BILL NUMBER: AB 616INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Blumenfield FEBRUARY 25, 2009 An act relating to community conservation corps. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 616, as introduced, Blumenfield. San Fernando Valley Community Conservation Corps. Existing law creates the Department of Conservation in the Natural Resources Agency. Existing law defines community conservation corps, for the purposes of the California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act, as a nonprofit public benefit corporation formed or operating pursuant to certain requirements or an agency operated by a city or county that is certified by the California Conservation Corps as meeting specified criteria. This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would require, by July 1, 2010, the department to complete a plan for the establishment of a San Fernando Valley Community Conservation Corps whose primary mission would be to offer at-risk young adults and schoolaged youth with opportunities to succeed by providing them with job training, education, and work skills training with an emphasis on environmental and service projects that benefit the community, and would require the department to seek a one-time grant of youth employment training funds from the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (P.L. 111-5) to pay for the cost of establishing the San Fernando Valley Community Conservation Corps and initial startup operations. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that does all of the following: (a) By July 1, 2010, the Department of Conservation should complete a plan for the establishment of a San Fernando Valley Community Conservation Corps whose primary mission is to offer at-risk young adults and schoolaged youth opportunities to succeed by providing them with job training, education, and work skills training with an emphasis on environmental and service projects that benefit the community. (b) Functions performed by the San Fernando Valley Community Conservation Corps may include, but would not be limited to, all of the following: (1) Providing services in energy conservation and weatherization. (2) Housing rehabilitation. (3) Emergency and disaster relief. (4) Graffiti abatement. (5) Park improvements. (6) Bike and pedestrian trail building and restoration. (7) Other conservation and community service projects. (c) The Department of Conservation should seek a one-time grant of youth employment training funds from the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to pay for the cost of establishing the San Fernando Valley Community Conservation Corps and initial startup operations. (d) Once established, the San Fernando Valley Community Conservation Corps should operate as a local nonprofit conservation corps and become certified.