13963.1
. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(1) Without treatment, approximately 50 percent of people who
survive a traumatic, violent injury experience lasting or extended
psychological or social difficulties. Untreated psychological trauma
often has severe economic consequences, including overuse of costly
medical services, loss of income, failure to return to gainful
employment, loss of medical insurance, and loss of stable housing.
(2) Victims of crime should receive timely and effective mental
health treatment.
(3) The board shall administer a program to evaluate applications
and award grants to trauma recovery centers.
(b) The board shall award a grant only to a trauma recovery center
that meets both of the following criteria:
(1) The trauma recovery center demonstrates that it serves as a
community resource by providing services, including, but not limited
to, making presentations and providing training to law enforcement,
community-based agencies, and other health care providers on the
identification and effects of violent crime.
(2) Any other related criteria required by the board.
(c) It is the intent of the Legislature to provide an annual
appropriation of two million dollars ($2,000,000) per year. All
grants awarded by the board shall be funded only from the Restitution
Fund.
(d) The board may award a grant providing funding for up to a
maximum period of three years. Any portion of a grant that a trauma
recovery center does not use within the specified grant period shall
revert to the Restitution Fund. The board may award consecutive
grants to a trauma recovery center to prevent a lapse in funding. The
board shall not award a trauma recovery center more than one grant
for any period of time.
(e) The board, when considering grant applications, shall give
preference to a trauma recovery center that conducts outreach to, and
serves, both of the following:
(1) Crime victims who typically are unable to access traditional
services, including, but not limited to, victims who are homeless,
chronically mentally ill, of diverse ethnicity, members of immigrant
and refugee groups, disabled, who have severe trauma-related symptoms
or complex psychological issues, or juvenile victims, including
minors who have had contact with the juvenile dependency or justice
system.
(2) Victims of a wide range of crimes, including, but not limited
to, victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, physical assault,
shooting, stabbing, and vehicular assault, and family members of
homicide victims.
(f) The trauma recovery center sites shall be selected by the
board through a well-defined selection process that takes into
account the rate of crime and geographic distribution to serve the
greatest number of victims.
(g) A trauma recovery center that is awarded a grant shall do both
of the following:
(1) Report to the board annually on how grant funds were spent,
how many clients were served (counting an individual client who
receives multiple services only once), units of service, staff
productivity, treatment outcomes, and patient flow throughout both
the clinical and evaluation components of service.
(2) In compliance with federal statutes and rules governing
federal matching funds for victims' services, each center shall
submit any forms and data requested by the board to allow the board
to receive the 60 percent federal matching funds for eligible victim
services and allowable expenses.
(h) For purposes of this section, a trauma recovery center
provides, including, but not limited to, all of the following
resources, treatments, and recovery services to crime victims:
(1) Mental health services.
(2) Assertive community-based outreach and clinical case
management.
(3) Coordination of care among medical and mental health care
providers, law enforcement agencies, and other social services.
(4) Services to family members and loved ones of homicide victims.
(5) A multidisciplinary staff of clinicians that includes
psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers.