Violence Prevention, Pupil Wellness, and School Safety Grant Program.

The program was renamed from 'Central Valley School Safety Coordination Pilot Program' to 'Central Valley Violence Prevention, Student Wellness, and School Safety Coordination Grant Pilot Program,' broadening its scope from purely coordination/communication to include violence prevention and student wellness services.

The bill was moved from Article 5.11 of the Government Code (Section 8590.30) to Article 5.1 of the Education Code (Section 233.9), shifting the primary statutory home from emergency services to education.

All references to 'regional fusion centers' as coordination partners were removed throughout the bill, leaving only state law enforcement agencies and local law enforcement agencies as information-sharing partners.

A new grant mechanism was added. Upon appropriation by the Legislature, the program shall award grants to eligible entities in Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Merced, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, and Tulare counties for evidence-based violence prevention, student wellness, and public safety initiatives.

References to federal grants (Homeland Security Grant Program, Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention grants) were removed from the report recommendations, leaving only 'state grants' as a recommendation area.

Eligible grant applicants were defined: local educational agencies, county offices of education, community-based organizations, local governments, tribal governments, and partnerships of these entities.

Fifteen categories of allowable grant uses were specified, including school-based mental health services, counselors/psychologists/social workers, youth mentoring, violence interruption programs, behavioral health outreach, restorative justice, attendance improvement, suicide prevention, gang prevention, community violence reduction, school safety planning, multidisciplinary threat assessment teams, and collaboration-strengthening programs.

Grant prioritization criteria were added: programs must serve communities with demonstrated needs, use evidence-based or promising practices, demonstrate multi-sector collaboration, and address underserved or rural communities.

The reporting requirement now has a separate inoperative date of January 1, 2033 (under Section 10231.5), distinct from the article's repeal date of January 1, 2030. Grant recipients must also submit individual findings to the department.

The state-mandated local program designation in the legislative digest changed from 'yes' to 'no.'

New legislative findings (Section 233.9) were added establishing that safe schools are essential to economic prosperity, that school safety/violence prevention/well-being are interconnected, that evidence-based approaches improve outcomes, that community organizations play a critical role, and that some CBOs have experienced funding reductions.

The document was reformatted from a plain-text legislative format with line numbers and page headers into a web page layout that includes navigation elements (skip to content, home, accessibility, FAQ, search boxes, version history links). No statutory language was added, removed, or altered.

The definition of 'local educational agency' in Section 8590.30 was narrowed from including school districts, county offices of education, nonprofit charter schools participating in special education local plan areas, special education local plan areas, and charter schools, to simply school districts, county offices of education, or charter schools. This removes special education local plan areas as covered entities.

Section 8590.31(d)(4) removed 'regional threat assessment centers' from the list of entities that would develop information sharing practices with participating local educational agencies, leaving only regional fusion centers.

The inoperative date for Section 8590.33 was changed from January 1, 2033 to January 1, 2030, aligning it with the date the entire article is repealed. The previous version had an inconsistency where the reporting section would remain operative three years after the rest of the article expired.

The report requirements in Section 8590.33(b) were renumbered to fix duplicate item numbers (the old version had items numbered 1 through 6 with standalone '(3)' and '(4)' entries). The new version uses a clean 1-9 sequence.

A drafting error was introduced in the legislative findings: 'contributing to chronic absenteeism' became 'contributing which contribute to chronic absenteeism' in Section 1(g).

The pilot program's coordination and information-sharing framework was expanded from only 'regional fusion centers' to include 'regional fusion centers, state law enforcement agencies, and local law enforcement agencies.' This change appears throughout the bill - in the purpose statement, coordination protocols, information sharing practices, threat identification processes, and privacy safeguard requirements.

Section 8590.33(b)(9) was amended to add 'state grants' as an additional category of funding sources that the pilot program evaluation report should recommend pursuing, alongside the existing federal grants (Homeland Security Grant Program and Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention grants).

Senator Rubio was removed as co-author of the bill.

A grammatical error in Section 1(g) was corrected: 'contributing which contribute' was changed to 'which contribute.'

The bill title changed from 'An act relating to mental health. An act to add Article 5.11' to 'An act to add and repeal Article 5.11,' removing the separate mental health framing and adding an explicit repeal component.

A standalone Section 1 containing legislative findings about AI-driven platforms and their effects on youth mental health was removed as a separate section. Its substance was folded into the existing findings in Section 1(a) through (q).

Senator Rubio was added as a coauthor of the bill.

The definition of 'local educational agency' in Section 8590.30 was expanded to include 'or a charter school,' broadening which entities can participate in the pilot program.

Section 8590.31(d)(4) changed from referencing 'participating educational entities and regional threat assessment centers' to 'participating local educational agencies and regional fusion centers,' clarifying and narrowing the information-sharing participants.

The required legislative report in Section 8590.33(b) was expanded with new items: a description of types of information shared when a credible safety threat is identified, how fusion centers identify threats and determine credibility, supportive resources provided to schools (mental health, restorative justice, hate and bullying prevention), and who implements privacy safeguards.

The pilot program sunset date was shortened from January 1, 2033 to January 1, 2030. A new Section 8590.34 was added stating the entire article is repealed as of January 1, 2030.

The fiscal committee designation changed from 'no' to 'yes' and the state-mandated local program designation changed from 'no' to 'yes,' indicating the bill now triggers fiscal analysis and mandate reimbursement review.

Added the Central Valley School Safety Coordination Pilot Program as a new Article 5.11 (Sections 8590.30-8590.33) to the Government Code, requiring OES to establish and implement the program in consultation with the State Department of Education.

Limited pilot implementation to selected Central Valley counties including Fresno, Kern, Kings, Tulare, Madera, Merced, San Joaquin, and Stanislaus, prioritizing areas with high chronic absenteeism and mental health challenges. A special statute finding was added to satisfy constitutional requirements for a geographically limited law.

The original bill was a non-operative statement of legislative intent regarding AI's impact on youth mental health. The amended version repositioned that language as Section 1 findings within a much broader operative bill focused primarily on school safety coordination, with the AI/mental health content now serving as contextual justification rather than the sole purpose.

The pilot program may include designating school safety liaisons in county offices of education, developing voluntary coordination protocols between local educational agencies and regional fusion centers regarding credible threats (including online radicalization and cyber threats), training for school personnel on threat awareness and digital safety, information sharing practices emphasizing chronic absenteeism reduction, and identification of emerging threat trends.

Added privacy and civil liberties protections: the pilot must comply with all applicable state and federal privacy laws including FERPA, shall not authorize bulk monitoring of students or collection of student information unrelated to a credible safety threat, and any information sharing must be limited to what existing law permits.

Required OES and the State Department of Education to submit an evaluation report to the Legislature by January 1, 2029, including data on participating agencies, communication practices, emerging threats, privacy safeguards, recommendations on statewide expansion, and recommendations for pursuing federal grants. The reporting section becomes inoperative on January 1, 2033.

Added a state mandates reimbursement provision requiring that if the Commission on State Mandates determines the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement shall be made to local agencies and school districts under Part 7 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.

Added a definition of 'local educational agency' to mean a school district, county office of education, nonprofit charter school participating in a special education local plan area, or a special education local plan area.