Amended in Assembly April 28, 2016

Amended in Assembly March 28, 2016

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly BillNo. 2256


Introduced by Assembly Member Maienschein

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(Coauthors: Assembly Members Brough and Chávez)

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(Coauthor: Senator Bates)

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February 18, 2016


An act to add Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 8260) to Division 8 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to homelessness.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 2256, as amended, Maienschein. Homelessness: report.

Existing law provides for various programs to provide services for people who are homeless within the California Health and Human Services Agency.

This bill would require a homeless servicesbegin delete providerend deletebegin insert provider, as defined,end insert to submitbegin delete a report, as provided,end deletebegin insert an annual reportend insert to the California Health and Human Services Agency that contains specified data regarding homeless children or youth and homeless persons.begin delete The bill would define, among other things, a “homeless services provider” to mean a governmental or nonprofit provider that receives federal, state, or county or municipal funding to provide services to homeless children or youth and homeless persons or that is under contract to provide those services by a local homeless continuum of care organization.end delete The bill would require the data reported to the California Health and Human Services Agency to be published on the California Health and Human Services Open Data Portal.

By imposing new duties uponbegin insert certainend insert localbegin delete governments,end deletebegin insert entities to report this data,end insert this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

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SECTION 1.  

The Legislature finds and declares both of the
2following:

3(a) The purpose of asking homeless services providers to submit
4the information required by this act is to develop a statewide
5database of information regarding homeless children or youth and
6homeless persons and the public services being used.

7(b) The data will enable state and local governments to develop
8better programs to target the needs of these individuals and utilize
9funding and other resources in the most efficient manner.

10

SEC. 2.  

Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 8260) is added
11to Division 8 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:

12 

13Chapter  7. Homelessness Report
14

 

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8260.  

(a) On or before January 1, 2018, and on or before
16January 1 each year thereafter, a homeless services provider shall
17submit a report to the California Health and Human Services
18Agency that contains all of the following data for the previous
19calendar year regarding homeless children or youth and homeless
20persons:

21(1) The number of ambulance rides.

22(2) The number of hospital stays and length of each stay.

23(3) The number of emergency room visits.

24(4) The number of arrests and length of each incarceration.

25(5) The number of homeless children or youth and homeless
26persons using services provided by the homeless services provider.

P3    1(6) Latest estimate by a local agency in the area in which
2services are provided on the total number of homeless persons in
3that area, if available.

4(b) The report shall be submitted in an open format that meets
5all of the following requirements:

6(1) Retrievable, downloadable, indexable, and electronically
7searchable by commonly used Internet search applications.

8(2) Platform independent and machine readable.

9(3) Available to the public free of charge and without any
10restriction that would impede the reuse or distribution of the data,
11if applicable.

12(4) Retains the data definitions and structure present when the
13data was compiled, if applicable.

14(c) The data reported to the California Health and Human
15Services Agency shall be published on the California Health and
16Human Services Open Data Portal.

17(d) A report to be submitted pursuant to subdivision (a) shall
18be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government
19Code.

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20
(e) This section shall only apply to homeless services providers
21that have access to the data listed in subdivision (a).

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22
(f) A homeless services provider that reports data pursuant to
23subdivision (a) shall ensure that the data submitted is as accurate
24as practicable.

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25(e)

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26begin insert(g)end insert For purposes of this section, all of the following definitions
27shall apply:

28(1) “Homeless children or youth” has the same definition as
29that term is defined in the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance
30 Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 11301 et seq.).

31(2) “Homeless persons” has the same definition as that term is
32defined in the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42
33U.S.C. Sec. 11301 et seq.).

34(3) “Homeless services provider”begin delete means a governmental or
35nonprofit provider that receives federal, state, or county or
36municipal funding to provide services to homeless children or
37youth and homeless persons or that is under contract to provide
38those services by a local homeless continuum of care organization.end delete

39
begin insert has the same meaning as defined in paragraph (3) of subdivision
40(d) of Section 103577 of the Health and Safety Code.end insert

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SEC. 3.  

If the Commission on State Mandates determines that
2this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to
3local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made
4pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division
54 of Title 2 of the Government Code.



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