BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 2723 (Chávez) - Juvenile dependency: prostitution
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|Version: March 18, 2016 |Policy Vote: HUMAN S. 4 - 0, |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: August 8, 2016 |Consultant: Jolie Onodera |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: AB 2723 would expand the population of children
eligible to be adjudged dependents of the juvenile court to
include a child who solicits or engages in any act of
prostitution or loiters in a public place with the intent to
commit prostitution, as specified.
Fiscal
Impact:
Commercially Sexually Exploited Children (CSEC) program :
Potential future cost pressure (General Fund*) to provide
services and grants within the dependency system of care
under the CSEC Program, which is administered by the DSS,
to the extent services and case management activities are
provided by participating counties to a greater number of
minors, and/or to the extent additional counties opt into
the program in the future. One-time costs, not including
services, for an initial screening and assessment for CSEC
eligibility of 200 minors is estimated to cost about
$125,000 (General Fund*). The 2016 Budget Act provides $19
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million General Fund to support this program for the 38
counties electing to participate in the program.
Local detention facilities : Potential local agency cost
savings (Local Funds) to juvenile detention facilities, and
to county probation departments for services and
administration costs for these minors who otherwise may
have been arrested and potentially adjudicated as juvenile
delinquents or wards of the court. DOJ statistics indicate
368 arrests in 2013, 267 arrests in 2014, and 235 arrests
in 2015 of minors for the prostitution offenses specified
in this measure. DOJ statistics indicate less than 10
percent of arrests are ultimately adjudicated in court each
year.
*Proposition 30 (2012) : Exempts the State from mandate
reimbursement for realigned responsibilities for "public
safety services" including the provision of child welfare
services to prevent child exploitation, however,
legislation enacted after September 30, 2012, that has an
overall effect of increasing the costs already borne by a
local agency for public safety services apply to local
agencies only to the extent the State provides annual
funding for the cost increase.
Criminal justice system : Potentially significant future
cost savings (General Fund/Local Funds) to numerous state
and local agencies, including but not limited to the
courts, state prisons, local correctional facilities, and
human services agencies to the extent expanding dependency
jurisdiction to these exploited minors and providing them
with necessary supportive services results in reductions in
future involvement in the criminal justice system.
Background: Existing law provides that a person who solicits or who agrees
to engage in or who engages in any act of prostitution is guilty
of a misdemeanor. No agreement to engage in an act of
prostitution constitutes a violation unless some act, in
addition to the agreement, is done within this state in
furtherance of the commission of an act of prostitution by the
person agreeing to engage in that act. "Prostitution," for
purposes of this provision, includes any lewd act between
persons for money or other consideration. (Penal Code (PC) §
647(b).)
Existing law provides that it is unlawful for any person to
loiter in any public place with the intent to commit
AB 2723 (Chávez) Page 2 of
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prostitution. This intent is evidenced by acting in a manner and
under circumstances which openly demonstrate the purpose of
inducing, enticing, or soliciting prostitution, or procuring
another to commit prostitution. (PC § 653.22(a).)
Existing law includes codified legislative findings and declares
that a child who is sexually trafficked, as described in Section
236.1 of the Penal Code, or who receives food or shelter in
exchange for, or who is paid to perform, sexual acts described
in Section 236.1 or 11165.1 of the Penal Code, and whose parent
or guardian failed to, or was unable to, protect the child, is
within the description of this subdivision, and that this
finding is declaratory of existing law. These children shall be
known as commercially sexually exploited children. (Welfare and
Institutions Code (WIC) § 300 (b)(2).)
Commercially Sexually Exploited Children Program (CSEC) Program
Existing law establishes the federal and state CSEC Program,
administered by the Department of Social Services (DSS), to
provide prevention, intervention, services, and training for
CSEC activities. Counties that elect to participate in state
CSEC activities receive funding for specialized services for the
CSEC population. (WIC §§ 16524.7-16524.10.)
A county electing to receive funding from the CSEC Program is
required to submit a plan to DSS describing how the county
intends to utilize the funds to be allocated. The county plan is
required to include documentation indicating the county's
collaboration with county partner agencies and children-focused
entities, which must include the formation of a
multidisciplinary team to serve children.
Each county electing to receive funds from the CSEC Program is
additionally required to develop an interagency protocol to be
utilized in serving sexually exploited children, to be developed
by a team led by a representative of the county human services
department and must include representatives from county
probation, county mental health, county public health
department, the juvenile court. The team may also include, but
shall not be limited to, representatives from local education
agencies, local law enforcement, survivors of sexual
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exploitation and trafficking, and other providers as necessary.
The initial 35 counties that opted into the program were
separated into two tiers: 13 Tier I counties received $25,000 to
develop interagency protocols and 22 Tier II counties received
enhanced funding based on their prevalence of CSEC youth,
completion of a CSEC protocol, and the county's readiness to
serve. Shortly after the state program was enacted, federal CSEC
legislation was enacted with statewide requirements.
Proposed funding levels remained at $14 million General Fund
since the program's inception, until the most recent budget
augmented annual funding by $5 million, increasing annual
support for the CSEC Program to $19 million General Fund.
Proposed Law:
This bill would additionally include a child within the
dependency jurisdiction of the juvenile court if the child
solicits or engages in any act of prostitution or loiters in a
public place with the intent to commit prostitution, and the
child's parent or guardian has failed to protect the child.
Related
Legislation: SB 1322 (Mitchell) 2016 would prohibit a minor
from being arrested for a prostitution offense, as specified,
and would provide that a commercially exploited child pursuant
to the bill's provisions may be adjudged a dependent child of
the court, as specified, and may be taken into temporary custody
if the conditions allowing temporary custody without warrant are
met. SB 1322 has been ordered to Third Reading on the Assembly
Floor.
SB 1064 (Hancock) 2016 would eliminate the sunset date on the
discretionary Sexually Exploited Minors Pilot Project in Alameda
and Los Angeles Counties, to operate indefinitely. SB 1064 would
expand the definition of "commercially sexually exploited minor"
served by the program to include, among others, minors who have
been adjudged dependents of the juvenile court. SB 1064 has been
ordered to Third Reading on the Assembly Floor.
AB 1675 (Stone) 2016 would require a probation officer, in a
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case in which a minor is alleged to have committed the crime of
solicitation, prostitution, or loitering with the intent to
commit prostitution, to provide informal supervision for the
minor, instead of requesting that the prosecutor file a petition
declaring the minor to be a ward of the juvenile court. AB 1675
is scheduled to be heard today by this Committee.
AB 1730 (Atkins) 2016 would authorize a chief probation officer
of a county to create a program to provide services to youth
within the county relating to the commercial sexual exploitation
of youth. Funding for the program is contingent upon an
appropriation in the annual Budget Act, to be administered by
the Board of State and Community Corrections. AB 1730 is
scheduled to be heard today by this Committee.
AB 1731 (Atkins) 2016 would create the Statewide Interagency
Human Trafficking Task Force to gather statewide data on human
trafficking, to recommend interagency protocols and best
practices for training and outreach to law enforcement, victim
service providers, and other state and private sector employees
likely to encounter sex trafficking, and to evaluate and
implement approaches to increase public awareness about human
trafficking. AB 1731 is scheduled to be heard today by this
Committee.
AB 1760 (Santiago) 2016 would have directed a peace officer who
determines that a minor is a victim of human trafficking to
report such abuse, consult with a child welfare worker about a
safe placement for the minor, and transport the minor to such
placement, unless the minor is otherwise arrested. AB 1760 was
held on the Suspense File of the Assembly Appropriations
Committee.
SB 826 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review) Chapter 23/2016,
the Budget Act of 2016, among its numerous provisions,
appropriates $14 million General Fund to support the CSEC
program.
Prior Legislation: SB 855 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal
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Review) Chapter 29/2014 established the CSEC program, and
authorized annual state funding for county agencies electing to
participate in the program to provide services to child victims
of commercial sexual exploitation.
Staff
Comments: By revising the definition of "commercially sexually
exploited children" within WIC § 300(b)(2) to include children
who have engaged in prostitution or loitering with the intent to
engage in prostitution, this bill could potentially result in
additional children becoming eligible under the dependency
system of care.
Based on information from the DOJ, over 200 arrests of minors
for the prostitution offenses specified in this measure occurred
in 2015. To the extent these minors would instead be considered
under dependency vs. delinquency jurisdiction of the juvenile
courts, the one-time costs, not including services, for an
initial screening and assessment for eligibility under the CSEC
program for 200 minors is estimated to cost about $125,000
(General Fund). To the extent these minors are adjudged
dependents of the juvenile court, additional future costs to
provide services and grants within the dependency system of care
under the CSEC Program could be incurred.
This bill could potentially result in significant future cost
savings to numerous state and local agencies, including but not
limited to the courts, state prisons, local correctional
facilities, and human services agencies to the extent expanding
dependency jurisdiction to these exploited minors and providing
them with necessary supportive services results in reductions in
future involvement in the criminal justice system.
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