BILL NUMBER: AB 235 AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 6, 1999 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Kuehl and Senator Schiff(Coauthor: Senator Johnston)(Principal coauthors: Assembly Members Honda, Jackson, and Washington) (Coauthors: Assembly Members Aroner, Cardoza, Keeley, Knox, Longville, Machado, Mazzoni, Romero, Steinberg, Strom-Martin, and Wildman) (Coauthors: Senators Alpert, Hughes, Johnston, Karnette, and Solis) JANUARY 28, 1999 An act to add Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 2050) to Division 2.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to youth. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 235, as amended, Kuehl. California Youth Violence Prevention Authority. Under existing law, all state agencies are required to cooperate with the Department of the Youth Authority in order to bring about a statewide program for reduction and prevention of crime and delinquency. Existing law requires the State Commission on Juvenile Justice, Crime and Delinquency Prevention to advise the Director of the Youth Authority on matters relating to crime and delinquency prevention. This bill would create the California Youth Violence Prevention Authority within the office of the Attorney General. The authority would be given duties and responsibilities related to the prevention of youth violence, including the production of a statewide plan for the augmentation, allocation, and coordination of youth violence prevention programs and resources, for presentation to the Legislature by January 1, 2001, to be known as the California Youth Violence Prevention and Coordination Plan. The duties and responsibilities of the authority would include administering a violence prevention grant program with available funds, as specified. The bill would provide for an advisory committee, as specified, to assist the authority, and would also create the state Violence Prevention Fund in the State Treasury. This bill would specify that funding for the authority shall be provided in the Budget Act of 2000, as specified. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 2050) is added to Division 2.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read: CHAPTER 3. CALIFORNIA YOUTH VIOLENCE PREVENTION ACT 2050. This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the California Youth Violence Prevention Act. 2051. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) Violence is a leading cause of injury and death among young Californians, and it must be recognized as a major public health concern. (b) California must take steps to prevent shootings and other senseless acts of violence committed by children experiencing anger, distress, or other problems. (c) Despite recent declines in the rate of arrests of juveniles for crimes of violence, statewide victimization and arrest rates of juveniles and young adults for acts involving violence remain unacceptably high. (d) The resources and responses of the California juvenile and criminal justice systems are inadequate to control and prevent violence at its developmental stages among children, youth, and families. (e) California has no comprehensive youth violence prevention plan or strategy. (f) State-funded violence prevention programs are scattered among 10 or more state agencies without adequate coordination of effort. Both the Little Hoover Commission and the Task Force to Review Juvenile Crime and the Juvenile Justice Response have recommended that youth crime and violence prevention programs be consolidated for greater effectiveness within a single state agency. (g) The California Attorney General has determined that the long-term health of our society depends on a new approach to community-building, with an increased emphasis on prevention, community involvement, and collaboration. (h) Local communities need assistance, including economic assistance, to implement effective strategies and programs for the prevention of violence among youth. (i) Model, innovative, and successful violence prevention programs must be identified, implemented, and evaluated in California. (j) State leadership and improved public agency collaboration are needed to assist citizens, communities, and local governments in their efforts to prevent youth violence. (k) It is the intent of the Legislature that the Youth Violence Prevention Authority be designed to achieve greater efficiency in state government, and that, in a manner consistent with the plan described in Section 2053, violence prevention programs which can be more efficiently administered under a single agency be merged with the authority or into another designated agency within one year of issuance of the plan. It is also the intent of the Legislature, if no consolidation or more efficient coordination of existing programs is recommended by the authority, to repeal this chapter no later than one year after the authority issues the statewide plan. 2052. (a) The California Youth Violence Prevention Authority is hereby created within the office of the Attorney General. (b) The duties and responsibilities of the authority shall include, but are not limited to, all of the following: (1) Providing statewide leadership and coordinating state and local efforts to prevent violence among youth. (2) Assisting local communities, cities, and counties in their efforts to implement effective programs and strategies for the prevention of youth violence. (3) Seeking, receiving, and administering grants and funds from public and private sources for violence prevention efforts and programs. (4) Providing public education on effective programs, models, and strategies for the control of violence and serving as a clearinghouse for information on youth violence prevention issues, programs, resources, and research. (5) Providing training and technical assistance to help build the capacity of organizations, communities, and local government to develop, implement, and evaluate violence prevention programs. (6) Promoting and advocating at all levels of government effective community programs and responses, supported by adequate resources, for the prevention of violence among children, youth, and families in California. 2053. (a) The authority shall produce a statewide plan for the augmentation, allocation, and coordination of youth violence prevention programs and resources. The plan shall be developed with the cooperation and approval of the advisory board described in Section 2054 and shall be known as the California Youth Violence Prevention and Coordination Plan. The plan shall include recommendations for the coordination or consolidation of violence prevention funds and programs which are presently administered by different state agencies. The plan shall also include recommendations for the augmentation, implementation, and evaluation of state-funded youth violence prevention programs. The plan shall also address other factors related to the problem of youth violence in California, including, but not limited to, the following: (1) Recent state and national research on the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of violence prevention programs and strategies being implemented in California and in other states. (2) The relationship of projected growth in California's youth population to the need for additional youth violence prevention resources and programs. (3) The need for a stable and continuing source of funds to maintain a state and local network of effective youth violence prevention programs and strategies. (4) Firearm control policies and their relationship to youth violence. (5) The problem of violence committed by children in school settings and proposed solutions. (b) The authority shall return its completed youth violence prevention and coordination plan to the Legislature by January 1, 2001. 2054. (a) The authority shall have an advisory board which shall meet periodically, but not less than once per quarter, to carry out the following duties: (1) Provide guidance and make recommendations regarding the operations, priorities, and policies of the office. (2) Provide input and approve recommendations for the statewide youth violence prevention and coordination plan described in Section 2053. (3) Provide statewide leadership by drawing the attention of citizens and policymakers to the need for improved coordination of violence prevention programs and to the need for adequate resources supporting effective and well-deployed programs for the prevention of youth violence in California. (b) The advisory board shall include the Attorney General, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Director of the Department of the Youth Authority, the Director of the Office of Criminal Justice Planning, and the Director of the Department of Health Services. The advisory board shall also include eight public members. Four of the public members shall be appointed by the Governor and shall include a local law enforcement officer, a chief probation officer, an advocate or individual representing the victims of violent crime, and a representative of a school or school district or county office of education that has implemented a school-based violence prevention program. The other four public members shall be appointed by the Attorney General and shall include a representative of a community-based agency specializing in youth violence prevention services, a criminologist or justice system expert having specialized knowledge in the field of violence prevention, a medical or mental health professional experienced in serving juvenile offenders, and a youth member who shall be a person under the age of 25 years having relevant experience in programs or activities related to the prevention of violence. 2055. The State Violence Prevention Fund is hereby created in the State Treasury. Funds received from private, state, or federal sources for violence prevention purposes may be deposited into the fund. Upon appropriation therefor by the Legislature, these funds shall be used by the California Youth Violence Prevention Authority to carry out the purposes of this chapter. SEC. 2. Funding to implement the purposes, objectives, and operations of the California Youth Violence Prevention Authority shall be provided from an amount appropriated to the office of the Attorney General in the Budget Act of 2000.