BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1730
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GOVERNOR'S VETO
AB
1730 (Atkins and Eggman)
As Enrolled September 9, 2016
2/3 vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |80-0 |(June 1, 2016) |SENATE: |39-0 |(August 31, |
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|ASSEMBLY: |78-0 |(August 31, | | | |
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Original Committee Reference: PUB. S.
SUMMARY: Directs the Board of State and Community Corrections
(BSCC) to establish a pilot project in up to four counties that
elect to participate in the pilot project and would authorize
the Counties of Sacramento, San Diego, San Joaquin, and Santa
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Clara to elect to participate in the pilot project. The county
programs established under the pilot project would provide
services to youth within the county relating to the commercial
sexual exploitation of youth. The pilot project has a sunset
date of January 1, 2022.
The Senate amendments:
1)Establish a sunset date of January 1, 2022.
2)State that a participating county may determine whether the
probation department, the county child welfare agency, or both
the probation department and the county child welfare agency
shall create and operate a program funded by the pilot
project.
3)Include San Joaquin County in the counties authorized to
participate in the pilot project.
4)Require a county that establishes a pilot program to conduct
at least one evaluation of the program's impact and
effectiveness and submit the evaluation to BSCC.
5)Specify that pilot project programs shall use facilities that
are licensed by the State Department of Social Services.
6)Delete findings and declarations.
7)Make technical, non-substantive changes.
EXISTING LAW:
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1)States that "sexual exploitation" refers to a person who
knowingly promotes, aids, or assists, employs, uses,
persuades, induces, or coerces a child, or a person
responsible for the welfare of a child, who knowingly permits
or encourages a child to engage in, or assist others to engage
in, prostitution or a live performance involving obscene
sexual conduct, or to either pose or model alone or with
others for purposes of preparing a film, photograph, negative,
slide, drawing, painting or other pictorial depiction
involving obscene sexual conduct.
2)Permits a city, county, or community-based nonprofit
organization to establish a multiagency, multidisciplinary
family justice center to assist victims of domestic violence,
sexual assault, elder or dependent adult abuse, and human
trafficking, to ensure that victims of abuse are able to
access all needed services in one location in order to enhance
victim safety, increase offender accountability, and improve
access to services for victims of domestic violence, sexual
assault, elder or dependent adult abuse, and human
trafficking.
3)Allows the County of Alameda, contingent upon local funding,
to establish a pilot project to develop a comprehensive,
multidisciplinary model to address the needs and effective
treatment of commercially sexually exploited minors who have
been arrested or detained by local law enforcement for a
violations of specified prostitution offenses.
4)Allows the District Attorney of the County of Alameda, in
collaboration with county and community-based agencies, to
develop, as a component of the specified pilot project,
protocols for identifying and assessing minors, upon arrest or
detention by law enforcement, who may be victims of commercial
sexual exploitation.
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5)Specifies that the District Attorney of the County of Alameda,
in collaboration with county and community-based agencies that
serve commercially sexually exploited minors, may develop, as
a component of the pilot project described in this chapter, a
diversion program reflecting the best practices to address the
needs and requirements of arrested or detained minors who have
been determined to be victims of commercial sexual
exploitation.
6)Permits the District Attorney of the County of Alameda, in
collaboration with county and community-based agencies, to
form, as a component of the pilot project described in this
chapter, a multidisciplinary team including, but not limited
to, city police departments, the county sheriff's department,
the public defender's office, the probation department, child
protection services, and community-based organizations that
work with or advocate for commercially sexually exploited
minors.
7)Requires the District Attorney of the County of Alameda to
submit a report to the Legislature by April 1, 2016, that
summarizes the activities of the pilot project.
8)States that the authorization for the pilot project in Alameda
County will expire on January 1, 2017, unless extended by the
Legislature.
9)Provides that a juvenile convicted of specified offenses
related to prostitution may, upon reaching 18 years of age,
petition the court to have those convictions sealed without
having to demonstrate that they have not been convicted of a
felony or of any misdemeanor involving moral turpitude, or
that rehabilitation has been attained to the satisfaction of
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the court.
10)Allows the County of Los Angeles to establish a pilot project
to develop a comprehensive, replicative, multidisciplinary
model to address the needs and effective treatment of
commercially sexually exploited minors who have been arrested
or detained by local law enforcement for a violation of
specified sexual offenses.
11)Requires the District Attorney of the County of Los Angeles
to submit a report to the Legislature by April 1, 2016 that
summarizes the activities of the pilot project.
12)States that the authorization for the pilot project in Los
Angeles County will expire on January 1, 2017, unless extended
by the Legislature.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY, this bill:
1)Directed the BSCC to establish a pilot project in the Counties
of Sacramento, San Diego, and Santa Clara, if the county
elects to participate, to provide services to youth within the
county to address the need for services relating to the
commercial sexual exploitation of youth.
2)Specified that the chief probation officer of the respective
counties shall create the program to provide services to youth
within the county related to commercial sexual exploitation.
3)Required programs receiving funding pursuant to this bill to
be licensed by the State Department of Social Services.
4)Provided that funding for the pilot projects shall be
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contingent upon an appropriation in the annual Budget Act.
5)Provided that funds appropriated for these purposes shall be
administered by the Board of State and Community Corrections.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee:
1)Three-county pilot project: Potential major future costs in
the millions of dollars (General Fund) for the five-year pilot
project, which would be contingent upon an appropriation in
future annual Budget Acts, to fund programs and activities
operated by county probation departments and/or child welfare
agencies. To the extent the counties elect to have their
child welfare services agencies participate in the pilot, the
funds would appear to be an augmentation over the funding
provided annually for the Commercially Sexually Exploited
Children (CSEC) Program, which is administered by the
Department of Social Services. The Budget Act of 2016
includes an augmentation of $5 million General Fund beginning
in 2016-17, for a total of $19 million General Fund annually,
to support this program. Currently, 38 counties, including
the pilot counties, elect to participate in the program.
2)BSCC: One-time minor costs (General Fund) to establish and
administer the pilot projects in Sacramento, San Diego, and
Santa Clara counties, should they elect to participate.
Potential future cost pressure (General Fund) to review pilot
evaluations. Evaluations are to be submitted by pilot
counties to the BSCC, however, the BSCC is not required to
review, evaluate, or submit a consolidated report to the
Legislature.
3)Department of Social Services: Likely minor and absorbable
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impact.
COMMENTS: According to the author, "Human trafficking is modern
day slavery and, unfortunately, this crime is growing rapidly in
our state. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
the San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego metropolitan areas
comprise three of the nation's 13 areas of 'high intensity'
child sex trafficking exploitation in the country.
"Currently, many child victims of sex trafficking, once removed
from the sex trade environment, have only two options for
housing: juvenile detention and court-ordered foster care
placement. Due to this limited range of options, juvenile
detention too often means placement of some duration in juvenile
hall. Although the foster care system is building service
capacity, it does not have a suitable array of
specially-tailored service options for this population.
Moreover, in the foster care system, it can take some time to
finalize a long-term placement appropriate for child sex
trafficking victims, and these victims often need a place to
stay immediately after being recovered from their trafficker.
"Consequently, there are few facilities around the state that
have the comprehensive services necessary to assist in the
recovery and care of these child victims. Child sex trafficking
victims have specific needs; many have suffered the same level
of trauma as a prisoner of war. Without these services, or
without a place to go, victims often end up back on the streets
with their traffickers.
"AB 1730 creates a pilot program that would provide commercially
sexually exploited children a safe place to stay with
trauma-informed, mental health services that can help them
recover and thrive. Other aspects of the pilot program's design
criteria will include assessment of the youth victim's
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condition; development and recommendations for permanent
placement solutions; staff experienced to work with these
victims as well as survivor, peer mentors; and a secure and
protective service delivery setting secluded from the victim's
trafficking environment, such as a geographically remote
location, a staff protective presence, or any combination of
strategies intended to protect the victim."
Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion
of this bill.
GOVERNOR'S VETO MESSAGE:
I am returning Assembly Bill 1730 without my signature.
This bill authorizes a pilot project in four counties to provide
services for youth victims of commercial sex trafficking
contingent upon an appropriation in the state budget.
There are numerous federal, state and local efforts underway to
combat commercial sexual exploitation of children. In this
year's budget, the state provided $19 million to fund the
development of trafficking prevention and intervention services.
Establishing a new pilot program in this area should be
considered in the budget process.
Analysis Prepared by:
David Billingsley / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744
FN: 0005080
AB 1730
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