AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 13, 2023
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY FEBRUARY 9, 2023
california legislature—2023–24 regular session
ASSEMBLY BILL No. 67
Introduced by Assembly Member Muratsuchi
December 7, 2022
An act to add and repeal Chapter 5.5 (commencing with Section 5475) of P art 1 of Di vision 5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to the courts.
legislative counsel’s digest
AB 67, as amended, Muratsuchi. Homeless Courts Pilot Program.
Existing law governs the jurisdiction of various criminal actions and criminal proceedings. Existing la w also pro vides v arious di version programs, including programs for defendants with cognitive disabilities and programs for defendants who were, or currently are, members of the United States military.
This bill, upon an appropriation by the Legislature, would create the Homeless Courts Pilot Program, which w ould remain in ef fect until January 1, 2029, to be administered by the Judicial Council for the purpose of pro viding comprehensi ve community-based services to achieve stabilization for , and address the specific le gal needs of, chronically homeless indi viduals who are in volved with the criminal justice system. The bill w ould require programs applicant cities or counties seeking grant funds to provide a number of specified services or program components, including, b ut not limited to, a di version program enabling participating defendants to ha ve infraction or misdemeanor specified charges dismissed upon completion of a program,
97 provision of supportive housing, as defined, temporary, time-limited, or permanent housing during the duration of the program, and a dedicated county representative to assist defendants with housing needs.
The bill would require an applicant for grant funding under the program to submit a plan for a new homeless court program or expansion of an existing homeless court program, and w ould require an y funding awarded to an applicant to be used in accordance with that plan. The bill would also require the Judicial Council, on or before July 1, 2027, to submit a report to the Le gislature evaluating the programs funded and the success and challenges of those programs, along with recommendations for improving the programs. The bill would require the Judicial Council Council, in collabor ation with subject matter experts, to establish performance-based outcome measures for each participating homeless court, including, among other things, information relating to the demographics of program participants, housing placements for all participants, and successful substance use disorder treatment rates.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
line 1 SECTION 1. Chapter 5.5 (commencing with Section 5475) is line 2 added to Part 1 of Division 5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, line 3 to read:
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line 5 Chapter 5.5. Homeless Courts Pilot Program
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line 7 5475. The Homeless Courts Pilot Program is hereby established line 8 and shall be administered by the Judicial Council as a grant pilot line 9 program for eligible applicants to pro vide comprehensi ve line 10 community-based services to achieve stabilization for, and address line 11 the specific le gal needs of, chronically homeless indi viduals line 12 involved with the criminal justice system.
line 13 5478. (a) (1) The council shall award grants on a competitive line 14 basis to applicants that will pro vide support and services to line 15 defendants char ged with infractions or misdemeanors who are line 16 experiencing homelessness. Applicants may also, with the consent line 17 of the pr osecuting a gency, pr ovide support and services to line 18 defendants charged with felonies not included in par agraph (2) 97 — 2 — AB 67
line 1 who are experiencing homelessness. A defendant may participate line 2 in a program authorized under this section at any stage in criminal line 3 proceedings, including by entering into a pr eplea diver sion line 4 agreement with the consent of the prosecuting agency, or with the line 5 consent of the court, as otherwise authorized by existing law. line 6 (2) A defendant shall not be eligible for services pur suant to line 7 this section for the following current charged offenses:
line 8 (A) A violent felony as described in subdivision (c) of Section line 9 667 of the Penal Code.
line 10 (B) A serious felony as described in subdivision (c) of Section line 11 1192.7 of the Penal Code.
line 12 (C) An offense for whic h registration is r equired pursuant to line 13 Section 290 of the Penal Code.
line 14 (3) Eligible applicants shall include both of the following:
line 15 (A) Cities, with the approval of the county and local superior line 16 court.
line 17 (B) Counties, with the approval of the local superior court. line 18 (b) The council shall develop guidelines to administer the grant line 19 program and a ward grants to programs that will pro vide, at a line 20 minimum, all of the following program components:
line 21 (1) A diversion program enabling participating defendants to line 22 have their infraction or misdemeanor char ges dismissed upon line 23 completion of the program.
line 24 (2) Provision of a public defender for the entire duration of the line 25 program.
line 26 (3) Regular court appearances enabling participating defendants line 27 to w ork with and ha ve access to all service pro viders in one line 28 location. The program and services shall be in a location that is line 29 readily accessible to participating defendants. line 30 (4) Provision of supporti ve housing, as defined in Section line 31 50675.14 of the Health and Safety Code, temporary, time-limited, line 32 or permanent housing to the participating defendant during the line 33 entire program.
line 34 (5) A county representative to assist a defendant with long-term line 35 housing goals and processes, identifying long-term mental health line 36 and substance ab use concerns, and answer an y questions and line 37 facilitate any necessary conversations between a housing agency line 38 and the defendant to enable the defendant to be successfully housed line 39 after participation in the program. A r epresentative to assist a line 40 defendant with developing a temporary and permanent long-term 97 AB 67 — 3 —
line 1 housing plan, identifying long-term mental health and substance line 2 use disor der concerns, and answering any questions and line 3 facilitating any necessary conversations between a housing agency line 4 and the defendant to enable the defendant to obtain tempor ary, line 5 time-limited, or permanent housing while participating in the line 6 program.
line 7 (6) Mental health services, including mental health evaluations line 8 by county behavioral health departments and referrals to full service line 9 partnership programs, as needed.
line 10 (7) Substance abuse and alcohol detoxification use disorder and line 11 withdrawal management and treatment, as needed. line 12 (8) Criminal record clearing services through partnerships with line 13 a public defender’s office, legal aid, or other city or county services line 14 for criminal history record clearing and infraction citation clearing. line 15 (c) In a warding the grants, the Judicial Council shall gi ve line 16 preference to programs that will provide the following services:
line 17 (1) A minimum of weekly follo w up with mental health and line 18 substance abuse use disorder counseling services in between court line 19 dates.
line 20 (2) Job training or placement services.
line 21 (3) Court conditional releases from custody into residential line 22 narcotic and drug abuse programs, as defined in Section 11842 of line 23 the Health and Safety Code. appropriate substance use disorder line 24 treatment, as determined by clinical scr eening, assessment, or line 25 both screening and assessment.
line 26 (4) Participation of a licensed medical practitioner to prescribe line 27 and administer medication for program participants related to line 28 substance abuse recovery use disorder or mental health treatment, line 29 if agreed to by the defendant.
line 30 (d) An applicant for funding pursuant to this chapter shall submit line 31 an application designed by the Judicial Council. The application line 32 shall include a plan for the creation of a ne w homeless court or line 33 expansion of an existing homeless court program. The application line 34 shall clearly detail the initiati ve for which funding is sought, the line 35 associated staffing acti vities, programs, and services to be line 36 delivered, and how the grant program will cover those costs. Any line 37 funding awarded to an applicant shall be used in accordance with line 38 the approved plan.
line 39 5480. (a) The Judicial Council Council, in collaboration with line 40 subject matter experts, shall establish performance-based outcome 97 — 4 — AB 67
line 1 measures appropriate for each participating homeless court that, line 2 at a minimum, shall include all of the following information:
line 3 (1) Demographics of all homeless court program participants. line 4 (2) Services provided.
line 5 (3) Services ordered, but not provided.
line 6 (4) Housing placements of all program participants. line 7 (5) Permanent housing success for program participants. line 8 (6) Continued treatment beyond the diversion program. line 9 (7) Successful substance use disorder treatment rates. line 10 (8) Detentions or conserv atorship pursuant to the line 11 Lanterman-Petris-Short Act (P art 1 (commencing with Section line 12 5000) of Division 5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code) during line 13 and following the diversion program.
line 14 (9) Additional criminal justice involvement during and following line 15 the diversion program.
line 16 (10) Deaths during and following the diversion program. line 17 (11) A subjective survey of the individuals served. line 18 (b) Participating courts shall provide the required data, including line 19 individual offender level data, on a quarterly basis to the Judicial line 20 Council.
line 21 (c) On or before July 1, 2027, the Judicial Council shall compile line 22 the data reported in subdi vision (a) and shall prepare a full line 23 evaluation of each of the programs funded pursuant to this chapter line 24 and the success and challenges of those programs in addressing line 25 the needs of chronically homeless indi viduals, along with line 26 recommendations for improving the programs. The report shall be line 27 submitted to the Le gislature pursuant to Section 9795 of the line 28 Government Code.
line 29 5483. This chapter shall become operati ve upon an line 30 appropriation by the Le gislature for the e xpress purpose of line 31 implementing the Homeless Courts Pilot Program, as established line 32 by this chapter.
line 33 5485. This chapter shall remain in effect only until January 1, line 34 2029, and as of that date is repealed.
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