Amended in Senate January 4, 2016

Amended in Senate April 23, 2015

Amended in Senate April 7, 2015

Senate Bill No. 636

Introduced by Senator Liu

(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Weber)

(Coauthors: Senators Hancock, Wieckowski, and Wolk)

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Bonilla, Bonta, Calderon, Campos, 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 amended, 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 begin delete create the Homeless Youth Basic Material Needs Assistance Program. This bill would require that end delete begin insert require, from end insert moneys appropriated by the begin delete Legislature end delete begin insert Legislature, as specified, end insert for the purposes of the begin delete program be allocated proportionally by end delete begin insert program, end insert the State Department of Social Services to begin delete 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. end delete begin insert establish and operate a Homeless Youth Basic Material Needs Assistance Program for homeless youth in California. end insert The bill would require begin delete each program end delete begin insert the department end insert to solicit proposals from, and contract with, nonprofit organizations for the purpose of providing basic material needs assistance to homeless youth begin delete in the county or counties end delete as directed by the begin delete entity administering the program. end delete begin insert department. end insert The bill would require contracted nonprofit organizations to, among other things, provide a minimum of begin delete 25% end delete begin insert 100% end insert matching funds, as specified. The bill would require each contracted nonprofit begin insert organization end insert to prepare a report for the begin delete administering entity end delete begin insert department end insert including, among other information, the number of homeless youth assisted. The bill would begin delete require the department, end delete begin insert require, end insert after the program has been operating for 3 years, begin delete to issue end delete begin insert each contracted nonprofit organization to issue and provide to the department, and the department to collect and issue, end insert a report including, among other information, the number of homeless youth assisted each year, and a description of the assistance provided.

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

that it is the intent of the Legislature that funds appropriated by
the Legislature for this begin delete program end delete begin insert act end insert not exceed begin delete an average
allocation of twenty-five dollars and twenty cents ($25.20) per
pupil, with the assumption of a participation rate of not more than
297,619 homeless youth, or the number from the most recent count
of homeless youth, whichever is lesser. end delete begin insert five million dollars
($5,000,000) each year. end insert

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:

begin delete

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

end delete begin delete

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

end delete begin delete

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

end delete begin delete

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

end delete begin delete

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

end delete begin delete

(c)

end delete

begin insert (a) end insert  “Basic material needs assistance” means school supplies,
dental supplies and other hygienic products, shoes, socks, and
underwear. begin insert This shall not include any electronic items except a
data storage device that includes flash memory with an integrated
Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface. end insert

begin delete

(d)

end delete

begin insert (b) end insert  “Department” means the State Department of Social
Services.

begin delete

(e)

end delete

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

begin delete

(f)

end delete

begin insert (d) end insert  “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.

begin delete

(g)

end delete

begin insert (e) end insert  “Program” means the Homeless Youth Basic Material Needs
Assistance Program.

13714.  

(a) From moneys appropriated by the Legislature begin insert from
the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant end insert
for the purpose of this chapter, the department shall begin delete 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 end delete establish
and operate a Homeless Youth Basic Material Needs Assistance
Program for homeless youth in begin delete that county. end delete begin insert California. end insert

begin delete

(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
contracting with a nonprofit and performing all duties set forth in
this chapter.

end delete begin insert

(b) No more than five million dollars ($5,000,000) shall be
appropriated in a single year to fund this program. TANF funds
appropriated to counties for the purposes of administrating the
CalWORKs program, food assistance, or housing shall not be
reallocated for purposes of this program. The program shall not
provide vouchers, cash aid, or other forms of currency to homeless
youth.

end insert

13716.  

begin delete Each administering entity end delete begin insert The department end insert 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 begin delete administering entity, end delete begin insert department, end insert
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.
begin delete A nonprofit organization may use other resources or demonstrated
savings to provide additional material needs assistance. end delete

(5) Provide at least a begin delete 25-percent end delete begin insert 100-percent end insert match for all
moneys received from the begin delete administering entity end delete begin insert department end insert under
this chapter. If the nonprofit organization provides in-kind materials
toward the begin delete 25-percent end delete begin insert 100-percent end insert match, the value of the in-kind
materials contributing to a begin delete 25-percent end delete begin insert 100-percent end insert match shall be
verified by the donor of the materials and shall not exceed the
market value of the materials if sold at retail. begin delete 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). end delete

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

(7) Following each distribution cycle, begin delete each contracted nonprofit
shall end delete prepare a report for the begin delete administering entity. end delete begin insert department. end insert The
report shall include, but not be limited to, the following
information:

(A) The number of homeless youth assisted.

(B) The locations of the distributions.

(C) The date or range of dates of distributions.

(D) Descriptions of the materials distributed.

(E) A letter from each LEA, shelter, or other partnering entity,
verifying the information submitted pursuant to subparagraphs (A)
begin delete through end delete begin insert to end insert (D), inclusive.

(F)  begin delete Original end delete begin insert Copies of original end insert letters from all donors
contributing any in-kind materials counting toward the required
match.

13718.  

After three years of operation of the program, begin insert each
contracted nonprofit shall issue and provide to the department,
and end insert the department shall begin delete issue end delete begin insert collect and issue, end insert a simplified report
including the following information:

(a) The number of homeless youth assisted each year.

(b) A description of the assistance provided.

(c) The total match begin delete leveraged and the match leveraged by each
county. end delete begin insert leveraged, including the accounting of the match over the
three-year period. end insert

(d) A scanned or paper copy of the original letters from each
LEA or other partner, as described in paragraph (7) of subdivision
(c) of Section 13716.

(e) Any significant achievements in absenteeism reduction,
improved academic outcomes, improved living or social outcomes,
and any other significant improvements.