Bill Text: CA AB695 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Juvenile Detention Facilities Improvement Grant Program.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Vetoed) 2024-01-25 - Consideration of Governor's veto stricken from file. [AB695 Detail]

Download: California-2023-AB695-Amended.html

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Amended  IN  Assembly  May 18, 2023

Amended  IN  Assembly  April 26, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 695

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Introduced by Assembly Member Pacheco

February 13, 2023

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An act to add Chapter 1.55 (commencing with Section 1979) to Division 2.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to juveniles, and making an appropriation therefor. juveniles.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 695, as amended, Pacheco. Juvenile Detention Facilities Improvement Grant Program.

Existing law requires the Board of State and Community Corrections to adopt minimum standards for the operation and maintenance of juvenile halls for the confinement of minors. Existing law requires the judge of the juvenile court of the county to annually inspect any jail or juvenile hall that was used for the confinement of any minor and to notify the operator of the jail or juvenile hall of any observed noncompliance with the minimum standards of the juvenile facility adopted by the board. Existing law defines a county of the first class as a county containing a population of 4,000,000 and over.

This

Upon appropriation by the Legislature, this bill would create the Juvenile Detention Facilities Improvement Grant Program, to be administered by the Office of Youth and Community Restoration, to provide grants to a county of the first class to address the critical infrastructure needs of the state’s detained and supervised youth in the county. The bill would require, as a condition for receiving a grant, a county of the first class to prepare a juvenile detention facilities improvement plan for the expenditure of funds for capital improvements that are necessary to preserve and protect the county’s juvenile detention facilities to enhance each facility’s rehabilitation function. The bill would require the plan to be approved by both the office and the governing body of the county. The bill would require the office, by January 1, 2025, to submit a report to the budget and public safety committees of the Legislature detailing the grants awarded and the projects funded through the program. The bill would appropriate an unspecified sum of money from the General Fund to the board to provide grants in accordance with the provisions of the program.

This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Los Angeles.

Digest Key

Vote: TWO_THIRDSMAJORITY   Appropriation: YESNO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

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Bill Text

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) Counties and their probation departments are charged with providing rehabilitation services for minors and youth adjudicated under provisions of the Welfare and Institutions Code. A county of the first class within this state is charged with supervision and housing responsibility for the largest concentration of adjudicated youth in the state.

(b) Despite housing the largest concentration of detained juveniles in the juvenile justice system, facilities in a county of the first class are in critical need of basic infrastructure improvement to meet the basic needs of detained youth and, more critically, to meet the expanded requirement of providing a “homelike” environment that enhances rehabilitation.

(c) The Legislature must act to positively impact facilities and infrastructure improvement for a county of the first class to address the critical need for secure and youth-centered facilities that enhance the rehabilitation function of these departments.

(d) A Juvenile Detention Facilities Improvement Grant Program is required to address the critical need for infrastructure improvements in a county of the first class.

(e) Failing to act now to address the significant problem of inadequate and dilapidated facilities will fail to provide critically needed rehabilitative services for a vulnerable population.

(f) A comprehensive, reasonable Juvenile Detention Facilities Improvement Grant Program will ensure that the needs of adjudicated youth are addressed and will distribute the economic impact of funding required for these improvements.

SEC. 2.

 Chapter 1.55 (commencing with Section 1979) is added to Division 2.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:

CHAPTER  1.55. Juvenile Detention Facilities Improvement Grant Program

1979.

 There Upon appropriation by the Legislature, there is hereby established the Juvenile Detention Facilities Improvement Grant Program within the Office of Youth and Community Restoration to Restoration. The office shall provide grants pursuant to this chapter to a county of the first class, as defined in Section 28022 of the Government Code, to address the critical infrastructure needs of the state’s detained and supervised youth in the county.

1979.1.

 (a) It is the intent of the Legislature that a county of the first class meet the preliminary performance outcomes for infrastructure improvements of their juvenile detention facilities as developed by the office.

(b) The office shall award grants based on the priorities for infrastructure improvement. The office shall establish minimum standards, funding schedules, and procedures for awarding grants that prioritize projects with the highest critical infrastructure need that shall further the purposes of this chapter.

1979.2.

 (a) To be eligible for grants from the program, a county of the first class shall prepare a juvenile detention facilities improvement plan for the expenditure of funds for capital improvements that are necessary to preserve and protect the county’s juvenile detention facilities to enhance each facility’s rehabilitation function. The plan shall include a description of how it will contribute to the county’s ability to provide trauma-informed, culturally appropriate programming in a homelike environment.

(b) Funds shall only be used for newly constructed living space for youths, projects that would modernize housing units and sleeping rooms to comply with existing building standards and achieve a homelike environment, or space to provide rehabilitative or educational programming for youths.

(c) Facility improvements made as part of this grant program shall not result in a net increase in county rated capacity.

(d) The plan shall be submitted to, and approved by, both the office and the governing body of the county. The office shall disburse awarded funds to the governing body of the county.

1979.3.

 The office shall submit a report to the budget and public safety policy committees of the Legislature, on or before January 1, 2025, detailing the grants awarded and the projects funded through the program.

SEC. 3.

The sum of ____ is hereby appropriated from the General Fund to the Office of Youth and Community Restoration for the purpose of providing grants pursuant to the Juvenile Detention Facilities Improvement Grant Program under Chapter 1.55 (commencing with Section 1979) of Division 2.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.

SEC. 4.SEC. 3.

 The Legislature finds and declares that a special statute is necessary and that a general statute cannot be made applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution because of the unique need to address the significant problem of inadequate and dilapidated juveniles facilities in the County of Los Angeles.