BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                           Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair

                                           503 (Furutani)
          
          Hearing Date:  6/29/2009        Amended: 6/23/2009
          Consultant: Katie Johnson       Policy Vote: Health 8-1
          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____
          BILL SUMMARY:  AB 503 would extend the sunset date for the  
          Domestic Violence Advisory Council which advises the Domestic  
          Violence Program within the California Department of Public  
          Health (CDPH) to January 1, 2015.
          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____
                            Fiscal Impact (in thousands)

           Major Provisions         2009-10      2010-11       2011-12     Fund
                                                                  
          Sunset extension                unknown, but likely under $50  
          ongoing       General

          Report consolidation     unknown, but likely minor     General
          conclusions              and absorbable
          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____

          STAFF COMMENTS: 
          
          Existing law, the Battered Women Protection Act of 1994,  
          establishes the Battered Women's Shelter Program, known as the  
          Domestic Violence Program (DVP), within the Maternal, Child, and  
          Adolescent Division under the CDPH.

          Existing law establishes, until January 1, 2010, the Domestic  
          Violence Advisory Council (council) with which the CDPH is  
          required to consult in administering the DVP. This bill would  
          extend the existence of the council until January 1, 2015.

          The DVP administers $20.4 million General Fund annually in  
          grants to 94 shelters that serve approximately 200,000 victims  
          and their children each year. The council is also paid for from  
          this allocation. Costs to the department  for staff time to  
          sustain the council until January 1, 2015 would be minor and  
          absorbable.











          This bill would also require CDPH to consult with the California  
          Emergency Management Agency (CalEMA) to consider the  
          consolidation of their respective domestic violence programs and  
          to report the conclusions to the Legislature by June 30, 2011.  
          Preliminary analysis indicates that this consultation and  
          reporting requirement would be minor and absorbable.

          Although continuing to fund council meetings and staff support  
          is likely to be minor and absorbable, staff notes that on June  
          9, 2009, the Legislative Budget Conference Committee voted to  
          reduce the DVP budget by 20 percent. The extension of this  
          sunset would put ongoing pressure on the DVP. It is likely that  
          the DVP would reduce the number of grants to shelters and might  
          choose to proportionally decrease its staff support as the  
          result of the budget reductions.