18420.
(a) The Statewide Office of the Homeless Youth Advocate is established within the California Health and Human Services Agency, and shall report directly to the Secretary of California Health and Human Services. The Statewide Office of the Homeless Youth Advocate shall seek to do all of the following:(1) Coordinate current services, and facilitate interagency collaboration to identify gaps in, remove barriers and improve access to, and share, information related to homeless youth.
(2) Identify and remove obstacles to the provision of services to homeless youth.
(3) Improve the quality of services that are provided to homeless youth.
(4) Reduce needless expenditures that are caused by the provision of overlapping services.
(5) Identify housing and supportive services funding resources that are available to entities serving homeless youth.
(b) The Statewide Office of the Homeless Youth Advocate is strongly encouraged to work with other departments within the California Health and Human Services Agency, the State Department of Education, the Administrative Office of the Courts,
nonprofit organizations, appropriate departments of the federal government, and other key stakeholders when performing the functions described in subdivision (a).
(c) The Statewide Office of the Homeless Youth Advocate shall have all of, but not be limited to, the following responsibilities:
(1) Provide information, coordination assistance, and technical assistance as necessary to reduce needless expenditures that are associated with the provision of overlapping services, services and to improve the quality of services
provided to homeless youth.
(2) Identify both procedural and substantive obstacles to the provision of services to homeless youth, and make recommendations to the entities specified in this section relating to the procedural, regulatory, or statutory changes that are necessary to remove obstacles to the provision of services to homeless youth.
(3) Obtain Update information received from service providers relating to services that are known to be
available to the homeless youth population in the state, and post the information on its Internet Web site.
(4) Develop, maintain, and disseminate Make available on its Internet Web site information that is relevant to the homeless youth population, including, but not limited to, information relating to the legal, educational, and other rights of homeless youth, and a list of legal, educational, and victim’s rights organizations that serve the homeless youth population.
(5) Obtain information relating to funding sources that are known
to be available to assist the homeless youth population in the state.
(6) Work with entities to identify issues relating to the sharing of information when providing services to homeless youth, youth and to facilitate resolution of information-sharing issues.
(7) Prepare and submit an annual a biennial report, beginning on the date that is one year
two years
after this section is implemented pursuant to subdivision (e), to the Governor and the Legislature regarding the activities and performance of the Statewide Office of the Homeless Youth Advocate. The report shall also include the following information:
(A) The data that the State Department of Education annually compiles on the number of homeless youth who are enrolled in public schools in the state, the types of homelessness experienced by the youth, and a list of services that are provided to the homeless youth.
(B) The data that the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development annually publishes on the federally mandated point-in-time count of the homeless population, which includes homeless youth.
(d) As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1) “Entity” means a state agency, a state-operated program, or a nonprofit community-based organization.
(2) “Homeless youth” means a homeless youth as defined in paragraph (2) of subdivision (e) of Section 11139.3 of the Government Code.
(e)This section shall be implemented only if the Director of Finance makes a determination that federal, state, or private funds in an amount sufficient to fully support the activities of this section, including staffing the Statewide Office of the Homeless Youth Advocate, have been deposited with the state for the purposes of this section. If the Director of Finance makes a determination that sufficient funds have or have not been deposited with the state for the purposes of this section, the director shall execute a declaration stating that the determination has been made. The declaration executed pursuant to this subdivision shall be retained by the director, and, within five working days of the execution of the declaration, a copy shall be provided to the fiscal and appropriate policy committees of the Legislature, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Senate, the Chief Clerk of the Assembly, and the Legislative Counsel, and posted on the Internet Web site of the Department of Finance.
(f)Pursuant to subdivision (e), if the Director of Finance determines that insufficient funds have been deposited with the state to support the activities of this
section, this section shall become inoperative.
(g)
(e) (1) The requirement for submitting a report imposed under paragraph (7) of subdivision (c) is inoperative on the date that is four years after the date the first report is submitted, pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code.
(2) A report to be submitted pursuant to paragraph (7) of subdivision (c) shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government
Code.