Department of Social Services: C.R.I.S.E.S. Grant Pilot Program 2.0., the official text

An act to amend Sections 18999.92, 18999.93, 18999.94, and 18999.95 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to emergency services, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

Existing law establishes the State Department of Social Services in the Health and Welfare Agency and sets forth its powers and duties relating to the administration of various programs relating to public social services.
Existing law, until June 30, 2026, enacts the Community Response Initiative to Strengthen Emergency Systems Act, or the C.R.I.S.E.S. Act, for purposes of creating, implementing, and evaluating the C.R.I.S.E.S. Grant Pilot Program, which the act establishes. Existing law requires the department to administer the program if appropriate funding is made available to the department. Existing law requires, on or before January 1, 2023, the department to award grants to qualified grantees, which include city, county, and tribal departments of social services, disability services, health services, public health, or behavioral health, based on grant eligibility criteria developed in partnership with a stakeholder workgroup.
This bill would extend the C.R.I.S.E.S. Grant Pilot Program to June 30, 2032. The bill would require the department to administer the program if appropriate funding is made available in the annual Budget Act. The bill would require the department to award grants to grantees, which are community-based organizations, in consultation with stakeholders prior to January 1, 2027, and annually thereafter subject to appropriate funding. The bill would require the department, upon allocation of funding to eligible entities, to report to the Legislature and to post publicly on its internet website information about the grants funded, as specified. The bill would require the stakeholder workgroup to meet at least quarterly and perform specified functions, including partnering with the department to evaluate and make appropriate changes to criteria for qualified grantees. The bill would require the department to review and fill vacancies for appointments to the stakeholder workgroup, as specified. The bill would require the department to fill ongoing vacancies to the stakeholder workgroup within 90 days of the vacancy.
This bill would make these provisions inoperative on June 30, 2032, and would repeal them as of January 1, 2033.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.
Section 18999.92 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is amended to read:
18999.92.
For purposes of this chapter:
(a) “Community-based organization” means a public or nonprofit organization that is exempt from federal income taxation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code or exempt from state income taxation under Section 23701d of the Revenue and Taxation Code, or organization fiscally sponsored by a nonprofit, that can demonstrate its ability to effectively provide community-based alternatives to law enforcement, and has a demonstrated involvement with the identified communities to be served.
(b) “Department” means the State Department of Social Services.
(c) “Fund” means the Community Response Initiative to Strengthen Emergency Systems Program Fund established pursuant to Section 18999.94.
(d) “Grantee” means a community-based organization that receives a grant pursuant to this chapter.
(e) “Law enforcement agency” means any police department, sheriff’s department, district attorney, county probation department, transit agency police department, school district police department, highway patrol, the police department of any campus of the University of California, the California State University, or a community college, the Department of the California Highway Patrol, the Department of Justice, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and federal law enforcement agencies, such as the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
(f) “Law enforcement officer” means an officer, deputy, employee, or agent of a law enforcement agency as described above.
(g) “Program” means the C.R.I.S.E.S. Grant Pilot Program established by this chapter.
(h) “Stakeholder workgroup” means a group of interested parties convened by the department to make recommendations on the implementation of this program pursuant to this chapter, as described in subdivision (d) of Section 18999.93.

SEC. 2.
Section 18999.93 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is amended to read:
18999.93.
(a) (1) Subject to an appropriation in the annual Budget Act for purposes of this chapter, the C.R.I.S.E.S. Grant Pilot Program established pursuant to Section 18999.91 shall be administered by the department.
(2) (A) The department shall award grants to eligible grantees, as determined by the department and stakeholder workgroup, based on grant eligibility criteria developed by the department and stakeholder workgroup.
(B) For purposes of this paragraph, an eligible grantee is a community-based organization. Law enforcement agencies and organizations, and organizations partnered with law enforcement, are not eligible grantees.
(3) Each grantee shall receive a minimum award of two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) per year.
(4) (A) Funds awarded pursuant to this chapter shall be utilized to create and strengthen community-based alternatives to law enforcement to lessen the reliance on law enforcement agencies as first responders to crisis situations unrelated to a fire department or emergency medical service response.
(B) Community-based alternatives may include, but are not limited to, providing mobile crisis response teams or community para-medicine programs. Community-based alternatives shall not include law enforcement officers or agencies as first responders or coresponders.
(5) The department shall prioritize grantees that propose interventions that serve historically marginalized populations and that serve communities with a demonstrated need for community-based alternatives to law enforcement, as evidenced by metrics, including, a high record of police use of force, a high volume of civilian complaints, high rates of imprisonment, and racial profiling.
(b) (1) The department shall award 90 percent or more of the grant funds to one or more qualifying community-based organizations, to create and strengthen community-based alternatives to law enforcement as described in paragraph (4) of subdivision (a). No more than 10 percent of the grant funds shall be used to support program administration of the grantee.
(2) The department shall publicly solicit partnerships with community-based organizations. This public solicitation shall include, but not limited to, all of the following:
(A) Issuing a public notice and invitation to create a partnership to establish a program pursuant to this chapter.
(B) Inviting letters of intent from community-based organizations.
(C) Convening public meetings to hear questions, concerns, and suggestions from the community that would inform the development of the program.
(3) The department shall prioritize the awarding of program funds to qualified community-based organizations that demonstrate the capacity to lead the proposed program and demonstrate experience providing community-based alternatives to law enforcement or civilian crisis response in the communities listed in paragraph (5) of subdivision (a). This includes, but is not limited to, the ability to do any of the following:
(A) Respond to emergency calls.
(B) Provide treatment, screening, and assessment.
(C) Provide stabilization and de-escalation services.
(D) Coordinate with health, social services, and other support services, as needed.
(E) Maintain relationships with relevant community partners, including a range of community organizers, and medical, behavioral health, and crisis providers.
(c) A grantee shall report at least annually to the department on the use of program funding, which shall include data reporting on clients served and program outcomes, as determined by the department in consultation with stakeholder workgroup.
(d) (1) The department shall convene a stakeholder workgroup to make recommendations to the department regarding implementation of the program. The department shall convene regular meetings with the stakeholder workgroup, at least quarterly, in which the workgroup shall do all of the following:
(A) Partner with the department to evaluate and make appropriate changes to criteria for qualified grantees.
(B) Provide best practices and program recommendations.
(C) Provide support and oversight on implementation and priorities for technical assistance.
(D) Identify barriers to implementation and suggest solutions to address those barriers.
(E) Recommend anonymous data to be collected.
(F) Collaboratively review data and program outcomes.
(G) Advise on the design of the evaluation.
(2) Within 30 days after the effective date of this act, the department shall review existing appointments to the stakeholder workgroup and, as necessary, identify vacancies or members who are no longer able or willing to serve. The department shall confirm in writing that each stakeholder has acknowledged their ability and willingness to serve.
(3) No later than 45 days after the effective date of this act, the department shall issue a public solicitation for applications from interested stakeholders to fill any vacancies. The solicitation shall be posted on the department’s internet website and distributed to organizations and individuals with relevant expertise or interest in community-based crisis response.
(4) No later than 75 days after the effective date of this act, the department shall fill any vacancies and reconvene the stakeholder workgroup.
(5) (A) Any member of the stakeholder workgroup who has not attended three or more consecutive meetings without prior notice to the department shall be deemed to have vacated their seat, and the department shall fill the vacancy within 90 days.
(B) The department shall fill vacancies to the stakeholder workgroup as they occur within 90 days of the vacancy.
(6) (A) The members of the stakeholder workgroup shall include, but not be limited to, a minimum of one of each of the following individuals:
(i) Emergency medical system practitioners with experience providing community-based, trauma-informed, culturally competent care, de-escalation strategies, and harm reduction support.
(ii) Public health or behavioral health practitioners with specific experience in community health and an understanding of health care, mental health services, trauma-informed, culturally competent care, de-escalation strategies, and harm reduction support.
(iii) Members of the public, who have survived an emergency or crisis, and have used community-based services in response to the emergency or crisis.
(iv) Survivors of police brutality.
(v) Surviving family members of someone who has been subject to use of force resulting in death or serious bodily injury by a law enforcement officer.
(B) The stakeholder workgroup shall not include current or former law enforcement officers or immediate family members of law enforcement officers.
(e) Upon allocation of funding to eligible entities, the department shall report to the Legislature, and post publicly on its internet website, information about the grants funded, including which specific eligible entities received grants, the grant award number for each eligible entity, and the length of time each pilot program or project will be administered.
(f) The department shall issue a public report, to be posted on its internet website six months following the end of the program, on the programmatic and fiscal savings associated with the program, key conclusions, and populations served and the benefits conferred or realized, using quantitative and qualitative data.

SEC. 3.
Section 18999.94 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is amended to read:
18999.94.
(a) The Community Response Initiative to Strengthen Emergency Systems Program Fund is hereby created within the State Treasury. Moneys deposited in the fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, may be expended by the department for the purposes of this chapter.
(b) The department may enter into agreements with one or more entities to facilitate the implementation of the program, which may not exceed 5 percent of funds appropriated for purposes of this chapter, including, but not limited to, any of the following:
(1) Convening and facilitating the stakeholder workgroup.
(2) Providing technical assistance to grantees and community-based organizations receiving funding pursuant to this chapter.
(3) Evaluating program data and information and preparing the public report described in subdivision (e) of Section 18999.93.
(4) Providing technical assistance to members of the stakeholder workgroup.
(c) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), the department may not expend more than 5 percent of funds appropriated for purposes of this chapter on its administrative costs.
(d) The department shall award all grants pursuant to this chapter on or before January 1, 2027, and annually thereafter, subject to an appropriation in the annual Budget Act for purposes of this chapter.

SEC. 4.
Section 18999.95 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is amended to read:
18999.95.
(a) This chapter shall be implemented only if appropriate funding is made available to the department.
(b) (1) Notwithstanding any other law, funding awarded pursuant to this chapter shall be exempt from the personal services contracting requirements of Article 4 (commencing with Section 19130) of Chapter 5 of Part 2 of Division 5 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
(2) Notwithstanding any other law, funding awarded pursuant to this chapter shall be exempt from the Public Contract Code and the State Contracting Manual, and shall not be subject to the approval of the Department of General Services.
(c) The state shall be immune from any liability resulting from the activities of a grantee or community-based organization under the program.
(d) Notwithstanding the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code), the State Department of Social Services may implement, interpret, or make specific this chapter without taking any regulatory action.
(e) This chapter shall become inoperative on June 30, 2032, and, as of January 1, 2033, is repealed.

SEC. 5.
This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the California Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to ensure the continued operation and expansion of community-based emergency response programs that provide alternatives to law enforcement in mental health, substance use, and other crisis situations, and to prevent gaps in critical services that could result in harm, or loss of life, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.