BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2547
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 16, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 2547 (Blumenfield) - As Amended: May 1, 2012
Policy Committee: Human
ServicesVote:5 - 0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill establishes the Statewide Office of the Homeless Youth
Advocate (OHYA) to coordinate state programs, services, and
information for homeless youth. Specifically, this bill:
1)Establishes OHYA within the California Health and Human
Services Agency (HHS) and requires the office to:
a) Provide information, coordination assistance, and
technical assistance to reduce unnecessary expenditures
associated with duplicated services and to improve the
quality of services to homeless youth;
b) Identify procedural and substantive barriers and
obstacles that inhibit the provision of services to
homeless youth and make recommendations to the entities
listed in the bill necessary to remove obstacles to
services for homeless youth.
c) Obtain information on available funding sources to
assist homeless youth.
d) Work with entities to identify, facilitate and resolve
issues that may inhibit the sharing of information
beneficial to helping homeless youth.
e) Provide an annual report to the governor and the
Legislature on the activities of OHYA.
2)Encourages OHYA to work with other state and federal agencies
and departments to meet the goals of the bill, including HHS,
AB 2547
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the California Department of Education (CDE), the
Administrative Office of the Courts, nonprofit organizations,
appropriate federal departments and other key stakeholders.
FISCAL EFFECT
Costs between $250,000 and $500,000 GF for the workload
associated with the OHYA. Should the office serve as a
coordinating entity between various departments, the costs would
remain on the low end. However, if the OHYA takes on the
characteristics of the Foster Care Ombudsman, for example, which
currently works directly with foster youth to connect them with
available services and resources, the costs would likely be
closer to $500,000. It may be that the OHYA will be able to
access some federal funding and grants to help offset the cost
of the office.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . According to the author, this bill is modeled after
the Colorado Office of Homeless Youth Services, which was
created in 2002. The purpose of this office is to break down
barriers that make it difficult for homeless youth to access
services, provide better collaboration and effective services
among multiple local, state and federal programs, and to
institute a proactive and productive environment to better
identify gaps and work in a more integrated fashion to improve
and expand services to a highly at-risk population.
The author contends this bill "takes the first step in
addressing this issue (youth homelessness) by creating the
Office of the Homeless Youth Advocate. This office will be
responsible for identifying and breaking down barriers to
those services currently available, facilitating interagency
collaboration, and serving as a resource for homeless youth -
disseminating information about their rights, the services
available, and how to get in touch with local non-profits who
help homeless youth."
2)Background . According to the California Research Bureau's
(CRB) Homeless Youth Project (HYP), based upon national survey
estimates and California's youth population, it is estimated
that there are 200,000 youth under the age of 18, and
potentially thousands of persons aged 18 - 24, who are
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homeless.
3)The Emergency Youth Telephone Referral (EYTR) Project . The
California Emergency Management Agency (CalEMA) has been
running the EYTR Project for over a decade. CalEMA is
currently partnering with the California Coalition of Youth,
who staff and maintain a hotline designed to connect homeless
and runaway youth with services and resources. The Youth
Crisis Line connects an average of 12,000 homeless youth with
services each year.
4)Related Legislation . AB 2186 (Grove), also pending before this
committee, recasts and codifies the YETR Project and requires
CalEMA to either administer the YETR Project directly or as a
grant program issued through a competitive bidding process.
Analysis Prepared by : Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916)
319-2081