(Amended (as amended by Stats. 2024, Ch. 385, Sec. 1) by Stats. 2026, Ch. 26, Sec. 12.)

(a) Commencing July 1, 2021, there is in the California Health and Human Services Agency the Office of Youth and Community Restoration.

(b) The office’s mission is to promote trauma responsive, culturally informed services for youth involved in the juvenile justice system that support the youths’ successful transition into adulthood and help them become responsible, thriving, and engaged members of their communities.

(c) The office shall have the responsibility and authority to do all of the following:

(1) Once data becomes available as a result of the plan developed to Section 13015 of the Penal Code, develop a report on youth outcomes in the juvenile justice system.

(2) Identify policy recommendations for improved outcomes and integrated programs and services to best support delinquent youth.

(3) Identify and disseminate best practices to help inform rehabilitative and restorative youth practices, including education, diversion, re-entry, religious and victims’ services.

(4) Provide technical assistance as requested to develop and expand local youth diversion opportunities to meet the varied needs of the delinquent youth population, including but not limited to sex offender, substance abuse, and mental health treatment.

(5) Report annually on the work of the Office of Youth and Community Restoration.

(6) (A) Develop an annual report on chronic absenteeism rates in juvenile court schools at juvenile facilities. The office may work with the State Department of Education and county offices of education to include data for all juvenile court schools.

(B) Subject to available funding, investigate the reasons for absenteeism at juvenile court schools with chronic absenteeism rates of 15 percent or more, including, but not limited to, an investigation of whether the juvenile facility has provided sufficient staff to support transportation and access to educational services and whether policies or practices have been implemented that withhold educational services from youth as a means of individual or group punishment. The office shall include a summary of the findings of any investigation it conducts in the annual report.

(C) Subject to available funding, if, after an investigation, the office determines that insufficient staff, transportation, punitive policies, or any policies under the juvenile facility’s control are contributing to chronic absenteeism rates, provide technical assistance to ameliorate the identified causes of the chronic absenteeism.

(d) The office shall have an ombudsperson, who has the authority to do all of the following:

(1) Investigate complaints from youth.

(2) Decide, in its discretion, whether to investigate complaints from youth who are detained in the, or committed to, juvenile facilities, families, staff, and others about harmful conditions or practices, violations of laws and regulations governing facilities, and circumstances presenting an emergency situation, or refer complaints to another body for investigation.

(3) Publish and provide regular reports to the Legislature about complaints received and subsequent findings and actions taken, pursuant to Section 2200.5.

(4) Have access to, review, and receive and make copies of any record of a local agency, and contractors with local agencies, including, but not limited to, all juvenile facility records, at all times, except personnel records legally required to be kept confidential. Access to records shall be in accordance with existing law and rules of court governing juvenile confidentiality and all other applicable laws.

(5) Meet or communicate privately with any youth, individually or in groups of youth. Meet or communicate privately with any personnel, or volunteer in a juvenile facility and premises within the control of a county or local agency, or a contractor with a county or local agency, and interview any relevant witnesses. The ombudsperson may interview sworn probation personnel in accordance with applicable federal and state law, local probation department policies, and collective bargaining agreements. The ombudsperson shall be granted access to youth at all times, and may take notes, audio or video recording, or photographs during the meeting or communication with youth, to the extent not otherwise prohibited by applicable federal or state law. The ombudsperson shall be permitted to carry with them and use the equipment necessary to document the meeting or communication with youth as described in this section, to the extent not otherwise prohibited by applicable federal or state law. This equipment includes, but is not limited to, state-issued computers, audio or video recording devices, cameras, or technology providing the ombudsperson internet access. Access shall be in accordance with existing law and rules of court governing juvenile confidentiality and all other applicable laws.

(6) Disseminate information and provide training and technical assistance to youth who are involved in the juvenile justice system, including by providing training to currently incarcerated youth as individuals or in a group, in a private setting. Disseminate information and provide training and technical assistance to social workers, probation officers, tribal child welfare agencies, child welfare organizations, children’s and youth advocacy groups, consumer and service provider organizations, and other interested parties on the rights of youth involved in the juvenile justice system and the services provided by the ombudsperson. The rights shall include rights set forth in federal and state law and regulations for youth detained in or committed to juvenile justice facilities. The information shall include methods of contacting the ombudsperson and notification that conversations with the office may be disclosed to other persons, as necessary to adequately investigate and resolve a complaint.

(7) Access, visit, and observe juvenile facilities and premises within the control of a county, or local agency, or a contractor with a county, or local agency, serving youth involved in the juvenile justice system. The ombudsperson shall be granted access to the facilities at any time with or without prior notice.

(8) For purposes of this section, “record” means documents, papers, memoranda, logs, reports, letters, calendars, schedules, notes, files, drawings, grievances or complaints, and electronic content, including, but not limited to, videos, photographs, blogs, video blogs, instant and text messages, email, or other items developed or received under law or in connection with the transaction of official business, but does not include material that is protected by privilege.

(9) Ombudsperson staff shall conduct a site visit to every juvenile facility and premises within the control of a county or local agency, or a contractor with a county or local agency, no less frequently than once per year.

(e) The Division of the Ombudsperson of the Office of Youth and Community Restoration shall design posters and provide the posters to each juvenile facility operator subject to Section 224.72. These posters shall include the toll-free telephone number of the Ombudsperson of the Office of Youth and Community Restoration.

(g) (1) The Office of Youth and Community Restoration shall evaluate the efficacy of local programs being utilized for realigned youth. No later than July 1, 2025, the office shall report its findings to the Governor and the Legislature.

(2) To meet the need to monitor and evaluate local responses for youth realigned to counties from the Division of Juvenile Justice, the Office of Youth and Community Restoration shall collect the data described in this paragraph not less frequently than two times per year. Commencing no later than April 1, 2025, for the reporting period from July 1, 2024, through December 31, 2024, and no later than October 1, 2025, for the reporting period from January 1, 2025, through June 30, 2025, and on this schedule every six months thereafter through October 1, 2029, county probation departments shall provide the office with the data described in this paragraph in a format designated by the office. The office shall publish a report of state and county findings not less frequently than annually. The submissions by county probation departments to the office shall include all of the following, disaggregated by gender, age, and race or ethnicity:

(A) Number of youth and their most serious commitment offense, if known, who are under the county’s supervision who are committed to a secure youth treatment facility, including youth committed to secure youth treatment facilities in another county.

(B) Number of individual youth in the county who were adjudicated for an offense pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 707 of this code or Section 290.008 of the Penal Code.

(C) Number of youth, including their commitment offense or offenses, if known, transferred from a secure youth treatment facility to a less restrictive program under the terms and provisions of subdivision (f) of Section 875, disaggregated by program description, as defined by the office.

(D) Number of youth for whom a hearing to transfer jurisdiction to an adult criminal court was held, and the number of youth whose jurisdiction was transferred to adult criminal court.

(3) The reporting and data collection provisions of paragraph (2) shall become inoperative on January 1, 2030.

(4) Notwithstanding the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code), for the purposes of paragraph (2), the office may, if it deems it appropriate, implement, interpret, or make specific paragraph (2) by means of written guidelines or similar instructions from the office.

(h) Juvenile grants shall not be awarded by the Board of State and Community Corrections without the concurrence of the office. All juvenile justice grant administration functions in the Board of State and Community Corrections shall be moved to the office no later than January 1, 2025. The allocation of funds dedicated to the Local Revenue Fund 2011 and its accounts, subaccounts, and special accounts shall be consistent with Chapter 6.3 (commencing with Section 30025) of Division 3 of Title 3 of the Government Code.

(i) The Office of Youth and Community Restoration shall submit to the Department of Justice fingerprint images and related information required by the Department of Justice for all employees, prospective employees, contractors, subcontractors, and volunteers requiring direct contact with young people in juvenile facilities or access to criminal offender record information, as defined by Section 11075 of the Penal Code, pursuant to subdivision (u) of Section 11105 of the Penal Code. The Department of Justice shall provide a state- or federal-level response pursuant to subdivision (p) of Section 11105 of the Penal Code.

(j) Notwithstanding Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, the Office of Youth and Community Restoration may establish grantmaking programs with the funding designated in the Budget Act of 2021 and with other funding available for that purpose by means of information notices or other similar instructions, without taking further regulatory action.

(k) The Office of Youth and Community Restoration may enter into exclusive or nonexclusive contracts, or amend existing contracts, on a bid or negotiated basis for purposes of implementing those activities funded by the Budget Act of 2021 and other funding available for these purposes. Contracts entered into or amended pursuant to this section are exempt from Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 14825) of Part 5.5 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, Section 19130 of the Government Code, Part 2 (commencing with Section 10100) of Division 2 of the Public Contract Code, the State Administrative Manual, and the State Contracting Manual, and are exempt from the review or approval of any division of the Department of General Services.

( l ) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2028, and as of that date is repealed.