BILL NUMBER: SB 1054INTRODUCED BILL TEXT 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 introduced, 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. 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. This bill would appropriate $50,000,000 from the General 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 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 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, 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. 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, 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, 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 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 of the money shall be used for adult offenders and half of the money shall be used for juvenile offenders.