BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
SB 1097 (Nielsen) - Criminal Justice Reinvestment Assessment
Grant Program.
Amended: April 29, 2014 Policy Vote: Public Safety 7-0
Urgency: Yes Mandate: Yes
Hearing Date: May 12, 2014 Consultant: Jolie Onodera
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: SB 1097, an urgency measure, would establish a
grant program, and appropriate an unspecified sum, to be
administered by the Board of State and Community Corrections
(BSCC), for the purpose of establishing and implementing data
reporting systems to be used by the counties for criminal
offenders who were impacted by 2011 Realignment, as specified.
Fiscal Impact:
One-time appropriation in 2014-15 from the General Fund of
an unspecified amount to establish and implement the grant
program. Initial costs would include funding to assist
counties in creating or expanding existing infrastructure in
order to consistently collect and report specified
information. Potential costs to meet the actual need across
counties to successfully establish and implement a system of
uniform reporting are unknown but would likely be in the
hundreds of millions of dollars.
To the extent the initial appropriation to "assist"
counties to create/expand infrastructure is insufficient to
meet the data collection and reporting mandates in the bill,
the remaining costs to enable counties to comply with the
provisions of the bill would either 1) require an additional
subvention of funds (General Fund) if applicable to
Proposition 30 provisions, or, 2) would result in
significant state-reimbursable costs (General Fund).
Major ongoing General Fund costs, both direct and/or
state-reimbursable, potentially in excess of tens of
millions of dollars (General Fund) for counties to
continually collect and report the specified data. For
example, costs to comply with specified data reporting
points such as "assessed risk level" could be substantial.
Resource costs in the range of $1 million to $2 million
SB 1097 (Nielsen)
Page 1
(General Fund) annually to BSCC to review local CCP plans,
administer the grants, compile the county-level data, and
submit the annual report.
Background: The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC)
noted in its recent report, Corrections Realignment and Data
Collection in California (April 2014):
Realignment legislation did not dedicate funds for an
evaluation of the effects of realignment subsequent to
its implementation, nor did it provide counties with
specific funds for assessing the success rates of
their local correctional strategies. This was a missed
opportunity. Through realignment, the state
effectively created 58 county-level policy
laboratories. The variation across counties in
correctional practices creates an ideal opportunity to
identify cost-effective strategies and to disseminate
these best practices across the state. Yet, without a
consistent framework for data collection and
evaluation, weeding out failing strategies and
identifying successful ones will be a haphazard
process.
Acquisition of the data necessary to identify
effective practices is a goal that is within reach.
However, it will require counties to make improvements
in four areas: capturing data, linking data across
systems, standardizing definitions, and upgrading
technology to facilitate extraction of data for
multiple purposes. Addressing these obstacles will
require leadership and a directed use of available
resources. But, if counties can make these
adjustments, there will be significant benefits,
including an improved ability to identify the most
effective strategies and target resources toward those
correctional interventions, an expanded base of
evidence to support difficult policy choices, and an
increased ability to share successful interventions.
For the state as a whole, increasing the capacity for
data-driven practices at the county level will result
in a more efficient, effective, and sustainable
corrections system. It will also enable the state to
better track the overall results of realignment and to
SB 1097 (Nielsen)
Page 2
more easily implement incentive-based funding in the
future.
This bill seeks to establish a framework and initial funding for
data collection and reporting systems across all counties and
enable the BSCC to compile and evaluate the statewide effects of
realignment on recidivism and overall public safety.
Proposed Law: This bill would establish the "Criminal Justice
Reinvestment Assessment Grant Program of 2014," as specified:
BSCC Duties/Responsibilities
Requires the grant program to be administered by the
BSCC to award grants to assist counties with the creation
or expansion of infrastructure that allows each county to
consistently collect and report criminal justice
information, as specified.
Requires BSCC to review each county's assessment of
existing capacity to collect/report data and each community
corrections partnership's local plan identifying additional
resources needed to comply with the mandated data reporting
requirements.
On or before June 15, 2014, BSCC must submit a report to
the Legislature detailing the estimated need, cost, and
schedule for each county to consistently collect and report
the data as required in the bill.
Requires BSCC to establish minimum standards, funding
schedules, and procedures for awarding grants, which shall
take into consideration the size of the county, and its
demonstrated efforts and ability to report data prior to
January 1, 2016.
Requires the BSCC to give preference to counties that
have demonstrated efforts to independently collect data on
a countywide basis.
Requires BSCC to specify and define minimum required
data to be reported on felons "realigned" to the counties
under PC �1170(h) and felons released on postrelease
community supervision (PRCS), and prescribe the format in
which the data is to be reported.
Requires BSCC to compile the local reports by May 15th
of each year, beginning in 2015, and submit a report to the
Legislature and Governor summarizing the data reported by
the counties.
Appropriates an unspecified sum from the General Fund to
the BSCC in 2014-15 for the purpose of implementing the
SB 1097 (Nielsen)
Page 3
grant program.
Authorizes BSCC to retain up to 5 percent of the
appropriation amount for administrative costs.
Local Reporting Responsibilities
Requires each local CCP to report to BSCC by June 1,
2014, on the county's capacity to collect and report the
data required by the bill. Each report is to include a
local plan that identifies the additional resources
necessary for that county to consistently collect and
report the required data.
On or before January 1, 2015, and annually thereafter,
requires counties to report specified data for 1) each
individual sentenced as a jail felon pursuant to PC �
1170(h), and, 2) each individual released from state prison
who is subject to local supervision (PRCS).
Other Provisions
Contains codified legislative findings and declarations
generally concerning the Legislature's commitment to
reducing recidivism among criminal offenders.
Contains an urgency clause stating: "In order to ensure
that relevant data pertaining to the 2011 Realignment
Legislation addressing public safety are collected and
reported as soon as possible to allow stakeholders to
measure the effectiveness of this landmark change in public
safety policy, it is necessary that this bill go into
immediate effect."
Staff Comments: This bill requires a one-time appropriation in
2014-15 from the General Fund of an unspecified amount to
establish and implement the grant program. Initial costs would
include funding to assist counties in creating or expanding
existing infrastructure in order to consistently collect and
report specified information. While the appropriation amount is
unspecified, the potential costs required to establish and
implement a uniform data reporting system in which counties
report data consistently would likely be in the hundreds of
millions of dollars. In order to link data across systems, the
costs could be significantly higher.
To the extent the initial appropriation to "assist" counties to
create or expand existing infrastructure is insufficient to meet
the data collection and reporting mandates in the bill, the
remaining costs to enable counties to comply with the bill's
provisions would result in either: 1) an additional subvention
SB 1097 (Nielsen)
Page 4
of funds (General Fund) if the new costs to the counties would
be applicable under Proposition 30 provisions, or 2) significant
state-reimbursable costs (General Fund) to counties for the
costs above what was granted through the initial appropriation
to establish the infrastructure needed.
Once the reporting system is established and operating, the
state would also incur significant ongoing annual General Fund
costs, both direct and/or state-reimbursable, potentially in
excess of tens of millions of dollars for the increased duties
on counties to continually collect and report the specified
data. The requirement to report the data point "assessed risk
level" alone could incur substantial costs. The PPIC report
noted the following with respect to risk and needs assessments,
"Despite the importance of these data, practitioners do not
always gather or draw on these assessments. Although widely used
across probation departments, their use still varies across
sheriff's departments." (PPIC, Corrections Realignment and Data
Collection in California, April 2014, p. 12) Even for probation
departments that currently utilize risk assessments, the cost of
performing the risk assessments could potentially be determined
to be state-reimbursable by virtue of the mandated reporting
requirement of that assessment.
The BSCC is authorized to retain 5 percent of the total
appropriation for administrative costs. The BSCC has indicated
costs in the range of $1 million to $2 million (General Fund)
annually to administer the grant program, consisting of the
following cost points: a database engineer, programmer, web base
programmer, hardware (servers), program software, and research
staff (research specialist and research analyst).
Proposition 30 (2012) provides that legislation enacted after
September 30, 2012, that has an overall effect of increasing the
costs already borne by a local agency for programs or levels of
service mandated by the 2011 Realignment Legislation shall apply
to local agencies only to the extent that the state provides
annual funding for the cost increase. Local agencies shall not
be obligated to provide programs or levels of service required
by legislation described in this paragraph above the level for
which funding has been provided. Any costs in excess of the
initial grants provided to local agencies to cover the costs of
infrastructure upgrades/development and data reporting would
potentially require a subvention of funds, or alternatively,
SB 1097 (Nielsen)
Page 5
could be eligible for state reimbursement through the mandates
process. The ongoing costs to local agencies to continue
collecting and reporting data, would likewise potentially be the
responsibility of the state.
To the extent the data collection and reporting efforts are
successful would facilitate a more efficient and effective use
of the state and local investment in realignment as well as
positive outcomes through reduced recidivism and efficient use
of state funds.
Recommended Amendments: This bill contains codified findings and
declarations. In the interest of code clarity and efficiency,
staff recommends this bill be amended to place the findings and
declarations in an uncodified section of the bill.
Staff recommends specifying an appropriation amount in the bill.
Staff also recommends an amendment to authorize the use of
federal funds to support the efforts of establishing or
enhancing the data reporting systems. As noted in the PPIC
report, the federal Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance
Grant (JAG) program includes a funding category for "Planning,
evaluation, and technological improvements," that could
potentially be pursued.
Staff notes that the due dates specified in the bill are
ambitious and likely cannot be met. The bill requires each local
CCP to report to the BSCC before June 1, 2014, with an
assessment of its needs, and requires the BSCC to submit to the
Legislature by June 15, 2014 (in one month), a report on the
estimated need, cost, and schedule for each county in order to
meet the collection and reporting requirements of this bill.
Additionally, each county is required to collect and report all
the data commencing on or before January 1, 2015, which would be
less than six months after the initial report to the
Legislature. For a county that requires extensive infrastructure
changes or development, this timeline will likely not be met.
The author may wish to consider revising dates at least six
months to one year forward of those specified in the bill.
SB 1097 (Nielsen)
Page 6