To: Sonoma County Board of Supervisors
Department or Agency Name(s): Probation Department
Staff Name and Phone Number: David Koch, Probation: 565-2732
Vote Requirement: Majority
Supervisorial District(s): Countywide
Title:
Title
Public Safety Realignment Implementation Plan for Fiscal Year 20-21
End
Recommended Action:
Recommended action
Accept the Community Corrections Partnership’s Fiscal Year 20-21 Updated Public Safety Realignment Implementation Plan.
end
Executive Summary:
On June 9, 2020, the Board accepted the Community Corrections Partnership’s FY 20-21 Public Safety Realignment Implementation Plan, which was presented as a Board Summary. Recent state legislative changes require the Community Corrections Partnership to submit a lengthier standalone plan to the Board of State and Community Corrections. That plan, submitted here for the Board’s review and acceptance, serves only to provide additional information; it requests no changes to FY 20-21 programming or the adopted budget.
Discussion:
Assembly Bill 109 and the FY 20-21 Realignment Implementation Plan
In response to a federal court order to reduce prison overcrowding, California’s Public Safety Realignment Act (Assembly Bill 109) took effect in 2011 and mandated sweeping changes to the criminal justice system by shifting the responsibility for managing select adult offenders from the state to each of the 58 counties. To assist counties in handling this increased workload, the state provides dedicated funding derived from a 1.0625% state sales tax. Each year, the Community Corrections Partnership (CCP) recommends a plan to deploy this funding toward various programs in Sonoma County’s criminal justice system.
Consistent with prior years, the FY 20-21 plan allocates realignment funding to incarceration, as well as evidence-based programming that helps offenders successfully complete supervision and reduce future involvement in the justice system. Furthermore, the plan supports recommendations of the Sonoma County Criminal Justice System Master Plan 2015 Update the Board adopted in December 2015. Realignment funding supports staffing and community-based contract services at the Day Reporting Center and pretrial services, both key recommendations of the Master Plan, with additional funds allocated to the Sheriff’s Office, Probation Department, Health Services, Human Services, District Attorney, and Public Defender.
Changes to State Legislation
During FY 20-21 budget hearings, the Board accepted a summary of the CCP’s annual plan and adopted the CCP’s recommended budget. The original budget exceeded projected available revenues but was submitted with the understanding that a subsequent Board submission would recommend program cuts to align expenses with revenue, consistent with budget direction issued by the County Administrator. Several CCP budget meetings followed, after which Chief Koch sent a memo for the Board’s consideration during the September 8 - 11 final budget hearings (on file with the Clerk of the Board). This memo provided an updated and reduced budget, which the Board adopted. Although the memo was intended as the final update for FY 20-21, recent changes in state legislation have necessitated the Board’s acceptance of a formal plan. Per California’s Budget Act of 2020 (Senate Bill 74):
Counties are eligible to receive funding [$150,000 in Sonoma County’s case] if they submit an updated Community Corrections Partnership plan and a report to the Board of State and Community Corrections by December 15, 2020, that provides information about the actual implementation of the 2019-20 Community Corrections Partnership plan accepted by the County Board of Supervisors pursuant to Section 1230.1 of the Penal Code. The report shall include, but not be limited to, progress in achieving outcome measures as identified in the plan or otherwise available. Additionally, the report shall include plans for the 2020-21 allocation of funds, including future outcome measures, programs and services, and funding priorities as identified in the plan accepted by the County Board of Supervisors.
Before SB 74, counties needed to submit only an annual report, not a plan, to receive this funding. To meet the requirements of SB 74 and secure Sonoma County’s $150,000 share of state funding, the Probation Department requests the Board’s formal acceptance of the CCP’s FY 20-21 Realignment Implementation Plan. The plan comprises the budget the Board previously approved along with additional narrative describing programs and recent developments.
Highlights of the CCP’s FY 20-21 Realignment Implementation Plan
The CCP reduced or eliminated several FY 19-20 programs. After net cuts of $1.8 million, partially offset by $1.0 million in cost of living-related increases for continuing programs, the CCP’s approved FY 20-21 budget exceeds estimated revenues by $1.0 million, relying on fund balance to cover the difference. According to the CCP’s projections, the current level of programming will deplete remaining fund balance by approximately $1.5 million per year in FY 21-22 and 22-23. The chart below shows projected revenues, expenditures, and fund balances through FY 22-23.
In FY 20-21, a greater portion of CCP’s funding supports programs dedicated to realigned offenders versus earlier years when funding was distributed more broadly across Sonoma County’s criminal justice system. However, even as the CCP increasingly focuses its diminishing resources on realigned populations, it continues to fund pretrial services--which primarily serve non-realigned populations--viewing these services as vital to public safety.
In FY 20-21, pretrial services are funded partially by the CCP, with most funding coming from a Judicial Council grant to expand pretrial services and invest in a validated assessment tool. This grant will be mostly depleted in FY 20-21, and with the recent defeat of Proposition 25, no alternative funding source has yet been identified for services in FY 21-22.
The attached plan details recent usage and results of pretrial services and explains how these services benefit Sonoma County’s public safety while also lowering overall criminal justice system costs.
Prior Board Actions:
08/16/2011 - 06/09/2020: The Board approved the CCP’s Annual Realignment Implementation Plan and Budget.
Fiscal Summary
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FY 20-21 Adopted |
FY21-22 Projected |
FY 22-23 Projected |
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Additional Appropriation Requested |
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Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
All programs and positions detailed in the CCP’s full FY 20-21 Plan were included in the County’s FY 20-21 Adopted Budget.
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Staffing Impacts: |
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Position Title (Payroll Classification) |
Monthly Salary Range (A-I Step) |
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Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
None
Attachments:
Attachment 1 - Sonoma County Community Corrections Partnership FY 20-21 Public Safety Realignment Implementation Plan
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
CCP FY 20-21 Budget Memo