BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1019
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 16, 2013
Counsel: Shaun Naidu
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Tom Ammiano, Chair
AB 1019 (Ammiano) - As Amended: March 21, 2013
SUMMARY : Requires the Superintendent for Correctional Education
to set goals and priorities for career technical education
(CTE), also referred to as vocational education, within the
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR).
Specifically, this bill :
1)Makes legislative findings that given that, as of June 2012,
60.8 % of state prison inmates have a medium to high need for
academic or career technical programs, and it has been shown
that CTE programs are both effective at reducing recidivism
and cost effective to the state, it is the intent of the
Legislature in requiring CDCR, within its existing resources,
to set both short- and long-term goals for CTE programs.
2)Requires the CDCR, based upon its goals and priorities, a CTE
program established, given the CDCR's goals and priorities, to
take into account all of the following factors:
a) Whether the program aligns with the workforce needs of
high demand sectors of the state and regional economies;
b) Whether there is an active job market for the skills
being developed where the inmate will likely be released;
c) Whether the program increases the number of inmates who
obtain a marketable and industry or apprenticeship
board-recognized certification, credential, or degree;
d) Whether there are formal or informal networks in the
field that support finding employment upon release from
prison; and
e) Whether the program will lead to employment in
occupations with a livable wage.
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3)Requires the CDCR, using data to support evidence-based
policymaking, to develop standards and criteria for evaluating
the effectiveness of CTE programs with review by the
California Rehabilitation Oversight Board.
4)Replaces the term "vocational education programs" with "career
technical education programs."
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires the Secretary of CDCR to appoint a Superintendent of
Correctional Education, who shall oversee and administer all
prison education programs. (Penal Code Section 2053.4.)
2)Requires the Superintendent of Correctional Education to set
both short- and long-term goals for inmate literacy and
testing and vocational education programs and to establish
priorities for prison academic and vocational education
programs. (Penal Code Section 2053.4.)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Author's Statement : According to the author, "California has
a unique opportunity given the changes that have been brought
by realignment, to rethink programming opportunities for
prisoners. This bill recognizes that rehabilitation includes
developing a set of skills related to successful reentry into
the workforce. It does not mandate what to teach or how the
subject is to be taught but sets a framework for decision
making within CDCR. This bill would require in law that CDCR
set goals for vocational programs as it currently does for
academic programs and base its decisions on evidence based
data."
2)Background : Existing law requires that the Superintendent of
Correctional Education to set goals and priorities for
literacy and testing programs but does not set the same
requirement for the goals and priorities for CTE programs.
3)Effectiveness of CTE Programs : As argued by the proponents of
this bill, CTE programs in prisons reduce recidivism rates and
have been found to be cost effective. As the author states,
the Washington State Institute for Public Policy found that
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CTE programs reduced recidivism by 9% and resulted in a net
savings per participant of $13,700 annually.
4)Effectiveness of the Prison Educational System as Implemented :
According to the Legislative Analyst's Office, as of 2008,
"the current set of CDCR education programs reach only a small
segment of the inmate population who could benefit from them.
The CDCR now enrolls about 54,000 inmates in education
programs for a system with 173,000 inmates, and barely
one-half of those-27,000 inmates-are in the core traditional
academic vocational training programs ? most likely to improve
the educational attainment of inmates and thus their
employability upon their release." (Legislative Analyst's
Office, From Cellblocks to Classrooms: Reforming Education to
Improve Public Safety (February 2008) p. 11.)
CDCR, however, states that the decline of state prison inmate
populations due to criminal justice realignment "has provided
the opportunity to increase access and improve its
rehabilitative programs, which will significantly lower
California's recidivism rate." (CDCR, The Future of
California Corrections (2012) In-Prison Rehabilitative
Programs, p. 21.)
5)Argument in Support : According to the Service Employees
International Union, Local 1000 , "Career technical or
vocational education has been shown to reduce recidivism. A
study published by the Washington State Institute for Public
Policy on a variety of programs found that one of the most
successful in reducing recidivism was career technical
education, reducing recidivism by 9 percent and resulted in a
net savings per participant of $13,700 annually. This bill
takes language from these two sources, including the findings
from the January 2013 report on [career technical education]
to the State Board of Education and asks the department to
develop standards and criteria that could be used to evaluate
the effectiveness of their programs as well."
6)Related Legislation : AB 494 (V. Manuel Perez) would codify
plans of CDCR to improve academic programing offered to
inmates in the prison system.
7)Prior Legislation : AB 900 (Solorio), Chapter 7, Statutes of
2007, among other things, implemented requirements to increase
to inmate education participation rates, reduce teacher
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vacancies, and conduct risk and needs assessments of inmates
sent to prison.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Service Employees International Union, Local 1000 (Sponsor)
American Civil Liberties Union
California Correctional Peace Officers Association
California Public Defenders Association
Legal Services for Prisoners with Children
Opposition
None
Analysis Prepared by : Shaun Naidu / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744