BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 503
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   April 29, 2009

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Kevin De Leon, Chair

                   AB 503 (Furutani) - As Amended:   April 14, 2009

          Policy Committee:                              HealthVote:19-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:              

           SUMMARY  

          This bill makes the Battered Women's Shelter Program (BWSP)  
          advisory committee permanent by deleting a January 2010 sunset.  
          The BWSP, administered by the California Department of Public  
          Health, administers $20 million (GF) annually in grants provided  
          to 94 shelters statewide to provide services to survivors of  
          family violence. 

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          No direct fiscal impact on DPH to continue oversight of the  
          advisory committee addressed by this bill. This bill eliminates  
          the advisory committee sunset, but makes no other changes to  
          statute. 

           COMMENTS  

           Rationale  . This bill makes an advisory committee permanent to  
          allow the continued guidance about funding and program  
          administration. The advisory committee, which meets several  
          times a year, consists of more than a dozen members, including  
          appointees by the Assembly, Senate, and governor. In 2008 the  
          committee conducted a survey of the shelters that receive grant  
          funding from the BWSP. Seventy-six percent of the shelters  
          responded to the survey. These shelters serve more than 100,000  
          clients annually. 

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Mary Ader / APPR. / (916) 319-2081