BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                     SB 343  


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          Date of Hearing:   July 8, 2015


                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS


                                 Jimmy Gomez, Chair


          SB 343  
          (Hancock) - As Amended June 1, 2015


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          Urgency:  No  State Mandated Local Program:  NoReimbursable:  No


          SUMMARY:


          This bill requires the California Department of Corrections and  
            Rehabilitation (CDCR), in complying with its goals to reduce  
            illiteracy, to give strong consideration to the use of  
            libraries and librarians in its prison literacy programs.   








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            This bill also includes the completion of a community college  
            or four-year academic degree by an inmate in the existing  
            requirement that CDCR incentivize inmate participation in  
            educational programming.  Finally, this bill deletes an  
            obsolete section of law related to the amount CDCR spends on  
            academic education. 


          FISCAL EFFECT:


          1)Potential future moderate cost pressure (GF) on CDCR to the  
            extent the consideration of the use of libraries and  
            librarians in CDCR literacy programs results in the future  
            funding for additional materials, training, and staff.  If  
            three institutions hire a librarian each, the cost to CDCR  
            would exceed $200,000.  



          2)Potential unknown savings (GF) if the inmate education  
            incentives encourage inmates to pursue and obtain a college  
            education, which may allow for their earlier release, thereby  
            reducing incarceration costs and the likelihood of recidivism.  

          


          COMMENTS:


          1)Purpose.  According to the author, "SB 343 requires the CDCR  
            to strongly consider integrating its libraries and  
            correctional librarians into the department's prisoner  
            literacy program.  Prison libraries foster literacy,  
            self-improvement, insight, pro-social behavior, the ability to  
            navigate an information age society and provide valuable  
            parole planning resources."









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          2)Background.  Current law requires CDCR to implement literacy  
            programs designed to ensure that upon release inmates are able  
            to achieve specified goals, such as, increasing reading  
            ability to at least a ninth-grade level, obtaining a general  
            education development certificate or its equivalent, or a high  
            school diploma.  It also requires CDCR, in complying with its  
            goals to reduce illiteracy, to give strong consideration to  
            computer-assisted training.


          According to the CDCR Website, "As part of CDCR's Division of  
            Rehabilitative Programs, the Office of Correctional Education  
            (OCE) offers various academic and education programs at each  
            of California's adult state prisons.  The goal of OCE is to  
            provide offenders with needed education and career training as  
            part of a broader CDCR effort to increase public safety and  
            reduce recidivism." The CDCR Website further states, "Library  
            services are offered at all institutions, and provide inmates  
            with an extensive collection of recreational fiction and  
            non-fiction books as well as reference reading materials; e.g.  
            selected periodicals, encyclopedias, selected Career Technical  
            Education and College level textbooks, and basic literacy  
            materials recommended by the American Library Association and  
            the American Correctional Association.  Additionally,  
            institution libraries provide legal research materials, as  
            required by the courts, along with rehabilitative support  
            services which include resources on employment, community  
            reentry, and life skills."


          3)Argument in Support:  According to SEIU Local 1000, the  
            sponsor of this bill, "This bill recognizes the role of  
            librarians in literacy and reintegration activities that are  
            taking place in prisons and includes libraries as a location  
            where these activities occur.  This helps inmates recognize  
            that upon release, they can use public libraries as a resource  
            for finding jobs and medical care through the use of their  
            publicly available computers.  Librarians also work with  








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            inmates to make tapes or videos of the prisoner reading  
            stories to their children that can be mailed home for them,  
            and thus continue a family bond that can be critical for  
            reintegration in the family when they return to civilian life.  
             Libraries are already doing this work, but without  
            recognition as a part of the staff that rehabilitates  
            prisoners."

          4)Prior Legislation:  SB 1391 (Hancock), Chapter 695, Statutes  
            of 2014, allows California Community Colleges to receive full  
            funding for credit-course instruction offered in correctional  
            institutions and seeks to expand the offering of such courses.






          Analysis Prepared by:Pedro Reyes / APPR. / (916)  
          319-2081