Asm. Ken Cooley

This measure would proclaim October 17, 2015, as Firefighters Memorial Day.

This measure would designate November 2015 as a month to raise awareness about the issue of medically fragile foster care children and adoptive placement children and the actions that every Californian can take to make a positive difference in these children's lives.

(1) Existing law permits minors who are detained in juvenile hall for habitual disobedience, truancy, or curfew violation to be held in the same facility as minors who are detained for violating any law or ordinance defining a crime, if they do not come or remain in contact with each other. Existing law also permits the detention of minors in jails and other secure facilities for the confinement of adults if the minors do not come or remain in contact with confined adults and other specified conditions are met. Existing law, the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, authorizes the involuntary detention for a period of 72 hours for the evaluation of a person, including a minor who is dangerous to himself or herself or others, or gravely disabled, as defined. This bill would prohibit a person confined in a juvenile facility who is an imminent danger to himself, herself, or others as a result of a mental disorder, or who is gravely disabled, from being subject to solitary confinement. The bill would also prohibit a person, other than a person described above, who is detained in any secure state or local juvenile facility from being subject to solitary confinement unless certain conditions are satisfied, including that the person poses an immediate and substantial risk of harm to the security of the facility, to himself or herself, or to others that is not the result of a mental disorder. The bill would permit, if those conditions are satisfied, the person to be held in solitary confinement only in accordance with specified guidelines, including that the person be held in solitary confinement only for the minimum time required to address the risk, and that does not compromise the mental and physical health of the person, but no longer than 4 hours. The bill would require each local and state juvenile facility to document the usage of solitary confinement, as prescribed. The bill would authorize a person confined in a juvenile facility to request a voluntary time out, as defined, for no longer than 2 hours in a 24-hour period and would require voluntary time outs to be documented. By increasing the duties of local juvenile facilities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law establishes a juvenile justice commission in each county, but authorizes the boards of supervisors of 2 or more adjacent counties to agree to establish a regional juvenile justice commission in lieu of a county juvenile justice commission. Existing law specifies the membership of these commissions, including that 2 or more members shall be persons who are 14 to 21 years of age, inclusive, and that a regional juvenile justice commission shall consist of not less than 8 citizens. This bill would increase the membership of a regional juvenile justice commission to no less than 10 members. The bill would also require that 2 or more members of a juvenile justice commission or a regional juvenile justice commission be parents or guardians of previously incarcerated youth, and one member be a licensed psychiatrist, licensed psychologist, or licensed clinical social worker with expertise in adolescent development. Existing law requires a juvenile justice commission to annually inspect any jail or lockup that, in the preceding calendar year, was used for confinement for more than 24 hours of any minor, and to report the results of the inspection, together with its recommendations based thereon, in writing, to the juvenile court and the Board of State and Community Corrections. This bill would instead require a juvenile justice commission to inspect any jail, lockup, or facility that, in the preceding calendar year, was used for confinement for more than 24 hours of any minor and would require, as a part of that inspection, a review of the records of the jail, lockup, or facility relating to the use of solitary confinement. The bill would require the commission to report the results of the inspection, together with its recommendations based thereon, in writing, to the juvenile court, the Board of State and Community Corrections, and the county board of supervisors. The bill would require the commission to annually present its report at a regularly scheduled public meeting of the county board of supervisors, and to publish the report on the county government's Internet Web site. The bill also would authorize a commission to publicize its recommendations made to any person charged with administration of the Juvenile Court Law on the county government's Internet Web site or other publicly accessible medium. By increasing the duties of local commissions and county boards of supervisors, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. (4) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.

Existing law authorizes various state entities to adopt, amend, or repeal regulations for various specified purposes. The Administrative Procedure Act requires the Office of Administrative Law and a state agency proposing to adopt, amend, or repeal a regulation to review the proposed changes for, among other things, consistency with existing state regulations. This bill would, until January 1, 2019, require each state agency to, on or before January 1, 2018, review that agency's regulations, identify any regulations that are duplicative, overlapping, inconsistent, or out of date, to revise those identified regulations, as provided, and report to the Legislature and Governor, as specified.

The California Disaster Assistance Act generally provides that the state share for disaster project allocations to local agencies is no more than 75% of total state eligible costs, except for specified events for which the state share is up to 100% of state eligible costs. This bill would add the August 24, 2014, South Napa Earthquake to the list of events for which the state share of state eligible cost is up to 100%. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law requires each county to provide cash assistance and other social services to needy families through the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program using federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) block grant program, state, and county funds. Existing law specifies the amounts of cash aid to be paid each month to CalWORKs recipients. Existing law establishes the Aid to Families with Dependent Children-Foster Care (AFDC-FC) program, under which counties provide payments to foster care providers on behalf of qualified children in foster care. Under existing law, a child who is placed in the approved home of a relative is eligible for AFDC-FC if he or she is eligible for federal financial participation in the AFDC-FC payment, as specified. Existing law establishes the Approved Relative Caregiver Funding Option Program in counties choosing to participate, for the purpose of making the amount paid to relative caregivers for the in-home care of children placed with them who are ineligible for AFDC-FC payments equal to the amount paid on behalf of children who are eligible for AFDC-FC payments. This bill would revise provisions of the Approved Relative Caregiver Funding Option Program to, among other things, authorize a relative caregiver to receive payments on behalf of a child pursuant to the program, regardless of whether the child resides, or will be residing, outside of the participating county pursuant to his or her placement. The bill would establish procedures for the distribution of payments to relative caregivers, as specified. The bill would also require that an infant supplement, as specified, be paid under the CalWORKs program and the Approved Relative Caregiver Funding Option Program to a teen parent who is placed with his or her child in the home of a relative caregiver and is the subject of a voluntary placement agreement or subject to the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, as provided. Under existing law, if the county welfare department places a child who is in temporary custody or subject to the jurisdiction of the juvenile court with a relative or nonrelative extended family member, as defined, the county is required to evaluate and approve or deny the home for purposes of AFDC-FC eligibility. This bill would instead require the county, immediately following the placement of a child in the home of a relative, to initiate an application for CalWORKs on behalf of the child using a shortened CalWORKs application and simplified CalWORKs eligibility standards. The bill would require the county, concurrently with initiating the application for CalWORKs, to evaluate and approve or deny the home for purposes of AFDC-FC eligibility, and, if the child is found to be ineligible for AFDC-FC, would require the placing agency to initiate and complete the applications for, and determine eligibility for, the Approved Relative Caregiver Funding Option Program, as specified, and screen the child for eligibility for the federal Supplemental Security Income program. The bill would also require the county social worker or eligibility worker to explain to the relative, either in person or by telephone, the eligibility requirements and benefit amounts for the AFDC-FC and CalWORKs programs, and the Approved Relative Caregiver Funding Option Program if the county has opted into the program, as well as any actions the relative could take to affect the child's eligibility for those programs. By requiring county employees to provide these services, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires that every youth who is in foster care and nearing emancipation be screened by the county for potential eligibility for the federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. This bill would require that every youth who is in foster care and has been determined to be ineligible for AFDC-FC benefits be screened by the county for potential eligibility for the SSI program. By imposing this additional duty on counties, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law continuously appropriates moneys from the General Fund to defray a portion of county costs under the CalWORKs program. This bill would instead provide that the continuous appropriation would not be made for purposes of implementing the bill. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

This measure would declare June 6, 2015, to June 14, 2015, inclusive, as the 2015 California Invasive Species Action Week and would urge all Californians to participate in activities that raise awareness of invasive species issues and to take action to prevent their spread.

This measure would congratulate the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls on the celebration of its 50th anniversary, and recognize and commend the commission for its various contributions and accomplishments.

This measure would urge the Congress of the United States to support H.R. 167, the federal Wildfire Disaster Funding Act, in order to provide a long-term, stable source of funding for federal agencies to conduct the necessary fuels management on national forest lands, while retaining resources to suppress catastrophic wildfires.

This measure would urge the Congress of the United States to enact legislation allowing immigrants to serve in the military if they are eligible under the President's Executive Order for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or Executive Order for Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents.