Interagency Task Force on the Status of Boys and Men of Color.

The California Constitution prohibits a person from being deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, or from being denied equal protection of the laws. The United States Constitution prohibits a state from denying to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Existing law establishes various advisory boards and commissions in state government with specified duties and responsibilities. The federal My Brother's Keeper Initiative, launched by the President in February 2014, required the establishment of the My Brother's Keeper Task Force, an interagency effort to improve the expected educational and life outcomes for and address the persistent opportunity gaps faced by boys and young men of color in the United States. This bill would create the Interagency Task Force on the Status of Boys and Men of Color, a multiagency advisory body that would serve as a support mechanism for department agency and systems leaders by taking coordinated action in meeting the myriad challenges facing boys and men of color in California, and assisting the respective departments and agencies in more successfully improving life outcomes for this population. The membership of the task force would include members of the Legislature, as well as representatives of specified agencies, departments, and private entities. The bill would set forth the initial and ongoing responsibilities of the task force, including, among others, an assessment of state program alignment with the objectives of the My Brother's Keeper program and the Assembly Select Committee on the Status of Boys and Men of Color in California, and the development of strategies to enhance positive outcomes and eliminate or mitigate negative outcomes for boys and men of color in the state. This bill would establish the Boys and Men of Color Task Force Fund, to carry out the bill's requirements in support of the task force, upon appropriation by the Legislature. The bill would authorize the task force to accept federal funds, gifts, donations, grants, or bequests for all or any of its purposes. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.