Amended  IN  Assembly  March 17, 2022

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 2253

Introduced by Assembly Member Mia Bonta

February 16, 2022

An act to add Title 12.3 (commencing with Section 14245) to Part 4 of the Penal Code, relating to public safety.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 2253, as amended, Mia Bonta. Gun violence: public health crisis.
Existing law requests the Regents of the University of California to establish the California Firearm Violence Research Center at UC Davis to conduct research with a mission to provide the scientific evidence on which sound firearm violence prevention policies can be based, as specified. Existing law requires that various data relating to crimes and firearms be made available to researchers affiliated with the research center, and that, at the Department of Justice’s discretion, such information be made available to any other public agency concerned with the study and prevention of violence.
This bill would declare that it is established policy of the state that gun violence is required to be recognized and addressed as a public health crisis, as specified. The bill would require all relevant state agencies, including the Department of Justice, to consider this state policy when revising, adopting, or establishing polices, regulations, and grant criteria, or making any expenditures related to the prevention of gun violence and increasing community safety. The bill would also create the State Crime and Violence Prevention Center with the goal of developing a strategy, through collaboration between the Department of Justice, the Board of State and Community Corrections, the California Firearm Violence Research Center at UC Davis, and other specified community members, to identify causes of gun violence in communities and to incorporate a public health approach to improve social determinants of health for communities most affected by gun violence. The bill would require the State Crime and Violence Prevention Center to create a plan of action for how the Department of Justice and Board of State and Community Corrections will incorporate a public health approach to their gun violence prevention-related programs and services. The bill would require the center to submit the plan to the Legislature no later than July 1, 2023.

Existing law establishes various programs to combat crime and violence in the state, including the California Violence Intervention and Prevention Grant Program, administered by the Board of State and Community Corrections, which awards competitive grants for the purpose of violence intervention and prevention.

This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would treat gun violence as a public health crisis.

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

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


SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Gun violence is a public health crisis, leading to thousands of deaths and injuries annually, and contributing to the harmful effects of post-traumatic stress disorder and trauma thereafter.
(b) Gun violence rates in the United States exponentially increased 30 percent during the COVID-19 pandemic, with California being a state at significantly higher risk.
(c) In 2020, California saw a rise of more than 500 homicides, the largest rise in state history since 1960. Of these deaths, gun homicides surged by 40.6 percent.
(d) The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted California’s historic progress in public safety. Between Oakland, Fresno, and Los Angeles alone, 532 homicides were recorded in 2020 and 602 homicides in 2021.
(e) A commitment to ending gun violence is a commitment to racial justice. Almost half of the 2020 homicide increase in California comes from homicides where the victim was Latino, while Black victims make up more than one-third of these deaths, while this subgroup only represents 6 percent of California’s population.
(f) Gun violence is more than just a criminal justice and public safety issue. It is also a public health crisis needing an urgent and holistic plan of action across all relevant programs and services in the Department of Justice and the Board of State and Community Corrections, including, but not limited to, the California Violence Intervention and Prevention Grant Program.

SEC. 2.

 Title 12.3 (commencing with Section 14245) is added to Part 4 of the Penal Code, to read:

TITLE 12.3. Public Health Approach to Gun Violence Prevention

14245.
 (a) It is hereby declared to be the established policy of the state that gun violence shall be recognized and addressed as a public health crisis utilizing a public health data-based approach taking into consideration all of the following:
(1) The specifics of gun violence and gun homicides in each community, including, but not limited to, identification of those most affected, identification of contributing factors, and identification of factors creating greater safety for those most affected by gun violence in each community.
(2) The root causes of gun violence in the community, including, but not limited to, racism, poverty, political neglect, lack of affordable housing, food insecurity, unemployment, untreated trauma, and the evaluation of community conditions. Evaluation of community conditions includes the comparison of community conditions and opportunities for communities with a high risk of gun violence and those with a lesser risk of gun violence in order to identify and create greater safety for high-risk communities through community surroundings. For the purposes of this section, community surroundings include, but are not limited to, streets, parks, schools, community-based organizations, youth and community centers, and places of worship.
(3) A commitment for gun violence prevention efforts to focus on addressing and healing individual, interpersonal, and community trauma inflicted as a result of gun violence.
(b) All relevant state agencies, including the Department of Justice, shall consider this state policy when revising, adopting, or establishing regulations, grant criteria, or making any expenditures related to the prevention of gun violence and increasing community safety.

14246.
 (a) There is hereby established within the Department of Justice the State Crime and Violence Prevention Center.
(b) The goal of the center is to develop a strategy through collaboration with the Board of State and Community Corrections, the California Firearm Violence Research Center at UC Davis to the extent the Regents of the University of California chose to participate, and the members of various communities, including, but not limited to, youth, trusted community messengers, community-based organizations, faith leaders, grassroots organizers, political leaders, business owners, and other community stakeholders to identify causes of gun violence in a community and to incorporate a public health approach to improve social determinants of health for communities most affected by gun violence.
(c) The center shall submit a written plan of action to the Legislature, no later than July 1, 2023, detailing how the Department of Justice and the Board of State and Community Corrections, in collaboration with the California Firearm Violence Research Center at UC Davis to the extent the Regents of the University of California chose to participate, will incorporate a public health approach to their gun violence prevention-related programs and services in accordance with state policy.
(d) In creating the plan of action required under subdivision (c), the center shall collaborate with those impacted by gun violence, identify and evaluate innovative and successful community-based violence prevention programs, and focus on how any proposed programs and services will address trauma in communities with a high degree of gun violence.

SECTION 1.

It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would treat gun violence as a public health crisis.