Title
RESOLUTION NO. 2015-073 OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CHULA VISTA ACCEPTING $16,000 FROM THE COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO AND $173,188 FROM THE CITY OF SAN DIEGO AND APPROPRIATING $69,188 TO THE POLICE GRANT FUND FOR THE PUBLIC SAFETY REALIGNMENT (4/5 VOTE REQUIRED)
Body
RECOMMENDED ACTION
Recommended Action
Council adopt the resolution.
Body
SUMMARY
In 2011, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. signed Assembly Bill (AB) 109 and AB 117, historic legislation to enable California to close the revolving door of low-level inmates cycling in and out of state prisons. This legislation implemented the Public Safety Realignment, which provides funding to counties to develop and implement evidence-based practices and alternatives to incarceration to limit future crimes and reduce victimization.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This proposed activity has been reviewed for compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and it has been determined that the activity is not a "Project" as defined under Section 15378 of the State CEQA Guidelines because it will not result in a physical change in the environment; therefore, pursuant to Section 15060(c)(3) of the State CEQA Guidelines, the activity is not subject to CEQA. Thus, no environmental review is necessary.
BOARD/COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION
Not Applicable.
DISCUSSION
In 2011, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. signed Assembly Bill (AB) 109 and AB 117, historic legislation to enable California to close the revolving door of low-level inmates cycling in and out of state prisons. It is the cornerstone of California's solution to the U.S. Supreme Court order to reduce the number of inmates in the state's 33 prisons to 137.5 percent of original design capacity.
Under the 2011 Public Safety Realignment, newly-convicted low-level offenders without current or prior serious or violent offenses stay in county jail to serve their sentence. This has reduced the annual state prison admissions to less than 35,000 a year. Prior to the realignment efforts, there were approximately 55,000 to 65,000 new admissions from county courts to state prison. Overall, the diversion of low-level offenders and parole violators to county jail instead of state prison has resulted in a population decrease of about 28,000 (-17%).
The San Diego Sheriff's Department has been designated as the fiscal agent of the Regional Realignment Response (R3) funds for the San Diego County region. A Memorandum of Agreement between the County of San Diego and participating cities in the county has been created to outline the disbursement of R3 funds. The City of Chula Vista was originally allocated $75,507 of R3 funding. A recent amendment to the agreement will allocate an additional $16,000 to the City for overtime operations to conduct regional compliance checks on probationers within the county.
Additionally, the City of San Diego has been designated as the fiscal agent of AB 109 Public Safety Realignment funds for the San Diego County region, which is a separate allocation than the Sheriff's R3 funding. A Memorandum of Agreement between the City of San Diego and participating cities in the county has been created to outline the disbursement of Public Safety Realignment funds. For the fiscal year 2014/2015 AB 109 funding, the City of San Diego has allocated $173,188 to the City of Chula Vista. The Police Department will allocate $60,000 for the Juvenile Diversion Program, $27,500 for the Domestic Violence Response Team, $60,000 for two unmarked vehicles in the Investigations division, $17,567 to equip task force vehicles with emergency equipment and $8,121 for computers in the Investigations division.
DECISION-MAKER CONFLICT
Staff has reviewed the decision contemplated by this action and has determined that it is not site specific and consequently the 500-foot rule found in California Code of Regulations section 18704.2(a)(1) is not applicable to this decision. Staff is not independently aware, nor has staff been informed by any City Councilmember, of any other fact that may constitute a basis for a decision maker conflict of interest in this matter.
LINK TO STRATEGIC GOALS
The City's Strategic Plan has five major goals: Operational Excellence, Economic Vitality, Healthy Community, Strong and Secure Neighborhoods and a Connected Community. Funds received for realignment efforts support the goal of Strong and Secure Neighborhoods by providing additional law enforcement presence in the community.
CURRENT YEAR FISCAL IMPACT
Approval of this resolution will result in a one-time appropriation of $16,000 to personnel services and $53,188 to the supplies and services category of the Police Grant Fund. The funding from the County and City of San Diego will completely offset these costs, resulting in no net fiscal impact to the General Fund.
Since the costs for the Juvenile Diversion Program and unmarked vehicles will occur next fiscal year, $120,000 will be included in the proposed fiscal year 2015/2016 budget.
ONGOING FISCAL IMPACT
There is no ongoing fiscal impact.