AB 1845 — Homelessness: Office to End Homelessness.

Summary

(1) Existing law establishes various offices within the Governor's office with specified duties and responsibilities. This bill would create, within the Governor's office, the Office to End Homelessness, which would be administered by the Secretary on Homelessness appointed by the Governor. The bill would require that the office serve the Governor as the lead entity for ending homelessness in California and would task the office with coordinating homeless programs, services, data, and policies between federal, state, and local agencies, among other responsibilities. The bill would require the office to exercise various powers and duties, including, among others, making recommendations to the Governor and the Legislature regarding new state policies, programs, and actions on homelessness. The bill would require the office to be comprised of specified employees serving within the state civil service and to oversee and carry out the existing mandates of the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council, as defined and described below. (2) Existing law requires the Governor to establish the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council (referred to as "the coordinating council") and appoint up to 19 members of that council, including the Secretary of Business, Consumer Services, and Housing, or the secretary's designee, to serve as the chair of the coordinating council. Existing law requires that the coordinating council be under the direction of an executive director, who is under the direction of the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency, and staffed by employees of that agency. This bill would require that the coordinating council be under the supervision of the Secretary on Homelessness of the Office to End Homelessness. The bill would further require that the Secretary on Homelessness, or the secretary's designee, serve as chair of the council in place of the Secretary of Business, Consumer Services, and Housing. The bill would also change the composition of the council by reducing the overall number of members to 13, replacing representatives of specified state agencies with directors and secretaries of those agencies, adding the Director of Public Health to the council membership, making certain positions part of an advisory committee to the council, and making other related changes. The bill would provide for the transfer of specified duties, powers, employees, assets, and liabilities of the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency and the office of the Governor to the Office to End Homelessness with respect to the council, as specified. (3) Existing law authorizes the coordinating council to establish working groups, task forces, or other structures from within its membership or with outside members to assist it in its work. The Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act requires, with specified exceptions for authorized closed sessions, that all meetings of a state body be open and public and all persons be permitted to attend any meeting of a state body. The bill would provide that the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act does not apply to a meeting of a working group, task force, or other structure of the council if only a minority of the members of the council participate in that working group, task force, or other structure. The bill would specify that, except under those circumstances, the council and its meetings are subject to the act. (4) Existing law charges the coordinating council, among other duties, with the goal of creating a statewide data system or warehouse to match data on homelessness to programs impacting homeless recipients of state programs. This bill would require that statewide data system or warehouse to be known as the Homeless Data Integration System. The bill would require all Continuums of Care, as defined, which are currently operating in California, to provide collected data elements, as provided, to the Homeless Management Information System. The bill would prohibit any health information or personal identifying information provided to, or maintained within, that system from being subject to public inspection or disclosure under the California Public Records Act. (5) Existing law provides that the goals of the coordinating council include, among other things, creating partnerships among state agencies and departments, local government agencies, federal agencies, and specified other entities for the purpose of arriving at specific strategies to end homelessness. Existing law requires agencies and departments administering state programs, as defined, to collaborate with the coordinating council to adopt guidelines and regulations, or to revise existing guidelines and regulations, as applicable, to incorporate core components of Housing First, as defined. This bill would require, upon the request of the coordinating council, an agency or department that administers one or more state programs to furnish to the coordinating council any relevant information regarding those state programs. (6) Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. (7) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 8256 of the Welfare and Institutions Code proposed by SB 815 to be operative only if this bill and SB 815 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

Bill Text

• Enrolled 09/04/20 - Enrolled Current pdf September 04, 2020
• Amended 08/27/20 - Amended Senate pdf August 27, 2020
• Amended 08/25/20 - Amended Senate pdf August 25, 2020
• Amended 08/20/20 - Amended Senate pdf August 20, 2020
• Amended 08/11/20 - Amended Senate pdf August 11, 2020
• Amended 07/21/20 - Amended Senate pdf July 21, 2020
• Amended 06/04/20 - Amended Assembly pdf June 04, 2020
• Introduced 01/06/20 - Introduced pdf January 06, 2020
• AB1845 View text html

Action History

1. September 28, 2020

   Vetoed by Governor.

2. September 15, 2020

   Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.

3. August 31, 2020

   Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 69. Noes 5. Page 5433.).

4. August 30, 2020

   In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.

5. August 30, 2020

   Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 36. Noes 2.).

6. August 28, 2020

   Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

7. August 27, 2020

   Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading.

8. August 26, 2020

   Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

9. August 25, 2020

   Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading.

10. August 24, 2020

    Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

11. August 20, 2020

    Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading.

12. August 20, 2020

    From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (August 20).

13. August 17, 2020

    In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file.

14. August 11, 2020

    Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

15. August 10, 2020

    From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 1.) (August 10).

16. July 21, 2020

    From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on HUMAN S.

17. July 01, 2020

    Referred to Com. on HUMAN S.

18. June 11, 2020

    In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment.

19. June 10, 2020

    Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 69. Noes 0. Page 4782.)

20. June 08, 2020

    Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

21. June 04, 2020

    Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading.

22. June 03, 2020

    From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 15. Noes 3.) (June 3).

23. June 02, 2020

    In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file.

24. March 11, 2020

    From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 1.) (March 11). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

25. March 11, 2020

    Coauthors revised.

26. January 17, 2020

    Referred to Com. on H. & C.D.

27. January 07, 2020

    From printer. May be heard in committee February 6.

28. January 06, 2020

    Read first time. To print.

Sponsors

• Chiu · Cosponsor
• Sharon Quirk-Silva · Cosponsor
• Burke · Cosponsor
• Robert Rivas · Cosponsor
• Robert Rivas · Primary

Votes

Subjects