BILL ANALYSIS
SB 323
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Date of Hearing: July 13, 1999
Counsel: Gregory Pagan
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Mike Honda, Chair
SB 323 (Hayden) - As Amended: April 22, 1999
SUMMARY : Establishes the Peace Process Task Force and the
Office of Peace Process Coordinator to address gang violence and
prevention, and establishes the Commission on Prison Peace to
address gang violence prevention in the California correctional
system. Specifically, this bill:
PEACE PROCESS TASK FORCE
1)Establishes the Peace Process Task Force to hold public
hearings, make findings and recommendations regarding gang
violence prevention, and promote efforts to create a peace
process.
2)States that the task force is a joint project of state
government, educational institutions, private foundations, and
consist of 26 members appointed as follows:
a) Five members are appointed by the Senate Committee on
Rules; and each appointee will have specified experience
related to gangs, crime, and violence.
b) Five members are appointed by the Speaker of the
Assembly; and each appointee will have specified experience
related to gangs, crime and violence.
c) Nine members are appointed by the Governor; and each
appointee will have specified experience in law
enforcement, corrections, and the business community.
d) Seven members are appointed by the task force chair in
consultation with the Attorney General (AG); these
appointees' backgrounds should include former gang
membership, incarceration, and personal efforts to create
gang truces, and a commitment to resolving gang violence.
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3)Provides that all appointments to the task force are made on
or before March 1, 2000, and reflect the ethnic and geographic
diversity of the gang problem and California.
4)Provides that the Governor selects a chair, to be confirmed by
the Senate, and the task force may select up to three vice
chairs, officers, and establish committees. Members of the
task force receive no compensation for their services, but are
reimbursed for necessary expenses.
5)Requires the task force to do all of the following:
a) Hold at least four public hearings, with at least two in
communities impacted by urban violence, and the first must
be held by April 15, 2000.
b) Hold an additional public hearing in a prison setting
where inmate participation is possible.
c) Include experienced gang negotiators in the process of
defining and recommending alternatives to lessen or prevent
violence.
d) Create a common ground of discussion among public
officials, law enforcement, and individuals moving from
violence to non-violent empowerment.
e) Forge formal partnerships in at least one community
experiencing significant gang problems in specified regions
of the state with representatives of the corporate and
business community, local law enforcement, local
government, social service providers, and members of the
community.
f) Assess and recommend ways to break the cycle of gang
violence through education and training.
g) Provide assistance and advice to local communities
suffering from gang violence.
h) Prepare a comprehensive report to specified legislative
committees and the Governor by
January 1, 2001 identifying state and local strategies to
eliminate gang-related crime and violence.
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6)Provides that no more than $200,000 is spent over two years to
carry out the mandate of this bill, and that this bill sunsets
as of January 1, 2002.
PEACE PROCESS COORDINATOR
1)Establishes the Office of Peace Process Coordinator in the
AG's Office. The coordinator is in charge of evaluating and
encouraging violence prevention efforts among gangs and
residents of inner-city communities faced with gang violence.
2)States that the Peace Process Coordinator is appointed by the
Governor and confirmed by the Senate, and specifies the
qualifications of the coordinator.
3)Requires that the coordinator do all of the following:
a) Serve as the staff director to the Peace Process Task
Force and the Commission of Prison Peace.
b) Identify California areas where gang violence has been
significantly reduced, meet with those responsible, and
evaluate any lessons for state policy.
c) Visit California areas with high levels of gang
violence, meet with interested locals, and evaluate and
make recommendations regarding measures that might achieve
mediation or intervention that results in a lessening of
violence.
d) Convene public workshops, training sessions, and private
consultations that bring together specified interested
parties for the purpose of achieving better communications,
conflict resolution, and understandable barriers to
violence prevention.
e) Seek interagency cooperative agreements of memoranda of
understanding with specified state agencies to help
maximize institutional resources focused on violence
prevention.
4)Provides that this bill only becomes operative if there is an
appropriation in the Budget Act to fund this bill's
provisions, and this bill sunsets as of January 1, 2002.
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COMMISSION ON PRISON PEACE
1)Establishes the Commission on Prison Peace, chaired by an
appointee of the Governor, and consist of 17 additional
members as follows:
a) The chair and eight additional members are appointed by
the Governor upon subsequent approval by the Senate, and
the appointees have specified law enforcement or
corrections experience.
b) Four members are appointed by the Speaker of the
Assembly, and four members appointed by the Senate
Committee on Rules. The legislative appointees are
academic, religious, or community leaders with demonstrated
records of working to lessen gang or prison violence.
c) The AG or a designee.
2)Requires the commission to identify the causes of violence and
recommend innovative approaches to prevent them and increase
peace and safety in California's correctional system,
including specified facilities.
3)Requires the commission to hold public hearings and seek the
testimony of correctional officers, prison inmates, former
inmates, policy experts, academic experts, and community
leaders; and requires that at least one public hearing will be
held in a prison setting where inmate participation or
dialogue is made possible.
4)Requires the commission to report to the Governor and the
Legislature by December 31, 2000 a summary of the information
gathered from all sources, and proposals for reducing prison
violence.
5)States that this bill sunsets as of January 1, 2002.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Directs the Department of Justice to develop and implement the
California Gang, Crime and Violence Prevention Partnership
Program for the purpose of reducing gangs, criminal activity
and youth violence in communities with high incidence of gang
violence. This program appropriates funds to community-based
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organizations for prevention and intervention activities for
at-risk youth. (Penal Code Section 13825.2)
2)Establishes the Gang Violence Suppression Program in the
Office of Criminal Justice Planning to provide technical
assistance for district attorneys' offices, law enforcement
agencies, county probation departments and other organizations
that are primarily engaged in the suppression of gang
violence. (Penal Code Section 13826 et seq.)
3)Vests the Director of the Department of Corrections with the
supervision, management and control of the state prisons and
is responsible for the care, custody treatment, training,
discipline and employment of a person confined in those
prisons. The Director may prescribe rules and regulations for
the administration of the prisons. (Penal Code Sections 5054
and 5058.)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : According to the author, "Young people in inner
cities have created gang truces and are now seeking to replace
violence with jobs and hope. California must include those
individuals in a serious discussion on finding solutions to
urban problems.
"In Los Angeles, the police department has credited gang truces
for reducing gang-related homicides in many neighborhoods. In
1992, the LAPD commander for South Central Los Angeles said:
'There's no question there has been a real decrease in violence
among black gangs?. I would like to think these (truce
gatherings) will have some long-lasting effect, but if social
conditions and unemployment remain the same, you will have
continuing unrest, and the police will have to respond to those
situations.' ( Los Angeles Times , 7/1/92.)
"Violence in our streets is correlated with violence in our
correctional system, and vice versa. California has some of the
most violent prisons in the nation. Several of our high
security prisons are currently under federal and state
investigations for incidents of fatal shootings, staged rapes
and inmate fights, civil rights violations and investigative
cover-ups. Inmate-on-prison-guard, and inmate-on-inmate
violence is out of control.
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"We must examine the conditions which lead to violence in our
prisons and implement policies that encourage an atmosphere of
peace and safety - otherwise, the cycle will proceed and we will
continue to export this violence behavior into our streets.
"Community-based groups are already working toward creating
gang-truces and encouraging economic development and community
empowerment. By bringing them together with elected officials,
educators, law-enforcement authorities and the clergy, we can
move toward comprehensive solutions to gang and violence
problems in our streets and in our correctional system.
"Unless California engages itself I a peace-oriented process
aimed at solving urban and prison violence, our policies will
continue to fail and generations of young people will continue
to live lives filled with despair and powerlessness rather than
hope and empowerment. SB 323 helps address these issues by
including in the political process the people working to create
peaceful conditions in our neighborhoods and prisons."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Attorney General's Office
California Child, Youth and Family Coalition
California Parole, Probation and Correctional Association
Communities In Schools
Jobs For a Future and Homeboy Industries
Men Against Destruction-Defending Against Drugs and Social
Disorder
San Diego Urban League
Torres & Torres, Policy Consultants
Trauma Foundation
Opposition
None on File
Analysis Prepared by : Gregory Pagan / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744