BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 1006 (Wolk) - Firearm Violence Research Center
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|Version: April 11, 2016 |Policy Vote: ED. 7 - 2, PUB. S. |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: May 16, 2016 |Consultant: Jolie Onodera |
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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
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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