Mentally ill offender crime reduction grants.

(1) Existing law establishes, within the Board of State and Community Corrections, the California Juvenile Justice Data Working Group, as provided, and the working group is required, among other things, to recommend a plan for improving specified juvenile justice reporting requirements, including streamlining and consolidating requirements without sacrificing meaningful data collection. The working group is required to submit its recommendations to the board no later than December 31, 2014. This bill would extend, to April 30, 2015, the date to submit recommendations. (2) Existing law requires the board to administer mentally ill offender crime reduction grants on a competitive basis to counties that expand or establish a continuum of timely and effective responses to reduce crime and criminal justice costs related to mentally ill juvenile and adult offenders. The grants administered by the board are required to be divided between adult and juvenile mentally ill offender crime reduction grants in accordance with the funds appropriated for each type of grant. This bill would clarify that the grants be divided equally between adult and juvenile mentally ill offender crime reduction grants. (3) Existing law requires an application for a mentally ill offender crime reduction grant to describe a 4-year plan for programs, services, or strategies, and requires the board to award grants that provide funding for 4 years with the proviso that funding beyond the first year of the plan is contingent upon annual appropriations and the availability of funds to support mentally ill offender crime reduction grants beyond the first funding year. This bill would delete that proviso and reduce the term of the award grants to funding for 3 years. (4) Existing law requires the board to create an evaluation design for adult and juvenile mentally ill offender crime reduction grants that assesses the effectiveness of the program in reducing crime, adult and juvenile offender incarceration and placement levels, early releases due to jail overcrowding, and local criminal and juvenile justice costs. The board is required to annually submit a report to the Legislature based on the evaluation design, commencing October 1, 2015, with a final report due on December 31, 2019. This bill would change the due date of the final report to December 31, 2018.