California Victim Compensation Board March 19, 2020, Board Meeting
The California Victim Compensation Board (Board) convened its meeting in open session at the call Holly Pearson, Deputy Secretary and General Counsel for the California Government Operations Agency, sitting as designee by Secretary Yolanda Richardson, at 400 R Street, Sacramento, California, on Thursday, March 19, 2020, at 10:07 a.m. Also present was Member Richard Chivaro, Deputy State Controller and Chief Counsel, acting for, and in the absence of, Betty T. Yee, Controller.
Interim Executive Officer Lynda Gledhill and Acting Chief Counsel Jenny Wong attended. Michelle Greer, Board Liaison, recorded the meeting.
The Board meeting commenced with the Pledge of Allegiance.
Item 1. Approval of Minutes of the February 20, 2020, Board Meeting
The Board approved the minutes of the February 20, 2020, Board meeting.
Item 2. Public Comment
The Board opened the meeting for public comment. No one approached for public comment.
Item 3. Executive Officer Statement
Interim Executive Officer Ms. Gledhill updated the Board on a few items:
Strategic Planning with Cal OES
The CalVCB and Cal OES strategic planning steering committee reconvened its meetings in January.
The committee is tasked with using a two-million-dollar grant from Cal OES to raise awareness about CalVCB’s online portal, which allows victims and victim advocates to apply for compensation. It also gives victims and service providers the ability to submit supporting documents and communicate with CalVCB staff.
The online portal, which can be accessed on a phone, tablet and computer, launched last April and nearly 24-hundred victims and victim advocates have applied as of February first.
The outreach campaign will be multi-faceted and include regional seminars, E-Learning, statewide advertisements, social media advertising, PSAs, Facebook Live events and a toolkit to be distributed to stakeholders, universities and colleges throughout the state.
CalVCB also recently hired five victim advocates in our customer service unit to work directly with victims and victim advocates using the online portal to apply.
Kern County Greyhound Bus Shooting
On February 3, a shooting incident occurred on a Greyhound bus traveling from LA to the Bay area. The shooting occurred on I-5 in Kern County. One victim from Colombia died and five others were injured. Most of the victims are from out of the country. Forty-three people were on the bus.
CalVCB has been coordinating response efforts with the Victim Witness Assistance Center in the Kern County District Attorney’s office. To date, 23 applications have been received for the incident. Victims with needs not covered by CalVCB may be assisted through emergency funding from CalOES. CalVCB will continue to work closely with Kern County to address the various needs of victims.
Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month
CalVCB recognizes Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month in February. One in three adolescents in the U.S. is a victim of dating violence, according to The National Council on Crime and Delinquency Focus and approximately one in ten high school students has been purposefully hit, slapped or physically hurt by a boyfriend or girlfriend. Girls and young women between the ages of 16 and 24 experience the highest rate of intimate partner violence, nearly tripling the national average of one in four women.
We are using our social platforms, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, to share information about the signs, provide statistics about victims and inform our audience about compensation available through CalVCB.
Item 4. Contract Update
Interim Executive Officer Gledhill presented the Contract Update, which was purely informative.
The item on the update was for an IT contract renewal of premium support and subscriptions for CalVCB’s Palo Alto 3020 Network Firewalls These network appliances are critical to the Board’s network environment as they provide cyber threat protection, application security, and web filtering, allowing CalVCB IT staff to manage firewalls at an enterprise scale. The amount is $56,215.64 to be paid out of the Restitution Fund.
Item 5. Legislative Update
CalVCB Acting Chief Counsel Jenny Wong presented the Legislative Update.
SB 417 (Portantino) – Erroneous Conviction Claims Bill
This bill would appropriate $136,780 from the General Fund to pay the erroneous conviction claim approved by CalVCB for Moonshadow Naomi Taggart.
Ms. Wong reported that the bill is now in Assembly.
Item 6. Claim of Ruben Martinez Jr. (Pen. Code, § 4900 et seq.)
The Board voted to adopt the proposed decision and for the Legislature to appropriate $635,600.00 as payment for being wrongfully incarcerated.
Victim Compensation Program
The Board commenced the Victim Compensation Program portion of the meeting at 10:17 a.m.
Proposal to Approve Trauma Recovery Center Grant Awards
Ava Watson, Program Development and Analysis Manager, presented the proposal to the Board Members.
Ms. Watson stated that, after careful review by CalVCB staff, she was requesting seven Trauma Recovery Centers (TRC) for funding. The combined amount of funding for the seven TRC was $13,567,344.00. The TRC’s include:
- Alameda Family Justice Center
- South Alameda Trauma Recovery Center
- Christian Counseling Services Trauma Recovery Center
- Downtown Woman’s’ Center
- Long Beach Trauma Recovery Center
- Miracles Counseling Center
- University of San Francisco, Trauma Recovery Center
Ms. Watson mentioned that this cycle will establish three new TRCs in Christian Counseling Services Trauma Recovery Center, Miracles Counseling Center and South Alameda Trauma Recovery Center and be a continuation of funding for the other four TRCs mentioned.
The Board voted to adopt the TRC Grant Awards.
Closed Session
Pursuant to Government Code section 11126(c)(3), the Board adjourned into Closed Session with the Interim Executive Officer and Acting Chief Counsel at 10:20 a.m. to deliberate on proposed decision numbers 1-23 of the Victim Compensation Program.
Open Session
The Board reconvened into Open Session pursuant to Government Code section 11126(c)(3) at 10:24 a.m.
The Board adopted the hearing officer’s recommendations for proposed decision numbers 1-23 of the Victim Compensation Program.
Adjournment
The Board meeting adjourned at 10:25 a.m.
The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, April 16th.