BILL NUMBER: AB 2547	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 25, 2012
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 1, 2012

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Blumenfield
   (Coauthor: Assembly Member Hall)

                        FEBRUARY 24, 2012

   An act to add Chapter 7.3 (commencing with Section 18420) to Part
6 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to
public social services.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2547, as amended, Blumenfield. Homeless youth: Statewide Office
of the Homeless Youth Advocate.
   Under existing law, several state agencies have prescribed
responsibilities relating to homeless youth. Existing law requires
the California Emergency Management Agency to administer a program to
provide shelter and other services to runaway and nonrunaway youth
and their families.
   This bill would establish the Statewide Office of the Homeless
Youth Advocate in the California Health and Human Services Agency.
This bill would require the office, among other things, to provide
information and assistance to reduce the provision of overlapping
services to, identify obstacles to the provision of services to, make
recommendations to remove those obstacles and improve the quality of
services provided to, and  obtain   update
 and disseminate information  received from service
providers relating to services available for, homeless youth.
 This bill would require these provisions to be implemented
only after the Director of Finance determines that federal, state, or
private funds in an amount sufficient to support the activities of
the office have been deposited with the state, and would provide that
it is the intent of the Legislature that these provisions become
inoperative if the Director of Finance determines there are
insufficient funds to support the activities of the office. 

   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Chapter 7.3 (commencing with Section 18420) is added to
Part 6 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:
      CHAPTER 7.3.  STATEWIDE OFFICE OF THE HOMELESS YOUTH ADVOCATE


   18420.  (a) The Statewide Office of the Homeless Youth Advocate is
established within the California Health and Human Services Agency,
and shall report directly to the Secretary of California Health and
Human Services. The Statewide Office of the Homeless Youth Advocate
shall seek to do all of the following:
   (1) Coordinate current services, and facilitate interagency
collaboration to identify gaps in, remove barriers and improve access
to, and share, information related to homeless youth.
   (2) Identify and remove obstacles to the provision of services to
homeless youth.
   (3) Improve the quality of services that are provided to homeless
youth.
   (4) Reduce needless expenditures that are caused by the provision
of overlapping services.
   (5) Identify housing and supportive services funding resources
that are available to entities serving homeless youth.
   (b) The Statewide Office of the Homeless Youth Advocate is
strongly encouraged to work with other departments within the
California Health and Human Services Agency, the State Department of
Education, the Administrative Office of the Courts, nonprofit
organizations, appropriate departments of the federal government, and
other key stakeholders when performing the functions described in
subdivision (a).
   (c) The Statewide Office of the Homeless Youth Advocate shall have
all of, but not be limited to, the following responsibilities:
   (1) Provide information, coordination assistance, and technical
assistance as necessary to reduce needless expenditures that are
associated with the provision of overlapping  services,
  services  and  to  improve the
quality of services provided to homeless youth.
   (2) Identify both procedural and substantive obstacles to the
provision of services to homeless youth  ,  and make
recommendations to the entities specified in this section relating
to the procedural, regulatory, or statutory changes that are
necessary to remove obstacles to the provision of services to
homeless youth.
   (3)  Obtain   Update  information 
received  from service providers relating to services that are
known to be available to the homeless youth population in the state
 ,  and post the information on its Internet Web
site.
   (4)  Develop, maintain, and disseminate  
Make available on its Internet Web site  information that is
relevant to the homeless youth population, including, but not limited
to, information relating to the legal, educational, and other rights
of homeless youth, and a list of legal, educational, and victim's
rights organizations that serve the homeless youth population.
   (5) Obtain information relating to funding sources that are known
to be available to assist the homeless youth population in the state.

   (6) Work with entities to identify issues relating to the sharing
of information when providing services to homeless  youth,
  youth  and  to  facilitate
resolution of information-sharing issues.
   (7) Prepare and submit  an annual   a
biennial  report, beginning on the date that is  one
year   two years  after this section is implemented
pursuant to subdivision (e), to the Governor and the Legislature
regarding the activities and performance of the Statewide Office of
the Homeless Youth Advocate. The report shall also include the
following information:
   (A) The data that the State Department of Education annually
compiles on the number of homeless youth who are enrolled in public
schools in the state, the types of homelessness experienced by the
youth, and a list of services that are provided to the homeless
youth.
   (B) The data that the United States Department of Housing and
Urban Development annually publishes on the federally mandated
point-in-time count of the homeless population, which includes
homeless youth.
   (d) As used in this section, unless the context otherwise
requires:
   (1) "Entity" means a state agency, a state-operated program, or a
nonprofit community-based organization.
   (2) "Homeless youth" means a homeless youth as defined in
paragraph (2) of subdivision (e) of Section 11139.3 of the Government
Code. 
   (e) This section shall be implemented only if the Director of
Finance makes a determination that federal, state, or private funds
in an amount sufficient to fully support the activities of this
section, including staffing the Statewide Office of the Homeless
Youth Advocate, have been deposited with the state for the purposes
of this section. If the Director of Finance makes a determination
that sufficient funds have or have not been deposited with the state
for the purposes of this section, the director shall execute a
declaration stating that the determination has been made. The
declaration executed pursuant to this subdivision shall be retained
by the director, and, within five working days of the execution of
the declaration, a copy shall be provided to the fiscal and
appropriate policy committees of the Legislature, the Secretary of
State, the Secretary of the Senate, the Chief Clerk of the Assembly,
and the Legislative Counsel, and posted on the Internet Web site of
the Department of Finance.  
   (f) Pursuant to subdivision (e), if the Director of Finance
determines that insufficient funds have been deposited with the state
to support the activities of this section, this section shall become
inoperative.  
   (g) 
    (   e)  (1) The requirement for submitting a
report imposed under paragraph (7) of subdivision (c) is inoperative
on the date that is four years after the date the first report is
submitted, pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code.
   (2) A report to be submitted pursuant to paragraph (7) of
subdivision (c) shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of
the Government Code.