BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                          AB 1587
                                                          Page  1

Date of Hearing:   May 26, 1999

              ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS 
                    Carole Migden, Chairwoman

           AB 1587 (Scott) - As Amended: May 24, 1999 

Policy Committee:                               
EducationVote:18-0

Urgency:     Yes                  State Mandated Local  
Program:NoReimbursable:            

  SUMMARY  :

This bill creates the School Emergency Response to Violent  
Events (SERVE) program within the State Department of Education  
(SDE). The program is charged with:

1)Establishing regional training programs to help school  
  districts develop plans for dealing with violent situations  
  and incorporating those plans with existing emergency response  
  plans. The SDE is required to conduct an evaluation of the  
  effectiveness of training and report its findings to the  
  Legislature by March 1, 2002.

2)Establishing a group of mental health professionals and law  
  enforcement officials to be on call for school districts in  
  the event of a violent event.

3)Developing a crisis response handbook for schools.

  FISCAL EFFECT
   
  The bill appropriates $138,000 to the SDE to establish the SERVE  
program. This amount ties to specific programmatic requirements  
recommended by the SDE in a 1999-00 budget change proposal  
establishing the SERVE program.  

  COMMENTS
   
1)Rationale  . The author and the SDE contend this bill is  
  necessary to complement existing related school violence  
  prevention programs because the SERVE program focuses on event  
  aftermath, an unfortunate, but somewhat overlooked necessity.








                                                          AB 1587
                                                          Page  2

  
2)Related legislation.   AB 1366 (Machado), which passed this  
  committee May 19, establishes a School Crisis Intervention and  
  Response Task Force to evaluate school-based crisis  
  intervention and response programs.  AB 1451 (Florez), before  
  this committee today, establishes the School Safety Act and  
  the School Disaster Preparedness Grant Program. SB 195 (Baca),  
  pending in Senate Appropriations, repeals the sunset date on  
  provisions requiring school districts to develop school safety  
  plans and requires new schools to develop and implement a  
  comprehensive school safety plan within 12 months of the  
  opening of the school.

  Analysis Prepared by  :    Geoff Long / APPR. / (916)319-2081