BILL ANALYSIS �
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1019
Author: Ammiano (D)
Amended: 5/6/13 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 7-0, 6/11/13
AYES: Hancock, Anderson, Block, De Le�n, Knight, Liu, Steinberg
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 75-0, 5/9/13 (Consent) - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : State prisons: correctional education and
vocational training
SOURCE : SEIU Local 1000
DIGEST : This bill requires goals for career technical
education to be set by the Superintendent of Correctional
Education, and establishes factors that are required to be taken
into account when establishing a career technical education
program, as specified.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1.Requires the Secretary of California Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to appoint a Superintendent of
Correctional Education, who shall oversee and administer all
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prison education programs.
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.
This bill:
1.Amends existing law to add career technical education programs
to those programs for which the Superintendent of Correctional
Education at CDCR is required to set both short-term and
long-term goals for inmate testing and requires the
Superintendent to establish priorities for career technical
education programs as well as the current academic programs.
2.Requires that, based upon the goals and priorities of CDCR, a
career technical education program established, given the
CDCR's goals and priorities, shall 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.
1.Includes the following uncodified intent language, "Given
that, as of June 2012, 60.8 percent of state prison inmates
have a medium to high need for academic or career technical
programs, and it has been shown that career technical
education programs are both effective at reducing recidivism
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and cost effective to the state, it is the intent of the
Legislature in enacting this act that the Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation shall, within its existing
resources, set both short- and long-term goals for career
technical education programs."
Background
A 2008 report of the Legislative Analyst's Office stated:
Our analysis indicates that 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 and
vocational training programs (including those operated by
[Prison Industry Authority] PIA) most likely to improve the
educational attainment of inmates and thus their
employability upon their release on parole to the
community. (Legislative Analyst's Office, From Cellblocks
to Classrooms: Reforming Education to Improve Public
Safety (February 2008) p. 11.)
Prior Legislation
SB 1121 (Hancock, Chapter 761, Statutes of 2012), provided that
a credentialed teacher, vice principal, or principal shall
provide input relating to the academic or vocational education
program placement of an inmate, as specified.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/25/13)
SEIU Local 1000 (source)
American Civil Liberties Union
California Attorneys for Criminal Justice
California Correctional Peace Officers Association
California Public Defenders Association
Drug Policy Alliance
Legal Services for Prisoners with Children
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OPPOSITION : (Verified 6/25/13)
Taxpayers for Improving Public Safety
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author, existing law
tasks the Superintendent of Correctional Education to only set
goals and priorities for literacy and testing programs. Goals
and priorities are not required in law to be set for Career
Technical Education (CTE) programs; yet, they are integral to
the new emphasis on rehabilitation. This bill would require
that as the superintendent sets goals for academic programs, to
set goals for CTE programs.
The purpose of this legislation is to in the law; recognize that
CDCR emphasize vocational as well as academic education. 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 nine percent and resulted in a
net savings per participant of $13,700 annually. Creating goals
and priorities for CTE will allow the Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation and the Legislature to have some basis for
evaluating the success or failure of these CTE programs.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The Taxpayers for Improving Public
Safety (TiPS) writes, "?this legislation is both unnecessary and
duplicative of requirements set forth in the 2007 AB900
legislation which required (1) the department to determine and
implement a system of incentives to increase inmate
participation in, and completion of, academic and vocational
education, consistent with the inmate's educational needs, and
(2) the department to develop and implement a plan to obtain
additional rehabilitation and treatment services for prison
inmates and parolees. Since 2007, CDCR has repeatedly set goals
and then, because of legislative budget reductions, repeatedly
lowered those goals. Today, the majority of inmates on parole
cannot meet the 1986 legislative standard of a ninth grade
reading ability because of (1) lack of funding; (2) increased
violence with a concomitant cancellation of academic and
rehabilitation programs; and (3) the inability of an inmate to
remain housed in the facility long enough to complete a program
due to the high rate of transfer of inmates. Until legislation
is introduced which includes an appropriation to provide inmates
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(1) with sufficient security to attend and complete a
educational and rehabilitation program and (2) vocational,
academic and rehabilitation programs to allow a reduction of
recidivism, one more report confirming that more money is needed
to meet goals will do little to solve the problem of inmate
illiteracy upon parole."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 75-0, 5/9/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,
Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown,
Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Conway,
Cooley, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier,
Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray,
Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hern�ndez, Jones,
Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mansoor,
Medina, Melendez, Mitchell, Morrell, Mullin, Muratsuchi,
Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, V. Manuel
P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner, Stone,
Ting, Torres, Wagner, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams,
Yamada, John A. P�rez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Donnelly, Holden, Logue, Waldron, Vacancy
JG:nl 6/26/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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