13823.17
. (a) The Legislature finds the problem of domestic
violence in the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community to
be of serious and increasing magnitude. The Legislature also finds
that existing domestic violence services for this population are
underfunded and that members of this population are unserved or
underserved in the state. Therefore, it is the intent of the
Legislature that a goal of the Office of Emergency Services shall be
to increase access to domestic violence education, prevention, and
services specifically for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender
community.
(b) The goal of this section is to establish a targeted or
directed grant program for the development and support of domestic
violence programs and services for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and
transgender community. The Office of Emergency Services shall use
funds from the Equality in Prevention and Services for Domestic Abuse
Fund to award grants annually to qualifying organizations, with at
least one in southern California and one in northern California, to
fund domestic violence programs and services that are specific to the
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, including, but
not limited to, any of the following:
(1) Counseling.
(2) Legal assistance with temporary restraining orders, devices,
and custody disputes.
(3) Court and social service advocacy.
(4) Batterers intervention.
(5) Educational workshops and publications.
(6) Community resource and referral.
(7) Emergency housing.
(8) Hotline or warmline.
(9) Household establishment assistance.
(c) Each grant shall be awarded for a three-year term, as funds
are available, for the purposes of this section.
(d) In order to be eligible to receive funds under this section,
qualified organizations shall provide matching funds of at least 10
percent of the funds to be received under the section unless this
requirement is waived by the Director of Emergency Services, at his
or her discretion.
(e) As a condition of receiving funding pursuant to this section,
grant recipients shall ensure that appropriate staff and volunteers
having client contact meet the definition of "domestic violence
counselor," as specified in subdivision (a) of Section 1037.1 of the
Evidence Code. The minimum training specified in paragraph (2) of
subdivision (a) of Section 1037.1 of the Evidence Code shall be
provided to those staff and volunteers who do not meet the
requirements of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 1037.1 of
the Evidence Code.
(f) In order to qualify for a grant award under this section, the
recipient shall be a California nonprofit organization with a
demonstrated history of working in the area of domestic violence
intervention, education, and prevention and serving the lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender community.
(g) The funding process for distributing grant awards to
qualifying organizations shall be administered by the Office of
Emergency Services as follows:
(1) Grant funds shall be awarded to qualifying organizations as a
result of a competitive request for proposal (RFP) process. The RFP
process shall comply with all applicable state and federal statutes
and to the extent possible, the response to the RFP shall not exceed
15 narrative pages, excluding attachments.
(2) The following criteria shall be used to evaluate grant
proposals:
(A) Whether the proposed program or services would further the
purpose of promoting healthy, nonviolent relationships in the
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.
(B) Whether the proposed program or services would reach a
significant number of people in, and have the support of, the
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.
(C) Whether the proposed program or services are grounded in a
firm understanding of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender
domestic violence and represent an innovative approach to addressing
the issue.
(D) Whether the proposed program or services would reach unique
and underserved sectors of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender community, such as youth, people of color, immigrants,
and transgender persons.
(3) Grant funds shall not be used to support any of the following:
(A) Scholarships.
(B) Awards to individuals.
(C) Out-of-state travel.
(D) Projects that are substantially completed before the
anticipated date of the grant award.
(E) Fundraising activities.
(h) Grant recipients may seek, receive, and make use of any funds
that may be available from all public and private sources to augment
any funds received pursuant to this section.
(i) The Office of Emergency Services may adopt rules as necessary
to implement the grant program created under this section.
(j) The Office of Emergency Services may hire the support staff
and utilize all resources necessary to carry out the purposes of this
section.
(k) The Office of Emergency Services shall consult with the State
Department of Public Health to consider the consolidation of their
respective domestic violence programs and report conclusions to the
Legislature no later than June 30, 2011.
(l) For purposes of this section, "domestic violence" means the
infliction or threat of physical harm against past or present adult
or adolescent intimate partners, including physical, sexual, and
psychological abuse against the person, and is a part of a pattern of
assaultive, coercive, and controlling behavior directed at achieving
compliance from or control over that person.