BILL ANALYSIS
SB 2183
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 2183 (Soto)
As Amended August 25, 2000
2/3 vote
SENATE VOTE :28-8
PUBLIC SAFETY 8-0 APPROPRIATIONS 20-0
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|Ayes:|Washington, Dickerson, |Ayes:|Migden, Campbell, |
| |Battin, Cedillo, | |Ackerman, Alquist, |
| |Firebaugh, Keeley, Oller, | |Aroner, Ashburn, Brewer, |
| |Romero | |Cedillo, Corbett, Davis, |
| | | |Kuehl, Maldonado, Papan, |
| | | |Romero, Shelley, Thomson, |
| | | |Wesson, Wiggins, Wright, |
| | | |Zettel |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Appropriates $534,000 from the General Fund (GF) to
the Office of Criminal Justice Planning (OCJP) for the first six
months of a four-year, multi-site child trauma intervention
project to replicate and expand the existing OCJP-funded Child
Trauma Intervention Program for youth exposed to community
violence. Requires OCJP to issue a statewide competitive
request for proposal, and award grants to three sites for
expansion. Applicants are required to provide a 20% in-kind
match of the total grant award. Specifically, this bill :
1)Appropriates $534,000 from the GF to OCJP to implement this
program in the first six months of a proposed four-year
program period, with additional funding contingent upon an
appropriation in the Budget At. Of this amount, no more than
5% shall be available to administer and conduct service
utilization and cost-effectiveness evaluations of this program
each year.
2)Requires OCJP to issue a statewide competitive request for
proposals to replicate and expand the existing OCJP-funded
Child Trauma Intervention Program. Requires OCJP to award
grants to three sites for program expansion, and applicants
are required to provide a 20% in-kind match of the total grant
award. Grants provided under this program shall be for a
SB 2183
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period of four years.
3)Requires that OCJP, in selecting the sites for program
implementation, consider the following factors, including, but
not limited to: a) a sufficient number of youth exposed to
violent crime and traumatic death in the surrounding community
to be served by the program; b) the ability of the applicants
to demonstrate a coordinated plan with school and community
mental health services, local victim-witness assistance
programs, and local law enforcement officials; c) the
applicant demonstrates that the school district is willing to
participate; and, d) the ability to provide a 20% in-kind
match of the total grant award.
4)Requires OCJP to require a uniform, multi-site intervention
outcome evaluation, using standardized measures to determine
the effectiveness of programs. The outcome domains shall
include, but are not limited to, the following: a)
psychological distress; b) educational outcomes; and, c)
behavioral and functional disturbance.
5)Requires OCJP to conduct evaluations of service utilization
and cost-effectiveness of service delivery.
6)Requires OCJP to report on the program to the Legislature
annually, on an interim basis, and shall provide a full report
by February 1, 2005.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : According to the author, "The National Institute of
Justice has found that 43% of male adolescents and 35% of female
adolescents have witnessed violence such as a shooting, knifing,
sexual assault, or mugging. Among those, 15% developed PTSD.
"Children and teenagers that witness violence are affected
greatly. They can be severely traumatized and oftentimes
develop PTSD. Many youth that witness violence are despondent,
reserved, and often do not perform well in school. Also, youth
that are traumatized by violence are more likely to commit
crimes later in life and are less likely to be productive
citizens. Yet with all of the negative effects associated with
witnessing violence, these kids do not receive much assistance
or counseling. The witnesses are not considered to be victims;
yet, because of trauma that they incur by witnessing extreme
SB 2183
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violence, they are victims. These children are the forgotten
victims of crime, those that don't get noticed, and those that
don't get help. The bill is designed to help these silent
victims.
"The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Trauma
Psychiatry Program and OCJP have been operating a pilot program
in Northwest Pasadena for the past three years. It is a
school-based, trauma/grief-focused intervention program that has
been very successful in treating junior high and high school
students that have experienced trauma. Since starting the
program, the students improved school performance greatly,
helped the students feel better about themselves, and made them
more motivated to become productive citizens. At the beginning
of the program the students had a mean GPA of 1.35, and after
just 20 weeks the mean GPA raised to 2.12.
"Due to the success of this pilot program in Northwest Pasadena,
they would like to extend it to five additional sites. Two
sites will be in northern California and three in southern
California. The sites will be in areas with a high
concentration of crime and violence, this is where the need
exists. The program has been successful; now it is important to
expand it to reach a greater number of traumatized youth and
help them.
"The children that witness crime and violence are forgotten and
ignored; however, their pain and trauma does not go away. They
continue to be haunted by what they have seen and this hurts
them academically and socially. We need to reach out, identify
the kids, and get them treatment. By extending this pilot
program, we will increase the number of kids that can be
treated."
Please see the policy committee analysis for a more
comprehensive discussion of this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Angelo Butler / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744
FN: 0006441