AB 1384: Victims of violent crimes: trauma recovery centers.
- Session Year: 2017-2018
- House: Assembly
- Latest Version Date: 2017-10-08
Existing law requires the California Victim Compensation Board to administer a program to assist state residents to obtain compensation for their pecuniary losses suffered as a direct result of criminal acts. Payment is made under these provisions from the Restitution Fund, which is continuously appropriated to the board for these purposes. Existing law requires the California Victim Compensation Board to administer a program to evaluate applications and award grants to trauma recovery centers funded by moneys in the Restitution Fund.
This bill would make legislative findings and recognize the Trauma Recovery Center at San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco, as the State Pilot Trauma Recovery Center (State Pilot TRC). The bill would require the board to use the evidence-informed Integrated Trauma Recovery Services model developed by the State Pilot TRC when it provides grants to trauma recovery centers.
Existing law requires the California Victim Compensation Board to administer a program to assist state residents to obtain compensation for their pecuniary losses suffered as a direct result of criminal acts. Payment is made under these provisions from the Restitution Fund, which is continuously appropriated to the board for these purposes. Existing law requires the California Victim Compensation Board to administer a program to evaluate applications and award grants to trauma recovery centers funded by moneys in the Restitution Fund.
This bill would make legislative findings and recognize the Trauma Recovery Center at San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco, as the State Pilot Trauma Recovery Center (State Pilot TRC). The bill would require the board to use the evidence-informed Integrated Trauma Recovery Services model developed by the State Pilot TRC when it provides grants to trauma recovery centers.
Existing law requires the California Victim Compensation Board to administer a program to assist state residents to obtain compensation for their pecuniary losses suffered as a direct result of criminal acts. Payment is made under these provisions from the Restitution Fund, which is continuously appropriated to the board for these purposes. Existing law requires the California Victim Compensation Board to administer a program to evaluate applications and award grants to trauma recovery centers funded by moneys in the Restitution Fund.
This bill would make legislative findings and recognize the Trauma Recovery Center at San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco, as the State Pilot Trauma Recovery Center (State Pilot TRC). The bill would require the board to use the evidence-informed Integrated Trauma Recovery Services model developed by the State Pilot TRC when it provides grants to trauma recovery centers. This bill would also require the board to enter into an interagency agreement with the State Pilot TRC as the technical assistance provider to the board for the period between July 1, 2018, and June 30, 2020. The bill would require the board to select a trauma recovery center, through a competitive process, to be the technical assistance provider every 2 years thereafter and would require that provider to assist the board by providing training materials, technical assistance, and ongoing consultation and programming to each center to enable the grantees to replicate the evidence-based and evidence-informed practices. The bill would authorize the board to provide grants, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the technical assistance provider, up to a specified amount. The bill would require the board, through a competitive process, to select a 3rd-party evaluator to conduct a review of the effectiveness of the trauma resource center model and the work done by grant recipients with the trauma resource center funds.
Existing law requires the California Victim Compensation Board to administer a program to assist state residents to obtain compensation for their pecuniary losses suffered as a direct result of criminal acts. Payment is made under these provisions from the Restitution Fund, which is continuously appropriated to the board for these purposes. Existing law requires the California Victim Compensation Board to administer a program to evaluate applications and award grants to trauma recovery centers funded by moneys in the Restitution Fund.
This bill would make legislative findings and recognize the Trauma Recovery Center at San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco, as the State Pilot Trauma Recovery Center (State Pilot TRC). The bill would require the board to use the evidence-informed Integrated Trauma Recovery Services model developed by the State Pilot TRC when it provides grants to trauma recovery centers. This bill would also require the board to enter into an interagency agreement with the State Pilot TRC as the technical assistance provider to the board for the period between July 1, 2018, and June 30, 2020. The bill would require the board to select a trauma recovery center, through a competitive process, to be the technical assistance provider every 2 years thereafter and would require that provider to assist the board by providing training materials, technical assistance, and ongoing consultation and programming to each center to enable the grantees to replicate the evidence-based and evidence-informed practices. The bill would authorize the board to provide grants, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the technical assistance provider, up to a specified amount. The bill would require the board, through a competitive process, to select a 3rd-party evaluator to conduct a review of the effectiveness of the trauma resource center model and the work done by grant recipients with the trauma resource center funds.
Existing law requires the California Victim Compensation Board to administer a program to assist state residents to obtain compensation for their pecuniary losses suffered as a direct result of criminal acts. Payment is made under these provisions from the Restitution Fund, which is continuously appropriated to the board for these purposes. Existing law requires the California Victim Compensation Board to administer a program to evaluate applications and award grants to trauma recovery centers funded by moneys in the Restitution Fund.
This bill would make legislative findings and recognize the Trauma Recovery Center at San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco, as the State Pilot Trauma Recovery Center (State Pilot TRC). The bill would require the board to use the evidence-based evidence-informed Integrated Trauma Recovery Services model developed by the State Pilot TRC when it provides grants to trauma recovery centers. This bill would also require the board to enter into an interagency agreement with the Trauma Recovery Center of the University of California, San Francisco, to establish the State Pilot TRC as the technical assistance provider to the board for the period between July 1, 2018, and June 30, 2020. The bill would require the board to select a trauma recovery center, through a competitive process, to be the technical assistance provider every 2 years thereafter and would require that provider to assist the board by providing training materials, technical assistance, and ongoing consultation and programming to the board and to each center to enable the grantees to replicate the evidence-based approach. and evidence-informed practices. The bill would authorize the board to provide grants, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the technical assistance provider, up to a specified amount. The bill would require the board, through a competitive process, to select a 3rd-party evaluator to conduct a review of the effectiveness of the trauma resource center model and the work done by grant recipients with the trauma resource center funds.
Existing law requires the California Victim Compensation Board to administer a program to assist state residents to obtain compensation for their pecuniary losses suffered as a direct result of criminal acts. Payment is made under these provisions from the Restitution Fund, which is continuously appropriated to the board for these purposes. Existing law requires the California Victim Compensation Board to administer a program to evaluate applications and award grants to trauma recovery centers funded by moneys in the Restitution Fund.
This bill would make legislative findings and recognize the Trauma Recovery Center at San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco, as the State Pilot Trauma Recovery Center (State Pilot TRC). The bill would require the board to use the evidence-based Integrated Trauma Recovery Services model developed by the State Pilot TRC when it provides grants to trauma recovery centers. This bill would also require the board to enter into an interagency agreement with the Trauma Recovery Center of the University of California, San Francisco, to establish the State Pilot TRC as the technical assistance provider to the board for the period between July 1, 2018, and June 30, 2020. The bill would require the board to select a trauma recovery center, through a competitive process, to be the technical assistance provider every 2 years thereafter and would require that provider to assist the board by providing training materials, technical assistance, and ongoing consultation and programming to the board and to each center to enable the grantees to replicate the evidence-based approach. The bill would authorize the board to provide grants, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the technical assistance provider, up to a specified amount. The bill would require the board, through a competitive process, to select a 3rd-party evaluator to conduct a review of the effectiveness of the trauma resource center model and the work done by grant recipients with the trauma resource center funds.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a)Victims of violent crime may benefit from access to structured programs of practical and emotional support. Research shows that evidence-based trauma recovery approaches are more effective, at a lesser cost, than customary fee-for-service programs. State-of-the-art fee-for-service funding increasingly emphasizes funding best practices, established through research, that can be varied but have specific core elements that remain constant from grantee to grantee. The public benefits when government agencies and grantees collaborate with institutions with expertise in establishing and conducting evidence-based services.
(b)The Trauma Recovery Center at San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF TRC), is an award-winning, nationally recognized program created in 2001 in partnership with the California Victim Compensation Board. The UCSF TRC is hereby recognized as the State Pilot Trauma Recovery Center (State Pilot TRC). The State Pilot TRC was established by the Legislature as a four-year demonstration project to develop and test a comprehensive model of care as an alternative to fee-for-service care reimbursed by victim restitution funds. It was designed to increase access for crime victims to these funds.
(c)The results of this four-year demonstration project have established that the State Pilot TRC model was both clinically effective and cost effective when compared to customary fee-for-service care. Seventy-seven percent of victims receiving trauma recovery center services engaged in mental health treatment, compared to 34 percent receiving customary care. The State Pilot TRC model increased the rate by which sexual assault victims received mental health services from 6 percent to 71 percent, successfully linked 53 percent to legal services, 40 percent to vocational services, and 31 percent to safer and more permanent housing. Trauma recovery center services cost 34 percent less than customary care.
(d)California voters approved Proposition 47, known as the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act of 2014. The measure was enacted to ensure that prison spending is focused on people who commit violent and serious offenses to maximize alternatives for people who commit nonviolent and nonserious crimes and to invest the resulting savings into prevention and support programs.
(e)The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act of 2014 requires 10 percent of the moneys in the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund to be allocated to the California Victim Compensation Board to make grants to trauma recovery centers to provide services to victims of crime.
SEC. 2.Section 13963.1 of the Government Code is amended to read:13963.1.(a)The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1)Without treatment, approximately 50 percent of people who survive a traumatic, violent injury experience lasting or extended psychological or social difficulties. Untreated psychological trauma often has severe economic consequences, including overuse of costly medical services, loss of income, failure to return to gainful employment, loss of medical insurance, and loss of stable housing.
(2)Victims of crime should receive timely and effective mental health treatment.
(3)The board shall administer a program to evaluate applications and award grants to trauma recovery centers.
(b)The board shall award a grant only to a trauma recovery center that meets all of the following criteria:
(1)The trauma recovery center demonstrates that it serves as a community resource by providing services, including, but not limited to, making presentations and providing training to law enforcement, community-based agencies, and other health care providers on the identification and effects of violent crime.
(2)Any other related criteria required by the board.
(3)The trauma recovery center uses the core elements established in Section 13963.2.
(c)It is the intent of the Legislature to provide an annual appropriation of two million dollars ($2,000,000) per year from the Restitution Fund.
(d)The board may award a grant providing funding for up to a maximum period of three years. Any portion of a grant that a trauma recovery center does not use within the specified grant period shall revert to the Restitution Fund. The board may award consecutive grants to a trauma recovery center to prevent a lapse in funding.
(e)The board, when considering grant applications, shall give preference to a trauma recovery center that conducts outreach to, and serves, both of the following:
(1)Crime victims who typically are unable to access traditional services, including, but not limited to, victims who are homeless, chronically mentally ill, of diverse ethnicity, members of immigrant and refugee groups, disabled, who have severe trauma-related symptoms or complex psychological issues, or juvenile victims, including minors who have had contact with the juvenile dependency or justice system.
(2)Victims of a wide range of crimes, including, but not limited to, victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, physical assault, shooting, stabbing, human trafficking, and vehicular assault, and family members of homicide victims.
(f)The trauma recovery center sites shall be selected by the board through a well-defined selection process that takes into account the rate of crime and geographic distribution to serve the greatest number of victims.
(g)A trauma recovery center that is awarded a grant shall do both of the following:
(1)Report to the board annually on how grant funds were spent, how many clients were served (counting an individual client who receives multiple services only once), units of service, staff productivity, treatment outcomes, and patient flow throughout both the clinical and evaluation components of service.
(2)In compliance with federal statutes and rules governing federal matching funds for victims services, each center shall submit any forms and data requested by the board to allow the board to receive the 60 percent federal matching funds for eligible victim services and allowable expenses.
(h)For purposes of this section, a trauma recovery center provides, including, but not limited to, all of the following resources, treatments, and recovery services to crime victims:
(1)Mental health services.
(2)Assertive community-based outreach and clinical case management.
(3)Coordination of care among medical and mental health care providers, law enforcement agencies, and other social services.
(4)Services to family members and loved ones of homicide victims.
(5)A multidisciplinary staff of clinicians that includes psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers, and may include case managers and peer counselors.
SEC. 3.Section 13963.2 is added to the Government Code, to read:13963.2.The Trauma Recovery Center at the San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco, is recognized as the State Pilot Trauma Recovery Center (State Pilot TRC). The California Victim Compensation Board shall use the evidence-informed Integrated Trauma Recovery Services (ITRS) model developed by the State Pilot TRC when it selects, establishes, and implements Trauma Recovery Centers (TRCs) pursuant to Section 13963.1. All TRCs funded through the Restitution Fund or Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund shall do all of the following:
(a)Provide outreach and services to crime victims who typically are unable to access traditional services, including, but not limited to, victims who are homeless, chronically mentally ill, members of immigrant and refugee groups, disabled, who have severe trauma-related symptoms or complex psychological issues, are of diverse ethnicity or origin, or are juvenile victims, including minors who have had contact with the juvenile dependency or justice system.
(b)Serve victims of a wide range of crimes, including, but not limited to, victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, battery, crimes of violence, vehicular assault, and human trafficking, as well as family members of homicide victims.
(c)Offer evidence-based and evidence-informed mental health services and support services that include individual and group treatment, medication management, substance abuse treatment, case management, and assertive outreach. This care shall be provided in a manner that increases access to services and removes barriers to care for victims of violent crime, and may include providing services to a victim in his or her home, in the community, or at other locations conducive to maintaining quality treatment and confidentiality.
(d)Be comprised of a staff that includes a multidisciplinary team of clinicians made up of at least one psychologist, one social worker, and additional staff. Clinicians are not required to work full-time as a member of the multidisciplinary team. At least one psychiatrist shall be available to the team to assist with medication management, provide consultation, and assist with treatment to meet the clinical needs of the victim. The psychiatrist may be on staff or on contract. A clinician shall be either a licensed clinician or a supervised clinician engaged in completion of the applicable licensure process. Clinical supervision and other supports shall be provided to staff regularly to ensure the highest quality of care and to help staff constructively manage vicarious trauma they experience as service providers to victims of violent crime. Clinicians shall meet the training or certification requirements for the evidence-based practices they use.
(e)Offer mental health services and case management that are coordinated through a single point of contact for the victim, with support from an integrated multidisciplinary treatment team. Each client receiving mental health services shall have a treatment plan in place, which is periodically reviewed by the multidisciplinary team. Examples of primary treatment goals include, but are not limited to, a decrease in psychosocial distress, minimizing long-term disability, improving overall quality of life, reducing the risk of future victimization, and promoting post-traumatic growth.
(f)Deliver services that include assertive outreach and case management including, but not limited to, accompanying a client to court proceedings, medical appointments, or other appointments as needed, assistance with filing an application for assistance to the California Victim Compensation Board, filing police reports or filing restraining orders, assistance with obtaining safe housing and financial benefits, helping a client obtain medical care, providing assistance securing employment, and working as a liaison to other community agencies, law enforcement, or other supportive service providers as needed. TRCs shall offer outreach and case management services to clients without regard to whether clients choose to access mental health services.
(g)Ensure that no person is excluded from services solely on the basis of emotional or behavioral issues resulting from trauma, including, but not limited to, substance abuse problems, low initial motivation, or high levels of anxiety.
(h)Utilize established, evidence-based and evidence-informed practices in treatment. These practices may include, but are not limited to, motivational interviewing, harm reduction, seeking safety, cognitive behavioral therapy, and trauma-focused cognitive processing therapy.
(i)Ensure that no person is excluded from services based on immigration status.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a)Victims of violent crime may benefit from access to structured programs of practical and emotional support. Research shows that evidence-based trauma recovery approaches are more effective, at a lesser cost, than customary fee-for-service programs. State-of-the-art fee-for-service funding increasingly emphasizes funding best practices, established through research, that can be varied but have specific core elements that remain constant from grantee to grantee. The public benefits when government agencies and grantees collaborate with institutions with expertise in establishing and conducting evidence-based services.
(b)The Trauma Recovery Center at San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF TRC), is an award-winning, nationally recognized program created in 2001 in partnership with the California Victim Compensation Board. The UCSF TRC is hereby recognized as the State Pilot Trauma Recovery Center (State Pilot TRC). The State Pilot TRC was established by the Legislature as a four-year demonstration project to develop and test a comprehensive model of care as an alternative to fee-for-service care reimbursed by victim restitution funds. It was designed to increase access for crime victims to these funds.
(c)The results of this four-year demonstration project have established that the State Pilot TRC model was both clinically effective and cost effective when compared to customary fee-for-service care. Seventy-seven percent of victims receiving trauma recovery center services engaged in mental health treatment, compared to 34 percent receiving customary care. The State Pilot TRC model increased the rate by which sexual assault victims received mental health services from 6 percent to 71 percent, successfully linked 53 percent to legal services, 40 percent to vocational services, and 31 percent to safer and more permanent housing. Trauma recovery center services cost 34 percent less than customary care.
(d)California voters approved Proposition 47, known as the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act of 2014. The measure was enacted to ensure that prison spending is focused on people who commit violent and serious offenses to maximize alternatives for people who commit nonviolent and nonserious crimes and to invest the resulting savings into prevention and support programs.
(e)The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act of 2014 requires 10 percent of the moneys in the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund to be allocated to the California Victim Compensation Board to make grants to trauma recovery centers to provide services to victims of crime.
SEC. 2.Section 13963.1 of the Government Code is amended to read:13963.1.(a)The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1)Without treatment, approximately 50 percent of people who survive a traumatic, violent injury experience lasting or extended psychological or social difficulties. Untreated psychological trauma often has severe economic consequences, including overuse of costly medical services, loss of income, failure to return to gainful employment, loss of medical insurance, and loss of stable housing.
(2)Victims of crime should receive timely and effective mental health treatment.
(3)The board shall administer a program to evaluate applications and award grants to trauma recovery centers.
(b)The board shall award a grant only to a trauma recovery center that meets all of the following criteria:
(1)The trauma recovery center demonstrates that it serves as a community resource by providing services, including, but not limited to, making presentations and providing training to law enforcement, community-based agencies, and other health care providers on the identification and effects of violent crime.
(2)Any other related criteria required by the board.
(3)The trauma recovery center uses the core elements established in Section 13963.2.
(c)It is the intent of the Legislature to provide an annual appropriation of two million dollars ($2,000,000) per year from the Restitution Fund.
(d)The board may award a grant providing funding for up to a maximum period of three years. Any portion of a grant that a trauma recovery center does not use within the specified grant period shall revert to the Restitution Fund. The board may award consecutive grants to a trauma recovery center to prevent a lapse in funding.
(e)The board, when considering grant applications, shall give preference to a trauma recovery center that conducts outreach to, and serves, both of the following:
(1)Crime victims who typically are unable to access traditional services, including, but not limited to, victims who are homeless, chronically mentally ill, of diverse ethnicity, members of immigrant and refugee groups, disabled, who have severe trauma-related symptoms or complex psychological issues, or juvenile victims, including minors who have had contact with the juvenile dependency or justice system.
(2)Victims of a wide range of crimes, including, but not limited to, victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, physical assault, shooting, stabbing, human trafficking, and vehicular assault, and family members of homicide victims.
(f)The trauma recovery center sites shall be selected by the board through a well-defined selection process that takes into account the rate of crime and geographic distribution to serve the greatest number of victims.
(g)A trauma recovery center that is awarded a grant shall do both of the following:
(1)Report to the board annually on how grant funds were spent, how many clients were served (counting an individual client who receives multiple services only once), units of service, staff productivity, treatment outcomes, and patient flow throughout both the clinical and evaluation components of service.
(2)In compliance with federal statutes and rules governing federal matching funds for victims services, each center shall submit any forms and data requested by the board to allow the board to receive the 60 percent federal matching funds for eligible victim services and allowable expenses.
(h)For purposes of this section, a trauma recovery center provides, including, but not limited to, all of the following resources, treatments, and recovery services to crime victims:
(1)Mental health services.
(2)Assertive community-based outreach and clinical case management.
(3)Coordination of care among medical and mental health care providers, law enforcement agencies, and other social services.
(4)Services to family members and loved ones of homicide victims.
(5)A multidisciplinary staff of clinicians that includes psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers, and may include case managers and peer counselors.
SEC. 3.Section 13963.2 is added to the Government Code, to read:13963.2.The Trauma Recovery Center at the San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco, is recognized as the State Pilot Trauma Recovery Center (State Pilot TRC). The California Victim Compensation Board shall use the evidence-informed Integrated Trauma Recovery Services (ITRS) model developed by the State Pilot TRC when it selects, establishes, and implements Trauma Recovery Centers (TRCs) pursuant to Section 13963.1. All TRCs funded through the Restitution Fund or Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund shall do all of the following:
(a)Provide outreach and services to crime victims who typically are unable to access traditional services, including, but not limited to, victims who are homeless, chronically mentally ill, members of immigrant and refugee groups, disabled, who have severe trauma-related symptoms or complex psychological issues, are of diverse ethnicity or origin, or are juvenile victims, including minors who have had contact with the juvenile dependency or justice system.
(b)Serve victims of a wide range of crimes, including, but not limited to, victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, battery, crimes of violence, vehicular assault, and human trafficking, as well as family members of homicide victims.
(c)Offer evidence-based and evidence-informed mental health services and support services that include individual and group treatment, medication management, substance abuse treatment, case management, and assertive outreach. This care shall be provided in a manner that increases access to services and removes barriers to care for victims of violent crime, and may include providing services to a victim in his or her home, in the community, or at other locations conducive to maintaining quality treatment and confidentiality.
(d)Be comprised of a staff that includes a multidisciplinary team of clinicians made up of at least one psychologist, one social worker, and additional staff. Clinicians are not required to work full-time as a member of the multidisciplinary team. At least one psychiatrist shall be available to the team to assist with medication management, provide consultation, and assist with treatment to meet the clinical needs of the victim. The psychiatrist may be on staff or on contract. A clinician shall be either a licensed clinician or a supervised clinician engaged in completion of the applicable licensure process. Clinical supervision and other supports shall be provided to staff regularly to ensure the highest quality of care and to help staff constructively manage vicarious trauma they experience as service providers to victims of violent crime. Clinicians shall meet the training or certification requirements for the evidence-based practices they use.
(e)Offer mental health services and case management that are coordinated through a single point of contact for the victim, with support from an integrated multidisciplinary treatment team. Each client receiving mental health services shall have a treatment plan in place, which is periodically reviewed by the multidisciplinary team. Examples of primary treatment goals include, but are not limited to, a decrease in psychosocial distress, minimizing long-term disability, improving overall quality of life, reducing the risk of future victimization, and promoting post-traumatic growth.
(f)Deliver services that include assertive outreach and case management including, but not limited to, accompanying a client to court proceedings, medical appointments, or other appointments as needed, assistance with filing an application for assistance to the California Victim Compensation Board, filing police reports or filing restraining orders, assistance with obtaining safe housing and financial benefits, helping a client obtain medical care, providing assistance securing employment, and working as a liaison to other community agencies, law enforcement, or other supportive service providers as needed. TRCs shall offer outreach and case management services to clients without regard to whether clients choose to access mental health services.
(g)Ensure that no person is excluded from services solely on the basis of emotional or behavioral issues resulting from trauma, including, but not limited to, substance abuse problems, low initial motivation, or high levels of anxiety.
(h)Utilize established, evidence-based and evidence-informed practices in treatment. These practices may include, but are not limited to, motivational interviewing, harm reduction, seeking safety, cognitive behavioral therapy, and trauma-focused cognitive processing therapy.
(i)Ensure that no person is excluded from services based on immigration status.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a)Victims of violent crime may benefit from access to structured programs of practical and emotional support. Research shows that evidence-based trauma recovery approaches are more effective, at a lesser cost, than customary fee-for-service programs. State-of-the-art fee-for-service funding increasingly emphasizes funding best practices, established through research, that can be varied but have specific core elements that remain constant from grantee to grantee. The public benefits when government agencies and grantees collaborate with institutions with expertise in establishing and conducting evidence-based services.
(b)The Trauma Recovery Center at San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF TRC), is an award-winning, nationally recognized program created in 2001 in partnership with the California Victim Compensation Board. The UCSF TRC is hereby recognized as the State Pilot Trauma Recovery Center (State Pilot TRC). The State Pilot TRC was established by the Legislature as a four-year demonstration project to develop and test a comprehensive model of care as an alternative to fee-for-service care reimbursed by victim restitution funds. It was designed to increase access for crime victims to these funds.
(c)The results of this four-year demonstration project have established that the State Pilot TRC model was both clinically effective and cost effective when compared to customary fee-for-service care. Seventy-seven percent of victims receiving trauma recovery center services engaged in mental health treatment, compared to 34 percent receiving customary care. The State Pilot TRC model increased the rate by which sexual assault victims received mental health services from 6 percent to 71 percent, successfully linked 53 percent to legal services, 40 percent to vocational services, and 31 percent to safer and more permanent housing. Trauma recovery center services cost 34 percent less than customary care.
(d)California voters approved Proposition 47, known as the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act of 2014. The measure was enacted to ensure that prison spending is focused on people who commit violent and serious offenses to maximize alternatives for people who commit nonviolent and nonserious crimes and to invest the resulting savings into prevention and support programs.
(e)The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act of 2014 requires 10 percent of the moneys in the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund to be allocated to the California Victim Compensation Board to make grants to trauma recovery centers to provide services to victims of crime.
(f)Systematic training, technical assistance, and ongoing standardized program evaluations are needed to ensure that all new state-funded trauma recovery centers are evidence-based, accountable, clinically effective, and cost effective.(g)By providing assistance to the board in administering grants to trauma recovery centers, it is the intent of the Legislature that these services will be delivered in a clinically effective and cost-effective manner, and that the victims of crime in California will have increased access to needed services.SEC. 2.Section 13963.1 of the Government Code is amended to read:13963.1.(a)The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1)Without treatment, approximately 50 percent of people who survive a traumatic, violent injury experience lasting or extended psychological or social difficulties. Untreated psychological trauma often has severe economic consequences, including overuse of costly medical services, loss of income, failure to return to gainful employment, loss of medical insurance, and loss of stable housing.
(2)Victims of crime should receive timely and effective mental health treatment.
(3)The board shall administer a program to evaluate applications and award grants to trauma recovery centers.
(b)The board shall award a grant only to a trauma recovery center that meets all of the following criteria:
(1)The trauma recovery center demonstrates that it serves as a community resource by providing services, including, but not limited to, making presentations and providing training to law enforcement, community-based agencies, and other health care providers on the identification and effects of violent crime.
(2)Any other related criteria required by the board.
(3)The trauma recovery center uses the core elements established in Section 13963.2.
(c)It is the intent of the Legislature to provide an annual appropriation of two million dollars ($2,000,000) per year from the Restitution Fund.
(d)The board may award a grant providing funding for up to a maximum period of three years. Any portion of a grant that a trauma recovery center does not use within the specified grant period shall revert to the Restitution Fund. The board may award consecutive grants to a trauma recovery center to prevent a lapse in funding.
(e)The board, when considering grant applications, shall give preference to a trauma recovery center that conducts outreach to, and serves, both of the following:
(1)Crime victims who typically are unable to access traditional services, including, but not limited to, victims who are homeless, chronically mentally ill, of diverse ethnicity, members of immigrant and refugee groups, disabled, who have severe trauma-related symptoms or complex psychological issues, or juvenile victims, including minors who have had contact with the juvenile dependency or justice system.
(2)Victims of a wide range of crimes, including, but not limited to, victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, physical assault, shooting, stabbing, human trafficking, and vehicular assault, and family members of homicide victims.
(f)The trauma recovery center sites shall be selected by the board through a well-defined selection process that takes into account the rate of crime and geographic distribution to serve the greatest number of victims.
(g)A trauma recovery center that is awarded a grant shall do both of the following:
(1)Report to the board annually on how grant funds were spent, how many clients were served (counting an individual client who receives multiple services only once), units of service, staff productivity, treatment outcomes, and patient flow throughout both the clinical and evaluation components of service.
(2)In compliance with federal statutes and rules governing federal matching funds for victims services, each center shall submit any forms and data requested by the board to allow the board to receive the 60 percent federal matching funds for eligible victim services and allowable expenses.
(h)For purposes of this section, a trauma recovery center provides, including, but not limited to, all of the following resources, treatments, and recovery services to crime victims:
(1)Mental health services.
(2)Assertive community-based outreach and clinical case management.
(3)Coordination of care among medical and mental health care providers, law enforcement agencies, and other social services.
(4)Services to family members and loved ones of homicide victims.
(5)A multidisciplinary staff of clinicians that includes psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers, and may include case managers and peer counselors.
SEC. 3.Section 13963.2 is added to the Government Code, to read:13963.2.The Trauma Recovery Center at the San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco, is recognized as the State Pilot Trauma Recovery Center (State Pilot TRC). The California Victim Compensation Board shall use the evidence-informed Integrated Trauma Recovery Services (ITRS) model developed by the State Pilot TRC when it selects, establishes, and implements Trauma Recovery Centers (TRCs) pursuant to Section 13963.1. All TRCs funded through the Restitution Fund or Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund shall do all of the following:
(a)Provide outreach and services to crime victims who typically are unable to access traditional services, including, but not limited to, victims who are homeless, chronically mentally ill, members of immigrant and refugee groups, disabled, who have severe trauma-related symptoms or complex psychological issues, are of diverse ethnicity or origin, or are juvenile victims, including minors who have had contact with the juvenile dependency or justice system.
(b)Serve victims of a wide range of crimes, including, but not limited to, victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, battery, crimes of violence, vehicular assault, and human trafficking, as well as family members of homicide victims.
(c)Offer evidence-based and evidence-informed mental health services and support services that include individual and group treatment, medication management, substance abuse treatment, case management, and assertive outreach. This care shall be provided in a manner that increases access to services and removes barriers to care for victims of violent crime, and may include providing services to a victim in his or her home, in the community, or at other locations conducive to maintaining quality treatment and confidentiality.
(d)Be comprised of a staff that includes a multidisciplinary team of clinicians made up of at least one psychologist, one social worker, and additional staff. Clinicians are not required to work full-time as a member of the multidisciplinary team. At least one psychiatrist shall be available to the team to assist with medication management, provide consultation, and assist with treatment to meet the clinical needs of the victim. The psychiatrist may be on staff or on contract. A clinician shall be either a licensed clinician or a supervised clinician engaged in completion of the applicable licensure process. Clinical supervision and other supports shall be provided to staff regularly to ensure the highest quality of care and to help staff constructively manage vicarious trauma they experience as service providers to victims of violent crime. Clinicians shall meet the training or certification requirements for the evidence-based practices they use.
(e)Offer mental health services and case management that are coordinated through a single point of contact for the victim, with support from an integrated multidisciplinary treatment team. Each client receiving mental health services shall have a treatment plan in place, which is periodically reviewed by the multidisciplinary team. Examples of primary treatment goals include, but are not limited to, a decrease in psychosocial distress, minimizing long-term disability, improving overall quality of life, reducing the risk of future victimization, and promoting post-traumatic growth.
(f)Deliver services that include assertive outreach and case management including, but not limited to, accompanying a client to court proceedings, medical appointments, or other appointments as needed, assistance with filing an application for assistance to the California Victim Compensation Board, filing police reports or filing restraining orders, assistance with obtaining safe housing and financial benefits, helping a client obtain medical care, providing assistance securing employment, and working as a liaison to other community agencies, law enforcement, or other supportive service providers as needed. TRCs shall offer outreach and case management services to clients without regard to whether clients choose to access mental health services.
(g)Ensure that no person is excluded from services solely on the basis of emotional or behavioral issues resulting from trauma, including, but not limited to, substance abuse problems, low initial motivation, or high levels of anxiety.
(h)Utilize established, evidence-based and evidence-informed practices in treatment. These practices may include, but are not limited to, motivational interviewing, harm reduction, seeking safety, cognitive behavioral therapy, and trauma-focused cognitive processing therapy.
(i)Ensure that no person is excluded from services based on immigration status.
SEC. 4.Section 13963.3 is added to the Government Code, to read:13963.3.(a)The board shall enter into an interagency agreement with the State Pilot Trauma Recovery Center (TRC) as the technical assistance provider to the board for the period between July 1, 2018, and June 30, 2020. After June 30, 2020, and every two years thereafter, the board shall select a technical assistance provider through a competitive grant process. The technical assistance provider shall be a TRC that meets the requirements in subdivision (b) of Section 13963.1. The technical assistance provider may not be a new grant recipient.(b)The technical assistance provider shall receive a grant of no more than four hundred thousand dollars ($400,000) per year from funds that may be appropriated by the Legislature from the Restitution Fund pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 13963.1. The technical assistance provider shall be allowed indirect costs that do not exceed 5 percent of the technical assistance grant award.(c)The technical assistance provider shall do all of the following:(1)Assist in the implementation of the Integrated Trauma Recovery Services (ITRS) model.(2)Assist other TRCs by providing training materials, technical assistance, and ongoing consultation to enable the grantees to implement evidence-based and evidence-informed practices.(3)Provide technical assistance to current TRC grantees. Assistance shall include, but not be limited to, staff training and development of the ITRS model as well as program capacity building for grantees.(d)Any TRC grantee funded by the board shall be eligible to receive technical assistance.(e)(1)The board shall not spend more than 5 percent of the total funds it receives from the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund on an annual basis for administrative costs.(2)From the funds received from the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund and used for administrative costs, the board shall, through a competitive process and for a period not to exceed three years, select and provide a grant for a third-party evaluator to conduct a review of the effectiveness of the trauma resource center model and the work done by grant recipients with trauma resource center funds.(f)This section does not apply to the University of California unless the Regents of the University of California, by appropriate resolution, make this section applicable.The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a)Victims of violent crime may benefit from access to structured programs of practical and emotional support. Research shows that evidence-based trauma recovery approaches are more effective, at a lesser cost, than customary fee-for-service programs. State-of-the-art fee-for-service funding increasingly emphasizes funding best practices, established through research, that can be varied but have specific core elements that remain constant from grantee to grantee. The public benefits when government agencies and grantees collaborate with institutions with expertise in establishing and conducting evidence-based services.
(b)The Trauma Recovery Center at San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF TRC), is an award-winning, nationally recognized program created in 2001 in partnership with the California Victim Compensation Board. The UCSF TRC is hereby recognized as the State Pilot Trauma Recovery Center (State Pilot TRC). The State Pilot TRC was established by the Legislature as a four-year demonstration project to develop and test a comprehensive model of care as an alternative to fee-for-service care reimbursed by victim restitution funds. It was designed to increase access for crime victims to these funds.
(c)The results of this four-year demonstration project have established that the State Pilot TRC model was both clinically effective and cost effective when compared to customary fee-for-service care. Seventy-seven percent of victims receiving trauma recovery center services engaged in mental health treatment, compared to 34 percent receiving customary care. The State Pilot TRC model increased the rate by which sexual assault victims received mental health services from 6 percent to 71 percent, successfully linked 53 percent to legal services, 40 percent to vocational services, and 31 percent to safer and more permanent housing. Trauma recovery center services cost 34 percent less than customary care.
(d)California voters approved Proposition 47, known as the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act of 2014. The measure was enacted to ensure that prison spending is focused on people who commit violent and serious offenses to maximize alternatives for people who commit nonviolent and nonserious crimes and to invest the resulting savings into prevention and support programs.
(e)The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act of 2014 requires 10 percent of the moneys in the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund to be allocated to the California Victim Compensation Board to make grants to trauma recovery centers to provide services to victims of crime.
(f)Systematic training, technical assistance, and ongoing standardized program evaluations are needed to ensure that all new state-funded trauma recovery centers are evidence-based, accountable, clinically effective, and cost effective.
(g)By providing assistance to the board in administering grants to trauma recovery centers, it is the intent of the Legislature that these services will be delivered in a clinically effective and cost-effective manner, and that the victims of crime in California will have increased access to needed services.
SEC. 2.Section 13963.1 of the Government Code is amended to read:13963.1.(a)The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1)Without treatment, approximately 50 percent of people who survive a traumatic, violent injury experience lasting or extended psychological or social difficulties. Untreated psychological trauma often has severe economic consequences, including overuse of costly medical services, loss of income, failure to return to gainful employment, loss of medical insurance, and loss of stable housing.
(2)Victims of crime should receive timely and effective mental health treatment.
(3)The board shall administer a program to evaluate applications and award grants to trauma recovery centers.
(b)The board shall award a grant only to a trauma recovery center that meets all of the following criteria:
(1)The trauma recovery center demonstrates that it serves as a community resource by providing services, including, but not limited to, making presentations and providing training to law enforcement, community-based agencies, and other health care providers on the identification and effects of violent crime.
(2)Any other related criteria required by the board.
(3)The trauma recovery center uses the core elements established in Section 13963.2.
(c)It is the intent of the Legislature to provide an annual appropriation of two million dollars ($2,000,000) per year from the Restitution Fund.
(d)The board may award a grant providing funding for up to a maximum period of three years. Any portion of a grant that a trauma recovery center does not use within the specified grant period shall revert to the Restitution Fund. The board may award consecutive grants to a trauma recovery center to prevent a lapse in funding.
(e)The board, when considering grant applications, shall give preference to a trauma recovery center that conducts outreach to, and serves, both of the following:
(1)Crime victims who typically are unable to access traditional services, including, but not limited to, victims who are homeless, chronically mentally ill, of diverse ethnicity, members of immigrant and refugee groups, disabled, who have severe trauma-related symptoms or complex psychological issues, or juvenile victims, including minors who have had contact with the juvenile dependency or justice system.
(2)Victims of a wide range of crimes, including, but not limited to, victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, physical assault, shooting, stabbing, human trafficking, and vehicular assault, and family members of homicide victims.
(f)The trauma recovery center sites shall be selected by the board through a well-defined selection process that takes into account the rate of crime and geographic distribution to serve the greatest number of victims.
(g)A trauma recovery center that is awarded a grant shall do both of the following:
(1)Report to the board annually on how grant funds were spent, how many clients were served (counting an individual client who receives multiple services only once), units of service, staff productivity, treatment outcomes, and patient flow throughout both the clinical and evaluation components of service.
(2)In compliance with federal statutes and rules governing federal matching funds for victims services, each center shall submit any forms and data requested by the board to allow the board to receive the 60 percent federal matching funds for eligible victim services and allowable expenses.
(h)For purposes of this section, a trauma recovery center provides, including, but not limited to, all of the following resources, treatments, and recovery services to crime victims:
(1)Mental health services.
(2)Assertive community-based outreach and clinical case management.
(3)Coordination of care among medical and mental health care providers, law enforcement agencies, and other social services.
(4)Services to family members and loved ones of homicide victims.
(5)A multidisciplinary staff of clinicians that includes psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers, and may include case managers and peer counselors.
SEC. 3.Section 13963.2 is added to the Government Code, to read:13963.2.The Trauma Recovery Center at the San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco, is recognized as the State Pilot Trauma Recovery Center (State Pilot TRC). The California Victim Compensation Board shall use the evidence-informed Integrated Trauma Recovery Services (ITRS) model developed by the State Pilot TRC when it selects, establishes, and implements Trauma Recovery Centers (TRCs) pursuant to Section 13963.1. All TRCs funded through the Restitution Fund or Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund shall do all of the following:
(a)Provide outreach and services to crime victims who typically are unable to access traditional services, including, but not limited to, victims who are homeless, chronically mentally ill, members of immigrant and refugee groups, disabled, who have severe trauma-related symptoms or complex psychological issues, are of diverse ethnicity or origin, or are juvenile victims, including minors who have had contact with the juvenile dependency or justice system.
(b)Serve victims of a wide range of crimes, including, but not limited to, victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, battery, crimes of violence, vehicular assault, and human trafficking, as well as family members of homicide victims.
(c)Offer evidence-based and evidence-informed mental health services and support services that include individual and group treatment, medication management, substance abuse treatment, case management, and assertive outreach. This care shall be provided in a manner that increases access to services and removes barriers to care for victims of violent crime, and may include providing services to a victim in his or her home, in the community, or at other locations conducive to maintaining quality treatment and confidentiality.
(d)Be comprised of a staff that includes a multidisciplinary team of clinicians made up of at least one psychologist and psychologist, one social worker. Additional staff clinicians worker, and additional staff. Clinicians are not required to work full-time as a member of the multidisciplinary team. At least one psychiatrist shall be available to the team to assist with medication management, provide consultation, and assist with treatment to meet the clinical needs of the victim. The psychiatrist may be on staff or on contract. A clinician shall be either a licensed clinician or a supervised clinician engaged in completion of the applicable licensure process. Clinical supervision and other supports shall be provided to staff regularly to ensure the highest quality of care and to help staff constructively manage vicarious trauma they experience as service providers to victims of violent crime. Clinicians shall meet the training or certification requirements for the evidence-based practices they use.
(e)Offer mental health services and case management that are coordinated through a single point of contact for the victim, with support from an integrated multidisciplinary treatment team. Each client receiving mental health services shall have a treatment plan in place, which is periodically reviewed by the multidisciplinary team. Examples of primary treatment goals include, but are not limited to, a decrease in psychosocial distress, minimizing long-term disability, improving overall quality of life, reducing the risk of future victimization, and promoting post-traumatic growth.
(f)Deliver services that include assertive outreach and case management including, but not limited to, accompanying a client to court proceedings, medical appointments, or other community appointments as needed, assistance with filing an application for assistance to the California Victim Compensation Board, filing police reports or filing restraining orders, assistance with obtaining safe housing and financial benefits, helping a client obtain medical care, providing assistance securing employment, and working as a liaison to other community agencies, law enforcement, or other supportive service providers as needed. TRCs shall offer outreach and case management services to clients without regard to whether clients choose to access mental health services.
(g)Ensure that no person is excluded from services solely on the basis of emotional or behavioral issues resulting from trauma, including, but not limited to, substance abuse problems, low initial motivation, or high levels of anxiety.
(h)Utilize established, evidence-based and evidence-informed practices in treatment. These practices may include, but are not limited to, motivational interviewing, harm reduction, seeking safety, cognitive behavioral therapy, and trauma-focused cognitive processing therapy.
(i)Ensure that no person is excluded from services based on immigration status.
SEC. 4.Section 13963.3 is added to the Government Code, to read:13963.3.(a)The board shall enter into an interagency agreement with the State Pilot Trauma Recovery Center (TRC) as the technical assistance provider to the board for the period between July 1, 2018, and June 30, 2020. After June 30, 2020, and every two years thereafter, the board shall select a technical assistance provider through a competitive grant process. The technical assistance provider shall be a TRC that meets the requirements in subdivision (b) of Section 13963.1. The technical assistance provider may not be a new grant recipient.
(b)The technical assistance provider shall receive a grant of no more than four hundred thousand dollars ($400,000) per year from funds that may be appropriated by the Legislature from the Restitution Fund pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 13963.1. The technical assistance provider shall be allowed indirect costs that do not exceed 5 percent of the technical assistance grant award.
(c)The technical assistance provider shall do all of the following:
(1)Assist the board in the implementation of the Integrated Trauma Recovery Services (ITRS) model.
(2)Assist other TRCs by providing training materials, technical assistance, and ongoing consultation to enable the grantees to implement evidence-based and evidence-informed practices.
(3)Provide technical assistance to current TRC grantees. Assistance shall include, but not be limited to, staff training and development of the ITRS model as well as program capacity building for grantees.
(d)Any TRC grantee funded by the board shall be eligible to receive technical assistance.
(e)(1)The board shall not spend more than 5 percent of the total funds it receives from the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund on an annual basis for administrative costs.
(2)From the funds received from the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund and used for administrative costs, the board shall, through a competitive process and for a period not to exceed three years, select and provide a grant for a third-party evaluator to conduct a review of the effectiveness of the trauma resource center model and the work done by grant recipients with trauma resource center funds.
(f)This section does not apply to the University of California unless the Regents of the University of California, by appropriate resolution, make this section applicable.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a)Victims of violent crime may benefit from access to structured programs of practical and emotional support. Research shows that evidence-based trauma recovery approaches are more effective, at a lesser cost, than customary fee-for-service programs. State-of-the-art fee-for-service funding increasingly emphasizes funding best practices, established through research, that can be varied but have specific core elements that remain constant from grantee to grantee. The public benefits when government agencies and grantees collaborate with institutions with expertise in establishing and conducting evidence-based services.
(b)The Trauma Recovery Center at San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF TRC), is an award-winning, nationally recognized program created in 2001 in partnership with the California Victim Compensation Board. The UCSF TRC is hereby recognized as the State Pilot Trauma Recovery Center (State Pilot TRC). The State Pilot TRC was established by the Legislature as a four-year demonstration project to develop and test a comprehensive model of care as an alternative to fee-for-service care reimbursed by victim restitution funds. It was designed to increase access for crime victims to these funds.
(c)The results of this four-year demonstration project have established that the State Pilot TRC model was both clinically effective and cost effective when compared to customary fee-for-service care. Seventy-seven percent of victims receiving trauma recovery center services engaged in mental health treatment, compared to 34 percent receiving customary care. The State Pilot TRC model increased the rate by which sexual assault victims received mental health services from 6 percent to 71 percent, successfully linked 53 percent to legal services, 40 percent to vocational services, and 31 percent to safer and more permanent housing. Trauma recovery center services cost 34 percent less than customary care.
(d)California voters approved Proposition 47, known as the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act of 2014. The measure was enacted to ensure that prison spending is focused on people who commit violent and serious offenses to maximize alternatives for people who commit nonviolent and nonserious crimes and to invest the resulting savings into prevention and support programs.
(e)The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act of 2014 requires 10 percent of the moneys in the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund to be allocated to the California Victim Compensation Board to make grants to trauma recovery centers to provide services to victims of crime.
(f)Systematic training, technical assistance, and ongoing standardized program evaluations are needed to ensure that all new state-funded trauma recovery centers are evidence-based, accountable, clinically effective, and cost effective.
(g)By providing assistance to the board in administering grants to trauma recovery centers, it is the intent of the Legislature that these services will be delivered in a clinically effective and cost-effective manner, and that the victims of crime in California will have increased access to needed services.
SEC. 2.Section 13963.1 of the Government Code is amended to read:13963.1.(a)The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1)Without treatment, approximately 50 percent of people who survive a traumatic, violent injury experience lasting or extended psychological or social difficulties. Untreated psychological trauma often has severe economic consequences, including overuse of costly medical services, loss of income, failure to return to gainful employment, loss of medical insurance, and loss of stable housing.
(2)Victims of crime should receive timely and effective mental health treatment.
(3)The board shall administer a program to evaluate applications and award grants to trauma recovery centers.
(b)The board shall award a grant only to a trauma recovery center that meets all of the following criteria:
(1)The trauma recovery center demonstrates that it serves as a community resource by providing services, including, but not limited to, making presentations and providing training to law enforcement, community-based agencies, and other health care providers on the identification and effects of violent crime.
(2)Any other related criteria required by the board.
(3)The trauma recovery center uses the core elements established in Section 13963.2.
(c)It is the intent of the Legislature to provide an annual appropriation of two million dollars ($2,000,000) per year from the Restitution Fund.
(d)The board may award a grant providing funding for up to a maximum period of three years. Any portion of a grant that a trauma recovery center does not use within the specified grant period shall revert to the Restitution Fund. The board may award consecutive grants to a trauma recovery center to prevent a lapse in funding.
(e)The board, when considering grant applications, shall give preference to a trauma recovery center that conducts outreach to, and serves, both of the following:
(1)Crime victims who typically are unable to access traditional services, including, but not limited to, victims who are homeless, chronically mentally ill, of diverse ethnicity, members of immigrant and refugee groups, disabled, who have severe trauma-related symptoms or complex psychological issues, or juvenile victims, including minors who have had contact with the juvenile dependency or justice system.
(2)Victims of a wide range of crimes, including, but not limited to, victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, physical assault, shooting, stabbing, human trafficking, and vehicular assault, and family members of homicide victims.
(f)The trauma recovery center sites shall be selected by the board through a well-defined selection process that takes into account the rate of crime and geographic distribution to serve the greatest number of victims.
(g)A trauma recovery center that is awarded a grant shall do both of the following:
(1)Report to the board annually on how grant funds were spent, how many clients were served (counting an individual client who receives multiple services only once), units of service, staff productivity, treatment outcomes, and patient flow throughout both the clinical and evaluation components of service.
(2)In compliance with federal statutes and rules governing federal matching funds for victims services, each center shall submit any forms and data requested by the board to allow the board to receive the 60 percent federal matching funds for eligible victim services and allowable expenses.
(h)For purposes of this section, a trauma recovery center provides, including, but not limited to, all of the following resources, treatments, and recovery services to crime victims:
(1)Mental health services.
(2)Assertive community-based outreach and clinical case management.
(3)Coordination of care among medical and mental health care providers, law enforcement agencies, and other social services.
(4)Services to family members and loved ones of homicide victims.
(5)A multidisciplinary staff of clinicians that includes psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers, case managers, and may include case managers and peer counselors.
SEC. 3.Section 13963.2 is added to the Government Code, to read:13963.2.The Trauma Recovery Center at the San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco, is recognized as the State Pilot Trauma Recovery Center (State Pilot TRC). The California Victim Compensation Board shall use the evidence-based evidence-informed Integrated Trauma Recovery Services (ITRS) model developed by the State Pilot TRC when it selects, establishes, and implements trauma recovery centers Trauma Recovery Centers (TRCs) pursuant to Section 13963.1. All ITRS programs TRCs funded through the Restitution Fund or Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund shall do all of the following:
(a)Provide outreach and services to crime victims who typically are unable to access traditional services, including, but not limited to, victims who are homeless, chronically mentally ill, members of immigrant and refugee groups, disabled, who have severe trauma-related symptoms or complex psychological issues, are of diverse ethnicity or origin, or are juvenile victims, including minors who have had contact with the juvenile dependency or justice system.
(b)Serve victims of a wide range of crimes, including, but not limited to, victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, battery, crimes of violence, vehicular assault, and human trafficking, as well as family members of homicide victims.
(c)Offer a structured evidence-based program of and evidence-informed mental health services and support services that provide victims with services that include intervention, individual and group treatment, medication management, substance abuse treatment, case management, and assertive outreach. This care shall be provided in a manner that increases access to services and removes barriers to care for victims of violent crime, such as and may include providing services to a victim in his or her home, in the community, or at other locations that may be outside the agency. conducive to maintaining quality treatment and confidentiality.
(d)Be comprised of a staff that includes a multidisciplinary team of integrated trauma clinicians made up of psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers. Psychiatrists on this team may be on staff or on contract. at least one psychologist and one social worker. Additional staff clinicians are not required to work full-time as a member of the multidisciplinary team. At least one psychiatrist shall be available to the team to assist with medication management, provide consultation, and assist with treatment to meet the clinical needs of the victim. The psychiatrist may be on staff or on contract. A trauma clinician shall be either a licensed clinician or a supervised clinician engaged in completion of the applicable licensure process. Clinical supervision and other supports shall be provided to staff regularly to ensure the highest quality of care and to help staff constructively manage vicarious trauma they experience as service providers to victims of violent crime. Clinicians shall meet the training or certification requirements for the evidence-based practices they use.
(e)Offer psychotherapy mental health services and case management that is are coordinated through a single point of contact for the victim, with support from an integrated multidisciplinary trauma treatment team. All treatment teams shall collaboratively develop treatment plans in order to achieve positive outcomes for clients. Each client receiving mental health services shall have a treatment plan in place, which is periodically reviewed by the multidisciplinary team. Examples of primary treatment goals include, but are not limited to, a decrease in psychosocial distress, minimizing long-term disability, improving overall quality of life, reducing the risk of future victimization, and promoting post-traumatic growth.
(f)Deliver services that include assertive case management. These services shall include, outreach and case management including, but are not limited to, accompanying a client to court proceedings, medical appointments, or other community appointments as needed, case management services such as assistance in the completion and filing of with filing an application for assistance to the California Victim Compensation Program, the filing of police reports, Board, filing police reports or filing restraining orders, assistance with obtaining safe housing and financial entitlements, providing linkages to benefits, helping a client obtain medical care, providing assistance securing employment, and working as a liaison to other community agencies, law enforcement, or other supportive service providers as needed. TRCs shall offer outreach and case management services to clients without regard to whether clients choose to access mental health services.
(g)Ensure that no person is excluded from services solely on the basis of emotional or behavioral issues resulting from trauma, including, but not limited to, substance abuse problems, low initial motivation, or high levels of anxiety.
(h)Adhere to Utilize established, evidence-based practices, including, and evidence-informed practices in treatment. These practices may include, but are not limited to, motivational interviewing, harm reduction, seeking safety, cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior,and trauma-focused cognitive processing therapy.
(i)Maintain as a primary goal a decrease in psychosocial distress, minimize long-term disability, improve overall quality of life, reduce the risk of future victimization, and promote post-traumatic growth.(j)Provide holistic and accountable services that ensure treatment shall be provided for up to 16 sessions. For those with ongoing problems and a primary focus on trauma, treatment may be extended after special consideration with the clinical supervisor. Extension beyond 32 sessions shall require approval by a clinical steering and utilization group that considers the clients progress in treatment and remaining need.(i)Ensure that no person is excluded from services based on immigration status.
SEC. 4.Section 13963.3 is added to the Government Code, to read:13963.3.(a)The board shall enter into an interagency agreement with the Trauma Recovery Center of the University of California, San Francisco, to establish the State Pilot TRC Trauma Recovery Center (TRC) as the technical assistance provider to the board for the period between July 1, 2018, and June 30, 2020. After June 30, 2020, and every two years thereafter, the board shall select a technical assistance provider through a competitive grant process. The technical assistance provider shall be a trauma recovery center TRC that meets the requirements in subdivision (b) of Section 13963.1. The technical assistance provider may not be a new grant recipient.
(b)The technical assistance provider shall receive a grant of no more than five four hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) ($400,000) per year from funds that may be appropriated by the Legislature from the Restitution Fund pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 13963.1. The technical assistance provider shall be allowed indirect costs that do not exceed 5 percent of the technical assistance grant award.
(c)The technical assistance provider shall do all of the following:
(1)Consult with the board to assist the board in the replication of the integrated trauma recovery services approach.(1)Assist the board in the implementation of the Integrated Trauma Recovery Services (ITRS) model.
(2)Assist the board other TRCs by providing training materials, technical assistance, and ongoing consultation to the board and to each center to enable the grantees to replicate the evidence-based approach. implement evidence-based and evidence-informed practices.
(3)Provide technical assistance to current TRC grantees. Assistance shall include, but not be limited to, staff training and development of the ITRS model as well as program capacity building for grantees.
(d)Any TRC grantee funded by the board shall be eligible to receive technical assistance.
(d)(e)(1)The board shall not spend more than 5 percent of the total funds it receives from the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund on an annual basis for administrative costs.
(2)(A)From the funds received from the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund and used for administrative costs, the board shall, through a competitive process and for a period not to exceed three years, select and provide a grant for a third-party evaluator to conduct a review of the effectiveness of the trauma resource center model and the work done by grant recipients with trauma resource center funds.
(B)The evaluator shall consult with the technical assistance provider in its design of its evaluation.(e)The board shall, in compliance with Section 9795, annually report to the Legislature on the funding received from the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund with a detailed summary of the programs funded by the moneys allocated to it from said fund.(f)This section does not apply to the University of California unless the Regents of the University of California, by appropriate resolution, make this section applicable.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a)Victims of violent crime may benefit from access to structured programs of practical and emotional support. Research shows that evidence-based trauma recovery approaches are more effective, at a lesser cost, than customary fee-for-service programs. State-of-the-art fee-for-service funding increasingly emphasizes funding best practices, established through research, that can be varied but have specific core elements that remain constant from grantee to grantee. The public benefits when government agencies and grantees collaborate with institutions with expertise in establishing and conducting evidence-based services.
(b)The Trauma Recovery Center at San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF TRC), is an award-winning, nationally recognized program created in 2001 in partnership with the California Victim Compensation Board. The UCSF TRC is hereby recognized as the State Pilot Trauma Recovery Center (State Pilot TRC). The State Pilot TRC was established by the Legislature as a four-year demonstration project to develop and test a comprehensive model of care as an alternative to fee-for-service care reimbursed by victim restitution funds. It was designed to increase access for crime victims to these funds.
(c)The results of this four-year demonstration project have established that the State Pilot TRC model was both clinically effective and cost effective when compared to customary fee-for-service care. Seventy-seven percent of victims receiving trauma recovery center services engaged in mental health treatment, compared to 34 percent receiving customary care. The State Pilot TRC model increased the rate by which sexual assault victims received mental health services from 6 percent to 71 percent, successfully linked 53 percent to legal services, 40 percent to vocational services, and 31 percent to safer and more permanent housing. Trauma recovery center services cost 34 percent less than customary care.
(d)California voters approved Proposition 47, known as the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act of 2014. The measure was enacted to ensure that prison spending is focused on violent and serious offenses to maximize alternatives for nonviolent and nonserious crimes and to invest the resulting savings into prevention and support programs.
(e)The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act of 2014 requires 10 percent of the moneys in the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund to be allocated to the California Victim Compensation Board to make grants to trauma recovery centers to provide services to victims of crime.
(f)Systematic training, technical assistance, and ongoing standardized program evaluations are needed to ensure that all new state-funded trauma recovery centers are evidence-based, accountable, clinically effective, and cost effective.
(g)By providing assistance to the board in administering grants to trauma recovery centers, it is the intent of the Legislature that these services will be delivered in a clinically effective and cost-effective manner, and that the victims of crime in California will have increased access to needed services.
SEC. 2.Section 13963.1 of the Government Code is amended to read:13963.1.(a)The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1)Without treatment, approximately 50 percent of people who survive a traumatic, violent injury experience lasting or extended psychological or social difficulties. Untreated psychological trauma often has severe economic consequences, including overuse of costly medical services, loss of income, failure to return to gainful employment, loss of medical insurance, and loss of stable housing.
(2)Victims of crime should receive timely and effective mental health treatment.
(3)The board shall administer a program to evaluate applications and award grants to trauma recovery centers.
(b)The board shall award a grant only to a trauma recovery center that meets both all of the following criteria:
(1)The trauma recovery center demonstrates that it serves as a community resource by providing services, including, but not limited to, making presentations and providing training to law enforcement, community-based agencies, and other health care providers on the identification and effects of violent crime.
(2)Any other related criteria required by the board.
(3)The trauma recovery center uses the core elements established in Section 13963.2.
(c)It is the intent of the Legislature to provide an annual appropriation of two million dollars ($2,000,000) per year. All grants awarded by the board shall be funded only year from the Restitution Fund.
(d)The board may award a grant providing funding for up to a maximum period of three years. Any portion of a grant that a trauma recovery center does not use within the specified grant period shall revert to the Restitution Fund. The board may award consecutive grants to a trauma recovery center to prevent a lapse in funding. The board shall not award a trauma recovery center more than one grant for any period of time.
(e)The board, when considering grant applications, shall give preference to a trauma recovery center that conducts outreach to, and serves, both of the following:
(1)Crime victims who typically are unable to access traditional services, including, but not limited to, victims who are homeless, chronically mentally ill, of diverse ethnicity, members of immigrant and refugee groups, disabled, who have severe trauma-related symptoms or complex psychological issues, or juvenile victims, including minors who have had contact with the juvenile dependency or justice system.
(2)Victims of a wide range of crimes, including, but not limited to, victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, physical assault, shooting, stabbing, human trafficking, and vehicular assault, and family members of homicide victims.
(f)The trauma recovery center sites shall be selected by the board through a well-defined selection process that takes into account the rate of crime and geographic distribution to serve the greatest number of victims.
(g)A trauma recovery center that is awarded a grant shall do both of the following:
(1)Report to the board annually on how grant funds were spent, how many clients were served (counting an individual client who receives multiple services only once), units of service, staff productivity, treatment outcomes, and patient flow throughout both the clinical and evaluation components of service.
(2)In compliance with federal statutes and rules governing federal matching funds for victims services, each center shall submit any forms and data requested by the board to allow the board to receive the 60 percent federal matching funds for eligible victim services and allowable expenses.
(h)For purposes of this section, a trauma recovery center provides, including, but not limited to, all of the following resources, treatments, and recovery services to crime victims:
(1)Mental health services.
(2)Assertive community-based outreach and clinical case management.
(3)Coordination of care among medical and mental health care providers, law enforcement agencies, and other social services.
(4)Services to family members and loved ones of homicide victims.
(5)A multidisciplinary staff of clinicians that includes psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, case managers, and social workers. peer counselors.
SEC. 3.Section 13963.2 is added to the Government Code, to read:13963.2.The Trauma Recovery Center at the San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco, is recognized as the State Pilot Trauma Recovery Center (State Pilot TRC). The California Victim Compensation Board shall use the evidence-based Integrated Trauma Recovery Services (ITRS) model developed by the State Pilot TRC when it selects, establishes, and implements trauma recovery centers pursuant to Section 13963.1. All ITRS programs funded through the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund shall do all of the following:
(a)Provide outreach and services to crime victims who typically are unable to access traditional services, including, but not limited to, victims who are homeless, chronically mentally ill, members of immigrant and refugee groups, disabled, who have severe trauma-related symptoms or complex psychological issues, are of diverse ethnicity or origin, or are juvenile victims, including minors who have had contact with the juvenile dependency or justice system.
(b)Serve victims of a wide range of crimes, including, but not limited to, victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, battery, crimes of violence, vehicular assault, and human trafficking, as well as family members of homicide victims.
(c)Offer a structured evidence-based program of mental health and support services that provide victims with services that include intervention, individual and group treatment, medication management, substance abuse treatment, case management, and assertive outreach. This care shall be provided in a manner that increases access to services and removes barriers to care for victims of violent crime, such as providing services to a victim in his or her home, in the community, or other locations that may be outside the agency.
(d)Be comprised of a staff that includes a multidisciplinary team of integrated trauma clinicians made up of psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers. Psychiatrists on this team may be on staff or on contract. A trauma clinician shall be either a licensed clinician or a supervised clinician engaged in completion of the applicable licensure process. Clinical supervision and other supports shall be provided to staff regularly to ensure the highest quality of care and to help staff constructively manage vicarious trauma they experience as service providers to victims of violent crime.
(e)Offer psychotherapy and case management that is coordinated through a single point of contact for the victim, with support from an integrated multidisciplinary trauma treatment team. All treatment teams shall collaboratively develop treatment plans in order to achieve positive outcomes for clients.
(f)Deliver services that include assertive case management. These services shall include, but are not limited to, accompanying a client to court proceedings, medical appointments, or other community appointments as needed, case management services such as assistance in the completion and filing of an application for assistance to the California Victim Compensation Program, the filing of police reports, assistance with obtaining safe housing and financial entitlements, providing linkages to medical care, providing assistance securing employment, and working as a liaison to other community agencies, law enforcement, or other supportive service providers as needed.
(g)Ensure that no person is excluded from services solely on the basis of emotional or behavioral issues resulting from trauma, including, but not limited to, substance abuse problems, low initial motivation, or high levels of anxiety.
(h)Adhere to established, evidence-based practices, including, but not limited to, motivational interviewing, harm reduction, seeking safety, cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior, and cognitive processing therapy.
(i)Maintain as a primary goal a decrease in psychosocial distress, minimize long-term disability, improve overall quality of life, reduce the risk of future victimization, and promote post-traumatic growth.
(j)Provide holistic and accountable services that ensure treatment shall be provided for up to 16 sessions. For those with ongoing problems and a primary focus on trauma, treatment may be extended after special consideration with the clinical supervisor. Extension beyond 32 sessions shall require approval by a clinical steering and utilization group that considers the clients progress in treatment and remaining need.
SEC. 4.Section 13963.3 is added to the Government Code, to read:13963.3.(a)The board shall enter into an interagency agreement with the Trauma Recovery Center of the University of California, San Francisco, to establish the State Pilot TRC as the technical assistance provider to the board for the period between July 1, 2018, and June 30, 2020. After June 30, 2020, and every two years thereafter, the board shall select a technical assistance provider through a competitive grant process. The technical assistance provider shall be a trauma recovery center that meets the requirements in subdivision (b) of Section 13963.1.
(b)The technical assistance provider shall receive a grant of no more than five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) per year from funds that may be appropriated by the Legislature from the Restitution Fund pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 13963.1.
(c)The technical assistance provider shall do all of the following:
(1)Consult with the board to assist the board in the replication of the integrated trauma recovery services approach.
(2)Assist the board by providing training materials, technical assistance, and ongoing consultation to the board and to each center to enable the grantees to replicate the evidence-based approach.
(d)(1)The board shall not spend more than 5 percent of the total funds it receives from the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund on an annual basis for administrative costs.
(2)(A)From the funds received from the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund and used for administrative costs, the board shall, through a competitive process and for a period not to exceed three years, select and provide a grant for a third-party evaluator to conduct a review of the effectiveness of the trauma resource center model and the work done by grant recipients with trauma resource center funds.
(B)The evaluator shall consult with the technical assistance provider in its design of its evaluation.
(e)The board shall, in compliance with Section 9795, annually report to the Legislature on the funding received from the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund with a detailed summary of the programs funded by the moneys allocated to it from said fund.
(f)This section does not apply to the University of California unless the Regents of the University of California, by appropriate resolution, make this section applicable.
REVISIONS: HeadingLine 2.|
Date
|
Status
|
|---|---|
| Oct 8, 2017 | Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 587, Statutes of 2017. |
| Oct 8, 2017 | Approved by the Governor. |
| Sep 19, 2017 | Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m. |
| Sep 11, 2017 | Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. |
| Sep 6, 2017 | In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 8 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77. |
| Sep 6, 2017 | Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. |
| Sep 5, 2017 | Read second time. Ordered to third reading. |
| Sep 1, 2017 | From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (September 1). |
| Jul 10, 2017 | In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. |
| Jun 27, 2017 | From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 27). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. |
| Jun 19, 2017 | From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. |
| Jun 14, 2017 | Referred to Com. on PUB. S. |
| Jun 5, 2017 | In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. |
| Jun 1, 2017 | Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 73. Noes 2. Page 2052.) |
| May 30, 2017 | Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. |
| May 26, 2017 | From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 13. Noes 0.) (May 26). |
| Apr 26, 2017 | In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. |
| Mar 28, 2017 | Coauthors revised. |
| Mar 13, 2017 | Referred to Com. on PUB. S. |
| Feb 19, 2017 | From printer. May be heard in committee March 21. |
| Feb 17, 2017 | Read first time. To print. |
|
Date
|
Description
|
Location
|
Votes
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 11, 2017 | AB 1384 WEBER Concurrence in Senate Amendments | Assembly Floor |
Passed |
|
| Sep 6, 2017 | Assembly 3rd Reading AB1384 Weber et al. By Wiener | Senate Floor |
Passed |
|
| Sep 1, 2017 | Do pass as amended | Senate Standing Committee on Appropriations |
Passed |
|
| Jul 10, 2017 | Placed on suspense file | Senate Standing Committee on Appropriations |
Passed |
|
| Jun 27, 2017 | Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] | Senate Standing Committee on Public Safety |
Passed |
|
| Jun 1, 2017 | AB 1384 WEBER Assembly Third Reading | Assembly Floor |
Passed |
|
| May 26, 2017 | Do pass as amended. | Assembly Standing Committee on Appropriations |
Passed |
|
| Mar 28, 2017 | Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] | Assembly Standing Committee on Public Safety |
Passed |
This list shows positions taken on this bill by organizations on the date displayed, which is linked to the original source.
Positions by individuals are not included.
|
Organization
|
Position
|
Date
|
|---|---|---|
| California Catholic Conference | ** Support | Sep 4, 2017 |
| California State Association Of Counties | ** Support | Sep 4, 2017 |
| Californians for Safety and Justice | ** Support | Sep 4, 2017 |
| Human Impact Partners | ** Support | Sep 4, 2017 |
| Social Justice Learning Institute | ** Support | Sep 4, 2017 |
| Stockton Trauma Recovery Center | * Support | Mar 28, 2017 |
| University of California | ** Support | Sep 4, 2017 |
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
CSA1 Bill Id:AB 1384
Author:(Weber)
As Amended Ver:September 1, 2017
Majority vote
ASSEMBLY: | 73-2 | (June 1, 2017) | SENATE: | 40-0 | (September 6, 2017) |
Original Committee Reference: PUB. S.
SUMMARY: Recognizes the Trauma Recovery Center at San Francisco General Hospital as the State Pilot Trauma Recovery Center (State Pilot TRC), and requires the California Victims Compensation and Government Claims Board (CVCGB) to use the model developed by this center when it awards grants to establish additional trauma recovery centers.
The Senate amendments delete provisions which require the VCGCB to enter into an interagency agreement with the State Pilot TRC to establish the pilot project as the technical assistance provider for the VCGCB.
EXISTING LAW:
- Creates the Victims of Crime Program, administered by the Board, to reimburse victims of crime for the pecuniary losses they suffer as a direct result of criminal acts. Indemnification is made from the Restitution Fund, which is continuously appropriated to the board for these purposes.
- Authorizes reimbursement to a victim for "[t]he medical or medical related expenses incurred by the victim."
- Provides that the Board shall enter into an interagency agreement with the State Pilot TRC to establish a recovery center for victims of crime at the San Francisco General Hospital for comprehensive and integrated services to victims of crime, subject to conditions set by the board. The University Regents must approve the agreement. The section shall only be implemented to the extent that funding is appropriated for that purpose.
- Includes the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act of 2014. As relevant to this bill, the act does the following:
- Reclassifies controlled substance felony and alternate felony-misdemeanor crimes as misdemeanors, except for defendants convicted of a sex offense, a specified drug crime involving specified weight of volume of the drug, a crime where the defendant used or was armed with a weapon, a homicide, solicitation of murder and any crime for which the sentence is a life term.
- Requires the Director of Finance, beginning in 2016, to calculate the savings from the reduced penalties.
- The Controller transfers the amount of savings calculated by the Finance Director and transfers that amount from the General Fund to the "Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund.
- The Controller then distributes the money in the fund according to the following formula:
- 25% to the Department of Education for a grant program to public agencies to improve outcomes for kindergarten through high school students at risk of dropping out of school or are crime victims.
- 10% to the Victims of Crime Program to fund for grants to TRCs.
- 65% to the Board of State and Community Corrections for a grant program to public agencies for mental health and drug abuse treatment and diversion programs, with an emphasis on reducing recidivism.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY, this bill was substantially similar to the version passed by the Senate.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, the additional core elements required to be met by new TRCs could result in cost pressures in the hundreds of thousands of dollars (special fund*) requiring a higher level of service of TRC grantees.
*Restitution Fund
COMMENTS: According to the author, "Victims and their families often face debilitating mental, physical, and economic consequences from the trauma of violence, sex trafficking, and other types of serious crime. They need to heal and rebuild their lives. We should ensure that providers offer a service model that is easy to access and provides integrated services tailored to the specific needs of these individuals.
"The physical and psychological trauma experienced by victims of crime requires early treatment and comprehensive care to avoid negative outcomes for the individual victim, as well as their families and communities. In California today, victims and survivors of crime often face significant hurdles accessing the immediate and comprehensive support needed to recover adequately, and they are often unaware that the state offers assistance for certain health and support services.
"Victims must navigate an often difficult and bureaucratic process in accessing state services, involving multiple agencies across different locations. For example, if a victim is ultimately approved for state support, they might have to wait three months or more to access victim compensation funds to help cover the costs of critical support services.
"Without timely holistic support, victims often suffer long-term mental health challenges and struggle to take care of their families, maintain employment and retain stable housing. Free, holistic care that is easy to access could be life changing for many victims.
"To address this pressing need, a grant program was established in 2013 to replicate a successful TRC in San Francisco. This program, housed at the Victim Compensation Board (VCB), funds $2 million annually. The TRC model was developed in 2001 to address the multiple barriers victims face recovering from crime. The TRC model utilizes a comprehensive, flexible approach that integrates three modes of service: assertive outreach, clinical case management, and evidence-based trauma-focused therapies.
"Moreover, a multidisciplinary staff provides direct mental health services and health treatment while coordinating services with law enforcement and other social services agencies. All of those services are housed under one roof.
"Survivors of crime who received services through the TRC saw significant increases in health and wellness – 74% of those served showed an improvement in mental health, and 51% demonstrated an improvement in physical health.
"TRC services also improved community engagement and public safety. People who receive services at the TRC are 56% more likely to return to employment, 44% more likely to cooperate with the district attorney, and 69% more likely to generally cooperate with law enforcement. All of these benefits are provided at a 33% lower cost than traditional providers.
"In order to ensure these same outstanding outcomes and savings, clear guidance around implementation of the TRC model must be added to the state governing the grant program."
Analysis Prepared by: Gregory Pagan / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744 FN: 0001910
Office of Senate Floor Analyses (916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) 327-4478 | AB |
THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1384
Amended: 9/1/17 in Senate
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE: 7-0, 6/27/17
AYES: Skinner, Anderson, Bradford, Jackson, Mitchell, Stone, Wiener
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 9/1/17
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Bradford, Hill, Nielsen, Wiener
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 73-2, 6/1/17 - See last page for vote
SOURCE: Californians for Safety and Justice
DIGEST:
This bill recognizes the Trauma Recovery Center (TRC) at San Francisco General Hospital as the State Pilot TRC and requires the California Victims Compensation Board (Cal VCB) to use the model developed by this center when it awards grants to establish additional TRCs.
Existing law:
- Establishes the Cal VCB to operate the California Victim Compensation Program. (Gov. Code §§ 13950 et. seq.)
- Authorizes reimbursement to a victim for "[t]he medical or medical related expenses incurred by the victim." (Gov. Code § 13957, subd. (a)(1).)
- Provides that the board shall enter into an interagency agreement with the UCSF to establish a recovery center for victims of crime at the San Francisco General Hospital for comprehensive and integrated services to victims of crime, subject to conditions set by the board. The University Regents must approve the agreement. The section shall only be implemented to the extent that funding is appropriated for that purpose. (Gov. Code § 13974.5.)
- Does the following as enacted by the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act of 2014:
- Reclassifies controlled substance felony and alternate felony-misdemeanor crimes as misdemeanors, except for defendants convicted of a sex offense, a specified drug crime involving specified weight of volume of the drug, a crime where the defendant used or was armed with a weapon, a homicide, solicitation of murder and any crime for which the sentence is a life term.
- Requires the Director of the Department of Finance (DOF), beginning in 2016, to calculate the savings from the reduced penalties.
- Requires the State Controller to transfer the amount of savings calculated by the Director of DOF from the General Fund to the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund.
- The State Controller then distributes the money in the fund according to the following formula:
- 25% to the Department of Education for a grant program to public agencies to improve outcomes for kindergarten through high school students at risk of dropping out of school or are crime victims.
- 10% to the Cal VCB to fund grants to TRCs.
- 65% to the Board of State and Community Corrections for a grant program to public agencies for mental health and drug abuse treatment and diversion programs, with an emphasis on reducing recidivism.
(Gov. Code § 7599-7599.2.)
This bill:
- Recognizes that the TRC at the San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco, as the State Pilot TRC.
- Requires the Cal VCB to use the evidence-informed Integrated Trauma Recovery Services model developed by the State Pilot TRC when it selects, establishes, and implements TRCs.
- States the intent of the Legislature to provide an annual appropriation of $2,000,000 per year from the restitution fund.
- Provides that the Cal VCB may award a grant providing funding for up to a maximum period of three years, and any portion of a grant not used within the grant period shall revert to the Restitution fund.
- States that the TRC center sites shall be selected by the board through a well-defined selection process that takes into account the rate of crime and geographic distribution to serve the greatest number of victims.
- Requires all TRCs funded through the Restitution Fund or Safe Neighborhood and Schools Fund to do all of the following:
- Provide outreach and services to crime victims who typically are unable to access traditional services, including, but not limited to, victims who are homeless, chronically mentally ill, members of immigrant and refugee groups, disabled, who have severe trauma-related symptoms or complex psychological issues, are of diverse ethnicity or origin, or are juvenile victims, including minors who have had contact with the juvenile dependency or justice system.
- Serve victims of a wide range of crimes, including, but not limited to, victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, battery, crimes of violence, vehicular assault, and human trafficking, as well as family members of homicide victims.
- Offer evidence-based and evidence-informed mental health services and support services that include individual and group treatment, medication management, substance abuse treatment, case management, and assertive outreach, as provided.
- Be comprised of a staff that includes a multidisciplinary team of clinicians made up of at least one psychologist, one social worker, and additional staff. Specifically:
- At least one psychiatrist shall be available to the team to assist with medication management, provide consultation, and assist with treatment to meet the clinical needs of the victim. The psychiatrist may be on staff or on contract;
- A clinician shall be either a licensed clinician or a supervised clinician engaged in completion of the applicable licensure process;
- Clinical supervision and other supports shall be provided to staff regularly to ensure the highest quality of care and to help staff constructively manage vicarious trauma they experience as service providers to victims of violent crime; and,
- Clinicians shall meet the training or certification requirements for the evidence-based practices they use.
- Offer mental health services and case management that are coordinated through a single point of contact for the victim, with support from an integrated multidisciplinary treatment team, as specified.
- Deliver services that include assertive outreach and case management as needed. TRCs shall offer outreach and case management services to clients without regard to whether clients choose to access mental health services.
- Ensure that no person is excluded from services solely on the basis of emotional or behavioral issues resulting from trauma, including, but not limited to, substance abuse problems, low initial motivation, or high levels of anxiety.
- Utilize established, evidence-based and evidence-informed practices in treatment. These practices may include, but are not limited to, motivational interviewing, harm reduction, seeking safety, cognitive behavioral therapy, and trauma-focused cognitive processing therapy.
- Ensure that no person is excluded from services based on immigration status.
- Requires a TRC that is awarded a grant to:
- Report to the board annually on how grant funds were spent, how many clients were served (counting an individual client who receives multiple services only once), units of service, staff productivity, treatment outcomes, and patient flow throughout both the clinical and evaluation components of service; and,
- In compliance with federal statutes and rules governing federal matching funds for victims’ services, each center shall submit any forms and data requested by the board to allow the board to receive the 60 percent federal matching funds for eligible victim services and allowable expenses.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: Fiscal Com.: Local:
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, the additional core elements required to be met by new TRCs could result in cost pressures in the hundreds of thousands of dollars (special fund*) requiring a higher level of service of TRC grantees.
*Restitution Fund
Californians for Safety and Justice (source)
California Catholic Conference
California State Association of Counties
Human Impact Partners
Social Justice Learning Institute
University of California
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 73-2, 6/1/17
AYES: Acosta, Aguiar-Curry, Arambula, Baker, Berman, Bigelow, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonta, Burke, Caballero, Calderon, Cervantes, Chau, Chávez, Chen, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Cunningham, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Eggman, Flora, Fong, Frazier, Friedman, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gipson, Gloria, Gomez, Gonzalez Fletcher, Gray, Grayson, Harper, Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Kiley, Lackey, Levine, Limón, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, Medina, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Reyes, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Rubio, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Voepel, Waldron, Weber, Wood, Rendon
NOES: Brough, Gallagher
NO VOTE RECORDED: Travis Allen, Choi, McCarty, Melendez, Patterson
Prepared by: Stella Choe / PUB. S. /
9/4/17 12:40:50
**** END ****
SENATE COMMITTEE ON
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2017 - 2018 Regular Session
AB 1384 (Weber) - Victims of violent crimes: trauma recovery centers
Version: | Policy Vote: |
Urgency: | Mandate: |
Hearing Date: | Consultant: |
Bill Summary:
AB 1384 would recognize the Trauma Recovery Center (TRC) at San Francisco General Hospital as the State Pilot TRC and would require the California Victim Compensation Board to use the model developed by this center when it awards grants to establish additional TRCs.
*********** ANALYSIS ADDENDUM – SUSPENSE FILE ***********
The following information is revised to reflect amendments
adopted by the committee on September 1, 2017
Fiscal Impact:
The additional core elements required to be met by new TRCs could result in cost pressures in the hundreds of thousands of dollars (special fund*) requiring a higher level of service of TRC grantees.
*Restitution Fund
Author Amendments:
Strike the technical assistance and independent evaluation provisions.
-- END --
SENATE COMMITTEE ON
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2017 - 2018 Regular Session
AB 1384 (Weber) - Victims of violent crimes: trauma recovery centers
Version: | Policy Vote: |
Urgency: | Mandate: |
Hearing Date: | Consultant: |
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary:
AB 1384 would recognize the Trauma Recovery Center (TRC) at San Francisco General Hospital as the State Pilot TRC and would require the California Victim Compensation Board (CalVCB) to use the model developed by this center when it awards grants to establish additional TRCs.
Fiscal Impact:
- Core elements requirements: The additional core elements required to be met by new TRCs could result in cost pressures in the hundreds of thousands of dollars (special fund*) requiring a higher level of service of TRC grantees.
- Technical assistance: Annual contract cost of up to $400,000 (special fund*) for the technical assistance provider. This amount would be a redirection of funding from the $2 million in annual funding intended by the Legislature to go to TRCs to provide direct services. The Legislature continued the annual appropriation of $2,000 to this fund for TRCs in the Budget Act of 2017.
Staff notes that the Restitution Fund is structurally imbalanced.
- Evaluation: Approximately $300,000 (special fund**) anticipated by CalVCB to contract with a third-party evaluator to conduct a review of the effectiveness of the TRC model, as specified. An additional $90,000 (special fund**) in one-time software costs to CalVCB is anticipated for data collection to facilitate the evaluation. These costs are estimated based on the projected number of sites and amount of grant funds distributed. They may increase if funds distributed for TRCs increase.
This bill requires evaluation costs to come from the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund (SNSF) and used for administrative costs by CalVCB. The board reports that administrative costs for this purpose was about $195,000 in the 2016-17 fiscal year and is estimated to be $225,900 for the 2017-18 fiscal year, which is 5 percent of the $4.5 million appropriated from SNSF for TRCs. If anticipated costs to contract with a third-party evaluator and to update software hold true, it would appear that the evaluation requirement alone (that is, without taking into account the board’s costs to administer the grant) would exceed the maximum allowed by existing law for administrative costs.
*Restitution Fund
**Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund
Background:
Existing law creates the Victims of Crime Program, administered by CalVCB, to reimburse victims of crime for the pecuniary losses (e.g., medical-related expenses) they suffer as a direct result of criminal acts. Indemnification is made from the Restitution Fund, which is continuously appropriated to CalVCB for this purpose.
Existing law requires CalVCB to enter into an interagency agreement with UCSF to establish a recovery center for victims of crime at the San Francisco General Hospital for comprehensive and integrated services to victims of crime, subject to funding appropriated for that purpose. Additionally, existing law provides for $2 million annually from the Restitution Fund to a grant program created in 2013 to replicate the successful TRC pioneered by UCSF. The TRC treatment model was developed in 2001 to address the multiple barriers victims face recovering from crime and utilizes a comprehensive, flexible approach designed to meet the unique needs of crime victims suffering from trauma. Centers utilize a multidisciplinary staff to provide direct mental health services and health treatment while coordinating services with law enforcement and other social service agencies, and all services are co-located with one coordinating point of contact for the victim.
The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act of 2014 (Proposition 47) requires the Director of Finance to calculate the annual state savings resulting from the initiative and requires the Controller to distribute the amount of savings according to a specified formula. The formula specifies that TRCs would receive 10 percent of the savings.
Proposed Law:
This bill would:
- Require CalVCB to use the evidence-informed Integrated Trauma Recovery Services model developed by the State Pilot TRC when it provides grants to TRCs.
- Require CalVCB to enter into an interagency agreement with the State Pilot TRC as the technical assistance provider to the board for the period between July 1, 2018, and June 30, 2020. The board would be required to select a TRC, through a competitive process, to be the technical assistance provider every two years thereafter and the provider would be required to assist the board by providing training materials, technical assistance, and ongoing consultation and programming to each center to enable the grantees to replicate the evidence-based and evidence-informed practices.
- Authorize CalVCB to provide grants, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the technical assistance provider, up to a specified amount.
- Require CalVCB, through a competitive process, to select a third-party evaluator to conduct a review of the effectiveness of the TRC model and the work done by grant recipients with the trauma resource center funds.
- Make specified legislative findings and declarations.
Prior Legislation:
SB 1404 (Leno, 2016) was substantially similar to this measure. SB 1401 was held on the Suspense File of the Assembly Committee on Appropriations.
SB 518 (Leno) 2015 was substantially similar to this measure. SB 518 was held on the Suspense File of the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
SB 854 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review, Ch. 28, Stats. 2014), the state and local government budget trailer bill, among its numerous provisions, revised the provision conditioning TRC grants upon appropriation of the Legislature to instead state the intent of the Legislature to annually appropriate $2 million per year from the Restitution Fund for TRC grants.
SB 71 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review, Ch. 28, Stats. 2013), the state government budget trailer bill, among its numerous provisions, required the predecessor to CalVCB to award TRC grants totaling up to $2 million per year to be funded only from the Restitution Fund upon appropriation by the Legislature.
-- END --
SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Senator Nancy Skinner, Chair
2017 - 2018 Regular
Bill No: AB 1384 Hearing Date: June 27, 2017
Author: | Weber | ||
Version: | June 19, 2017 | ||
Urgency: | No | Fiscal: | Yes |
Consultant: | SC | ||
Subject: Victims of Violent Crimes: Trauma Recovery Centers
HISTORY
Source: Californians for Safety and Justice
Prior Legislation: SB 518 (Leno), held in Assembly Appropriations, 2015
SB 1404 (Leno), held in Assembly Appropriations, 2016
SB 71 (Budget and Fiscal Review), Ch. 28, Stats. 2013
SB 733 (Leno), failed passage on the Senate Floor, 2009
AB 1669 (Leno), vetoed, 2008
AB 50 (Leno), Ch. 884, Stats. 2007
AB 2491 (Jackson), Ch. 1016, Stats. 2000
Support: California Catholic Conference; California State Association of Counties; Human Impact Partners; Social Justice Learning Institute; University of California
Opposition: None known
Assembly Floor Vote: 73 - 2
PURPOSE
The purpose of this bill is to recognize the Trauma Recovery Center (TRC) at San Francisco General Hospital as the State Pilot TRC, and require the California Victims Compensation Board (Cal VCB) to use the model developed by this center when it awards grants to establish additional TRCs.
Existing law establishes the Cal VCB to operate the California Victim Compensation Program. (Gov. Code §§ 13950 et. seq.)
Existing law authorizes reimbursement to a victim for "[t]he medical or medical related expenses incurred by the victim." (Gov. Code § 13957, subd. (a)(1).)
Existing law provides that the board shall enter into an interagency agreement with the UCSF to establish a recovery center for victims of crime at the San Francisco General Hospital for comprehensive and integrated services to victims of crime, subject to conditions set by the board. The University Regents must approve the agreement. The section shall only be implemented to the extent that funding is appropriated for that purpose. (Gov. Code § 13974.5.)
Existing law, enacted by the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act of 2014, does the following: (Gov. Code § 7599-7599.2.)
- Reclassifies controlled substance felony and alternate felony-misdemeanor crimes as misdemeanors, except for defendants convicted of a sex offense, a specified drug crime involving specified weight of volume of the drug, a crime where the defendant used or was armed with a weapon, a homicide, solicitation of murder and any crime for which the sentence is a life term.
- Requires the Director of Finance, beginning in 2016, to calculate the savings from the reduced penalties.
- Requires the Controller to transfer the amount of savings calculated by the Director of Finance from the General Fund to the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund.
- The Controller then distributes the money in the fund according to the following formula:
- 25% to the Department of Education for a grant program to public agencies to improve outcomes for kindergarten through high school students at risk of dropping out of school or are crime victims.
- 10% to the Cal VCB to fund grants to TRCs.
- 65% to the Board of State and Community Corrections for a grant program to public agencies for mental health and drug abuse treatment and diversion programs, with an emphasis on reducing recidivism.
This bill recognizes that the TRC at the San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco, as the State Pilot TRC.
This bill requires the Cal VCB to use the evidence-informed Integrated Trauma Recovery Services (ITRS) model developed by the State Pilot TRC when it selects, establishes, and implements TRCs.
This bill requires all TRCs funded through the Restitution Fund or Safe Neighborhood and Schools Fund to do all of the following:
- Provide outreach and services to crime victims who typically are unable to access traditional services, including, but not limited to, victims who are homeless, chronically mentally ill, members of immigrant and refugee groups, disabled, who have severe trauma-related symptoms or complex psychological issues, are of diverse ethnicity or origin, or are juvenile victims, including minors who have had contact with the juvenile dependency or justice system.
- Serve victims of a wide range of crimes, including, but not limited to, victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, battery, crimes of violence, vehicular assault, and human trafficking, as well as family members of homicide victims.
- Offer evidence-based and evidence-informed mental health services and support services that include individual and group treatment, medication management, substance abuse treatment, case management, and assertive outreach, as provided.
- Be comprised of a staff that includes a multidisciplinary team of clinicians made up of at least one psychologist, one social worker, and additional staff. Specifically,
- At least one psychiatrist shall be available to the team to assist with medication management, provide consultation, and assist with treatment to meet the clinical needs of the victim. The psychiatrist may be on staff or on contract;
- A clinician shall be either a licensed clinician or a supervised clinician engaged in completion of the applicable licensure process;
- Clinical supervision and other supports shall be provided to staff regularly to ensure the highest quality of care and to help staff constructively manage vicarious trauma they experience as service providers to victims of violent crime; and,
- Clinicians shall meet the training or certification requirements for the evidence-based practices they use.
- Offer mental health services and case management that are coordinated through a single point of contact for the victim, with support from an integrated multidisciplinary treatment team, as specified.
- Deliver services that include assertive outreach and case management as needed. TRCs shall offer outreach and case management services to clients without regard to whether clients choose to access mental health services.
- Ensure that no person is excluded from services solely on the basis of emotional or behavioral issues resulting from trauma, including, but not limited to, substance abuse problems, low initial motivation, or high levels of anxiety.
- Utilize established, evidence-based and evidence-informed practices in treatment. These practices may include, but are not limited to, motivational interviewing, harm reduction, seeking safety, cognitive behavioral therapy, and trauma-focused cognitive processing therapy.
- Ensure that no person is excluded from services based on immigration status.
This bill states that the Cal VCB shall enter into an interagency agreement with the State Pilot TRC as the technical assistance provider to the board for the period between July 1, 2018, and June 30, 2020.
This bill states that after June 30, 2020, and every two years thereafter, the Cal VCB shall select a technical assistance provider, which shall be a TRC that meets the requirements specified, through a competitive grant process.
This bill provides that the technical assistance provider shall receive a grant of no more than $400,000 per year from funds that may be appropriated by the Legislature from the Restitution Fund. The technical assistance provider shall be allowed indirect costs that do not exceed 5 percent of the technical assistance grant award.
This bill requires the technical assistance provider to do all of the following:
- Assist in the implementation of the ITRS model;
- Assist other TRCs by providing training materials, technical assistance, and ongoing consultation to enable the grantees to implement evidence-based and evidence-informed practices;
- Provide technical assistance to current TRC grantees, which shall include, but not be limited to, staff training and development of the ITRS model as well as program capacity building for grantees.
This bill states that the Cal VCB shall not spend more than 5 percent of the total funds it receives from the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund on an annual basis for administrative costs.
This bill requires the Cal VCB to select and provide a grant, from the funds received from the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund and used for administrative costs, for a third-party evaluator to conduct a review of the effectiveness of the trauma resource center model and the work done by grant recipients with trauma resource center funds.
This bill exempts the University of California from the provisions in this bill related to selecting a technical assistance provider unless the Regents of the University of California makes the bill applicable by appropriate resolution.
This bill makes several legislative findings and declarations, including:
- That State Pilot TRC was established by the Legislature as a four-year demonstration project to develop and test a comprehensive model of care as an alternative to fee-for-service care reimbursed by victim restitution funds. It was designed to increase access for crime victims to these funds.
- The results of this four-year demonstration project have established that the State Pilot TRC model was both clinically effective and cost effective when compared to customary fee-for-service care. Seventy-seven percent of victims receiving trauma recovery center services engaged in mental health treatment, compared to 34 percent receiving customary care. The State Pilot TRC model increased the rate by which sexual assault victims received mental health services from 6 percent to 71 percent, successfully linked 53 percent to legal services, 40 percent to vocational services, and 31 percent to safer and more permanent housing. Trauma recovery center services cost 34 percent less than customary care.
- Systematic training, technical assistance, and ongoing standardized program evaluations are needed to ensure that all new state-funded trauma recovery centers are evidence-based, accountable, clinically effective, and cost effective.
COMMENTS
1. Need for This Bill
According to the author:
Victims must navigate an often difficult and bureaucratic process in accessing state services, involving multiple agencies across different locations. For example, if a victim is ultimately approved for state support, they might have to wait three months or more to access victim compensation funds to help cover the costs of critical support services.
Without timely holistic support, victims often suffer long-term mental health challenges and struggle to take care of their families, maintain employment and retain stable housing. Free, holistic care that is easy to access could be life changing for many victims.
To address this pressing need, a grant program was established in 2013 to replicate a successful TRC in San Francisco. This program, housed at the VCB [Victims Compensation Board], funds $2 million in grants annually.
The TRC treatment model was developed in 2001 to address the multiple barriers victims face recovering from crime. The TRC model utilizes a comprehensive, flexible approach that integrates three modes of service: assertive outreach, clinical case management, and evidence-based trauma-focused therapies.
Moreover, a multidisciplinary staff provides direct mental health services and health treatment while coordinating services with law enforcement and other social service agencies. All of these services are housed under one roof.
Survivors of crime who received services through the TRC saw significant increases in health and wellness. Seventy-four percent of those served showed an improvement in mental health, and 51% demonstrated an improvement in physical health.
TRC services have also improved community engagement and public safety. People who receive services at the TRC are 56% more likely to return to employment, 44% more likely to cooperate with the district attorney, and 69% more likely to generally cooperate with law enforcement. All of these benefits are provided at a 33% lower cost than traditional providers.
In order to ensure these same outstanding outcomes and savings, clear guidance around implementation of the TRC model must be added to the statute governing the grant program.
2. History of the TRC at San Francisco General Hospital
The TRC at San Francisco General Hospital was originally established pursuant to legislation passed in 2000. AB 2491 (Jackson, Chapter 1016, Statutes of 2000), among other provisions, required the Cal VCB (formerly the California Victims Compensation and Government Claims Board) to enter into an interagency agreement with the University of California, San Francisco, to establish a victims of crime recovery center at San Francisco General Hospital as a four year pilot project to demonstrate the effectiveness of providing comprehensive and integrated services to victims of crime, as an alternative to fee-for-service care reimbursed by the Victim Restitution funds. The goals of the TRC included improving the process of care for victims of crime by enhancing medical services for acute victims of sexual assault, linking victims to other services to facilitate recovery, and improving access to victim compensation funds.
In May 2004, the Cal VCB published its required report to the Legislature on the effectiveness of the victims of crime recovery center, and concluded that the TRC model provides a wider, more effective, range of services at a lower cost for trauma victims that the traditional fee-for-service mental health treatment programs. According to the report, the data demonstrated that this model of care is effective in engaging victims of crime with needed services, improving cooperation with law enforcement, reducing homelessness, facilitating return to work, reducing alcohol and drug abuse, and improving quality of life among victims of interpersonal violence.
3. Proposition 47 and Trauma Recovery Center Funding
On November 4, 2014, voters approved Proposition 47, titled the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, which was placed on the ballot as a citizen’s initiative. Proposition 47 made significant changes to the state’s criminal justice system by reducing penalties for certain non-violent, nonserious drug and property crimes, and requiring that the resulting savings be spent on (1) mental health and substance abuse treatment services, (2) truancy and dropout prevention, and (3) victim services. To carry out its purpose, Proposition 47 established the Safe Neighborhood and Schools Fund, and required that by August 15 of each fiscal year, the Controller disburse moneys deposited into the Safe Neighborhood and Schools Fund as follows: 25% to the Department of Education to improve outcomes for pupils by reducing truancy and supporting students who are risk of dropping out or are victims of crime; 10% to the Cal VCB to make grants to TRCs to provide services to victims of crime; and, 65% to the Board of State and Community Corrections, to administer a grant program to public agencies, as specified.
According to the California Secretary of State's Web site, 59.6 % of voters approved Proposition 47. (See <http://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/sov/2014-general/pdf/2014-complete-sov.pdf> [as of June 19, 2017].) The purpose of the measure was "to maximize alternatives for nonserious, nonviolent crime, and to invest the savings generated from this act into prevention and support programs in K–12 schools, victim services, and mental health and drug treatment." (Ballot Pamp., Gen. Elec. (Nov. 4, 2014), Text of Proposed Laws, p. 70.) One of the ways the measure created savings was by requiring misdemeanor penalties instead of felonies for nonserious, nonviolent crimes like petty theft and drug possession for personal use, unless the defendant has prior convictions for specified violent crimes. (Ibid.)
5. Argument in Support
Californians for Safety and Justice, the sponsor of this bill, writes:
The Trauma Recovery Center model, pioneered in San Francisco in 2001, provides a comprehensive, flexible approach that integrates three modes of service – assertive outreach, clinical case management, and evidence-based trauma-focused therapies. This model is designed to meet the special needs of crime victims suffering from trauma by utilizing a multidisciplinary staff to provide direct mental health services and health treatment while coordinating services with law enforcement and other social service agencies – all under one roof. Survivors of crime who received services through the TRC saw huge increases in health and wellness – 74% show an improvement in mental health, and 51% demonstrate an improvement in physical health. TRC services also improved community engagement and public safety. People who receive services at the TRC are 56% more likely to return to employment, and people who receive services are 44% more likely to cooperate with the district attorney, and 69% more likely to cooperate with law enforcement.
In 2013, a grant program was created to replicate this successful TRC model in other parts of California. This program, housed at the Victim Compensation Board (VCB), totals $2 million annually. These funds, coupled with savings realized by passage of the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, offer California crime survivors in communities across California the opportunity to access high quality services for people recovering from traumatic events. AB 1384 will ensure that those services are consistent across the state while also helping new programs receive grants to build capacity to offer all the core services that are standard to TRCs.
-- END –
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
ATR Bill Id:
Author:(Weber)
As Amended Ver:May 30, 2017
Majority vote
Committee | Votes | Ayes | Noes |
Public Safety | 7-0 | Jones-Sawyer, Lackey, Cunningham, Gonzalez Fletcher, Quirk, Rubio, Santiago | |
Appropriations | 13-0 | Gonzalez Fletcher, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonta, Calderon, McCarty, Quirk, Fong, Friedman, Eduardo Garcia, Gray, Muratsuchi, Reyes |
|
SUMMARY: Recognizes the Trauma Recovery Center at San Francisco General Hospital as the State Pilot Trauma Recovery Center, and requires the California Victims Compensation and Government Claims Board to use the model developed by this center when it awards grants to establish additional trauma recovery centers. Specifically, this bill:
- Provides that the Trauma Recovery Center at the San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco is recognized as the State Pilot Trauma Recovery Center (State Pilot TRC). The California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board shall use the evidence-informed Integrated Trauma Recovery Services (ITRS) model developed by the State Pilot TRC when it selects, establishes, and implements trauma recovery centers pursuant to Section 13963.1. In replicating programs funded by the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board, the ITRS can be modified to adapt to different populations, but it shall include the following core elements:
- Provide outreach and services to crime victims who typically are unable to access traditional services, including, but not limited to, victims who are homeless, chronically mentally ill, of diverse ethnicity, members of immigrant and refugee groups, disabled, who have severe trauma-related symptoms or complex psychological issues, or juvenile victims, including minors who have had contact with the juvenile dependency or justice system;
- Victims of a wide range of crimes, including, but not limited to, victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, physical assault, shooting, stabbing, and vehicular assault, human trafficking, and family members of homicide victims;
- A structured evidence-informed program of mental health and support services provided to victims of violent crimes or family members of homicide victims that includes crisis intervention, individual and group treatment, medication management, substance abuse treatment, case management, and assertive outreach. This care shall be provided in a manner that increases access to services and removes barriers to care for victims of violent crime. This includes providing services in the client's home, in the community, or other locations outside the agency;
- Staff shall include a multidisciplinary team of integrated trauma specialists that includes psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers. The integrated trauma specialist shall be a licensed clinician, or a supervised clinician engaged in completion of the applicable licensure process. Clinical supervision and other supports are provided to staff on a weekly basis to ensure the highest quality of care and to help staff deal constructively with vicarious trauma;
- Psychotherapy and case management shall be provided by a single point of contact for the client, that is an individual trauma specialist, with support from an integrated trauma treatment team. In order to ensure the highest quality of care, the treatment team shall collaboratively develop treatment plans in order to achieve positive outcomes for clients;
- Services shall include assertive case management, including, but not limited to, a trauma specialist accompanying the client to court proceedings, medical appointments, or other community appointments as needed. Case management services shall include, but not be limited to, assisting clients file victim compensation applications, file police reports, help with obtaining safe housing and financial entitlements, linkages with medical care, assistance in return to work, liaison with other community agencies, law enforcement, and other support services as needed;
- Clients shall not be excluded from services solely on the basis of emotional or behavioral issues resulting from trauma, including, but not limited to, substance abuse problems, low initial motivation, or high levels of anxiety;
- Trauma recovery services shall incorporate established evidence-informed practices, including, but not limited to, motivational interviewing, harm reduction, seeking safety, cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior, and cognitive processing therapy;
- The goals of a trauma recovery center shall be to decrease psychosocial distress, minimize long-term disability, improve overall quality of life, reduce the risk of future victimization, and promote post-traumatic growth; and
- In order to ensure that clients are receiving targeted and accountable services, treatment shall be provided up to 16 sessions. For those with ongoing problems and a primary focus on trauma, treatment may be extended after special consideration with the clinical supervisor. Extension beyond 32 sessions shall require approval by a clinical steering and utilization group that considers the client's progress in treatment and remaining need.
- Requires the Board, upon appropriation of funds from the Victim Restitution Fund by the Legislature and resolution by the Regents of the University of California, to enter into an interagency agreement with the State Pilot TRC to establish the pilot project as the technical assistance provider to the board for the period between July 1, 2018, and June 30, 2020. After this period, the board is required to select a technical assistance provider, as specified. The technical assistance provider shall do all of the following:
- Consult with the board to assist the board in the replication of the integrated trauma recovery services approach;
- Assist the Board by providing training materials, technical assistance and provide ongoing consultation to the board and to each center;
- Limit spending on administrative costs, as specified;
- Provide a grant, as specified, for a third-party evaluator to consult with the technical assistance provider and review the effectiveness of the programs; and
- Annually report on the funding received from the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund with a report on the programs funded by the money.
- Finds and declares the following:
- Victims of violent crime may benefit from access to structured programs of practical and emotional support. Research shows that evidence-informed trauma recovery approaches are more effective, at a lesser cost, than customary fee-for-service programs. State-of-the-art fee-for-service funding increasingly emphasizes funding best practices, established through research, that can be varied but have specific core elements that remain constant from grantee to grantee. The public benefits when government agencies and grantees collaborate with institutions with expertise in establishing and conducting evidence-informed services;
- The Trauma Recovery Center at San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF TRC), is an award-winning, nationally recognized program created in 2001 in partnership with the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board. The UCSF TRC is hereby recognized as the State Pilot Trauma Recovery Center (State Pilot TRC). The State Pilot TRC was established by the Legislature as a four-year demonstration project to develop and test a comprehensive model of care as an alternative to fee-for-service care reimbursed by victim restitution funds. It was designed to increase access for crime victims to these funds;
- The results of this four-year demonstration project have established that the State Pilot TRC model was both clinically effective and cost effective when compared to customary fee-for-service care. Seventy-seven percent of victims receiving trauma recovery center services engaged in mental health treatment, compared to 34% receiving customary care. The State Pilot TRC model increased the rate by which sexual assault victims received mental health services from 6% to 71%, successfully linked 53% to legal services, 40% to vocational services, and 31% to safer and more permanent housing. Trauma recovery center services cost 34% less than customary care;
- California voters approved Proposition 47, known as the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act of 2014. This measure was enacted to ensure that prison spending is focused on violent and serious offenses to maximize alternatives for nonviolent and nonserious crimes and to invest the resulting savings into prevention and support programs;
- The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act of 2014 requires 10% of the moneys allocated in the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund to be allocated to the California Victim Compensation Board to make grants to trauma recovery centers to provide services to victims of crime;
- The Legislature further finds and declares that systematic training, technical assistance, and ongoing standardized program evaluations are needed to ensure that all new state-funded trauma recovery centers are evidence informed, accountable, and clinically effective and cost effective; and
- By providing assistance to the board in administering grants to trauma recovery centers, it is the intent of the Legislature to increase access to needed services for victims of crime and that these services be delivered in a clinically effective and cost-effective manner.
EXISTING LAW:
- Creates the Victims of Crime Program, administered by the Board , to reimburse victims of crime for the pecuniary losses they suffer as a direct result of criminal acts. Indemnification is made from the Restitution Fund, which is continuously appropriated to the board for these purposes.
- Authorizes reimbursement to a victim for "[t]he medical or medical related expenses incurred by the victim."
- Provides that the Board shall enter into an interagency agreement with the State Pilot TRC to establish a recovery center for victims of crime at the San Francisco General Hospital for comprehensive and integrated services to victims of crime, subject to conditions set by the board. The University Regents must approve the agreement. The section shall only be implemented to the extent that funding is appropriated for that purpose.
- Includes the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act of 2014. As relevant to this bill, the act does the following:
- Reclassifies controlled substance felony and alternate felony-misdemeanor crimes as misdemeanors, except for defendants convicted of a sex offense, a specified drug crime involving specified weight of volume of the drug, a crime where the defendant used or was armed with a weapon, a homicide, solicitation of murder and any crime for which the sentence is a life term.
- Requires the Director of Finance, beginning in 2016, to calculate the savings from the reduced penalties.
- The Controller transfers the amount of savings calculated by the Finance Director and transfers that amount from the General Fund to the "Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund.
- The Controller then distributes the money in the fund according to the following formula:
- 25% to the Department of Education for a grant program to public agencies to improve outcomes for kindergarten through high school students at risk of dropping out of school or are crime victims.
- 10% to the Victims of Crime Program to fund for grants to TRCs.
- 65% to the Board of State and Community Corrections for a grant program to public agencies for mental health and drug abuse treatment and diversion programs, with an emphasis on reducing recidivism.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee:
- The additional core elements required to be met by new TRCs could result in cost pressures in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Victim Restitution Fund (VRF) by requiring a higher level of service of TRC grantees.
- Annual contract cost of up to $400,000 for the technical assistance provider.
COMMENTS: According to the author, "Victims and their families often face debilitating mental, physical, and economic consequences from the trauma of violence, sex trafficking, and other types of serious crime. They need to heal and rebuild their lives. We should ensure that providers offer a service model that is easy to access and provides integrated services tailored to the specific needs of these individuals.
"The physical and psychological trauma experienced by victims of crime requires early treatment and comprehensive care to avoid negative outcomes for the individual victim, as well as their families and communities. In California today, victims and survivors of crime often face significant hurdles accessing the immediate and comprehensive support needed to recover adequately, and they are often unaware that the state offers assistance for certain health and support services.
"Victims must navigate an often difficult and bureaucratic process in accessing state services, involving multiple agencies across different locations. For example, if a victim is ultimately approved for state support, they might have to wait three months or more to access victim compensation funds to help cover the costs of critical support services.
"Without timely holistic support, victims often suffer long-term mental health challenges and struggle to take care of their families, maintain employment and retain stable housing. Free, holistic care that is easy to access could be life changing for many victims.
"To address this pressing need, a grant program was established in 2013 to replicate a successful TRC in San Francisco. This program, housed at the Victim Compensation Board (VCB), funds $2 million annually. The TRC model was developed in 2001 to address the multiple barriers victims face recovering from crime. The TRC model utilizes a comprehensive, flexible approach that integrates three modes of service: assertive outreach, clinical case management, and evidence-based trauma-focused therapies.
"Moreover, a multidisciplinary staff provides direct mental health services and health treatment while coordinating services with law enforcement and other social services agencies. All of those services are housed under one roof.
"Survivors of crime who received services through the TRC saw significant increases in health and wellness – seventy-four percent of those served showed an improvement in mental health, and 51% demonstrated an improvement in physical health.
"TRC services also improved community engagement and public safety. People who receive services at the TRC are 56% more likely to return to employment, 44% more likely to cooperate with the district attorney, and 69% more likely to generally cooperate with law enforcement. All of these benefits are provided at a 33% lower cost than traditional providers.
"In order to ensure these same outstanding outcomes and savings, clear guidance around implementation of the TRC model must be added to the state governing the grant program."
Analysis Prepared by: Adam Smith / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744 FN: 0000607
Date of Hearing: April 26, 2017
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, Chair
ABPCA Bill Id:AB 1384
Author:(Weber) – As Introduced Ver:February 17, 2017
Policy Committee: | Public Safety | Vote: | 7 - 0 |
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill requires the California Victim Compensation Board (Board) to use a specified evidence-based Integrated Trauma Recovery Services (ITRS) model, developed by the Trauma Recovery Center (TRC) at the San Francisco General Hospital, University of California San Francisco (UCSF), (recognized as the State Pilot TRC) when giving a grant to a TRC. This bill also specifies core elements that the ITRS model must include.
This bill requires the Board to enter into two-year competitive contracts, for up to $500,000 per year, for a technical assistance provider that meets specified criteria, however, the State Pilot TRC must be the first technical assistance provider between July 1, 2018, and June 30, 2020.
FISCAL EFFECT:
- The additional core elements required to be met by new TRCs could result in cost pressures in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Victim Restitution Fund (VRF) by requiring a higher level of service of TRC grantees.
- Annual contract cost of up to $500,000 for the technical assistance provider.
COMMENTS:
- Purpose. According to the author, Victims of crimes and their families need to heal and rebuild their lives. We should ensure that providers offer a service model that is easy to access and provides integrated services tailored to the specific needs of these individuals. The author states, “People who receive services at the TRC are 56% more likely to return to employment, 44% more likely to cooperate with the district attorney, and 69% more likely to generally cooperate with law enforcement. All of these benefits are provided at a 33% lower cost than traditional providers.”
- Background. Current law requires the Board to enter into an interagency agreement with UCSF to establish a recovery center for victims of crime at the San Francisco General Hospital for comprehensive and integrated services to victims of crime, subject to funding. The state budget act appropriates $2 million annually to a grant program created in 2013 to replicate this successful TRC.
The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act of 2014 (Proposition 47) reclassified controlled substance felony and alternate felony-misdemeanor crimes as misdemeanors, with some exceptions. The Director of Finance, beginning in 2016, is required to calculate the savings from the reduced penalties and the State Controller is required to transfer the amount of savings calculated by the Director from the General Fund to the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund, with 10% of this amount to be transferred to the Victims of Crime Program to fund grants to TRCs.
- Legislative Analyst’s Report: In March of 2015, the Legislative Analyst’s Office released a report “Improving State Programs for Crime Victims” (LAO report). According to the LAO report, if appropriately structured, TRCs can provide a wide array of services to victims at a single location and can complement existing victim programs. The LAO recommended that the Legislature structure the TRC grants to ensure the funds are spent in an effective and efficient manner and to require the evaluation of TRC grant recipients and their outcomes. The LAO also recommended that the Legislature adopt statutory changes to allow TRCs to have formally recognized victim advocates, which would allow TRCs to have trained staff that can represent victims in their application for victim compensation funds, which would likely increase the approval rate. The LAO also recommended prioritizing TRC grants to regions that do not have a TRC, noting that there are many victims who do not have access to a TRC because they do not live in Los Angeles or San Francisco.
- Argument in Support. According to Californians for Safety and Justice, “The Trauma Recovery Center model, pioneered in San Francisco in 2001, provides a comprehensive, flexible approach that integrates three modes of service – assertive outreach, clinical case management, and evidence-based trauma-focused therapies.” The model is designed to meet the special needs of crime victims suffering from trauma by utilizing a multidisciplinary staff to provide direct mental health services and health treatment while coordinating services with law enforcement and other social service agencies.
- Prior Legislation. SB 518 and SB 1404 (both by Leno), of the 2015-2016 Legislative Session, were very similar to this bill. Both were held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
SB 71 (Budget and Fiscal Review) , Chapter 28, Statutes of 2013, authorized the Board to administer a program to award, upon appropriation by the Legislature, up to $2 millon in grants, annually, to trauma recovery centers, as defined, funded from the Restitution Fund.
SB 733 (Leno), of the 2009-2010 legislative session, failed passage on the Senate Floor, would have authorized the VCGCB to evaluate applications and award grants totaling up to $3 million, up to $1.7 million per center, to multi-disciplinary TRCs that provide specified services to and resources for crime victims.
AB 1669 (Leno), of the 2007-08 Legislative Session, would have appropriated $1.5 million for the TRC at the San Francisco General Hospital. AB 1669 was vetoed.
AB 50 (Leno), Chapter 884, Statutes of 2006, appropriated $1.3 million for the TRC at the San Francisco General Hospital.
Analysis Prepared by: Pedro Reyes / APPR. / (916) 319-2081
Date of Hearing: March 28, 2017
Consultant: Adam Smith
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON
Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer, Sr., Chair
ABPCA Bill Id:
Author:() – As Ver:February 17, 2017
SUMMARY:
Recognizes the Trauma Recovery Center at San Francisco General Hospital as the State Pilot Trauma Recovery Center, and requires the California Victims Compensation and Government Claims Board to use the model developed by this center when it awards grants to establish additional trauma recovery centers. Specifically, this bill:
- Provides that the Trauma Recovery Center at the San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco is recognized as the State Pilot Trauma Recovery Center (State Pilot TRC). The California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board shall use the evidence-based Integrated Trauma Recovery Services (ITRS) model developed by the State Pilot TRC when it selects, establishes, and implements trauma recovery centers pursuant to Section 13963.1. In replicating programs funded by the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board, the ITRS can be modified to adapt to different populations, but it shall include the following core elements:
- Provide outreach and services to crime victims who typically are unable to access traditional services, including, but not limited to, victims who are homeless, chronically mentally ill, of diverse ethnicity, members of immigrant and refugee groups, disabled, who have severe trauma-related symptoms or complex psychological issues, or juvenile victims, including minors who have had contact with the juvenile dependency or justice system;
- Victims of a wide range of crimes, including, but not limited to, victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, physical assault, shooting, stabbing, and vehicular assault, human trafficking, and family members of homicide victims;
- A structured evidence-based program of mental health and support services provided to victims of violent crimes or family members of homicide victims that includes crisis intervention, individual and group treatment, medication management, substance abuse treatment, case management, and assertive outreach. This care shall be provided in a manner that increases access to services and removes barriers to care for victims of violent crime. This includes providing services in the client’s home, in the community, or other locations outside the agency;
- Staff shall include a multidisciplinary team of integrated trauma specialists that includes psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers. The integrated trauma specialist shall be a licensed clinician, or a supervised clinician engaged in completion of the applicable licensure process. Clinical supervision and other supports are provided to staff on a weekly basis to ensure the highest quality of care and to help staff deal constructively with vicarious trauma;
- Psychotherapy and case management shall be provided by a single point of contact for the client, that is an individual trauma specialist, with support from an integrated trauma treatment team. In order to ensure the highest quality of care, the treatment team shall collaboratively develop treatment plans in order to achieve positive outcomes for clients;
- Services shall include assertive case management, including, but not limited to, a trauma specialist accompanying the client to court proceedings, medical appointments, or other community appointments as needed. Case management services shall include, but not be limited to, assisting clients file victim compensation applications, file police reports, help with obtaining safe housing and financial entitlements, linkages with medical care, assistance in return to work, liaison with other community agencies, law enforcement, and other support services as needed;
- Clients shall not be excluded from services solely on the basis of emotional or behavioral issues resulting from trauma, including, but not limited to, substance abuse problems, low initial motivation, or high levels of anxiety;
- Trauma recovery services shall incorporate established evidence-based practices, including, but not limited to, motivational interviewing, harm reduction, seeking safety, cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior, and cognitive processing therapy;
- The goals of a trauma recovery center shall be to decrease psychosocial distress, minimize long-term disability, improve overall quality of life, reduce the risk of future victimization, and promote post-traumatic growth; and
- In order to ensure that clients are receiving targeted and accountable services, treatment shall be provided up to 16 sessions. For those with ongoing problems and a primary focus on trauma, treatment may be extended after special consideration with the clinical supervisor. Extension beyond 32 sessions shall require approval by a clinical steering and utilization group that considers the client’s progress in treatment and remaining need.
- Requires the Board, upon appropriation of funds from the Victim Restitution Fund by the Legislature and resolution by the Regents of the University of California, to enter into an interagency agreement with the State Pilot TRC to establish the pilot project as the technical assistance provider to the board for the period between July 1, 2018, and June 30, 2020. After this period, the board is required to select a technical assistance provider, as specified. The technical assistance provider shall do all of the following:
- Consult with the board to assist the board in the replication of the integrated trauma recovery services approach;
- Assist the Board by providing training materials, technical assistance and provide ongoing consultation to the board and to each center;
- Limit spending on administrative costs, as specified;
- Provide a grant, as specified, for a third-party evaluator to consult with the technical assistance provider and review the effectiveness of the programs; and
- Annually report on the funding received from the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund with a report on the programs funded by the money.
- Finds and declares the following:
- Victims of violent crime may benefit from access to structured programs of practical and emotional support. Research shows that evidence-based trauma recovery approaches are more effective, at a lesser cost, than customary fee-for-service programs. State-of-the-art fee-for-service funding increasingly emphasizes funding best practices, established through research, that can be varied but have specific core elements that remain constant from grantee to grantee. The public benefits when government agencies and grantees collaborate with institutions with expertise in establishing and conducting evidence-based services;
- The Trauma Recovery Center at San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF TRC), is an award-winning, nationally recognized program created in 2001 in partnership with the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board. The UCSF TRC is hereby recognized as the State Pilot Trauma Recovery Center (State Pilot TRC). The State Pilot TRC was established by the Legislature as a four-year demonstration project to develop and test a comprehensive model of care as an alternative to fee-for-service care reimbursed by victim restitution funds. It was designed to increase access for crime victims to these funds;
- The results of this four-year demonstration project have established that the State Pilot TRC model was both clinically effective and cost effective when compared to customary fee-for-service care. Seventy-seven percent of victims receiving trauma recovery center services engaged in mental health treatment, compared to 34 percent receiving customary care. The State Pilot TRC model increased the rate by which sexual assault victims received mental health services from 6 percent to 71 percent, successfully linked 53 percent to legal services, 40 percent to vocational services, and 31 percent to safer and more permanent housing. Trauma recovery center services cost 34 percent less than customary care;
- California voters approved Proposition 47, known as the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act of 2014. This measure was enacted to ensure that prison spending is focused on violent and serious offenses to maximize alternatives for nonviolent and nonserious crimes and to invest the resulting savings into prevention and support programs;
- The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act of 2014 requires 10 percent of the moneys allocated in the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund to be allocated to the California Victim Compensation Board to make grants to trauma recovery centers to provide services to victims of crime;
- The Legislature further finds and declares that systematic training, technical assistance, and ongoing standardized program evaluations are needed to ensure that all new state-funded trauma recovery centers are evidence based, accountable, and clinically effective and cost effective; and
- By providing assistance to the board in administering grants to trauma recovery centers, it is the intent of the Legislature to increase access to needed services for victims of crime and that these services be delivered in a clinically effective and cost-effective manner.
EXISTING LAW:
- Creates the Victims of Crime Program, administered by the Board , to reimburse victims of crime for the pecuniary losses they suffer as a direct result of criminal acts. Indemnification is made from the Restitution Fund, which is continuously appropriated to the board for these purposes. (Gov. Code, §§ 13950-13968.)
- Authorizes reimbursement to a victim for "[t]he medical or medical related expenses incurred by the victim." (Gov. Code, § 13957, subd. (a)(1).)
- Provides that the Board shall enter into an interagency agreement with the UCSF to establish a recovery center for victims of crime at the San Francisco General Hospital for comprehensive and integrated services to victims of crime, subject to conditions set by the board. The University Regents must approve the agreement. The section shall only be implemented to the extent that funding is appropriated for that purpose. (Gov. Code, § 13974.5.)
- Includes the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act of 2014. As relevant to this bill, the act does the following: (Gov. Code, § 7599-7599.2.)
- Reclassifies controlled substance felony and alternate felony-misdemeanor crimes as misdemeanors, except for defendants convicted of a sex offense, a specified drug crime involving specified weight of volume of the drug, a crime where the defendant used or was armed with a weapon, a homicide, solicitation of murder and any crime for which the sentence is a life term.
- Requires the Director of Finance, beginning in 2016, to calculate the savings from the reduced penalties.
- The Controller transfers the amount of savings calculated by the Finance Director and transfers that amount from the General Fund to the “Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund.
- The Controller then distributes the money in the fund according to the following formula:
- 25% to the Department of Education for a grant program to public agencies to improve outcomes for kindergarten through high school students at risk of dropping out of school or are crime victims.
- 10% to the Victims of Crime Program to fund for grants to TRCs.
- 65% to the Board of State and Community Corrections for a grant program to public agencies for mental health and drug abuse treatment and diversion programs, with an emphasis on reducing recidivism.
- 25% to the Department of Education for a grant program to public agencies to improve outcomes for kindergarten through high school students at risk of dropping out of school or are crime victims.
- Reclassifies controlled substance felony and alternate felony-misdemeanor crimes as misdemeanors, except for defendants convicted of a sex offense, a specified drug crime involving specified weight of volume of the drug, a crime where the defendant used or was armed with a weapon, a homicide, solicitation of murder and any crime for which the sentence is a life term.
FISCAL EFFECT:
Unknown
COMMENTS:
- Author's Statement: According to the author, "Victims and their families often face debilitating mental, physical, and economic consequences from the trauma of violence, sex trafficking, and other types of serious crime. They need to heal and rebuild their lives. We should ensure that providers offer a service model that is easy to access and provides integrated services tailored to the specific needs of these individuals.
“The physical and psychological trauma experienced by victims of crime requires early treatment and comprehensive care to avoid negative outcomes for the individual victim, as well as their families and communities. In California today, victims and survivors of crime often face significant hurdles accessing the immediate and comprehensive support needed to recover adequately, and they are often unaware that the state offers assistance for certain health and support services.
“Victims must navigate an often difficult and bureaucratic process in accessing state services, involving multiple agencies across different locations. For example, if a victim is ultimately approved for state support, they might have to wait three months or more to access victim compensation funds to help cover the costs of critical support services.
“Without timely holistic support, victims often suffer long-term mental health challenges and struggle to take care of their families, maintain employment and retain stable housing. Free, holistic care that is easy to access could be life changing for many victims.
“To address this pressing need, a grant program was established in 2013 to replicate a successful TRC in San Francisco. This program, housed at the Victim Compensation Board (VCB), funds $2 million annually. The TRC model was developed in 2001 to address the multiple barriers victims face recovering from crime. The TRC model utilizes a comprehensive, flexible approach that integrates three modes of service: assertive outreach, clinical case management, and evidence-based trauma-focused therapies.
“Moreover, a multidisciplinary staff provides direct mental health services and health treatment while coordinating services with law enforcement and other social services agencies. All of those services are housed under one roof.
“Survivors of crime who received services through the TRC saw significant increases in health and wellness – seventy-four percent of those served showed an improvement in mental health, and 51% demonstrated an improvement in physical health.
“TRC services also improved community engagement and public safety. People who receive services at the TRC are 56% more likely to return to employment, 44% more likely to cooperate with the district attorney, and 69% more likely to generally cooperate with law enforcement. All of these benefits are provided at a 33% lower cost than traditional providers.
“In order to ensure these same outstanding outcomes and savings, clear guidance around implementation of the TRC model must be added to the state governing the grant program.” - History of the TRC at San Francisco General Hospital: The TRC at San Francisco General Hospital was originally established pursuant to legislation passed in 2000. AB 2491 (Jackson, Chapter 1016, Statutes of 2000), among other provisions, required the CVCGC Board to enter into an interagency agreement with the University of California, San Francisco, to establish a victims of crime recovery center at San Francisco General Hospital as a four year pilot project to demonstrate the effectiveness of providing comprehensive and integrated services to victims of crime, as an alternative to fee-for-service care reimbursed by the Victim Restitution funds. The goals of the TRC included improving the process of care for victims of crime by enhancing medical services for acute victims of sexual assault, linking victims to other services to facilitate recovery, and improving access to victim compensation funds. In May 2004, the CVCGC Board published its required report to the Legislature on the effectiveness of the victims of crime recovery center, and concluded that the TRC model provides a wider, more effective, range of services at a lower cost for trauma victims that the traditional fee-for-service mental health treatment programs. According to the report, the data demonstrated that this model of care is effective in engaging victims of crime with needed services, improving cooperation with law enforcement, reducing homelessness, facilitating return to work, reducing alcohol and drug abuse, and improving quality of life among victims of interpersonal violence.
- Expansion of TRC Model to Other Areas of State: SB 7 (Budget and Fiscal Review, Chapter 28, Statutes of 2013) created a $2 million grant program within the CVCGC Board to expand the TRC concept to additional areas of the state. With this funding, in October of 2014 the CVCGC Board awarded grants to two TRCs: $670,000 to the Downtown Women’s Center in Los Angeles, and $1.3 million to the California State University at Long Beach. In May of 2015, three grants were awarded: $426,341 to the Children’s Nurturing Project in Fairfield, which partners with LIFT3 Support Group to provide a comprehensive system of care focused on domestic violence survivors; $716,932 to Fathers and Families of San Joaquin, located in Stockton, partnering with the San Joaquin Behavioral Health Services to provide comprehensive mental health and recovery services to victims of crime; and, $856,727 to the Special Service for Groups, which partners with the Homeless Outreach Program Integrated Care System to provide mental health services to underserved crime victims in south Los Angeles.
- Proposition 47 and Trauma Recovery Center Funding: On November 4, 2014, voters approved Proposition 47, titled the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, which was placed on the ballot as a citizen’s initiative. Proposition 47 made significant changes to the state’s criminal justice system by reducing penalties for certain non-violent, nonserious drug and property crimes, and requiring that the resulting savings be spent on (1) mental health and substance abuse treatment services, (2) truancy and dropout prevention, and (3) victim services. To carry out its purpose, Proposition 47 established the SNS Fund, and required that by August 15 of each fiscal year, the Controller disburse moneys deposited into the SNS Fund as follows: 25% to the Department of Education to improve outcomes for pupils by reducing truancy and supporting students who are risk of dropping out or are victims of crime; 10% to the CVCGC Board to make grants to TRCs to provide services to victims of crime; and, 65% to the Board of State and Community Corrections, to administer a grant program to public agencies, as specified.
According to the California Secretary of State's Web site, 59.6 % of voters approved Proposition 47. (See <http://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/sov/2014-general/pdf/2014-complete-sov.pdf> [as of Mar. 14, 2015].) The purpose of the measure was "to maximize alternatives for nonserious, nonviolent crime, and to invest the savings generated from this act into prevention and support programs in K–12 schools, victim services, and mental health and drug treatment." (Ballot Pamp., Gen. Elec. (Nov. 4, 2014), Text of Proposed Laws, p. 70.) One of the ways the measure created savings was by requiring misdemeanor penalties instead of felonies for nonserious, nonviolent crimes like petty theft and drug possession for personal use, unless the defendant has prior convictions for specified violent crimes. (Ibid.)
Four months into its implementation, Proposition 47 has resulted in fewer inmates in state prisons and county jails. According to the Legislative Analysts' Office (LAO), "As of January 28, 2015, the inmate population in the state's prisons was about 113,500, or 3,600
inmates below the February 2015 cap, and slightly below the final February 2016 cap. The expected impact of Proposition 47 on the prison population will make it easier for the state to remain below the population cap." (LAO, The 2015-16 Budget: Implementation of Proposition 47 (Feb. 2015), p. 10.) The LAO report also found that Proposition 47 will likely reduce the costs of criminal justice for counties, by freeing up jail beds and reducing the time probation departments need to follow prisoners after they are released. (Id. at p. 17.)
- Legislative Analyst’s Report: In March of 2015, the Legislative Analyst’s Office released a report “Improving State Programs for Crime Victims” (LAO report). According to the LAO report, if appropriately structured, TRCs can provide a wide array of services to victims at a single location and can complement existing victim programs. The LAO recommended that the Legislature structure the TRC grants to ensure the funds are spent in an effective and efficient manner and to require the evaluation of TRC grant recipients and their outcomes. The LAO also recommended that the Legislature adopt statutory changes to allow TRCs to have formally recognized victim advocates, which would allow TRCs to have trained staff that can represent victims in their application for victim compensation funds, which would likely increase the approval rate. The LAO also recommended prioritizing TRC grants to regions that do not have a TRC, noting that there are many victims who do not have access to a TRC because they do not live in Los Angeles or San Francisco.
- Argument in Support: According to Californians for Safety and Justice, “The Trauma Recovery Center model, pioneered in San Francisco in 2001, provides a comprehensive, flexible approach that integrates three modes of service – assertive outreach, clinical case management, and evidence-based trauma-focused therapies. This model is designed to meet the special needs of crime victims suffering from trauma by utilizing a multidisciplinary staff to provide direct mental health services and health treatment while coordinating services with law enforcement and other social service agencies – all under one roof. Survivors of crime who received services through the TRC saw huge increases in health and wellness – 74% show an improvement in mental health, and 51% demonstrate an improvement in physical health. TRC services also improved community engagement and public safety. People who receive services at the TRC are 56% more likely to return to employment, and people who receive services are 44% more likely to cooperate with the district attorney, and 69% more likely to cooperate with law enforcement.
“In 2013, a grant program was created to replicate this successful TRC model in other parts of California. This program, housed at the Victim Compensation Board (VCB), totals $2 million annually. These funds, coupled with savings realized by passage of the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, offer California crime survivors in communities across California the opportunity to access high quality services for people recovering from traumatic events. AB 1384 will ensure that those services are consistent across the state while also helping new programs receive grants to build capacity to offer all the core services that are standard to TRCs.” - Prior Legislation:
- SB 518 (Leno), of the 2015-2016 Legislative Session, would have required the Victims Compensation and Government Claims Board (Board) to use a specified evidence-based model when giving a grant to a Trauma Recovery Center (TRC), as specified. SB 518 was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
- SB 1404 (Leno), of the 2015-2016 Legislative Session, would have recognized the Trauma Recovery Center at San Francisco General Hospital as the State Pilot Trauma Recovery Center, and required the California Victims Compensation and Government Claims Board to use the model developed by this center when it awards grants to establish additional trauma recovery centers pursuant to new funding made available from Proposition 47. SB 1401 died in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
- SB 71 (Budget and Fiscal Review), Chapter 28, Statutes of 2013, authorized the Board to administer a program to award, upon appropriation by the Legislature, up to $2,000,000 in grants, annually, to trauma recovery centers, as defined, funded from the Restitution Fund.
- SB 733 (Leno), of the 2009-2010 Legislative session, would have authorized the Board to evaluate applications and award grants totaling up to $3 million, up to $1.7 million per center, to multi-disciplinary TRCs that provide specified services to and resources for crime victims. SB 733 failed passage on the Senate Floor.
- AB 1669 (Leno), of the 2007-08 Legislative Session, would have appropriated $1.5 million for the TRC at the San Francisco General Hospital. AB 1669 was vetoed.
- AB 50 (Leno), Chapter 884, Statutes of 2006, appropriated $1.3 million for the TRC at the San Francisco General Hospital.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
California Catholic Conference
Californians for Safety and Justice
Human Impact Partners
Opposition
None
Analysis Prepared by:
Discussed in Hearing
1MIN
Assembly Floor
5MIN
Senate Floor
1H
Senate Standing Committee on Appropriations
2MIN
Assembly Floor
1H
Assembly Standing Committee on Appropriations
6MIN
Assembly Standing Committee on Public Safety
Bill Author
