BSCC Approves New Prop 47 Processes

BSCC Approves New Prop 47 Processes

SAN DIEGO (Sept. 6, 2018) – The Board of State and Community Corrections gave agencies that received Proposition 47 grant funding a year longer to spend it, and approved the process for distributing the second round of funding under separate actions taken today.

The second round of grants will rely largely on the original Request for Proposals that guided formation of the current projects, which were awarded funding in June 2017. Board members felt that absent time to collect process and outcome data from the first round of funding, it would not be prudent to drastically alter the original RFP, which took 18 months to develop.

“A lot of time and effort by people around the state went into writing the original RFP, and by all accounts it’s a good document. This allows us to more efficiently get the money to the field and to the people who can be helped by the programs it will fund,” said Board Chair Linda Penner.

Proposition 47, passed by the voters in 2014, turned several low-level drug and theft-related felonies into misdemeanors, which resulted in state savings. The Board disperses 60 percent of the state savings from Prop 47 through a competitive grant program that delivers substance-abuse and mental health treatment, job training and housing-related services to those in the criminal justice system. Currently 23 three-year grants worth $103 million are helping local communities.

Because of the longer-than-expected time needed at the local level to subcontract for service delivery and to make hires, the Board voted to give the original grantees an extra year to spend the money.

BSCC staff will make only technical changes to the original RFP before returning to the Board to seek final approval for release early next year. The changes will include improvements based on input staff has received from grant recipients. The BSCC also will allow the public to suggest technical changes during a 30-day public comment period that will take place in late fall 2018.

The Board will also seek public input on whether public agencies that received money in round one will be eligible for round two, because the grants would be running simultaneously. The new grant awards, which are expected to be made by late 2019, will allow recipients 45 months to spend two years’ worth of state savings. The Department of Finance will publish an estimate of the state savings in the January 2019 Governor’s budget.

Beginning in late 2015, the BSCC spent months holding public hearings around the state to hear directly from communities, the formerly incarcerated, and their families about their needs. A diverse Executive Steering Committee that included six formerly incarcerated individuals was recruited to write the current RFP.

For more information please contact Ricardo Goodridge at Ricardo.Goodridge@bscc.ca.gov 916-341-5160