BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 877 (Pan) - Reporting and tracking of violent deaths
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|Version: February 18, 2016 |Policy Vote: HEALTH 7 - 2 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: May 2, 2016 |Consultant: Brendan McCarthy |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: SB 877 would require the Department of Public Health
to establish and maintain an electronic system for tracking and
reporting on violent deaths.
Fiscal
Impact:
Ongoing costs of $460,000 per year for staff to oversee
contracts with counties and law enforcement organizations,
analyze data, and prepare reports (General Fund or federal
funds).
Ongoing costs of $300,000 for payments to counties and law
enforcement agencies to reimburse counties and law
enforcement agencies who would provide information to the
Department of Public Health for entry into the tracking system
(General Fund or federal funds). Previously, the Department of
Public Health provided reimbursement to local government
agencies to reimburse them for the time needed to provide
information to the Department.
SB 877 (Pan) Page 1 of
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Background: Under current law, marriages, births, and deaths must be
registered with local governments. Current law requires the
Department of Public Health to operate a system to track death
registrations.
From 2005 to 2010, the state participated in a federal program
to collect data regarding violent deaths from law enforcement
agencies, coroners, crime laboratories, and other entities.
Initially, California received federal funding to participate in
the program and used a federally-developed system for tracking
violent deaths. However, the Department of Public Health was
unable to get access to information from law enforcement
agencies across the state. Due to this inability to operate a
state-wide system, the Department was unable to reapply for
federal funding. The Department then received foundation funding
to operate a California-only system, however that system was
limited in that it did not have detailed information from law
enforcement agencies. Upon expiration of the foundation grant,
the Department stopped actively collecting information from
local agencies.
Proposed Law:
SB 877 would require the Department of Public Health to
establish and maintain an electronic system for tracking and
reporting on violent deaths.
Specific provisions of the bill would:
Require the Department to establish and maintain the
California Electronic Violent Death Reporting System;
Require the Department to collect data on violent deaths from
specified sources, including local law enforcement reports;
Authorize the Department to apply for federal grant funds to
implement the bill and authorize the Department to accept
private or foundation funds.
Related
Legislation: AB 540 (2013) was substantially similar to this
bill. That bill was held on this committee's Suspense File.
Staff
SB 877 (Pan) Page 2 of
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Comments: The Department of Public Health indicates that it
intends to apply for the next round of federal participation in
the national program. The new federal grant guidelines have been
relaxed in relation to past guidelines and therefore the state
may have a better chance of receiving federal funding than in
the prior grant funding round. It is not known at this time
whether any future federal funding would be sufficient for the
Department to provide funding to counties and local law
enforcement agencies to encourage participation. If the
Department is not able to secure federal funding, there are no
other sources of funding identified to pay for the costs of the
bill other than the General Fund.
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