BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de León, Chair
AB 2060 (V.M. Perez) - Supervised Population Workforce Training
Grant Program.
Amended: May 23, 2014 Policy Vote: Public Safety 7-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: August 4, 2014
Consultant: Jolie Onodera
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 2060 would establish the "Supervised Population
Workforce Training Grant Program," to be administered by the
California Workforce Investment Board (CWIB). This bill would
require the grant program to be funded, upon appropriation by
the Legislature, from the Recidivism Reduction Fund (RRF), as
specified.
Fiscal Impact:
Major future cost pressure, likely in the millions to tens
of millions of dollars (General Fund*) to support a
statewide grant program. Implementation of the program is
contingent upon the CWIB notifying the Department of Finance
(DOF) that sufficient moneys have been appropriated for this
specific grant program. Given the 2014 Budget Act fully
allocates the $91 million available in the RRF, and provides
only $1 million RRF on a one-time basis for the program,
additional moneys would need to be transferred to the RRF in
order to support an appropriation for this program.
Annual costs of about $100,000 (General Fund*) to the CWIB
to provide programmatic oversight, administer the grant
program through the development of the criteria for
selection of grantees, design the grant application process,
process and review applications, collection of data from
grantees, and submittal of a report to the Legislature.
Ongoing administrative costs potentially in the range of
five to 10 percent of moneys annually appropriated, to the
Employment Development Department (EDD) for CWIB to utilize
the EDD as its fiscal and administrative agent for tasks
such as the obligation of funds, performance of grant
closeout activities and grantee compliance audits.
AB 2060 (V.M. Perez)
Page 1
*Recidivism Reduction Fund
Background: SB 105 (Steinberg) Chapter 310/2013 created the
Recidivism Reduction Fund (RRF) in the State Treasury to be
available for appropriation by the Legislature for activities
aimed at reducing the state's prison population, including, but
not limited to, reducing recidivism. (Penal Code § 1233.9.)
SB 105 provided $315 million from the General Fund for the
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to house
inmates in contracted facilities to avoid early release and
comply with the court-ordered population cap. Due to the
two-year extension granted by the courts to comply with the
population cap, $91 million of the $315 million was available
for transfer to the RRF. The 2014 Budget Act (SB 852 (Leno))
appropriates the full $91 million transferred to the RRF, with
$42 million provided to the CDCR, $28 million to the Board of
State and Community Corrections (BSCC), and $20 million to court
programs and social innovation bonds. The remaining $1 million
has been appropriated as one-time funding for support of the
Employment Development Department (EDD) for a recidivism
reduction workforce training and development grant program.
Existing law states that the California Workforce Investment
Board is the body responsible for assisting the Governor in the
development, oversight, and continuous improvement of
California's workforce investment system and the alignment of
the education and workforce investment systems to the needs of
the 21st century economy and workforce. (Unemployment Insurance
Code § 14010)
This bill seeks to assist former offenders to successfully
reenter their communities and would create a program to be
administered by the CWIB to provide grant funding for vocational
training and apprenticeship opportunities for offenders under
county supervision who are on probation, mandatory community
supervision, or post-release community supervision (PRCS).
Proposed Law: This bill would establish the "Supervised
Population Workforce Training Grant Program," to be administered
by the CWIB, as follows:
Requires CWIB to consult with public and private
stakeholders, including local WIBs, local governments, and
nonprofit community-based organizations that serve the
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Page 2
supervised population (persons who are on probation,
mandatory supervision, or PRCS), in developing the program.
Specifies the grant program to be funded, upon
appropriation by the Legislature, using an unspecified
amount of moneys from the RRF.
Specifies implementation of the program is contingent
upon the Director of the State WIB notifying the Department
of Finance that sufficient moneys have been appropriated
for this specific grant program.
Requires the grant funding to be competitively awarded
through at least two rounds of funding, with the first
phase of funding being awarded on or before May 1, 2015.
Requires CWIB to administer the grant program by
developing criteria for the selection of grantees through a
public application process including the rating and ranking
of applications meeting specified criteria, as well as
designing an application process to ensure specified
criteria are addressed.
Provides that each county is eligible to apply, and a
single application may include multiple counties applying
jointly.
Specifies eligible uses of grant funds to include but
are not limited to vocational training, stipends for
trainees, and apprenticeship opportunities for the
supervised population.
Provides that preference shall be awarded to
applications that propose matching funds, that currently
administers or participates in a workforce training program
for the supervised population, or that proposes
participation by nonprofit community-based organizations
that serve the supervised population.
Provides that applications must meet numerous
requirements, as specified.
Requires grant recipients to report to CWIB at least
annually regarding the use of funds and workforce training
program outcomes.
Requires CWIB to submit a report to the Legislature by
January 1, 2018, utilizing reports from grantees, to
contain specified information.
Sunsets the bill's provisions on January 1, 2021, unless
a later enacted statute deletes or extends that date.
Related Legislation: SB 852 (Leno) Chapter 25/2014, the Budget
Act of 2014, appropriated $1 million from the RRF, "for support
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Page 3
of the Employment Development Department for a recidivism
reduction workforce training and development grant program."
Staff Comments: The CWIB has indicated that in order to provide
the high level programmatic oversight of the program to the EDD,
aggregate grant recipient data, and develop the legislative
report, the CWIB would require one position with an approximate
annual cost of $100,000 depending on the number of grants
awarded, which would be dependent on the amount of RRF funds
appropriated by the Legislature.
In addition to CWIB's cost, the CWIB must utilize the EDD as its
fiscal and administrative agent. As EDD has historically
required between five and 10 percent to perform fiscal and
administrative tasks such as obligating funds, processing
competitive solicitation and grant documents, disbursing funds
to grantees, performing grant closeout activities, and
performing grantee compliance audits.
To support a statewide grant program would cost potentially in
the millions to tens of millions of dollars, creating major
future cost pressure. Implementation of the program is
contingent upon the CWIB notifying the DOF that sufficient
moneys have been appropriated for this specific grant program.
Given the 2014 Budget Act fully allocates the $91 million
available in the RRF, and provides only $1 million RRF one-time
to the EDD to support such a program, additional moneys would
need to be transferred to the RRF in order to support an
adequate appropriation for this grant program.