Amended  IN  Assembly  March 18, 2024

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 2673

Introduced by Assembly Member McCarty

February 14, 2024

An act to amend Section 725 add and repeal Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 1470) of Part 1 of Division 2 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to juveniles.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 2673, as amended, McCarty. Juveniles: probation. Sacramento Youth Firearm Prevention Pilot Program.
Existing law subjects a minor between 12 and 17 years of age, inclusive, who violates any federal, state, or local law or ordinance to, and a minor under 12 years of age who is alleged to have committed specified serious offenses to, the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, which may adjudge the minor to be a ward of the court. Existing law authorizes the court to place a minor on probation, as specified. Existing law authorizes the juvenile court to adjudge the minor a ward of the court if the minor fails to comply with the juvenile court’s conditions of probation.
This bill would authorize the County of Sacramento to establish the Sacramento Youth Firearm Prevention Pilot Program to require eligible youth to participate in a gun violence prevention class as part of their probation. The bill would require the services a youth is ordered to participate in under this program to be evidence based or research supported, trauma informed, culturally relevant, developmentally appropriate, and focused on public health. The bill would authorize the court to revoke a youth’s probation for failure to enroll in, participate in, or complete a program under these provisions, except for good cause. The bill would require the court to determine the youth’s ability to pay for the program, and would authorize the court to develop a sliding fee schedule for the program based on the youth’s ability to pay. The bill would require the county to collect specified data for participants in the program and would require the county to prepare and provide an outcome assessment of the program, as specified, to the Assembly Committee on Public Safety and the Senate Committee on Public Safety by January 1, 2030. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2031.
This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Sacramento.

Existing law generally subjects any person between 12 and 17 years of age, inclusive, who commits a crime to the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, which may adjudge that person to be a ward of the court. Existing law authorizes a juvenile court to place a minor on probation, without adjudging the minor a ward of the court, as specified.

This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to these provisions.

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: NOYES   Local Program: NO  

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


SECTION 1.

 Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 1470) is added to Part 1 of Division 2 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:
CHAPTER  6. Sacramento Youth Firearm Prevention Pilot Program

1470.
 (a) The County of Sacramento may establish the Sacramento Youth Firearm Prevention Pilot Program to require participation in a gun violence prevention class for eligible youth described in subdivision (b).
(b) If a youth is granted probation for an offense in which the youth is found by a juvenile court to have either been in possession of a firearm or that the offense involved the use of a firearm, in addition to any other order it may make, the juvenile court may order the youth to participate in a gun violence prevention class from a local community agency designated by the court, if the service is available and the youth is likely to benefit from the service.
(c) Services shall be evidence based or research supported, trauma informed, culturally relevant, developmentally appropriate, and focused on public health.
(d) The court may revoke the youth’s probation for the failure to enroll in, participate in, or complete a program, except if the failure was with good cause. A youth’s probation shall not be revoked for failure to enroll in, participate in, or complete a program if the court-ordered program does not have capacity to enroll the youth, or ceases to offer the services the youth has been ordered by the court to receive.
(e) When ordering a youth to a program pursuant to this chapter, the court shall determine the youth’s ability to pay. If the court finds that the youth is financially unable to pay, the court may develop a sliding fee schedule for the program based on the youth’s ability to pay. A youth who meets the criteria set forth in Section 68632 of the Government Code shall not be responsible for any costs.
(f) The county shall collect and monitor all of the following data for each participant in the program:
(1) The participant’s demographic information, including age, gender, race, ethnicity, familial status, and employment status.
(2) The participant’s criminal history.
(3) Whether the participant failed to enroll in, complete, or successfully complete, the program.
(4) The participant’s outcomes at six months after completion, and one year after completion, including subsequent arrests and convictions.
(g) An outcomes assessment of the pilot program shall be completed by the county and shall include, at a minimum, all of the following:
(1) The curriculum used by the program.
(2) The number of participants enrolled in the program.
(3) The total number of participants that failed to successfully complete the program.
(4) Demographic data on the number of participants in the program.
(5) The effects of the pilot program on participant recidivism, including a one- and three-year evaluation of the number of subsequent arrests and adjudications of the participants.
(6) A recommendation on whether to continue and expand the pilot program model beyond the conclusion of the pilot program.
(h) The outcomes assessment required under subdivision (g) shall be submitted to the Assembly Committee on Public Safety and the Senate Committee on Public Safety by January 1, 2030.
(i) This chapter shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2031, and as of that date is repealed.

SEC. 2.

 The Legislature finds and declares that a special statute is necessary and that a general statute cannot be made applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution because of the unique need to address the increasing youth firearm violence over the last four years in the County of Sacramento.
SECTION 1.Section 725 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is amended to read:
725.

After receiving and considering the evidence on the proper disposition of the case, the court may enter judgment as follows:

(a)If the court has found that the minor is a person described by Section 601 or 602, by reason of the commission of an offense other than any of the offenses set forth in Section 654.3, it may, without adjudging the minor a ward of the court, place the minor on probation, under the supervision of the probation officer, for a period not to exceed six months. The minor’s probation shall include the conditions required in Section 729.2, except in any case in which the court makes a finding and states on the record its reasons that any of those conditions would be inappropriate. If the offense involved the unlawful possession, use, or furnishing of a controlled substance, as defined in Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11053) of Division 10 of the Health and Safety Code, a violation of subdivision (f) of Section 647 of the Penal Code, or a violation of Section 25662 of the Business and Professions Code, the minor’s probation shall include the conditions required by Section 729.10. If the minor fails to comply with the conditions of probation imposed, the court may order and adjudge the minor to be a ward of the court.

(b)If the court has found that the minor is a person described by Section 601 or 602, it may order and adjudge the minor to be a ward of the court.