BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
AB 1167 (Fong)
Hearing Date: 08/15/2011 Amended: 06/21/2011
Consultant: Jolie Onodera Policy Vote: GO 8-3; T&H 6-3
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BILL SUMMARY: AB 1167 establishes the Interagency Council on
Homelessness (ICH) and prescribes the membership and duties of
the ICH. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the Governor to designate a lead agency or member of
the Governor's staff to direct the work of the ICH;
2)Requires the ICH to seek all available federal funding for
purposes of funding the ICH and its activities;
3)Designates 12 ICH seats to be filled by representatives of
specified agencies, departments and non-governmental groups,
and appointments;
4)Requires ICH to meet at least quarterly, and provides that
members shall serve without compensation, with certain
exceptions if private funds are available;
5)Requires the Governor to appoint a chairperson and vice
chairperson from among or in addition to the council members;
6)Within current costs or with private support, provides that
the ICH may establish working groups or task forces to assist
in its work;
7)Provides that ICH "may", but is not required to 1) act as the
lead for coordinating and planning the state's response to
homelessness, including coordinating federal funding, and 2)
engaging or accepting the services of agency and nonprofit
organizations, or employ council staff to operate, manage, or
conduct the business of the ICH, only if the services are
provided by private, philanthropic, or other non-state funding
sources available or the Legislature makes an appropriation
for that purpose;
8)Requires ICH to operate within the budget of each department
and agency represented.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Fund
Create/operate new council $125 $250
AB 1167 (Fong)
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$250 General/Fed*
Work group/task force Likely significant future cost
pressure General/Fed*
activities
*Potentially offset by the receipt of future federal funding.
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STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
This bill creates a new Interagency Council on Homelessness
(ICH) of at least 12 members to address the issue of
homelessness in the California. This bill requires the Governor
to designate a lead agency or member of the Governor's staff to
direct the work of the ICH. The costs reflected for creation and
operation of the council are for one full-time director position
and one administrative position. This bill authorizes the
Governor to select the lead agency responsible for creating and
managing ICH.
Without knowing which agency will be tasked with this project,
it is impossible to know the level of workload that can be
absorbed, and the number of (if any) new employees that would be
needed. Considering state departments' budget reductions, it is
extremely unlikely that establishing an ICH could be completed
within the existing resources of any probable department. The
workload on other (non-lead agency) participants, however, would
likely be minor.
The Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) has
recently been designated as the liaison for the State to the
United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH). In
this role, the HCD will confer with state agencies and
departments with operational responsibilities for
homeless-related programs in preparing to meet with the federal
council. HCD's role will include the referral of USICH requests
to the appropriate state agency and coordination of the
responses to the federal council. The establishment of the ICH
could assist HCD in fulfilling these liaison responsibilities.
The bill requires the ICH to seek all available federal funding
for purposes of funding the ICH and its activities. To the
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extent the ICH is successful in securing federal funding would
offset some or potentially a significant portion of the costs of
operating the council. However, the costs associated with the
formation of the ICH, and the resources needed to identify and
apply for the funding would be incurred in advance of the
receipt of these federal funds.
To the extent that this bill results in innovative and effective
services provided to reduce homelessness, there will likely be
significant savings to local governments and law enforcement
agencies. Depending on the nature of these services, there may
be significant savings to the state in costs associated with
crime and social services in the future.
Prior Legislation. AB 1177 (Fong) 2010 was similar to this
measure and was held on the Suspense File of this Committee.