BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 220
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Date of Hearing: March 15, 2011
Consultant: Stefani Salt
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Tom Ammiano, Chair
AB 220 (Solorio) - As Introduced: February 1, 2011
SUMMARY : Requires the Director of the Office of Gang and Youth
Violence Policy (OGYVP) to make recommendations to consolidate
and streamline existing state agency gang and youth violence
grant programs with a goal toward giving priority to grant
programs that employ evidence-based practices. Specifically,
this bill :
1)Authorizes the Director to create a working group, as
specified, to assist in this effort and declares the Director
the head of this group.
2)Requires OGYVP to report the working group's findings to the
Legislature and the Governor by June 1, 2012.
EXISTING LAW :
3)Establishes OSVGP within the Office of Emergency Services
(OES). �Penal Code Section 13827(a).]
4)Creates the California Emergency Management Agency (Cal-EMA).
States that, unless context clearly requires otherwise, the
term "Office of Emergency Services" should be construed to
refer to Cal-EMA. �Government Code Section 8585(a).]
5)Mandates that OSVGP is responsible for coordinating and
assisting schools, parents, community groups and
organizations, and law enforcement agencies with information
and innovative strategies to help prevent violence and gang
involvement. Requires OCVGP to identify and administer
funding for these efforts. �Penal Code Section 13827(b).]
6)Defines "criminal street gang" as an ongoing organization,
association, or group of three or more persons, whether formal
or informal, having as one of its primary activities the
commission of one or more enumerated offenses, having a common
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name or identifying sign or symbol, and whose members engage,
or have engaged, in a pattern of criminal gang activity.
�Penal Code Section 186.22(f).]
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Author's Statement : According to the author, "The Office of
Gang and Youth Violence Policy (OGYVP), administered by the
California Emergency Management Agency, identifies and
evaluates gang and youth violence programs and strategies, as
well as funds those efforts through the California Gang
Reduction, Intervention, and Prevention Program (CalGRIP).
The Director of the OGYVP reviews, allocates, and distributes
CalGRIP grants. To make the CalGRIP grant disbursement
process more efficient and accountable, it is necessary to
consolidate the volume of funding streams and give priority to
programs that employ evidence-based practices."
2)Background : According to the information provided by the
author, "The amount of funding streams has made the process of
reviewing, allocating, and distributing gang violence
prevention grants cumbersome, delayed and fragmented.
Evidence-based programs that reduce recidivism need to be
prioritized for funding."
3)Evidence-Based Practices : According to OGYVP's November 2010
report to the Legislature, "Only in the past 20 years have
social scientists, policy-makers, and practitioners begun to
understand which programs and strategies in fact prevent and
reduce youth crime. This growing body of knowledge rests on
the type of evaluation that is used to determine the efficacy
of new drugs: does the treatment group fare significantly
better than the control or comparison group. OGYVP has
promoted the understanding and implementation of these
programs through its own publications, conferences and
workshops, and CalGRIP grants.
"These programs - known as 'evidence-based practices' - are not
a panacea. They are relatively few in number, can be
difficult to implement, do not apply to all circumstances that
call for intervention, and do not exclude the possibility that
unevaluated programs may be effective. Nevertheless, as
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stewards of public safety . . . , OGYVP believes that state
funds are best spent in support of local programs and
strategies that will be effective, according to the most
rigorous evaluations. To that end, OGYVP has
incentivized - not required - the implementation of such
programs through new grant funding.
"Evidence-based practices, because they are new and often run
counter to traditional organizational approaches, are
challenging to implement correctly. To increase the
likelihood of successful implementation, OGYVP has required
organizations that have been awarded funding for such programs
1) to engage experts who will provide training and technical
assistance, and 2) to report their outcome data (e.g.,
reduction in crime rates) so that their communities and the
state can understand the extent of success and the need (if
any) for program adjustment." (OGYVP, Report to the
Legislature, November 29, 2010, p. 3-4.)
According to the University of California Irvine's Center for
Evidence-Based Corrections, "Evidence-based policy is an
approach that helps people make well-informed decisions about
policies and programs by putting the best available evidence
from research at the heart of policy development and
implementation. This approach stands in contrast to
opinion-based policy, which relies heavily on either the
selective use of evidence (e.g., on single studies
irrespective of quality) or on the untested views of
individuals or groups, often inspired by ideological views and
speculative conjecture." �University of California Irvine
Center for Evidence-Based Corrections,
(as of March 9, 2010).]
Requiring OGYVP to prioritize grant programs that utilize
evidence-based practices does not appear to create any legal
issues under current law.
4)Related Legislation : AB 526 (Dickinson) requires the
Secretary of Emergency Management to identify and implement
evidence-based practices to address gang and youth violence.
AB 526 also requires Cal-EMA to make recommendations on the
most effective role of the agency in developing a plan to
shift state-funded crime prevention and juvenile justice
programs toward evidence-based practices over a three-year
period. AB 526 is currently pending hearing by the Assembly
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Governmental Organization Committee and has been
double-referred to this Committee should AB 526 pass the
Assembly Governmental Organization Committee.
5)Previous Legislation :
a) AB 1439 (Solorio), of the 2009-2010 Legislative Session,
was vetoed. This bill is a reintroduction of AB 1439.
b) AB 616 (Blumenfield), of the 2009-2010 Legislative
Session, would have required the OSVGP to use federal money
from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to
provide grants to certified local conservation corps for
programs for at-risk young adults. AB 616 was held on the
Assembly Appropriations Committee's Suspense File.
6)Arguments in Support : According to the American Federation of
State, County and Municipal Employees , "In dealing with the
prevalent gang and youth violence problems in California,
consolidating the available expertise is essential to
maximizing the effectiveness of programs to mitigate these
problems. �This bill] would implement a system to effect such
a consolidation . . . �and] greatly aid state agencies in
their efforts by providing guidance and oversight, as well as
overarching standards to unite the agencies in their work."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs
California Attorneys for Criminal Justice
California YouthBuild Coalition
Los Angeles Probation Officers' Union,
AFSCME, Local 685
Riverside Sheriffs' Association
Opposition
None
Analysis Prepared by : Stefani Salt / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744
AB 220
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