Section 501.

(a) There is hereby established in the Office of Criminal Justice Planning a program of financial assistance for law enforcement, district attorneys, probation departments, juvenile courts, and schools, designated the Serious Habitual Offender Program. All funds appropriated to the Office of Criminal Justice Planning for the purposes of this article shall be administered and disbursed by the executive director of that office, and shall, to the greatest extent feasible, be coordinated or consolidated with federal funds that may be made available for these purposes.

(b) From moneys appropriated therefor, the Executive Director of the Office of Criminal Justice Planning may allocate and award funds to agencies in which programs are established in substantial compliance with the policies and criteria set forth in this article. Awards made to individual agencies shall not exceed three years in duration. An agency receiving an award shall provide matching funds at an increasing rate each year; the rate shall be as determined by the Office of Criminal Justice Planning for that agency.

(c) Allocation and award of funds for the purposes of this article shall be made upon application by a district attorney, a local law enforcement agency, a probation department, or a school district, that has been approved by the appropriate governing board of the particular agency. The applicant agency shall use the funds to create an information gathering and analysis unit responsible for the identification of serious habitual offenders and for the dissemination of information about the activities of those offenders to the juvenile justice system. This unit shall participate in the planning, support, and assistance of activities required in Sections 503 to 506, inclusive. Funds disbursed under this article shall not supplant local funds that would, in absence of the program established by this article, be made available to support the juvenile justice system. Local grant awards made under the program shall not be subject to review as specified in Section 14780 of the Government Code.

(Amended by Stats. 1989, Ch. 1356, Sec. 1.)