BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 1979
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 17, 2006

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                   Judy Chu, Chair

                    AB 1979 (Bass) - As Amended:  April 27, 2006 

          Policy Committee:                              Human  
          ServicesVote:6 - 0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          Yes    Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill requires that all people who wish to volunteer to  
          mentor foster children have a criminal background check  
          completed prior to any unsupervised contact with foster  
          children. In addition, this bill prohibits the Department of  
          Justice and the Department of Social Services from charging a  
          fee for the cost of the background checks.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          The fiscal impact of waiving the fee for background checks would  
          be approximately $75,000 for every 1,000 volunteer mentors.  
          According to information provided by the author, there are  
          approximately 500 of these volunteer mentors currently in Los  
          Angeles County. Given this number, it is unlikely number of  
          volunteers statewide would exceed 1,500.

          Probably minor nonreimbursable costs to cities and counties for  
          prosecution and incarceration, offset to some extent by fine  
          revenues, as this creates a crime.

           COMMENTS  

           Rationale  .  This bill is intended to clarify that volunteers  
          providing mentoring services for foster children are subject to  
          the requirement for a criminal background check, but are not  
          required to pay the fees associated with that check. According  
          to the author, the current fee can pose a potential burden for  
          volunteers and non-profit organizations. This burden may limit  
          the number of volunteer mentors that these organizations are  
          able to recruit to assist foster children.








                                                                  AB 1979
                                                                  Page  2


           Analysis Prepared by  :    Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916)  
          319-2081