BILL NUMBER: AB 2280 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 13, 2000
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. Chapter 3.6 (commencing with Section 13827)
to Title 6 of Part 4 of the Penal Code, relating to crime
prevention.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2280, as amended, Florez. Office of Youth Violence,
Crime, and Gang Prevention Crime prevention .
Existing law establishes the Office of Criminal Justice Planning
(OCJP) with specified duties, including but not limited to the
development of a comprehensive statewide plan for the improvement of
criminal justice and delinquency prevention activity, receipt and
disbursement of federal and state funds for prevention programs, and
rendering technical assistance to the Legislature, and to state and
local government agencies and public and private agencies.
This bill would create within the Office of OCJP, an Office of
Violence, Crime, and Gang Prevention with specified duties,
including, but not limited to, the consolidation, coordination,
administration, and review of existing programs relating to at-risk
youths and young adults, as defined; administering a grant program
that would take a public health approach to preventing, intervening,
and reducing crime, violence, and gangs; and developing a statewide
plan for consolidating augmenting, allocating, and coordinating
prevention programs. The plan would be developed with the approval
of an advisory board. The office would be required to report
annually to the Legislature regarding the program, its outcome, and
the target group of at-risk youths and young adults participating in
the program. The bill also would establish the Youth Violence,
Crime, and Gang Prevention Fund in the State Treasury and provide
that funds therein be used by the office to carry out the purposes of
the act. Funding for the office would be provided from the General
Fund in an amount equal to an unspecified percentage of the operating
budget of the Department of the Youth Authority and from revenue
raised through the issuance of a special vehicle license plate for
passenger vehicles of an unspecified weight. The fee would be an
additional $50 for issuance of the original registration and an
additional $27 upon renewal of registration, with specified amounts
to be deposited into the Youth Violence, Crime, and Gang Prevention
Fund.
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
SECTION 1. Chapter 3.6 (commencing with Section 13827) is added to
Title 6 of Part 4 of the Penal Code, to read:
CHAPTER 3.6. VIOLENCE PREVENTION AND PUBLIC HEALTH ACT
13827. This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the
Violence Prevention and Public Health Act.
13827.1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Violence and crime are public health issues and must be
treated through a public health approach that: (1) identifies
behavioral and environmental risk factors that contribute to the
occurrence of crime and violence, (2) implements protective factors
to prevent, intervene, and reduce crime and violence, and (3)
implements community guidelines for preventing, reducing, and
intervening in the commission of crime and violence.
(b) The United States Department of Justice has estimated that
crime costs $490 billion dollars per year in the form of stolen or
damaged property, loss of productivity to society, loss of work time,
costs to operate law enforcement and the criminal justice system,
and pain and suffering of victims. While the costs can be quantified
in monetary terms, it is the intangible costs of crime, fear,
isolation, anger, and loss of trust, that can never truly be
quantified or compensated for.
(c) The health related costs of crime and violence are enormous.
The average cost to treat a gunshot victim in California in 1993 was
approximately twenty-five thousand eight hundred eighty-three dollars
($25,883). In 1993, it cost $703 million dollars in direct medical
care to treat wounded gunshot victims and fatalities. Over 80
percent of the medical care provided to gunshot victims were
uncompensated costs and were passed on to the California public in
1995.
(d) In 1999, there were approximately 47 state programs that can
be classified as violence, crime, or gang prevention programs and
that are operated by 11 state departments within six separate
agencies. Of these programs, approximately 17 target at-risk youth
and young adults and are specifically designed to prevent or reduce
violence, crime, or gang activity, while only a few programs
specifically follow the public health model approach.
(e) Consolidating many of the state's violence, crime, and gang
prevention programs into one office will result in greater
efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and the sharing of resources,
information, and experience. In 1994 and in 1996, respectively, the
Little Hoover Commission and the Task Force to Review Juvenile Crime
and the Juvenile Justice Response have both recommended that youth
violence and crime prevention programs be consolidated into a single
state agency to ensure greater effectiveness.
(f) There is a practical and strong need to improve many of the
state's current prevention programs by requiring that they (1) target
at-risk youth and young adults and at-risk families, (2) be
community-based and collaborative, (3) follow the public health model
approach for preventing or reducing violence, crime, and game
activity, (4) identify measurable goals and objectives, including the
improvement of attitudes and behaviors toward violence, crime, and
gangs, and (5) be evaluated to ensure that goals and objectives are
being met and that attitudes and behaviors are being improved.
(g) California has no comprehensive plan or strategy for
preventing violence, crime, and gang activity through preventive,
public health approaches.
(h) Despite recent declines in the arrest and conviction rates of
violent, criminal, and gang offenders, the number of victims,
arrests, and convictions remain unacceptably high.
(i) California expends a significant amount of its resources for
law enforcement, incarceration, courts, prosecution, and public
defense (approximately $15.5 billion dollars in 1994-95) while
spending under $250 million dollars for prevention programs targeting
at-risk youth and young adults.
(j) The criminal justice approach to violence, crime, and gang
activity can not adequately bring violence, crime, and gang activity
to an acceptable level, and must be balanced with other strategies,
such as the prevention and public health approach, which can serve,
prevent, and reduce violence, crime, and gang activity.
(k) There is a strong and practical need to develop new prevention
policies to require that (1) at-risk youth and young adults and
at-risk families are targeted to receive services, support or
activities, (2) prevention efforts be community-based and
collaborative, (3) prevention efforts follow the public health model
approach for preventing or reducing violence, crime, and gang
activity, (4) prevention efforts identify measurable goals and
objectives, including the improvement of attitudes and behaviors
toward violence, crime, and gangs, and (5) prevention efforts are
evaluated to ensure that goals and objectives are being met and that
attitudes and behaviors are being improved.
(l) Local communities need assistance and resources for developing
and implementing effective strategies and programs to prevent,
intervene, and reduce violence, crime, and gang activity.
(m) It is the intent of the Violence Prevention and Public Health
Act that the Office of Violence, Crime, and Gang Prevention be
created to prevent, intervene, and reduce violence, crime, and gang
activity through preventive, intervention, and public health
strategies, that existing prevention programs be consolidated into
and coordinated by the office for purposes of efficiency and
cost-effectiveness, that existing prevention programs be improved to
ensure effectiveness and accountability, that a statewide plan be
developed to ensure that prevention strategies are carried out
throughout the state in a methodical and effective manner, and that
new policy be established to fill in gaps in services that can
prevent, intervene, and reduce at-risk youth and young adults and
at-risk families from beginning or continuing the cycle of violence,
crime, or gangs. However, in consolidating existing prevention
programs into the office, it is not the act's intent that resources
for these programs be eliminated, reduced, or affected in any way.
13847.2. (a) An Office of Violence, Crime, and Gang Prevention is
hereby created within the Office of Criminal Justice Planning.
(b) The duties and responsibilities of the office shall include,
but not be limited to, all of the following:
(1) Consolidate, coordinate, and administer 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) Provide 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) Review state operated violence, crime, and gang prevention
programs to determine whether they are community-based and require
collaboration, whether they follow the public health model approach
in preventing or reducing violence, crime, and gang activity, whether
they identify specific goals and objectives, whether they require
measurable outcomes, including changes in attitudes and behaviors,
whether each program requires effective evaluation of the program,
and making recommendations and changes where appropriate to ensure
that these programs contain these components.
(4) Administer a grant program as described in Section 13827.3
that makes resources available to community-based efforts that take a
public health approach to preventing, intervening, and reducing
crime, violence, and gangs.
(5) Identify and disseminate information regarding the
availability of state, federal, public, and private funding that can
be used for violence, crime, or gang prevention or intervention
activities and services.
(6) Apply for funding from state, federal, public, and private
sources that can be awarded to organizations through the grant
program.
(7) Analyze state public policy to assess California's responses
to 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 violence, crime, and gangs.
(8) Evaluate existing state operated prevention and intervention
programs to determine their effectiveness in preventing or reducing
violence, crime, and gangs, as well as in improving attitudes toward
violence, crime, and gangs.
(9) Develop a statewide plan for consolidating, augmenting,
allocating, and coordinating violence, crime, and gang prevention
programs and resources. The plan shall be developed with the input
and approval of the advisory board described in Section 13822.6 and
shall be known as the California Violence Prevention and Public
Health Plan.
(10) Promote and advocate 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 violence, crime, and gangs.
(11) Report annually to the Legislature, beginning at the close of
the second year of operation, no less than the following
information: (1) activities taken by the office and their outcomes,
(2) activities taken to implement the California Violence Prevention
and Public Health Plan, and their outcomes, (3) 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, (4) 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, (5) the number of adults
arrested for violence, crime, or gang activity, the disposition of
their arrest, and (6) 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 that include, but are not
limited to, types of activities that require the identification,
monitoring, or disclosure of gang members and juvenile and adult
offenders, to law enforcement agencies.
13827.3. (a) A grant program is hereby established to carry out
the goals specified in subdivision (b). The grant program shall be
administered by the Office of Crime, Violence, and Gang Prevention in
accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
(b) Programs administered under the grant program required by this
section shall be designed at a minimum to do the following:
(1) Improve attitudes and behaviors toward violence, crime, or
gangs.
(2) Identify specific goals and objectives.
(3) Take a public health model approach to preventing and reducing
crime by identifying risk factors, implementing protective factors,
and undertaking community campaign efforts.
(4) Target at-risk youth and young adults, including both males
and females and those in or exiting the juvenile justice system, and
at-risk families.
(5) Require the involvement of community-based organizations.
(6) Require collaboration with other organizations and agencies
where appropriate.
(7) Require that each program be objectively evaluated to
determine whether attitudes and behaviors toward violence, crime, or
gangs are being improved and whether program goals and objectives are
being met.
(c) This grant program shall provide funding to, but not be
limited to, funding, the following types of prevention and
intervention programs:
(1) Community-based youth violence, crime, or gang prevention or
early intervention programs.
(2) School-based youth violence, crime, or gang prevention
programs.
(3) Early childhood intervention programs designed to prevent
violence, crime, or gangs, and which serve young children and
families at risk.
(4) Family violence, domestic violence, and sexual assault
prevention programs.
(5) Programs that provide shelter and support services to runaway
youth and their families.
(6) Prevention programs that include alcohol and substance abuse
prevention efforts.
(7) Intervention programs that provide support services to youth
and young adults in or exiting the juvenile justice system, and to
their families.
(8) Prevention programs that include health care services.
(9) Intensive home visiting programs that promote, improve, and
strengthen at-risk families.
(10) Programs that (i) identify precursors to violence through the
collection of stratified random samples from communities to
ascertain prenatal exposure to drugs and alcohol, patterns of
behavior in preschools, elementary school incidents, and other
relevant data, (ii) establish productive school, neighborhood, and
family environments to reduce substance abuse, antisocial behavior,
school learning, and other adverse events, and (iii) assure adequate
recognition, and reinforcement for young people who take
responsibility for their community and engage in productive activity.
13827.4. (a) At-risk youth and young adults are hereby defined to
include, but not limited to, persons between the ages of 0 to 25
years, inclusive, who fall into one of the following categories:
(1) Prenatal exposure to alcohol or drugs.
(2) Exhibit excessively aggressive or violent behavior.
(3) Abuse alcohol, drugs, or controlled substances.
(4) Have been emotionally, physically, or sexually abused.
(5) Have entered the juvenile justice system.
(6) Are identified by the juvenile justice system as being at
risk.
(7) Are current or former gang members.
(8) Have one or more family members who are current or former gang
members.
(9) Are wards of the court, as defined in Section 601 or 602 of
the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(10) Have recently been released from the Department of the Youth
Authority, juvenile hall, boot camp, or other state or local
governmental youth detention facility.
(b) At-risk youth and young adults may also include, but not be
limited to, persons between the ages of 0 to 25 years, inclusive, who
fall into no less than two of the categories identified in this
subdivision, or a combination of categories identified in this
subdivision and in subdivision (a):
(1) Live in high crime or high violence neighborhood as identified
by state or federal agencies.
(2) Live in a low-income neighborhood.
(3) Are excessively absent from school or performing poorly in
school.
(4) Come from socially dysfunctional families as diagnosed by a
social service or health professional.
(5) Have run away from home.
(c) At-risk families are defined to include, but are not limited
to, families that are comprised of at least one at-risk youth or
young adult as defined by this section or have been identified as at
risk of engaging in negligent, abusive, or criminal behavior.
13827.5. (a) The following state programs that are designed to
prevent and deter youth violence, crime, or gangs, to target at-risk
youth and young adults, and do not require suppression activities,
and the personnel that operate them shall be transferred to the
Office of Violence, Crime, and Gang Prevention within one to two
years of the enactment of this chapter.
(1) The Board of Corrections, the At-Risk Youth Early Intervention
Program, the Juvenile Crime Enforcement and Accountability Challenge
Grant Program, and the Repeat Offender Prevention Grant program.
(2) The California Department of Education, the Conflict
Resolution and Youth Mediation Program, the Gang Risk Intervention
Program Grant, the High Risk Youth Education and Public Safety
Program, and the Targeted Truancy and Public Safety Program.
(3) The Department of Social Services, the Community Alternatives
to Violence Program, and the Juvenile Crime Prevention Initiative
Program.
(b) In consolidating the programs listed in subdivision (a) into
the Office of Violence, Crime, and Gang Prevention, it is the intent
of the Legislature that these programs continue to receive funding
subject to applicable legislation, if they are found to be promising
or effective in preventing or reducing violence, crime, or gang
activity, and if they are found to be promising or effective in
improving attitudes and behaviors of at-risk youth, young adults, or
families toward violence, crime, and gangs.
(c) The office is not precluded from entering into a memorandum of
understanding with state departments operating any of the programs
identified in this section for purposes of allowing the state
departments to continue operating any of these programs if the
program is scheduled to terminate within one year of the date the
program is to be transferred to the office.
(d) The office and the advisory board shall develop a plan for
transferring these programs into the office in a timely and orderly
fashion.
13827.6. (a) An advisory board shall be formed to meet at least
four times a year and to carry out the following duties:
(1) Provide direction and make recommendations regarding the
activities, priorities, and policies of the office.
(2) Provide input and recommendations for a prevention plan to be
developed by the office pursuant to paragraph (9) of subdivision (b)
of Section 13827.2.
(3) Take a visible and active role to inform the public of the
need for expanding and funding public health and prevention
strategies that can effectively prevent and reduce violence, gangs,
and crime.
(4) Develop relationships with the public and private sector for
purposes of applying for and securing resources for the grant
program.
(5) Assist the office in promoting prevention programs and
strategies in local communities.
(6) Assist the office in developing state prevention and
intervention policy that fill in the gap in existing policy relating
to at-risk youth and young adults, and wards under the jurisdiction
of the juvenile justice system.
(b) The advisory board shall be comprised of the following
members:
(1) The Director of the Office of Criminal Justice Planning.
(2) The Director of the Department of Health Services.
(3) The Director of the Department of the Youth Authority.
(4) A chief probation officer to be appointed by the Governor.
(5) A local law enforcement officer to be appointed by the
Governor.
(6) A health professional with expertise in violence, crime, or
gang prevention issues to be appointed by the Director of the Office
of Criminal Justice Planning.
(7) A social or health practitioner having expertise in violence,
crime, or gang prevention matters to be appointed by the Director of
the Office of Criminal Justice Planning.
(8) A criminologist or juvenile justice expert having specialized
knowledge with violence, crime, or gang prevention matters to be
appointed by the Director of the Office of Criminal Justice planning.
(9) A representative of a school district or county office of
education that has implemented a collaborative, school-based
violence, crime, or gang prevention program, to be appointed by the
Director of the Office of Criminal Justice Planning.
(10) Representatives of no less than three community-based
organizations which follow the public health model approach in
preventing or reducing youth violence, crime, or gang activity to be
appointed by the Director of the Office of Criminal Justice Planning.
(11) Two youth members under the age of 25 years having experience
in programs, services, or activities related to preventing violence,
crime, or gangs.
(12) Two members who shall be former youth offenders or former
gang members who are presently working in a community-based setting
to prevent youth from engaging or continuing the cycle of violence,
crime, or gangs to be appointed by the Director of the Office of
Criminal Justice Planning.
(13) A representative of a community-based organization that
provides alcohol abuse education, prevention, or treatment services
to be appointed by the Director of the Office of Criminal Justice
Planning.
(14) A representative of a community-based organization that
provides substance abuse education, prevention, or treatment services
to be appointed by the Director of the Office of Criminal Justice
Planning.
13827.7. (a) The Youth Violence, Crime, and Gang Prevention Fund
is hereby created in the State Treasury. Funds received from
private, state, or federal sources for violence, crime, or gang
prevention purposes may be deposited into the fund. Upon
appropriation for those purposes by the Legislature, these funds
shall be used by the Office of Youth Violence, Crime, and Gang
Prevention to carry out the purposes of this chapter. Funds received
by the office shall also be appropriated to the Runaway Youth and
Families in Crisis Project as enacted pursuant to Chapter 1065 of the
Statutes of 1998 for purposes of providing services in the Central
Valley, northern California and in southern California and to the
California Gang, Crime, and Violence Prevention Partnership program,
as enacted pursuant to Chapter 885 of the Statutes of 1997, for
purposes of providing services to the 30 grantees which were awarded
funds in 1998 under such chapter and which have satisfactorily met
their contract obligations.
(b) Funding for the Office of Youth Violence, Crime and Gang
Prevention shall be provided from the General Fund in an amount equal
to ____ percent of the operating budget of the Department of the
Youth Authority, and shall increase annually by five to 10 percent
until the operating budget of the office equals the operating budget
of the Department of the Youth Authority.
(c) Funding shall also be provided to the office from revenue
raised through the issuance of a special vehicle license plate. The
special plates issued pursuant to this section shall be affixed only
to passenger vehicles weighing no more than ____ thousand pounds.
Plates issued under this section shall expire in accordance with the
Vehicle Code governing special license plates. The design and color
of the plates shall be wholly within the discretion of the Department
of Motor Vehicles. An applicant shall be charged a fifty dollar
($50) fee for original issuance in addition to the appropriate
vehicle registration fee, if applicable. Of this fee, thirty-five
dollars ($35) shall be deposited into the Youth Violence, Crime, and
Gang Prevention Fund and fifteen dollars ($15) shall be deposited
into the Special License Plate Fund to be used by the Department of
Motor Vehicles to help defray administrative costs. For each
registration renewal period, a fee of twenty-seven dollars ($27)
shall be charged in addition to the registration fee. Of this
twenty-seven dollar ($27) fee, twenty-five dollars ($25) shall be
deposited into the Youth Violence, Crime and
Gang Prevention Fund and two dollars ($2) shall
be deposited into the Special License Fund. 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.