Senate Bill No. 636

Introduced by Senator Liu

(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Weber)

(Coauthors: Senators Hancock and Wolk)

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Bonilla, Calderon, Chiu, Dodd, Frazier, McCarty, and Santiago)

February 27, 2015

An act to add Chapter 6.1 (commencing with Section 13710) to Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to public social services.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 636, as introduced, Liu. Homeless youth: basic material needs assistance.

Existing law establishes various public social services programs to provide protection, care, and assistance to the people of the state in need of those services, by providing appropriate aid and services to the needy and distressed. Existing law establishes homeless youth emergency service pilot projects in the Counties of Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Clara, and San Francisco.

This bill would create the Homeless Youth Basic Material Needs Assistance Program. This bill would require that moneys appropriated by the Legislature for the purposes of the program be allocated proportionally by the State Department of Social Services to each county program based on the number of homeless youth in the county. The bill would authorize a county to establish the program or request the department to administer the program, in which case the department would be required to retain the county’s proportional share of funds and directly administer a program in that county. The bill would authorize a county to join with one or more other counties for the purpose of pooling their respective allocations and establishing a program for those counties. The bill would require each program to solicit proposals from, and contract with, nonprofit organizations for the purpose of providing basic material needs assistance to homeless youth in the county or counties as directed by the entity administering the program. The bill would require contracted nonprofit organizations to, among other things, provide a minimum of 25% matching funds, as specified.

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

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

SECTION 1.  

The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:

(a) During the 2013-14 academic year, 297,617 children and
youth enrolled in local educational agencies in California were
identified as homeless, as defined by the federal McKinney-Vento
Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 11301 et sec.). This
population is several times more than that of any other state in the
nation and equates to one homeless student in every classroom.

(b) The federal definition of homelessness is used by all public
schools in the United States, the Head Start program, and special
education, child nutrition, and other federal family and youth
programs. It includes children and youth who lack a fixed, regular,
and adequate nighttime residence, including those who live in
shelters, transitional housing, cars, campgrounds, motels, or who
share the housing of others temporarily due to loss of housing,
economic hardship, or similar reasons.

(c) A significant barrier to success faced by homeless children
and youth is access to basic materials including school supplies,
shoes, hygienic and dental products, and other basic necessities.
This and the accompanying low self-esteem lead to absenteeism
and truancy, which prevents homeless youth from obtaining the
education that is both their legal right and their best opportunity
to escape poverty.

(d) According to numerous homeless liaisons throughout
California that represent more than 70 percent of California’s
homeless children and youth, the overwhelming majority of this
population does not have their basic material needs met.

(e) The local control funding formula does not specifically
address the unmet basic material needs of homeless children and
youth.

(f) This act addresses this barrier to success by articulating a
state policy framework to provide the most basic unmet material
needs of homeless children and youth, while also utilizing matching
resources and leveraging federal funds to ensure program stability
and longevity. This act is designed to ensure that all homeless
public school students have their basic material needs met so they
can attend school on a more equal playing field with their peers.

SEC. 2.  

Chapter 6.1 (commencing with Section 13710) is added
to Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, to
read:

 

Chapter  6.1. Homeless Youth Basic Material Needs
Assistance Program

 

13710.  

This chapter shall be known, and may be cited, as the
Homeless Youth Basic Material Needs Assistance Program.

13712.  

For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions
apply:

(a) “Additional material needs assistance” means clothes,
blankets, and access to shelter.

(b) “Administering entity” means one of the following:

(1) A county that elects to establish a program and does not join
with another county as described in subdivision (c) of Section
13714.

(2) A county designated as the lead county, if two or more
counties elect to establish a program jointly under subdivision (c)
of Section 13714.

(3) The department, if a county declines to establish a program
or requests the department to administer the program.

(c) “Basic material needs assistance” means school supplies,
dental supplies and other hygienic products, shoes, and socks.

(d) “Department” means the State Department of Social
Services.

(e) “Homeless youth” has the same meaning as that term is
defined in Section 11434a of Title 42 of the United States Code.

(f) “Nonprofit organization” means a nonprofit corporation
qualified to do business in California and qualified under Section
501(c)(3) of the federal Internal Revenue Code.

(g) “Program” means the Homeless Youth Basic Material Needs
Assistance Program.

13714.  

(a) From moneys appropriated by the Legislature for
the purpose of this chapter, the department shall allocate a
proportional amount to each county program pursuant to this
chapter based on that county’s respective number of homeless
youth. The moneys allocated to the county shall be used to establish
and operate a Homeless Youth Basic Material Needs Assistance
Program for homeless youth in that county.

(b) A county may join with one or more other counties for the
purpose of pooling the allocations made to the counties under this
section and establishing a program for those counties.

(c) If a county declines to establish a program or requests the
department to administer the program, the department shall retain
the county’s proportional share of funds and shall directly
administer a program for homeless youth in that county, including
the performance of all duties set forth in this chapter.

13716.  

Each administering entity shall do all of the following:

(a) Solicit proposals from nonprofit organizations for the purpose
of providing basic material needs assistance to homeless youth in
the manner directed by the administering entity, subject to the
requirements imposed by this chapter.

(b) Select and contract with one or more nonprofit organizations
to participate in the program based on the proposals solicited under
subdivision (a). Selection of a nonprofit organization shall be based
on the following criteria:

(1) Demonstrated ability to form partnerships with local
educational agencies (LEAs).

(2) Demonstrated ability to provide basic material needs
assistance to homeless or low-income youth by working with
LEAs.

(3) Ability to work with the homeless liaison of each LEA
pursuant to Section 11432(g)(1)(J)(ii) of Title 42 of the United
States Code, or his or her LEA-employed designee.

(4) Demonstrated ability to generate additional matching funds
or in-kind resources for similar programs.

(c) Require each nonprofit organization contracted under
subdivision (b) to do all of the following:

(1) Notify the homeless liaison of a county office of education
of the organization’s intent to enter into new partnership
agreements with the LEAs in that county.

(2) Form or maintain partnerships with LEAs for the purpose
of providing basic material needs assistance to homeless youth.

(3) Notify the homeless liaison of a county office of education
each time a basic material needs assistance program commences
or is renewed.

(4) Provide basic material needs assistance to homeless youth,
giving first priority to hygiene, dental, and school supply needs.
A nonprofit organization may use other resources or demonstrated
savings to provide additional material needs assistance.

(5) Provide at least a 25-percent match for all moneys received
from the administering entity under this chapter. If the nonprofit
organization provides in-kind materials toward the 25-percent
match, the value of the in-kind materials contributing to a
25-percent match shall be verified by the donor of the materials
and shall not exceed the market value of the materials if sold at
retail. Any amounts provided by the nonprofit organization that
exceed the 25-percent match constitute demonstrated savings that
may be used in accordance with paragraph (4).

(6) Consult with the children and families commission of the
county or counties served by the program to determine how to best
provide basic material needs assistance to homeless youth from
birth to 5 years of age, inclusive, if the administering entity elects
to include homeless youth of that age in its program.