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.








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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  








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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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