BILL NUMBER: SB 1054 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 7, 2014
INTRODUCED BY Senator Steinberg
FEBRUARY 18, 2014
An act to add Article 4 (commencing with Section 6045) to Chapter
5 of Title 7 of Part 3 of the Penal Code, relating to mentally ill
criminal offenders, and making an appropriation therefor.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1054, as amended, Steinberg. Mentally ill offender crime
reduction grants.
Existing law establishes the Board of State and Community
Corrections to collect and maintain available information and data
about state and community correctional policies, practices,
capacities, and needs, as specified. Existing law establishes
the Recidivism Reduction Fund, to be used, upon appropriation by the
Legislature, for activities designed to reduce the state's prison
population, including, but not limited to, reducing recidivism.
This bill would require the board to administer and award mentally
ill offender crime reduction grants on a competitive basis to
counties that expand or establish a continuum of swift, certain, and
graduated responses to reduce crime and criminal justice costs
related to mentally ill offenders. The bill would require the
board, in consultation with the State Department of Health
Care Services, to award grants that provide
funding for 4 years board to establish minimum
standards, funding schedules, and procedures for awarding grants
. This bill would appropriate $50,000,000 from the
General Fund Recidivism Reduction Fund in the
2014-15 fiscal year for the mentally ill offender crime reduction
grant program, and require that half of that amount be used for adult
offenders and half for juvenile offenders.
Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) A share of the restored mentally ill offender crime reduction
grants, with the enactment of this act, will be dedicated to
improving mental health outcomes for children in the juvenile justice
system.
(b) While California's youth crime rates are down overall in
California, our courts and juvenile justice facilities are brimming
with children and youth with a broad range of mental health disorders
and unmet treatment needs.
(c) In a 2005 "gap survey" of California probation chiefs, paving
the way for the subsequent realignment of the Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation, Division of Juvenile Justice
population to local control, the chiefs identified juvenile mental
health cases as the most significant problem and service gap they
faced. In a later study, Chief Probation Officers of California
documented long stays and high costs related to the detention of
juveniles with mental health problems. State and national studies
confirm, again and again, extremely high rates of mental health
disorders among incarcerated youth, with prevalence exceeding 70
percent of juveniles in custody. Data from the Board of State and
Community Corrections in 2013 documents the fact that nearly half of
the daily 8,200 juveniles in custody or on electronic monitoring in
California have "open mental health cases."
(d) When the mental health needs of young offenders are ignored,
these youth enter a high-risk zone of becoming chronic adult
offenders, committing further crimes , and filling up our
already crowded prisons and jails. This comes at a cost in public
safety, a cost to the probation, court, and corrections agencies who
must then deal expensively with the problem on a long-term basis at
the deep end of our jail and prison systems, and a cost to the
taxpayers.
(e) We know that early intervention in these youth mental health
cases is a key to success. The mentally ill offender crime reduction
grant program investment on the juvenile justice side is an
investment in crime prevention. The juvenile justice share of the
mentally ill offender crime reduction grants will support local
investment in proven best-practices, including early diagnoses,
family and community-based treatment models, specialized mental
health courts, and other collaborative models of intervention that
have proven to be successful. The goal, overall, is to break the link
between mental illness and crime as soon as possible, using
state-of-the-art assessment and intervention strategies. Early
recognition and treatment in these cases is also critical to our goal
of preventing the escalation of youth mental health disorders into
tragedies like the Sandy Hook school
Elementary School shooting that occurred in 2012.
(f) Modern science tells us that children are developmentally
different from adults. This finding has been embedded in decisions of
the United States Supreme Court in recent years, placing limits on
the death penalty and other punishments imposed on children. In the
foster care sector, important cases like the Katie A. litigation
recognize the need for more effective strategies and collaborative
efforts to address the mental health needs of children without homes
of their own.
(g) The good news is that science and evidence-based studies point
the way to interventions that can stop the cycle of mental illness
and crime early in these young lives. The new mentally ill offender
crime reduction grants will prioritize funding for local assessments
and interventions that promise to produce better youth outcomes, to
lower youth recidivism rates, and to reduce system workloads and
costs that result from failing to address the problem.
(h) Research indicates that a continuum of responses for mentally
ill offenders that includes prevention, intervention, and
incarceration can reduce crime, jail overcrowding, and criminal
justice costs.
(i) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature that grants be
provided to counties that develop and implement a comprehensive,
cost-effective plan to reduce the rate of crime and offenses
committed by persons with serious mental illness and reduce jail
overcrowding and local criminal justice costs related to mentally ill
offenders.
SEC. 2. Article 4 (commencing with Section 6045) is added to
Chapter 5 of Title 7 of Part 3 of the Penal Code, to read:
Article 4. Mentally Ill Offender Crime Reduction Grants
6045. The Board of State and Community Corrections shall
administer and award mentally ill offender crime reduction grants on
a competitive basis to counties that expand or establish a continuum
of swift, certain, and graduated responses to reduce crime and
criminal justice costs related to mentally ill offenders, as defined
in paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) and subdivision (c) of Section
5600.3 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
6045.2. (a) To be eligible for a grant, a county shall establish
a strategy committee that shall include, at a minimum, the sheriff or
director of the county department of corrections in a county in
which the sheriff is not in charge of administering the county jail
system, who shall chair the committee, representatives from other
local law enforcement agencies, the chief probation officer, the
county mental health director, a superior court judge, a client of a
mental health treatment facility, and representatives from
organizations that can provide, or have provided, treatment or
stability, including income, housing, and caretaking, for persons
with mental illnesses.
(b) The committee shall develop a comprehensive plan for providing
a cost-effective continuum of graduated responses, including
prevention, intervention, and incarceration, for mentally ill
offenders. Strategies for prevention and intervention shall include,
but are not limited to, both of the following:
(1) Mental health or substance abuse treatment for mentally ill
offenders who have been released from law enforcement custody.
(2) The establishment of long-term stability for mentally ill
offenders who have been released from law enforcement custody,
including a stable source of income, a safe and decent residence, and
a conservator or caretaker.
(c) The plan shall include the identification of specific outcome
and performance measures and a plan for annual reporting that will
allow the Board of State and Community Corrections to evaluate, at a
minimum, the effectiveness of the strategies in reducing crime and
offenses committed by mentally ill offenders and the criminal justice
costs related to mentally ill offenders.
6045.4. The Board of State and Community Corrections, in
consultation with the State Department of Health Care Services,
Corrections shall award grants that provide
funding for four years. Funding shall be used to supplement, rather
than supplant, funding for existing programs and shall not
be used to facilitate the early release of prisoners or alternatives
to incarceration . The funds may be used to fund
specialized alternative custody programs that offer appropriate
mental health treatment and services. A grant shall
not be awarded unless the applicant makes available resources in an
amount equal to at least 25 percent of the amount of the grant.
Resources may include in-kind contributions from participating
agencies. In awarding grants, priority shall be given to those
proposals that include additional funding that exceeds 25 percent of
the amount of the grant.
6045.6. The Board of State and Community Corrections, in
consultation with the State Department of Health Care Services,
Corrections shall establish minimum standards,
funding schedules, and procedures for awarding grants, which shall
take into consideration, but not be limited to, all of the following:
(a) Percentage of the jail population with severe mental illness.
(b) Demonstrated ability to administer the program.
(c) Demonstrated ability to develop effective responses to provide
treatment and stability for persons with severe mental illness.
(d) Demonstrated history of maximizing federal, state, local, and
private funding sources.
(e) Likelihood that the program will continue to operate after
state grant funding ends.
6045.8. (a) The Board of State and Community
Corrections, in consultation with the State Department of Health Care
Services, Corrections shall create an evaluation
design for mentally ill offender crime reduction grants that will
assess the effectiveness of the program in reducing crime, the number
of early releases due to jail overcrowding, and local criminal
justice costs.
(b) Commencing on June 30, 2015, and annually thereafter, the
board shall submit a report to the Legislature based on the
evaluation design, with a final report due on December 31, 2019.
(c) The reports submitted pursuant to this section shall be
submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
(d) Pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, this
section is repealed as of January 1, 2024.
6045.9. (a) Funding for mentally ill offender crime reduction
grants shall be provided, upon appropriation by the Legislature, in
the annual Budget Act.
(b) Up to 5 percent of the amount appropriated in the budget may
be available for the board to administer this program, including
technical assistance to counties and the development of an evaluation
component.
SEC. 3. There is hereby appropriated from the General
Fund Recidivism Reduction Fund, established in Section
1233.9 of the Penal Code, in the 2014-15 fiscal year, fifty
million dollars ($50,000,000) for use by the Board of State and
Community Corrections to provide grants and administer the Mentally
Ill Offender Crime Reduction Grant Program. Half
One-half of the money shall be used for adult offenders
and half one-half of the money shall be
used for juvenile offenders.