BILL NUMBER: AB 612 CHAPTERED 10/10/99 CHAPTER 793 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE OCTOBER 10, 1999 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR OCTOBER 7, 1999 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 10, 1999 PASSED THE SENATE SEPTEMBER 7, 1999 AMENDED IN SENATE SEPTEMBER 2, 1999 AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 17, 1999 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 19, 1999 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Jackson and Senator Burton (Principal coauthor: Senator O'Connell) (Coauthor: Assembly Member Wiggins) FEBRUARY 19, 1999 An act relating to armories, making an appropriation therefor, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 612, Jackson. Armories: homeless shelters. Existing law requires the Military Department to make certain state armories available to specified cities and counties for use by homeless persons for emergency shelter purposes as a temporary measure to allow adequate time for governmental entities to make other homeless shelter arrangements. The Budget Act of 1999 requires $635,000 to be used for temporary emergency shelter during the 1999-2000 winter, and transfers $2,000,000 to the Emergency Housing and Assistance Fund administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development for homeless shelter and services. This bill would appropriate $1,365,000 in augmentation of the Budget Act of 1999, and would allocate $592,000 to the Military Department for shelters at armories, and $772,500 to the Department of Housing and Community Development for transfer to the Emergency Housing and Assistance Fund. The bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute. Appropriation: yes. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The appropriation and respective allocations made by this act are in augmentation of the appropriations made in Section 2.00 of the Budget Act of 1999 (Chapter 50, Statutes of 1999) and are subject to the provisions of that act, as appropriate, including the provisions of that act that apply to the items of appropriation that are augmented by this act. The references in this act to item numbers refer to items of appropriation in Section 2.00 of the Budget Act of 1999. SEC. 2. The sum of one million three hundred sixty-five thousand dollars ($1,365,000) is hereby appropriated from the General Fund, to be allocated as follows: (a) (1) Five hundred ninety-two thousand five hundred dollars ($592,500) to the Military Department, in augmentation of Item 8940-001-0001. (2) Notwithstanding Provision 3 of Item 8940-001-0001, the Adjutant General shall expend these additional funds to expand the available shelters to include the El Centro and Calexico armories in Imperial County; the Inglewood, Long Beach, Pomona, Sylmar, and West Los Angeles armories in Los Angeles County; the San Rafael armory in Marin County; the Roseville armory in Placer County; the Corona armory in Riverside County; the Escondido and El Cajon armories in San Diego County; the San Jose armory in Santa Clara County; the Watsonville armory in Santa Cruz County; and the Petaluma armory in Santa Rosa County; to increase or decrease the number of days of operation among all of the funded armories to best meet the cold-weather demands as they develop, and to meet unanticipated needs for temporary shelter for homeless families and persons at no nightly charge to a county or city at the armories authorized in Item 8940-001-0001. The Adjutant General shall periodically report to the counties authorized to receive funds on the ongoing availability of remaining shelter days. The Adjutant General shall have the authority, in his or her sole discretion, to use alternate unfunded armories within a funded county as may be necessary to meet the operational needs of the Military Department or at the request of the county government with the approval of the department. (3) Notwithstanding Section 15301 of the Government Code, the Adjutant General may provide temporary shelter for homeless families and persons at any suitable armory pursuant to the requirements of Sections 15301.1, 15301.3, and 15301.6 of the Government Code. (4) Notwithstanding Section 15301 of the Government Code, the Military Department may operate temporary emergency shelters from October 15 to April 15, inclusive, on an as-needed basis. (5) Notwithstanding Provision 3 of Item 8940-001-0001, if either of the funded armories in Santa Barbara County is unavailable during the winter of 1999-2000 because of temporary closure for reconstruction, the Adjutant General shall transfer the funds for the operation of the closed armory to Santa Barbara County for the provision of alternative temporary cold weather shelter for homeless families and persons. (b) (1) Seven hundred seventy-two thousand five hundred dollars ($772,500) to the Department of Housing and Community Development in augmentation of Item 2240-105-0001 for transfer to the Emergency Housing and Assistance Fund. (2) The allocation of these funds shall be in the form of grants to counties. The department shall allocate funds based on factors related to persons in poverty and unemployment, giving consideration to cold weather factors. In applying its criteria, the department shall only fund those counties in which the application of the above factors produces an allocation of at least five thousand dollars ($5,000). As a condition of funding, county applicants shall provide reasonable assurances to the department that there are adequate local resources to provide safe, secure, and effective facilities for a cold weather season to be defined by the county in the application. Allocated funds shall be used to reimburse the Military Department for the use of local armories, unless the department concludes either that there is no available suitable armory or that an alternative facility is a more effective alternative. It is the intent of the Legislature that the allocation process be expedited to ensure the availability of shelter for homeless families and persons and that the department's processing time be kept to a minimum. The distribution of these funds shall not be subject to the requirements of Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code. (3) The Director of Housing and Community Development shall expend these additional funds only to provide emergency housing and services to homeless families and persons in those counties that do not have temporary shelter provided in National Guard armories operated by the Military Department and funded in Item 8940-001-0001 or identified in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a). SEC. 3. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are: In order to make certain necessary augmentations and adjustments to the appropriations made by the Budget Act of 1999 for support of state government for the 1999-2000 fiscal year, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.