BILL ANALYSIS
Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
SB2183 (Soto)
Hearing Date:5/15/00 Amended:5/10/00
Consultant: Lisa Matocq Policy Vote:Pub Saf 5-0
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BILL SUMMARY: SB 2183 appropriates $1.7 million from the
General Fund to the Office of Criminal Justice Planning
(OCJP) to expand an existing pilot program that provides
trauma and grief intervention to students, as specified.
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2000-01 2001-02
2002-03 Fund
Trauma program $ 1,700* $1,700
$ 1,700 General
*Appropriated in the bill.
STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria to be placed
on the Suspense File. Current law authorizes the
Department of Social Services (DSS) awards grants, about
$21 million annually, for various child abuse prevention
programs. In addition, OCJP is directed to develop
programs to address family violence and child sexual abuse;
about $10 million is allocated annually for this purpose.
Existing law also establishes the Victims of Crime Program
(VOC), a $130 million program that provides assistance to
crime victims for the pecuniary losses they suffer as a
direct result of criminal acts (such as up to $10,000 in
mental health counseling). Under the current VOC program,
students in attendance, but not directly threatened, during
an act of violence committed on the campus have apparently
received reimbursment for mental health counseling
services.
UCLA currently operates a pilot program in Pasadena that
provides postviolence and postdisaster mental health
services to middle and high school students. OCJP has
awarded $300,000 to UCLA for this purpose over the last
three years. Among other things, this bill:
expands, for a 3-year period, the pilot from one cluster
consisting of one senior high school and two feeder
junior high schools to five clusters, two of which would
be located in northern California and three in southern
California at sites to be determined by "project
partners" and OCJP, based on criteria specified in the
bill,
requires OCJP to report to the Legislature, and include
an evaluation, as specified, by February 1, 2004. OCJP's
evaluation must assess delivery and achievement of
program objectives, contain a cost-benefit analysis, and
include intervention outcome analyses performed by the
project partners in areas such as: psychological
distress, school performance, and social behaviors, and
makes legislative findings that the existing program has
been successful in reducing post traumatic stress
symptoms, and improving classroom behavior and academic
achievement.
According to the author's office and the sponsor, funding
needs are based on estimated costs of $270,000 per school
plus 10% for administrative and 10% for training costs for
a total of $5 million over a 3-year period.
AB 1575 (Machado), on this Committee's Suspense File,
expands the VOC program to provide for up to $25,000 per
incident for group mental health counseling to victims that
are part of an organization, business, or institution such
as a public or private school, where the property sustains
damage as a result of hate crimes, as specified.
SB 1092 (Lockyer) of 1997 would have appropriated $10
million from Restitution Fund reserves to DSS for a Child
Victims of Crime Program. It was vetoed by then-Governor
Wilson. In his veto message, the Governor stated that he
directed the Department of Finance to augment the DSS
budget by $5 million to help fund county programs to
provide services for child victims of abuse and neglect who
are not eligible for assistance from the Victims of Crime
Program, urged the author to find a more dependable source
of funding for neglected children, and stated that he would
look favorably upon legislation that would assist children
who are victims of violent crime in accessing existing
programs.