Assembly BillVetoedWelfare and Institutions
AB 2247: Trauma Healing and Resilience Investment for Victimized and Exposed Youth Act.
What AB 2247 does, verified October 5, 2026
The bill aims to provide mental health and counseling services to youth survivors of gun violence in California. It creates a program to pay for these services, which must be administered by the state department of health care services. The program will be funded through a separate fund, and policies and procedures will be established to distribute the funds. Youth survivors of gun violence, or their parents or guardians, will be allowed to attest to their experiences without requiring external documentation. The bill also prohibits denying assistance solely on the basis of having another source of funding for mental health care services. A public report will be issued annually regarding the impact of the program. Client information and records will be kept confidential. Health care service plans and insurers will be required to offer nonurgent appointments with mental health care provi…
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Last action: Vetoed by Governor. (2026-09-27)Alert me
Author and sponsors
Full contact details, staff, and committees with Connect, $16/moUnlockRecent actions28 total · showing 5
| Sep. 27, 2026 | Vetoed by Governor. |
| Sep. 03, 2026 | Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m. |
| Aug. 26, 2026 | Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 60. Noes 16. Page 6642.). |
| Aug. 26, 2026 | In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. |
| Aug. 26, 2026 | Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 31. Noes 6.). |
Latest bill textEnrolled version, August 30, 2026 · 1,904 words
| Enrolled August 30, 2026 |
| Passed IN Senate August 26, 2026 |
| Passed IN Assembly August 26, 2026 |
| Amended IN Senate August 13, 2026 |
| Amended IN Assembly May 18, 2026 |
| Amended IN Assembly April 23, 2026 |
| Amended IN Assembly March 23, 2026 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 2247
| Introduced by Assembly Member Elhawary (Coauthors: Assembly Members Aguiar-Curry, Bonta, and Krell) |
February 19, 2026 |
An act to add and repeal Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 8270) of Division 8 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to victims of crime.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2247, Elhawary. Trauma Healing and Resilience Investment for Victimized and Exposed Youth Act.
Existing law generally provides for the compensation of victims and derivative victims of specified types of crimes by the California Victim Compensation Board from the Restitution Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, for specified losses suffered as a result of those crimes. Existing law sets forth eligibility requirements and limits on the amount of compensation that the board may award, and requires the application for compensation to be verified under penalty of perjury.
This bill would create a pilot program, the Trauma Healing and Resilience Investment for Victimized and Exposed Youth Act (T.H.R.I.V.E.), to be administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the administration of grants to the County of Los Angeles to establish and administer a program to pay for mental health and counseling services for youth survivors of gun violence, as defined, who request those services and who reside in that county. The bill would require policies and procedures for distributing funds to meet certain requirements, including, among other things, allowing youth survivors of gun violence, or their parents or guardians for survivors who are minors, to attest to their experiences of gun violence without requiring external documentation of the gun violence incident.
The bill would create the Trauma Healing and Resilience Investment for Victimized and Exposed Youth Fund to be used by the department for the purposes of this program, upon appropriation by the Legislature. The bill would make client information and records of mental health services provided to these provisions confidential.
The bill would make implementation of these provisions contingent upon appropriation by the Legislature. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2032.
Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.
This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 8270) is added to Division 8 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:CHAPTER 9. Trauma Healing and Resilience Investment for Victimized and Exposed Youth Act
8270.
This chapter shall be known, and may be cited, as the Trauma Healing and Resilience Investment for Victimized and Exposed Youth Act or the T.H.R.I.V.E. Act.8271.
For the purposes of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply:(a) “Community-based organization” means a nonprofit organization, or organization fiscally sponsored by a nonprofit, that provides direct services to youth survivors of gun violence and includes, but is not limited to, a trauma recovery center as described in Section 13963.1 of the Government Code.
(b) “Department” means the State Department of Health Care Services.
(c) “Family member” means any of the following:
(1) A person related to another by blood, adoption, or marriage.
(2) A household member or former household member of another.
(3) A person who is not related by blood, adoption, or marriage to another, but who otherwise has a significant emotional relationship with another.
(d) “Fund” means the Trauma Healing and Resilience Investment for Victimized and Exposed Youth Fund established pursuant to Section 8273.
(e) “Grantee” means the County of Los Angeles or a lead agency designated by that county to administer funds awarded under this chapter.
(f) “Law enforcement agency” means any police department, sheriff’s department, district attorney, county probation department, transit agency police department, school district police department, highway patrol, the police department of any campus of the University of California, the California State University, or a community college, the Department of the California Highway Patrol, the Department of Justice, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and federal law enforcement agencies, including, but not limited to, the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
(g) “Lead agency” means a department of the County of Los Angeles, including, but not limited to, departments of social services, disability services, health services, public health, or behavioral health. “Lead agency” does not include a law enforcement agency.
(h) “Youth survivor of gun violence” means a person 25 years of age or younger who has experienced any of the following:
(1) Been shot by another person with a firearm.
(2) Been shot at by another person with a firearm, whether the shooting resulted in bodily injury.
(3) Has witnessed someone else being shot or shot at with a firearm.
(4) Has a family member or close friend who has sustained serious bodily injury or death from being shot by another person with a firearm, including a person whose parent was killed with a firearm before the person was born.
8272.
(a) The Trauma Healing and Resilience Investment for Victimized and Exposed Youth Act or the T.H.R.I.V.E. pilot grant program is hereby established and shall be administered by the department.(b) Upon appropriation by the Legislature, the department shall award to the County of Los Angeles a grant to establish and administer a program to pay for mental health and counseling services for youth survivors of gun violence who request those services and who reside in the County of Los Angeles.
(c) (1) The county shall use funds awarded under this chapter to establish and administer a program to pay for mental health and counseling services for youth survivors of gun violence within the county who request those services.
(2) The county may designate a lead agency for the purposes of administering a program under this chapter. The county shall not designate any law enforcement agency as a lead agency.
(d) (1) From funds awarded under this chapter, the grantee may provide stipends to youth survivors of gun violence directly, or to their parents or guardians for survivors who are minors, to use to pay for their own mental health and counseling services, may pay providers or peer support specialists directly for mental health and counseling services on behalf of youth survivors, or may provide funds to one or more community-based organizations, to distribute in stipends to youth survivors of gun violence to pay for mental health and counseling services, or to pay providers directly to provide these services.
(2) No more than 10 percent of the funds awarded under this chapter shall be used to support program administration of the grantee or of a community-based organization that receives funds from a grantee to distribute as provided by this section.
(e) The grantee shall establish policies and procedures for distributing funds to youth survivors of gun violence to use to pay for mental health and counseling services that comply with all of the following:
(1) Allow youth survivors of gun violence, or their parents or guardians for survivors who are minors, to attest to their experiences of gun violence without requiring external documentation of the gun violence incident.
(2) Allow youth survivors of gun violence, or their parents or guardians for survivors who are minors, to select a licensed mental health services provider or peer support specialist of their choice, regardless of whether the provider or specialist accepts insurance, Medi-Cal, or another form of coverage.
(3) Provide youth survivors of gun violence with a list of mental health care providers and peer support specialists in the county with expertise in recovery from trauma or violence. This list may include, but is not limited to, providers trained under the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Aware Initiative or that are listed in the statewide ACEs Aware Clinician Directory, and who provide individual counseling.
(4) Do not exclude youth survivors of gun violence on the basis of citizenship or immigration status.
(5) Establish a mechanism to ensure youth survivors of gun violence are not required to incur out-of-pocket mental health and counseling expenses or wait to be reimbursed for those costs.
(6) Do not exclude youth survivors of gun violence on the basis of an arrest, conviction, or juvenile adjudication record, or on the basis of a survivor’s status under correctional supervision.
(f) The grantee shall not require, as a condition of receiving mental health and counseling services, that a youth survivor of gun violence report any crime to a law enforcement agency, or require documentation from law enforcement of the incident of gun violence.
(g) Notwithstanding any other law, a stipend or payment made under this chapter shall not reduce a youth survivor of gun violence’s maximum benefit allowance provided by the California Victim Compensation Board, except that an expense for specific purposes paid in full for a youth survivor of gun violence under this chapter shall not be eligible for reimbursement or payment by the board for the same purposes.
(h) This section shall be implemented only to the extent that funds are provided from the fund for purposes of this section. This section does not obligate any county to use funds from any other source for services pursuant to this section.
8273.
(a) The Trauma Healing and Resilience Investment for Victimized and Exposed Youth Fund is hereby created within the State Treasury. Moneys deposited into the fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, may be expended by the department for the purposes of this chapter.(b) The client information and records of mental health services provided pursuant to this chapter shall be confidential and shall be exempt from inspection under the California Public Records Act (Division 10 (commencing with Section 7920.000) of Title 1 of the Government Code).
(c) 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), the department may implement and administer this chapter through all-county letters or similar instructions that shall have the same force and effect as regulations.
8274.
Implementation of this chapter shall be contingent upon appropriation by the Legislature.8275.
This chapter shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2032, and as of that date is repealed.SEC. 2.
The Legislature finds and declares that Section 1 of this act, which adds Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 8270) to Division 8 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, imposes a limitation on the public’s right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies within the meaning of Section 3 of Article I of the California Constitution. Pursuant to that constitutional provision, the Legislature makes the following findings to demonstrate the interest protected by this limitation and the need for protecting that interest:In order to protect the privacy and safety concerns of victims of violent crime, and to provide records relating to private health care services, it is necessary that this act limit the public’s right of access to that information.
Text of AB 2247 as enrolled, from the official record. Connect Plus keeps every version and highlights what changed.Compare versions