California creates an office for its gun-violence grants, funded by a tax on gun sales
Sept. 26, 2026 — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Saturday signed AB 2378 in Sacramento, creating an Office of Community Violence Intervention to run a grant program the state has funded since 2017. The office sits inside the existing Board of State and Community Corrections and will have its own director.
The program, known as CalVIP, grew out of an earlier gang-reduction grant and was written into law in 2019. It pays cities, counties, tribes and community groups for work such as street outreach and hospital-based intervention with people at risk of violence. For years it received about $9 million a year from the state general fund, plus a one-time $200 million boost in 2021 spread over three years. Since July 2024 it has been funded by a state tax on gun and ammunition sales, with the first $75 million collected each year set aside for it automatically. That makes it an ongoing program rather than one that ends with a single grant. The board had awarded more than $350 million by early 2025.
The author, Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, said applications are at record levels. The Assembly passed the bill 70-0.
Whether the grants reduce violence is less settled. Grantees must file local evaluations, and the current round's final evaluation is due in 2029. The new office must report on the field every two years starting in July 2028.
The wall: The office's own cost and any statewide cost-benefit study were not found.
Tier: Confirmed
Sources
- AB 2378 bill text (leginfo)
- BSCC, CalVIP $103 million release
- BSCC CalVIP program page
- USC summary of CalVIP history
- Assemblymember Gabriel
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