BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 518|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 518
Author: Leno (D), et al.
Amended: 5/20/15
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE: 7-0, 4/28/15
AYES: Hancock, Anderson, Leno, Liu, McGuire, Monning, Stone
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 6-1, 5/28/15
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza
NOES: Nielsen
SUBJECT: Victims of violent crimes: trauma recovery centers
SOURCE: Californian's for Safety and Justice
DIGEST: This bill 1) requires the Victims Compensation and
Government Claims Board (Board) to use the evidence-based model
developed by the University of California, San Francisco,
General Hospital Trauma Recovery Center (UCSF TRC) when giving a
grant to a Trauma Recovery Center (TRC); 2) requires a TRC
receiving a grant to meet specified statutory requirements and
standards; 3) establishes the UCSF TRC as the California Trauma
Recovery Center of Excellence (TRC COE); and 4) requires the
Board to complete an interagency agreement with TRC COE in
establishing core elements of an evidence-based TRC.
ANALYSIS:
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Existing law:
1)Creates the Victims of Crime Program (VCP), administered by
the Board, to reimburse victims of crime for the pecuniary
losses they suffer as a direct result of criminal acts.
Indemnification is made from the Restitution Fund, which is
continuously appropriated to the board for these purposes.
(Gov. Code §§ 13950-13968.)
2)Authorizes reimbursement to a victim for "[t]he medical or
medical related expenses incurred by the victim?." (Gov. Code
§ 13957, subd. (a)(1).)
3)Provides that Board shall enter into an interagency agreement
with the UCSF to establish a recovery center for victims of
crime at the San Francisco General Hospital for comprehensive
and integrated services to victims of crime, subject to
conditions set by the board. The University Regents must
approve the agreement. The section shall only be implemented
to the extent that funding is appropriated for that purpose.
(Gov. Code § 13974.5.)
4)Includes the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act of 2014. As
relevant to this bill, the act does the following:
Reclassifies controlled substance felony and alternate
felony-misdemeanor crimes as misdemeanors, except for
defendants convicted of a sex offense, a specified drug
crime involving specified weight of volume of the drug, a
crime where the defendant used or was armed with a weapon,
a homicide, solicitation of murder and any crime for which
the sentence is a life term.
Requires the Director of Finance, beginning in 2016, to
calculate the savings from the reduced penalties.
The Controller transfers the amount of savings
calculated by the Finance Director and transfers that
amount from the General Fund to the "Safe Neighborhoods and
Schools Fund.
The Controller then distributes the money in the fund
according to the following formula:
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o 25% to the Department of Education for a grant
program to public agencies to improve outcomes for
kindergarten through high school students at risk of
dropping out of school or are crime victims.
o 10% to the VCP to fund grants to TRCs.
o 65% to the Board of State and Community
Corrections for a grant program to public agencies for
mental health and drug abuse treatment and diversion
programs, with an emphasis on reducing recidivism.
(Gov. Code § 7599-7599.2.)
This bill:
1)Includes the following legislative findings:
Systematic training, technical assistance and
standardized evaluations are necessary to ensure that all
new state-funded TRCs are evidence based, accountable,
clinically effective and cost-effective.
The creation of the TRC COE is intended to make TRC
services meet these standards.
Evidence-based trauma recovery services are more
effective and less costly than fee-for-service programs and
the public benefits from collaboration between government
entities and experts in the field.
The UCSF TRC is a nationally recognized, award-winning
program developed in 2001 in partnership with the VCP. A
four-year demonstration projected established the clinical
and fiscal benefits of an evidence-based TRC program.
Specifically, the UCSF TRC greatly increased the rate at
which victims accessed services and cost 34% less than
customary care.
2)Provides that the VCP shall use the evidence-based Integrated
Trauma Recovery Services (ITRS) model developed by the UCSF in
establishing and funding TRCs. Programs using ITRS, as
modified to apply to different populations, shall do or
include the following:
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Serve and make reach out to victims unable to access
traditional services. These include those who are
homeless, mentally ill, of diverse ethnicity, immigrants
and refugees, disabled, suffering from severe trauma and
psychological symptoms or issues, juveniles, including
juveniles who have been through the dependency or
delinquency systems.
Serve victims of a wide range of crimes, including
sexual assault and other forms of violence.
Use a structured evidence-based program of mental health
and support services for victims of violence and family
members of homicide victims. The services shall include
crisis intervention, case management, individual and group
treatment and shall be provided so as to increase access,
including providing services in the community and the homes
of clients.
Employ multidisciplinary, integrated trauma specialists
including psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers
who are licensed clinicians or engaged in supervised
completion of licensure. Clinical supervision and support
shall be given to staff on a weekly basis.
Psychotherapy shall be provided by a single point of
client contact with a trauma specialist, with support from
the team and a collaboratively developed treatment plan.
Provide aggressive case management, including
accompanying clients to treatment appointments, community
appointments and court appearances. Case management shall
include assisting clients in filing for victim
compensation, police reports, housing assistance and other
basic support needs.
Clients shall not be excluded from treatment solely on
the basis of "emotional or behavioral issues resulting from
trauma, such as drug abuse, serious anxiety or low initial
motivation.
TRC services shall incorporate established,
evidence-based practices, such as cognitive behavioral
therapy, dialectical behavior and cognitive processing.
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TRC goals shall be to decrease psychological distress
and improve long-term positive outcomes.
Treatment shall be given for up to 16 sessions, with an
extension for those with a "primary focus on trauma" after
special consideration with a supervisor. Extensions beyond
32 sessions shall require the approval of a clinical
steering group.
3)Provides that, upon legislative appropriation of funds from
the VCP, the Board shall enter into an interagency agreement
with TRC of the Regents of the University of California, San
Francisco, to establish the UCSF TRC as the State of
California's Trauma Recovery Center of Excellence (TRC COE).
The agreement shall require the following:
The Board shall consult with the TRC COE in developing
language for grant application and criteria for reviewing
grants.
The TRC COE shall define an evidence-based practice.
The TRC COE shall assist the board in providing training
materials, technical assistance and provide ongoing
consultation with the board.
The TRC COE shall assist in designing a multisite
evaluation for TRCs.
4)Provides that the University of California must agree to these
provisions through a resolution.
Background
The TRC model addresses what may be lacking in California's
current approach to victims - healing the harm that comes to
communities through the commission of crime. (The Culture of
Control, Garland, Univ. of Chicago Press, 2001, pp. 11-12.)
Arguably, the TRC program demonstrates that harm to the specific
victim of a crime spreads through the community. This is
especially true in relatively poor and marginal communities
where residents have limited access to, and perhaps some
discomfort with, medical care and counseling.
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A victim who loses a job because he or she is too traumatized to
work may be the sole support for more than one generation of
relatives. Younger relatives of such victims may stop attending
school and become delinquent. Untreated victims may seek
retribution, especially those who live in areas where the police
are not trusted. Retribution will lead to more victims.
Untreated victims often turn to drugs and alcohol, which further
damages the victim and his or her community.
Recent research shows that crime can be seen as equivalent to a
disease process.
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2684449/.) Recent
studies have even shown that public health research methods can
predict where and when violence will occur.
(msutoday.msu.edu/news/2012/homicide-spreads-like-infectious-dise
ase/.) It is clear that crime, especially violent crime, causes
trauma and stress, which often leads to depression and loss of
employment, which in turn prevents crimes victim from adequately
caring for their families, which leads to truancy, delinquency,
illness and other social ills
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK262831/ Violent crime
victims in minimally functioning communities typically rely on
retaliation, not the justice system. In broken communities with
gang problems, most residents do not trust the justice system.
Law enforcement can be seen as an occupying or invading army,
not a source of protection. Retaliation crimes create an
increasing cycle of violence. The disease process spreads and
essentially metastasizes.
The study on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) jointly
conducted by the Kaiser Foundation and the Centers for Disease
control interviewed 17,000 Kaiser patients from 1995-1997. The
landmark study showed that childhood abuse, neglect and exposure
to trauma is clearly associated with a wide range of physical
and mental health problems throughout a person's life. TRC
programs can intervene or interrupt cycles of trauma and harm
that plague high-crime communities.
(http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/acestudy/findings.html.)
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
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Administrative costs to the Board of $100,000-$300,000
(Special Fund).
Upon appropriation of funds, the board will be required to
develop language for grant applications, and grant review
criteria; and to provide training and technical assistance to
applicants in conjunction with the UCSF TRC. Additionally, there
will be costs with evaluating and measuring grantees' adherence
to the model.
SUPPORT: (Verified5/28/15)
Californians for Safety and Justice (source)
California Attorneys for Criminal Justice
California Catholic Conference
California Chapter of the American College of Emergency
Physicians
California Psychological Association
City and County of San Francisco
Crime Victims United of California
Natividad Medical Foundation
San Francisco Department of Public Health
Society for Social Work Leadership in Health Care California
Chapter
University of California
OPPOSITION: (Verified 5/28/15)
None received
Prepared by:Jerome McGuire / PUB. S. /
5/31/15 12:09:33
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