BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2521
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 1, 2014
Counsel: Stella Choe
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Tom Ammiano, Chair
AB 2521 (Hagman) - As Introduced: February 21, 2014
SUMMARY : Requires, on and after July 1, 2015, the Board of
State and Community Corrections (BSCC), in consultation with
specified stakeholders, to collect and analyze data regarding
recidivism rates, as defined, of all persons who have received
sentences for felonies punishable by imprisonment in a county
jail, or who have been placed on postrelease community
supervision. Specifically, this bill :
1)Specifies that BSCC shall consult with the Administrative
Office of the Courts, the California State Association of
Counties, the California State Sheriffs' Association, and the
Chief Probation Officers of California, in fulfilling the
requirements of this bill.
2)States that the data shall include, as it becomes available,
recidivism rates for offenders one, two, and three years after
their release in the community.
3)Requires BSCC to make any data collected pursuant to this
paragraph available on the board's Internet Web site on a
quarterly basis.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes BSCC, commencing July 1, 2012, an entity
independent of the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation (CDCR). (Pen. Code, � 6024, subd. (a).)
2)States that the mission of BSCC shall include providing
statewide leadership, coordination, and technical assistance
to promote effective state and local efforts and partnerships
in California's adult and juvenile criminal justice system,
including addressing gang problems. This mission shall reflect
the principle of aligning fiscal policy and correctional
practices, including, but not limited to prevention,
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intervention, suppression, supervision, and incapacitation, to
promote a justice investment strategy that fits each county
and is consistent with the integrated statewide goal of
improved public safety through cost-effective, promising, and
evidence-based strategies for managing criminal justice
populations. (Pen. Code, � 6024, subd. (b).)
3)States that it shall be the duty of BSCC to collect and
maintain available information and data about state and
community correctional policies, practices, capacities, and
needs, including, but not limited to, prevention,
intervention, suppression, supervision, and incapacitation, as
they relate to both adult corrections, juvenile justice, and
gang problems. (Pen. Code, � 6027, subd. (a).)
4)Requires BSCC to do the following:
a) Develop recommendations for the improvement of criminal
justice and delinquency and gang prevention activity
throughout the state;
b) Identify, promote, and provide technical assistance
relating to evidence-based programs, practices, and
promising and innovative projects consistent with the
mission of BSCC;
c) Develop definitions of key terms, including, but not
limited to, "recidivism," "average daily population,"
"treatment program completion rates," and any other terms
deemed relevant in order to facilitate consistency in local
data collection, evaluation, and implementation of
evidence-based practices, promising evidence-based
practices, and evidence-based programs. In developing these
definitions, the board shall consult with specified
stakeholders and experts;
d) Receive and disburse federal funds, and perform all
necessary and appropriate services in the performance of
its duties as established by federal acts;
e) Develop comprehensive, unified, and orderly procedures
to ensure that applications for grants are processed
fairly, efficiently, and in a manner consistent with the
mission of BSCC;
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f) Identify delinquency and gang intervention and
prevention grants that have the same or similar program
purpose, are allocated to the same entities, serve the same
target populations, and have the same desired outcomes for
the purpose of consolidating grant funds and programs and
moving toward a unified single delinquency intervention and
prevention grant application process in adherence with all
applicable federal guidelines and mandates;
g) Cooperate with and render technical assistance to the
Legislature, state agencies, units of general local
government, combinations of those units, or other public or
private agencies, organizations, or institutions in matters
relating to criminal justice and delinquency prevention;
h) Develop incentives for units of local government to
develop comprehensive regional partnerships whereby
adjacent jurisdictions pool grant funds in order to deliver
services to a broader target population and maximize the
impact of state funds at the local level;
i) Conduct evaluation studies of the programs and
activities assisted by the federal acts;
j) Identify and evaluate state, local, and federal gang and
youth violence suppression, intervention, and prevention
programs and strategies, along with funding for those
efforts. BSCC shall assess and make recommendations for the
coordination of the state's programs, strategies, and
funding that address gang and youth violence in a manner
that maximizes the effectiveness and coordination of those
programs, strategies, and resources. By January 1, 2014,
BSCC shall develop funding allocation policies to ensure
that within three years no less than 70 percent of funding
for gang and youth violence suppression, intervention, and
prevention programs and strategies is used in programs that
utilize promising and proven evidence-based principles and
practices. BSCC shall communicate with local agencies and
programs in an effort to promote the best evidence-based
principles and practices for addressing gang and youth
violence through suppression, intervention, and prevention;
aa) BSCC shall collect from each county the plan submitted
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pursuant to 2011 public safety realignment within two
months of adoption by the county boards of supervisors.
Commencing January 1, 2013, and annually thereafter, the
board shall collect and analyze available data regarding
the implementation of the local plans and other
outcome-based measures, as defined. By July 1, 2013, and
annually thereafter, the board shall provide to the
Governor and the Legislature a report on the implementation
of the plans; and
bb) Commencing on and after July 1, 2012, BSCC, in
consultation with the Administrative Office of the Courts,
the California State Association of Counties, the
California State Sheriffs' Association, and the Chief
Probation Officers of California, shall support the
development and implementation of first phase baseline and
ongoing data collection instruments to reflect the local
impact of 2011 public safety realignment, specifically
related to dispositions for felony offenders and
postrelease community supervision. BSCC shall make any data
collected pursuant to this paragraph available on the
board's Internet Web site. It is the intent of the
Legislature that BSCC promote collaboration and the
reduction of duplication of data collection and reporting
efforts where possible. (Pen. Code, � 6027, subd. (b).)
5)Provides that BSCC may do either of the following:
a) Collect, evaluate, publish, and disseminate statistics
and other information on the condition and progress of
criminal justice in the state; or
b) Perform other functions and duties as required by
federal acts, rules, regulations, or guidelines in acting
as the administrative office of the state planning agency
for distribution of federal grants. (Pen. Code, � 6027,
subd. (c).)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Author's Statement : According to the author, "A continuing
theme in the hearings of the Select Committee on Justice
Reinvestment and in reports from outside entities like the
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Public Policy Institute of California is the need for
accurate, up-to-date, and policy-relevant data.
"It is imperative that we track the recidivism rates of
offenders who, before realignment, would have served their
sentence in prison, but who are now serving those sentences in
county jails. This is important data that is necessary to
evaluate the effects of realignment on public safety in our
communities and the effectiveness of rehabilitation programs.
"This bill builds on last year's AB 1050 (Dickinson) which,
among other things, required the Board of State and Community
Corrections to develop a common definition of the term
'recidivism.' This bill goes the next step and requires the
Board, after July 1, 2015, to report the recidivism rates of
those either sentenced under, or receiving post-release
community supervision under the public safety realignment law.
Consistent with the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation's data for parolees, it would require this to
be reported for those 1, 2, and 3 years after release.
Collecting and reporting recidivism data is an essential part
of any thoughtful approach toward evaluating the success of
realignment and in identifying any need for changes."
2)Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) Report : "Chapter 36,
Statutes of 2011 (SB 92, Committee on Budget and Fiscal
Review), established the BSCC, effective July 1, 2012. From
2005 through 2012, BSCC was the Correction Standards
Authority, a division of CDCR. Prior to that it was the Board
of Corrections, an independent state department. The BSCC is
responsible for administering various criminal justice grant
programs and ensuring compliance with state and federal
standards in the operation of local correctional facilities.
It is also responsible for providing technical assistance to
local authorities and collecting data related to the outcomes
of criminal justice policies and practices." (LAO, The
2013-14 Budget: The Governor's Criminal Justice Proposals, p.
44 (Feb. 15, 2013).)
"In creating BSCC, the Legislature added two responsibilities to
the board's core mission: (1) assisting local entities to
adopt best practices to improve criminal justice outcomes and
(2) collecting and analyzing data related to criminal justice
outcomes in the state." (Id. at pp. 44-45.)
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The LAO reports that "the BSCC has not yet played an active role
in facilitating the adoption of evidence-based programs.
Instead, the board plans to respond to requests for assistance
from local agencies as requests arise. However, we believe
more is required in order to fulfill the Legislature's intent
when giving BSCC its technical assistance mission, which was
to proactively encourage and facilitate the adoption of
evidence-based practices across the state." (Id. at pp.
45-46.)
The LAO also reports that "BSCC has not yet developed a
longer-term plan to fulfill its data collection mission.
Developing a longer-term data collection strategy could
promote better public safety by ensuring that policymakers
have useful information they need to make decisions about
programs, policies, and funding priorities. Importantly,
however, BSCC's role in data collection should be focused, in
particular, on providing local accountability. To the extent
that useful information is available to local
stakeholders-corrections managers, county elected officials,
local media, and the public-local governments can be held
accountable for their outcomes and expenditures. Because
decisions about how to manage most corrections populations are
inherently local decisions, the focus of accountability should
be local. For this reason, the role of BSCC in the long term
should not principally be to collect data for the sake of
informing the state of what is happening locally. Instead,
the role of BSCC should be to facilitate local accountability,
such as by providing transparency and uniformity in how local
entities report outcomes." (Id. at p. 47.)
The LAO makes the following recommendations to help ensure
BSCC's progress in fulfilling its new mission:
a) Technical Assistance Plan: "We recommend that the
Legislature direct BSCC to submit, by January 1, 2014, a
technical assistance plan that includes (1) a description
of specific educational programs, training sessions,
outreach visits, and on-site technical assistance that BSCC
will provide to local governments, as well as a timeline
for when these services will be available; and (2) a
timeline for creating and maintaining an online
clearinghouse that would make literature related to
implementing evidence-based criminal justice programs
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available to state and local practitioners.
b) Report on Near-Term Data Collection Strategy: "We
recommend that the Legislature approve the Governor's
proposal for additional staffing in BSCC. In particular,
we find the additional research staff proposed would help
ensure that BSCC has qualified staff to pursue its data
collection mission. We further recommend that BSCC report
at budget hearings on its near-term data collection plan,
including how the board plans to utilize its new research
unit and what specific changes it plans to make to its data
collection instruments.
c) Longer-Term Data Working Group: "We recommend directing
BSCC to convene a working group to identify a data and
accountability system that is as comprehensive, uniform,
and accessible as is reasonable given limited state and
local resources. This would include (1) identifying the
key outcomes and other measures that all counties should
collect, (2) clearly defining these measures to ensure that
all counties collect them uniformly, and (3) developing a
process for counties to report the data and for BSCC to
make the data available to the public. This should include
exploring the feasibility of developing a more
comprehensive statewide case management system, including
determining the overall costs, potential funding sources,
implementation challenges, and the potential fiscal and
programmatic benefits to counties. The working group
should include representatives from state and local
criminal justice agencies, the Legislature, the courts,
state agencies with information technology expertise, and
the research community. We also recommend the Legislature
adopt budget bill language directing the working group to
prepare a report detailing its findings by no later than
December 1, 2014." (Id. at p. 49.)
3)Effect of Realignment on Crime Rates : A recent report by the
Public Policy Institute of California found that realignment
had an effect on property crime, in particular motor vehicle
theft, but there was no evidence that there was an effect on
violent crimes, such as rape or murder. According to the
report, "The monthly data on violent crime provide little
evidence of an increase caused by realignment (Figure 2). The
data display some monthly variation caused in part by
differences in the number of days per month and other seasonal
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factors. But none of these changes appear to coincide with
realignment-the trend line looks fairly similar before and
after realignment began.
"By contrast, we do see higher property crime in the
post-realignment period. The property crime trend is quite
flat for the period January 2010 through September 2011-with
some monthly variation, as with violent crime. However,
starting around the time realignment began, we see a
noticeable increase in property crime, with three-year peaks
observed in October 2012 and December 2012. These peaks are
about 15 and 8 percent higher, respectively, than they were in
the same months in 2010. Figure 3 shows the individual
property crimes that make up the overall property crime
category. The trends for these offenses indicate that all
three types-motor vehicle theft, larceny, and burglary-are on
the uptick postrealignment. Most notable are the increases in
number of motor vehicle thefts, which are up by more than 20
percent in each of the last few months of 2012 compared to the
same months in 2010." (Lofstrom and Raphael, Public Policy
Institute of California, Public Safety Realignment and Crime
Rates in California (Dec. 2013) p. 5.)
4)Current Legislation :
a) AB 1920 (Campos) specifies that BSCC must include
training and employment opportunities within the services
to be delivered through regional partnerships and grant
funds, and includes at-risk youth in the target population
that would receive those services. AB 1920 is pending
hearing by the Committee on Appropriations.
b) SB 1054 (Steinberg) would require BSCC to administer and
award mentally ill offender crime reduction grants on a
competitive basis to counties that expand or establish a
continuum of swift, certain, and graduated responses to
reduce crime and criminal justice costs related to mentally
ill offenders. SB 1054 is pending hearing by the Senate
Committee on Public Safety.
5)Prior Legislation :
a) AB 909 (Gray), of the 2013-14 Legislative Session, would
have required BSCC to establish a Metal Theft Task Force to
provide grants to regional task forces for the purpose of
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providing the tools to combat metal theft. AB 909 was
vetoed.
b) AB 1050 (Dickinson), Chapter 270, Statutes of 2013,
requires BSCC to develop definitions of key terms,
including, but not limited to, "recidivism," "average daily
population," "treatment program completion rates," and any
other terms deemed relevant in order to facilitate
consistency in local data collection, evaluation, and
implementation of evidence-based practices, promising
evidence-based practices, and evidence-based programs, in
consultation with the California State Association of
Counties, California Sheriffs' Association, Chief Probation
Officers of California, California District Attorneys
Association, and the Administrative Office of the Courts.
c) AB 526 (Dickinson), Chapter 850, Statutes of 2012,
requires BSCC to identify and consolidate gang intervention
and delinquency prevention programs and grants and focus
funding on evidenced-based practices.
d) SB 92 (Budget and Fiscal Review Committee), Chapter 36,
Statutes of 2011, starting July 1, 2012, eliminates the
Corrections Standards Authority, and assigns its former
duties to the newly created 12-member BSCC and assigns
additional duties, as provided.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California District Attorneys Association
Opposition
None
Analysis Prepared by : Stella Choe / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744