BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    




                    Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
          
           ------------------------------------------------------------ 
          |                               |AB 2228  (Aroner)           |
          |-------------------------------+----------------------------|
          |                               |                            |
          |-------------------------------+----------------------------|
          |Hearing Date: 8/23/00          |Amended: 8/8/00 and as      |
          |                               |proposed to be ameded by    |
          |                               |LCR #16291                  |
          |-------------------------------+----------------------------|
          |Consultant: Lisa Matocq        |Policy Vote: H & HS 5-1     |
          |                               |                      Pub   |
          |                               |Saf 5-0                     |
          |                               |                            |
           ------------------------------------------------------------ 
          ____________________________________________________________ 
          ___
          BILL SUMMARY:   AB 2228 establishes, for two years, the  
          Juvenile Probation Assessment Pilot Project, to be  
          administered by the Department of Mental Health (DMH), in  
          three counties, to provide for the development of screening  
          and assessment protocols for juvenile offenders to detect  
          mental and emotional disorders.  It also appropriates $2  
          million to DMH for this purpose.   
                              Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
           Major Provisions                     2000-01              2001-02          
            2002-03                Fund  
          Pilot project and              Unknown costs, potentially $2,000*     
                        General  administration/                 one-time
          evaluation
          Treatment                                 ----- Unknown costs  -----  
                                 Various           
          *$2,000 appropriated in the bill. 
          
          STAFF COMMENTS:  SUSPENSE FILE.   Among other things, this  
          bill:

           requires a participating county to develop a plan, as  
            specified, for assessing the service needs of a  
            statistically significant sample of juvenile offenders, 
           requires DMH to develop screening and assessment tools  
            and protocols, and provide technical assistance and  
            training to the counties,
           specifies that DMH shall develop minimum standards and  
            procedures for allocating funds,  










           requires county probation departments involved in the  
            pilot to use data collected to identify service needs of  
            juveniles who undergo the assessment, 
           requires DMH, or a contracted entity, to conduct an  
            evaluation of the pilot and report to the Legislature by  
            March 1, 2003. 

          The costs are unknown and depend on the number of juvenile  
          offenders included in the three counties, and the extent to  
          which treatment is provided.  STAFF NOTES that (1) it is  
          unclear what eligibility criteria would be used to  
          determine which three counties participate in the pilot,  
          (2) there is no sunset date, and (3) it is unclear how much  
          of the appropriation would be allocated to the three  
          counties and how much would be retained by DMH to cover the  
          costs of administering the program and conducting the  
          evaluation. 

          SB 2062 (Perata), awaiting action in the Assembly  
          Appropriations Committee, appropriates $50 million to  
          establish a mentally ill juvenile offender grant program.   
          AB 2104 (Strom-Martin), also being heard in this Committee  
          today, establishes pilot projects and a statewide program  
          to treat seriously disturbed wards of the court.