BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1049
Page 1
GOVERNOR'S VETO
AB 1049 (Solorio)
As Amended July 17, 2007
2/3 vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |75-0 |(June 5, 2007) |SENATE: |36-2 |(September 11, |
| | | | | |2007) |
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|ASSEMBLY: |74-0 |(September 12, | | | |
| | |2007) | | | |
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Original Committee Reference: PUB. S.
SUMMARY : Requires the California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation (CDCR) to establish "Rebuilding Lives and
Communities Reentry Programs" for parolees between the ages of
16 and 23 with community reintegration upon discharge from
detention, as specified.
The Senate amendments :
1)Delete specified counties and state that the CDCR, through the
Department of Juvenile Programs shall work with counties to
facilitate the pre-enrollment of eligible youth from county
detention facilities into eligible community programs.
2)Change the minimum age for eligible youth from 18 to 16 years
old.
3)Specify that eligible youth may be released from either a CDCR
or a local facility.
4)Clarify that funding shall be used to supplement, rather than
supplant, existing programs.
EXISTING LAW mandates CDCR, to the extent resources are
available or appropriated, establish a re-entry program in the
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city of East Palo Alto.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill:
1)Required CDCR, provided that funds are appropriated, to
establish re-entry programs in the cities of Adelanto,
Anaheim, El Monte, Fresno, Los Angeles, Marysville, San Diego,
San Francisco, San Jose, Stockton, Venice, and Visalia.
a) Required CDCR to enroll eligible parolees no less than
45 days prior to their scheduled release dates into
eligible programs in the specified cities.
b) Specified that priority should be given to programs
which have been in existence for at least one year prior to
enactment of this provision, and programs which have been
operational at any time over the previous three years.
c) Required an eligible parolee to be released to an
eligible program no more than 60 miles from his or her last
known address or intended release city.
d) Stated that participation in the program shall commence
no less than 72 hours upon release or discharge from a CDCR
facility.
2)Defined "eligible youth" as a person between the ages of 18 to
23; who is economically disadvantaged; under the control of
the CDCR on or after January 1, 2008; and, who is scheduled
for release from the Department of Juvenile Justice any date
prior to January 1, 2010.
a) Required no more than 200 youths shall be enrolled
pursuant to this act.
b) Stated that priority of enrollment shall be given to an
eligible youth who the CDCR has determined to be gang
affiliated or who has an immediate family member who has
been identified as gang affiliated.
3)Defined "eligible program" as having the following minimum
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provisions:
a) Integrated education and job training services and
activities on an equally-divided basis;
i) The job training component shall involve work
experience and skills training apprenticeships related to
construction and rehabilitation activities. The
construction and rehabilitation shall consist of
construction and rehabilitation of housing and related
facilities to be used for the purpose of providing home
ownership for disadvantaged persons, disabled persons,
and low-income families;
ii) The education component shall include basic skill
instruction, secondary education services, and activities
designed to lead to the attainment of a high school
diploma or its equivalent. The curriculum shall include
math, language arts, vocational education, life skills,
social studies, and leadership skills;
iii) Bilingual services and English learning curriculum
shall be provided where feasible and appropriate; and,
iv) Programs shall have a goal of one teacher for every
18 students.
b) Required assistance in attaining postsecondary education
and in obtaining financial aid upon graduation from the
program.
4)Provided counseling services to assist participants through
peer counseling; life skills training; substance abuse
prevention; and referral to appropriate drug rehabilitation,
medical, mental health, legal, housing, and other community
resources. The program shall have a goal of one counselor for
every 28 participants.
5)Required programs to work cooperatively with local parole
offices to oversee participants.
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6)Required that the CDCR shall allocate $20,000 per year (or a
fraction thereof per enrolled youth) to each eligible program
that enrolls an eligible youth for each year of participation.
The CDCR shall provide no less than 50% of each annual
payment at the time of enrollment of the eligible youth, and
the remainder shall be paid upon the completion of each year
of participation by the youth. The eligible program shall
return any fraction of the payment to CDCR commensurate with
the participant's actual participation.
7)Required mandated maintenance of statistical information on
the success of the programs, specifically the number of
eligible youth served and the rate of return to prison for
those who participate. The statistics shall be provided to
the Legislature upon request.
8)Provided a sunset provision to terminate any action on this
bill on January 1, 2011 unless extended by further statutory
authority.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, current per capita juvenile parole costs are $12,804
per year. Of this amount, approximately half is spent on
custody-related costs and the other half of programmatic-related
expenses. This bill would propose increasing the
program-portion of parole spending to as much as $20,000 for 200
youthful offenders for three years. Although this bill
stipulates any funding associated with the pilot program is not
to supplant existing funding, annual program-related parole
costs for those parolees would be approximately $2.7 million for
the three-year span of the pilot.
CDCR would incur additional costs to implement the pilot program
- to identify eligible candidates to participate in the program,
to identify and work with community programs and to collect and
maintain required statistical data. Staff estimates the
department would require at least two staff to perform these
tasks through 2011.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "YouthBuild has an
impressive track record of helping at-risk youth follow a career
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path out of poverty instead of the cycle of poverty. With 50%
classroom training and 50% vocational training at the job site,
youth graduating from the program learn valuable and
life-sustaining skills in the construction trades. These youth
in turn make lasting contributions to their communities by
building affordable housing units, becoming role models for
other youth and children, and learning from private industry
mentors how to lead productive, successful lives."
GOVERNOR'S VETO MESSAGE :
While I appreciate the author's intent, this bill is
unnecessary, as the recently established Juvenile
Justice Community Reentry Challenge Grant Program will
serve many of the same functions as proposed by this
bill, and is currently being implemented. It is
necessary to allow this program to proceed and gauge
its effectiveness, and then determine whether it is
successful enough to expand, before creating a new
separate but similar program.
In addition, while this bill specifies that the pilot
program shall be created only to the extent that funds
are appropriated for that purpose, it provides no
funding for the actual administrative costs that will
be necessary for [CDCR] to implement the program.
Analysis Prepared by : Gabriel Caswell / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744
FN: 0003715