BILL NUMBER: AB 2280	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Florez

                        FEBRUARY 24, 2000

   An act to add Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 2030) to Division
2.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to youth
programs.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2280, as introduced, Florez.  Office of Youth Violence, Crime,
and Gang Prevention.
   Existing law establishes various entities relating to youths and
crime, including the California Gang, Crime, and Violence Prevention
Partnership Program, the Juvenile Crime Enforcement and
Accountability Challenge Grant Programs, and the Runaway Youth and
Families in Crises Projects.
   This bill would create within the Governor's Office of Planning
and Research, the Office of Violence, Crime, and Gang Prevention to
administer a grant program for the purpose of preventing and reducing
youth violence, crime, and gangs, develop a statewide plan for
consolidating, augmenting, allocating, and coordinating youth
violence, crime, and gang programs and resources, and to report
annually to the Legislature, in a specified manner.
   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 2030) is added to
Division 2.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:

      CHAPTER 3.  OFFICE OF YOUTH VIOLENCE, CRIME, AND GANG
PREVENTION

   2030.  (a) The Office of Youth Violence, Crime, and Gang
Prevention is hereby created within the Governor's Office of Planning
and Research.
   (b) The duties and responsibilities of the office shall include,
but not be limited to, all of the following:
   (1) Consolidating, coordinating, and administering existing
state-operated programs that are undertaken primarily for purposes of
preventing at-risk youth and young adults and at-risk families from
entering or continuing the cycle of crime, violence, and gangs.
These programs do not include those programs operated by local
government, such as probation programs.
   (2) Providing technical assistance and support to local
communities, cities, and counties in designing and implementing
effective programs and strategies for preventing and reducing the
number of at-risk youth and young adults and at-risk families from
engaging in crime, violence, and gangs.
   (3) Reviewing state-operated youth violence, crime, and gang
prevention programs to determine if they are community based and
require collaboration, if they follow the public health model
approach in preventing or reducing violence, crime, and gang
activity, if they identify specific goals and objectives, if they
require measurable outcomes such as changes in attitudes and
behaviors, and if each program requires effective evaluation of the
program, and making recommendations and changes where appropriate to
ensure these programs contain these components.
   (4) Administering a grant program that makes resources available
to community-based efforts that take a public health approach to
preventing and reducing youth crime, violence, and gangs.
   (5) Identifying and disseminating information regarding the
availability of state, federal, public, and private funding which can
be used for youth violence, crime, or gang prevention or
intervention activities and services.
   (6) Applying for funding from state, federal, public, and private
sources that can be awarded to organizations through the grant
program.
   (7) Analyzing state public policy to assess California's responses
to youth crime, violence, and gangs, and issuing recommendations to
ensure the state follows the public health model approach in
undertaking significant and effective prevention and intervention
efforts to prevent and reduce youth violence, crime, and gangs.
   (8) Evaluating existing state-operated prevention and intervention
programs to determine their effectiveness in preventing or reducing
youth violence, crime, and gangs, as well as in improving attitudes
toward youth violence, crime, and gangs.
   (9) Developing a statewide plan for consolidating, augmenting,
allocating, and coordinating youth violence, crime, and gang
prevention programs and resources.  The plan shall be known as the
California Youth Violence Prevention and Public Health Plan.
   (10) Promoting and advocating at all levels of government for the
provision, expansion, and funding of effective community-based
prevention and public health programs as part of a balanced strategy
for preventing and reducing youth violence, crime, and gangs.
   (11) Reporting annually to the Legislature, beginning at the close
of the second year of operation, no less than the following
information:
   (A) Activities taken by the office and their outcomes.
   (B) Activities taken to implement the California Youth Violence
Prevention and Public Health Plan, and their outcomes.
   (C) The number of at-risk youth and young adults and at-risk
families, as defined in this chapter, participating in violence,
crime, and gang prevention programs operated by the state and by the
office, and the outcomes of their participation.
   (D) The number of youth arrested for violence, crime, or gang
activity, the disposition of their arrest, and the number of youth
made wards of the courts.
   (E) The number of adults arrested for violence, crime or gang
activity, the disposition of their arrest, and the number of adults
sentenced to jail, state or federal prison.
   (12) The office shall not engage, promote, or otherwise support
containment or suppression-type activities which include, but are not
limited to, types of activities that require the identification,
monitoring, or disclosure of gang members, juvenile, or adult
offenders to law enforcement agencies.