BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair 2015 - 2016 Regular Session SB 1006 (Wolk) - Firearm Violence Research Center ----------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Version: April 11, 2016 |Policy Vote: ED. 7 - 2, PUB. S. | | | 5 - 2 | | | | |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Urgency: No |Mandate: No | | | | |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Hearing Date: May 16, 2016 |Consultant: Jolie Onodera | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File. Bill Summary: SB 1006 would request the Regents of the University of California (UC) establish a Firearm Violence Research Center (Center) and administer the Center and a grant program pursuant to, and consistent with, specified principles and goals. Fiscal Impact: UC Research Center : To the extent the Regents of the UC resolve to make the provisions of the bill applicable, potential one-time and ongoing funding of $1 million to $2 million (General Fund) annually would be required to establish and support the Center, including staffing, administrative costs, and the grant program. State agencies : Potentially significant costs (General Fund / Special Funds*) to specified state agencies to provide the data necessary for the Center to conduct its research as required upon proper request by the center. It is unclear what SB 1006 (Wolk) Page 1 of ? would constitute a "proper request" as it is undefined in the bill. To the extent state agencies do not currently collect, track, or have access to the data requested, costs could potentially be very significant. The DPH and DMV have indicated no significant fiscal impact to meet any potential data requests. Background: Various research centers and programs focus on public safety research, including firearms violence prevention, such as the John Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, the Harvard Injury Control Research Center, and the National Consortium for Violence Research supported by grant funding from the National Science Foundation. In California, the Violence Prevention Research Program (VPRP) at the UC Davis Health System describes itself as follows: The VPRP is a multi-disciplinary program of research and policy development focused on the causes, consequences, and prevention of violence. We place a particular focus on firearm violence, and on the connections between violence, substance abuse, and mental illness. We helped develop the public health approach to violence in the 1980s, and we apply that approach to everything we do. Our mission is to develop and disseminate the research evidence on which informed policy and practice are based. Our approach to research and prevention is hemispheric, focusing on areas that face the highest burden from violence. Our program of research on firearm violence is internationally recognized as among the best of its kind. We are now expanding in size and scope, adding new areas of emphasis in alcohol and drug abuse, mental illness, and the social factors that determine risk for violence, substance abuse, and mental illness. This bill seeks to provide support for gun violence research that has been subject to limited funding at the federal level subsequent to 1996. According to the Smithsonian article, Why So Few Scientists Are Studying the Causes of Gun Violence (July SB 1006 (Wolk) Page 2 of ? 2015): For nearly 20 years, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been subject to what some call a ban on funding to study gun violence. Originally included in the 1996 appropriations bill as a rider proposed by Arkansas Representative Jay Dickey, the amendment doesn't explicitly ban gun research. Instead it says that "none of the funds made available for injury prevention and control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may be used to advocate or promote gun control," reports Christine Jamieson for the American Psychological Association's Psychological Science Agenda. She adds: However, Congress also took $2.6 million from the CDC's budget - the amount the CDC had invested in firearm injury research the previous year - and earmarked the funds for prevention of traumatic brain injury. The vagueness of the Dickey amendment wording has kept the CDC from funding researchers that might study gun violence for fear that they would be financially punished. Proposed Law: This bill would request that the UC Regents establish a Firearm Violence Research Center (the Center), and administer the Center and a grant program, as follows: Requires interdisciplinary work of the Center to address the following: o The nature of firearm violence, including individual and societal determinants of risk for involvement in firearm violence, whether as a victim or a perpetrator. SB 1006 (Wolk) Page 3 of ? o The individual, community, and societal consequences of firearm violence. o Prevention and treatment of firearm violence at the individual, community, and societal levels. Requires the Center to conduct basic, translational, and transformative research with a mission to provide the scientific evidence on which sound firearm violence prevention policies and programs can be based. Its research shall include, but not be limited to, the effectiveness of existing laws and policies intended to reduce firearm violence, including the criminal misuse of firearms, and efforts to promote the responsible ownership and use of firearms. Requires the Center to work on a continuing basis with policymakers in the Legislature and state agencies to identify, implement, and evaluate innovative firearm violence prevention policies and programs. Requires the Center to recruit and provide specialized training opportunities for new researchers, including experienced investigators in related fields who are beginning work on firearm violence, young investigators who have completed their education, postdoctoral scholars, doctoral students, and undergraduates. Provides that it is the intent of the Legislature to support the Center's activities by funding the Center with an appropriation to a Firearm Violence Research Center Account. Authorizes the Center to also seek additional federal, state, and private funds. SB 1006 (Wolk) Page 4 of ? As a supplement to its own research, requires the Center to administer a small grants program for research on firearm violence, funded through a research account in the Firearm Violence Research Center Account. All research funds are to be awarded on the basis of scientific merit as determined by an open, competitive peer review process that assures objectivity, consistency, and high quality. All qualified investigators, regardless of institutional affiliation, are to have equal access and opportunity to compete for the funds in the research account. Provides that it is the intent of the Legislature that on or before December 31, 2017, and every five years thereafter, the UC transmit programmatic, as well as financial, reports to the state, including a report on the grants made, pending grants, program accomplishments, and the future direction of the program. Requires state agencies, including, but not limited to, the DOJ, DPH, DHCS, OSHPD, and the DMV, to provide to the Center, upon proper request, the data necessary for the Center to conduct its research. Requires the Center and all recipients of grants supported by the research account to provide copies of their research publications to the Legislature and to agencies supplying data used in the conduct of that research as soon as is practicable following publication, as specified. This article shall apply to the University of California only to the extent that the Regents of the University of California, by resolution, make any of these provisions applicable to the UC. SB 1006 (Wolk) Page 5 of ? Related Legislation: AB 2600 (Lackey) 2015 requests the UC Regents to establish the California Institute for Aerospace, and specifies implementation only to the extent that the Regents determine that adequate funding for its purposes has been provided from federal, local, or private sector sources in the annual Budget Act or in another statute. This bill is pending hearing in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Prior Legislation: SB 466 (DeSaulnier) 2014 would have established the California Institute for Criminal Justice Policy (CICJP) at the request of the Legislature to the UC to house the CICJP to facilitate independent and nonpartisan research on issues related to criminal justice and public safety by experts in the UC system and beyond. This bill was held on the Suspense File of the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Staff Comments: The UC does not anticipate costs associated with this measure, as the bill states the intent of the Legislature to support the Center through a state appropriation. Additionally, due to the provision that provides the Regents with the option of establishing the Center, to the extent sufficient state funding is not made available, the Regents would likely not establish the Center. To the extent the UC has the appropriate expertise and an appropriate level of funding specific to the Center is made available, annual state funding in the range of $1 million to $2 million (General Fund) per year would likely be required to operate the Center. While the bill authorizes the Center to seek additional federal, state, and private funds, there is no mandate to do so. This bill requires specified state agencies (DOJ, DPH, DHCS, OSHPD, and DMV) to provide to the UC "upon proper request" the data necessary for the Center to conduct its research. Staff notes it is unclear what would constitute a proper request from the Center, as it is undefined in the bill. To the extent the state agencies do not collect, track, or have access to the data being requested, the costs to provide the data could be significant, resulting in overtime, staffing, and potentially automation system upgrades to meet the data provision mandate in the bill. SB 1006 (Wolk) Page 6 of ? The Department of Public Health (DPH) has indicated no significant fiscal impact to provide data to the Center, as this activity is consistent with the DPH's epidemiological and surveillance activities and could be absorbed within its current workload. Likewise, the DMV has indicated minor costs to accommodate any requests for data. -- END --