mandated prison population reduction have shifted. Currently,
the state is required to reach the prison population reduction
target by February 28, 2016. Should the state fail to meet its
final reduction target or any of the interim milestones, a
court-ordered Compliance Officer has been given the authority to
order the early release of inmates.
2)Programs to Address Prison Recidivism: The state has taken a
variety of actions to try to meet its prison population reduction
target including infill bed expansion, contract beds, prison
re-entry hubs, county probation incentive grants, and workforce
development programs focused on the formerly incarcerated
individuals. Most significantly were the 2009 parole reforms and
the 2011 realignment of certain criminal justice responsibilities
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from the state to the California counties. In 2013, the Recidivism
Reduction Fund was established at the state Treasury for the purpose
of funding new programs and services designed to reduce recidivism
of inmates and parolees. The 2014 Budget Act provided $5 million
from the $91 million in the Recidivism Reduction Fund for
performance-based workforce training contracts (also called social
innovation financing contracts) for formerly incarcerated
individuals. [AB 1837(Atkins), Chapter 838, Statues of 2014]
Another million dollars was appropriated from the Recidivism
Reduction Fund to implement to SPWTG Program, which is the subject
of this bill.
As of December 2014, the state was at 140% design capacity. This is
below the 2015 target, but still 1,204 inmates above the final
February 2016 target.
For 2015-16, the Legislative Analyst reports that the average daily
prison population is projected to be about 133,000 inmates, which
represents a 1% reduction (1,900 inmates) from the estimated
current-year level. This reduction is due to a number of factors
including the impact of Proposition 36, which passed in November
2012 and revised the state's three strikes laws, and Proposition 47,
which passed in November 2014 and requires misdemeanor sentencing
instead of felony for specified property and drug charges.
The reductions are, however, being offset by a rise in second
offenders under the state's Three Strikes law, which provides for
certain individuals and crimes that the sentence in the second
offence to be twice the term otherwise required by law. The
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation estimates that it will
receive 12,400 second strike offenders in 2015-16, which is a 68%
increase from the 2011-12 level. This new trend threatens to derail
the state's progress on reducing the state's prison population,
making programs that target recidivism even more important.
The Governor's 2015-16 budget proposal provides $125 million for the
largest of the prison recidivism reduction programs, the Community
Corrections Performance Incentive Grant. Under this program,
funding is provided to county probation departments based on the
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ratio of felony probation returns to prison and jail.
The Governor's budget estimates that $28.8 million will be available
for expenditure through the Recidivism Reduction Fund in 2015-16 and
proposes to allocate $12.6 million to community-based facilities
that emphasize co-occurring mental health and substance use
disorders, and $15.6 million to non-reentry hub institutions that
treat substance use.
3)State Strategy on Employment of Former Offenders: The federal
Workforce Investment Act requires the Governor, through the CWIB, to
submit a State Strategic Workforce Development Plan (State Plan) to
the U.S. Department of Labor. This plan outlines a five-year
strategy for the investment of federal workforce training and
employment services funds. With respect to services to former
offenders, CWIB states the following:
"The State Board has leveraged the [California Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR)] expertise to help Local Boards
obtain additional funding from "realignment" funds allocated to
counties. A workshop was conducted [in 2014] by the California
Workforce Association, which included CDCR and Local Board staff
sharing knowledge about realignment and funding so that Local Boards
might be in a better position to engage their counties in seeking
funding to serve this new "realigned" population.
The State Board will continue to work closely with CDCR and LWIBs to
encourage and develop innovative services for the ex-offender
population. Policy Link and the National Employment Law Project
(NELP), the State Board is helping convene LWIBs, to ensure formerly
incarcerated individuals have access to quality employment services.
The State Board also worked with the Employment Development Department
and NELP to develop a directive to ensure that LWIBs comply with
nondiscrimination obligations when serving individuals with criminal
records. http://edd.ca.gov/Jobs_and_Training/pubs/wsd12-9.pdf ."
4)Summary from Survey on Training Activities: In preparation for
hearing AB 2060 in 2014, the Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economic
Development, and the Economy, asked the California Workforce
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Association to survey its membership about current and previous
activities related to reentry programs that targeted the formerly
incarcerated. Of the 49 LWIBs in California, 11 boards were able to
respond under the tight timeframes including: Golden Sierra; Inyo
and Mono Consortium; Kern County; Marin County; Merced County;
Monterey County; San Bernardino County; San Diego County;
Sacramento County; Sonoma County; Santa Cruz County; and the Verdugo
Consortium. These 11 LWIBs reported serving 1,782 individuals who
were reentering communities following incarceration in the prior
year. The California Workforce Association believes this figure is
much higher as the other 38 WIBs also serve the re-entry population.
Below is a summary of the survey answers.
a) What type of re-entry programs do you have and how many people
do they serve? Many local workforce investment boards receive
funding from their local probation departments. Services in
these programs generally include a reentry navigator/case manager
who acts as an employment counselor and also ensures that
appropriate wrap around services are offered to the job seekers.
The goal of these programs is to help the individual find
full-time employment. Large portions of the program focus on job
readiness training, on-the-job training, work experience and
class room/vocational training. Support services are also a key
component to the re-entry programs. Services such as GED
preparation and testing, transportation vouchers, food vouchers,
record expungement, counseling, housing assistance, driver
license and social security compliance, etc.
Even in local workforce areas where direct funding is not
received, workforce boards use their own funds to partner with
the probation and juvenile justice system to offer job readiness
workshops including resume preparation, interview skills, labor
market opportunities, filling out applications, and "dress for
success."
b) What is the total funding for those programs and where are the
funds from? Program funding varies locally, but a majority of
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LWIBs reported receiving AB 109 funds from their probation
department. Other funding sources include, CDCR, local juvenile
departments, and non-profits such as Friends Outside and
Behavioral Interventions, Inc. Individual program budgets range
from $130,000 to $400,000 annually.
c) What is the cost per individual in these programs? The
average cost reported is roughly $6,000 per individual.
d) Do you provide any stipends or wages from your program? The
programs generally offer to pay wages or part of the wages
through work experience or on-the-job training programs.
Additionally, programs serving youth use stipends to support
program completion.
e) Do women or men have an easier time finding employment? The
majority of programs report that most of their participants are
male. Several programs stated that males seem to have an easier
time placing due to the partnerships they have with organizations
offering skilled trade or labor jobs. A few areas report that
women are more apt to request and receive training than men and
are more likely to have a work history before entering
incarceration.
In submitting the survey results, the California Workforce
Association highlighted the importance of wrap around services to
the reentry population including shelter, food, and having a healthy
support network. Without their core survival needs being met, the
formerly incarcerated face even greater difficulties in finding
employment and may be tempted to resume their prior lifestyle.
5)WIA and the California Workforce Investment Board: Enacted in 1998,
WIA provides states with federal funding for job training and
employment investment activities and programs, including work
incentive and employment training outreach programs. Distribution
of the funds is based on a set formula which includes specified
economic and demographic data and flows to the state through three
primary programs: Adult, Youth, and Dislocated Workers.
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California's WIA allocation from the U.S. Department of Labor has
declined over the years from a high of $630 million in 2000-01 to
$391 million in 2014-15. Federal law dictates that 85% of Adult
and Youth formula funds, and 60% of Dislocated Worker formula funds,
are distributed to local WIBs (LWIBs). Funding for the state's
activities is derived from the 15% WIA discretionary funds.
California will receive approximately $390 million in Program Year
2014-15, $356 million is allocated to the LWIBs to provide services
for adults, laid-off workers, and youth, and $34 million will remain
at the state-level for program oversight and discretionary programs.
Discretionary funding in 2015-16 is expected to increase and will be
detailed in the May Revision.
California's WIA dollars are overseen by the 56-member CWIB, of
which 61% of the members represent the private sector, as required
by federal law. The CWIB has a staff of 17 authorized positions and
is currently led by Executive Director Tim Rainey. In 2008, CWIB
established the Green Collar Jobs Council to address the workforce
development needs of the emerging clean and green economy.
Among its primary duties, the CWIB provides guidance to local LWIBs
and is responsible for the development of a unified, strategic plan
to coordinate various education, training, and employment programs
that result in an integrated workforce development system that
supports economic development. The plan is required to be updated
at least every 5 years in order to address the state's changing
economic, demographic, and workplace needs. The most recent plan
was submitted to the federal Department of Labor in April 2013 and
approved after consultation and modest revisions in June 2013.
California's Strategic Workforce Development Plan 2013-2017 -
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"Shared Strategy for a Shared Prosperity," prioritizes regional
coordination among key partners, sector-based employment strategies,
skill attainment through 'earn and learn" and other effective
training models (including, but not limited to apprenticeship), and
development of career pathways.
Based on the framework of the state plan, in July 2013, the LWIBs
submitted local workforce investment plans for the CWIB's review.
Key among the policy enhancements in the current state and local
plans are strengthened performance indicators to allow for ongoing
monitoring of the plan's success. There are 49 LWIBs that plan for
and oversee the workforce investment system at the local level.
Each LWIB also has one or more One-Stop Centers, which provide
access to career information, counseling, and funding for education,
training and supportive services.
6)Related Legislation: Legislation related to this measure includes
the following:
a) AB 8 (V. Manuel Pérez) Renewable Energy Workforce Readiness
Initiative: This bill would have required the California
Workforce Investment Board, in consultation with the Green Collar
Jobs Council, to establish a Renewable Energy Workforce Readiness
Initiative, as specified. As part of these activities, the
California Workforce Investment Board would have provided
guidance to local workforce investment boards on how to establish
comprehensive green collar job assessment, training, and
placement programs that reflect the local and regional economies.
Status: Vetoed by the Governor, 2011.
b) AB 1019 (Ammiano) Prison Workforce Training: This bill
requires goals for career technical education to be set by the
Superintendent of Correctional Education, and establishes factors
that are required to be considered when establishing a career
technical education program, as specified.. Status: Signed by
the Governor, Chapter 789, Statutes of 2013.
c) AB 1837 (Atkins) Social Innovation Financing to Address
Recidivism: This bill Establishes the Social Innovation
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Financing Program, administered by the Board of State and
Community Corrections, which provided grants to three counties
for the purpose of utilizing pay-for-success contracts to reduce
recidivism. Status: Signed by the Governor, Chapter 802,
Statutes of 2014.
d) AB 2060 (V. Manuel Pérez) Supervised Population Workforce
Training Grant Program: This bill establishes the Supervised
Population Workforce Training Grant Program. The Program is
comprised of two distinct funding streams: one stream for
post-secondary training that may lead to certifications and
placement on a middle-skill career ladder and a second stream for
individuals that are starting with low educational attainment and
need help with basic academic skills. Status: Signed by the
Governor, Chapter 383, Statutes of 2014.
e) AB 2526 (Gonzalez) Community Corrections Program: This bill
would require a rank-and-file deputy sheriff or a rank-and-file
police officer and a rank-and-file probation officer or a deputy
probation officer, to be appointed by a local labor organization,
to the membership of a Community Corrections Partnership. The
bill would require the vote of the rank-and-file deputy sheriff
or rank-and-file police officer and a rank-and-file probation
officer or deputy probation officer on the local plan. Status:
Held in the Senate Committee on Public Safety, 2014.
f) SB 105 (Steinberg) Recidivism Reduction Fund: This bill,
among other things, created the Recidivism Reduction Fund in the
State Treasury to be available for appropriation by the
Legislature for activities aimed at reducing the state's prison
population, including, but not limited to, reducing recidivism.
Status: Signed by the Governor, Chapter 310, Statutes of 2013.
9)Double Referral: The Assembly Rules Committee has referred this
measure to the Assembly Committee on Public Safety (PS) and the
Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economic Development and the Economy.
This measure passed PS on a 7 to 0 vote.
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
California Public Defenders Association
California Workforce Association
Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice
PolicyLink
Root & Rebound
Opposition
None received
Analysis Prepared by:Toni Symonds / J., E.D., & E. / (916) 319-2090
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