Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Michael P. Callagy, County Executive
Subject: Resolution to Dissolve the San Mateo County Domestic Violence Council as Currently Structured and Recommend County Executive Restructure to Enhance Effectiveness and Expand Scope
RECOMMENDATION:
title
Adopt a resolution to dissolve the San Mateo County Domestic Violence Council and recommend restructuring to enhance effectiveness and expand scope.
body
BACKGROUND:
The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors formed the Domestic Violence Council (DVC) in 1998. The DVC operates as the County’s task force on violent crimes against women, pursuant to Penal Code Section 14140. The DVC has provided critical leadership in addressing domestic violence in San Mateo County but faces structural limitations in its current formation that hinder its ability to respond effectively to urgent needs.
As a body subject to the Ralph M. Brown Act, the DVC as currently structured faces particular challenges, including that it must:
• Conduct all business in public meetings, where maintaining safety and confidentiality for survivors is not possible.
• Allow a designated period and format for public comment, with a set time limit per speaker, which restricts ability to engage with commenters and limits opportunities for meaningful discussion.
• Ensure that no more than half of its members discuss issues outside of meetings, which creates communication challenges since many of the DVC members are County staff and creates constraints on full participation in working sessions, including, for example, upcoming strategic planning for the County’s proposed Family Justice Center.
Along with creating safety concerns for survivors, these restrictions create barriers to swift action, including limited flexibility, reduced efficiency, and slowed progress on urgent issues.
In 2023, the DVC created the DVC Task Force, an ad hoc committee not required to hold agendized public meetings under the Brown Act. As a result, the Task Force has been more nimble and effective in making progress on policies and gaps in services, resulting in advancing several initiatives, including conducting a Family Justice Center community input session, conducting Family Justice Center tours throughout California, facilitating the creation of the High-Risk Case Domestic Violence Multidisciplinary Team, and facilitating the establishment of the Domestic Violence Emergency Response Team (DVERT).
In additional to these procedural constraints, the current structure of the DVC limits its scope to domestic violence. By contrast, Penal Code Section 14140 does not restrict its focus to domestic violence, focusing instead on all violent crimes against women. The intersections between domestic violence and sexual violence are undeniable-many survivors experience multiple forms of abuse, often at the hands of the same perpetrators. As such, the DVC recommends that the Board of Supervisors dissolve the DVC and recommend to the County Executive that he create a restructured group. By restructuring the DVC to expand its focus to include in its scope sexual violence along with domestic violence, the restructured group will have the opportunity to make more meaningful progress in preventing and addressing a broader spectrum of violence and exploitation.
DISCUSSION:
On April 10, 2025, the DVC approved of the following Recommendation to the Board of Supervisors, as reflected in Attachment 1 to this memorandum. The DVC suggests that the Board recommend that any new group established by the County Executive follow the proposed structure and membership recommended below:
The DVC recommends that the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors dissolve the DVC in its current form. After so doing, the County Executive should consider restructuring the group as a function within the County Executive’s Office or other appropriate County Office or Department and expanding the scope to include sexual violence. This new structure may fall under the portfolio of the County Executive’s Office (e.g., the Women and Children's Officer) or other appropriate County Office or Department. In the future, this function could also be considered for incorporation into a Family Justice Center once a Center is formally established.
The restructured group should be formed to address domestic violence-including but not limited to the definition of domestic violence under the Domestic Violence Prevention Act, Family Code section 6211-and sexual violence in closer alignment with the goals of Penal Code Section 14140 and allowing for more nimble and responsive action.
Benefits of restructuring may include:
1. Improved Communication & Collaboration: By allowing open, timely communication not subject to the Brown Act, members can engage in continuous and responsive discussions to address emerging and urgent issues.
2. Increased Efficiency: A restructured group can convene more frequently and work dynamically without requiring a formal quorum or a strict, inflexible agenda.
3. Broader Scope: Expanding the focus to include sexual violence will align with best practices in victim services.
4. Survivor Representation: Ensuring a survivor advisory member provides critical lived-experience perspectives to guide policy and initiatives.
5. Alignment with Future Family Justice Center: Structuring the group within the County Executive’s Office or other appropriate County Office or Department will allow for active participation in Family Justice Center establishment and ongoing support.
6. Flexible Meeting Schedule: The new group should meet at a minimum of four times per year but would have the flexibility to meet as often as necessary to address pressing issues.
Proposed Structure and Membership
The DVC recommends that a new group be established to:
• Expand its scope to include sexual violence, along with domestic violence, against people of all gender identities, including but not limited to the definition under the Domestic Violence Prevention Act.
• Include survivors as members of the group via a Survivor Advisory that will be formed as part of the forthcoming Family Justice Center.
• Consider a mechanism for receiving input from survivors and community members.
• Be housed within the County Executive’s Office or other appropriate County Office or Department until a Family Justice Center is established, at which point moving the group to be housed within that organization should be considered.
• Be composed of key stakeholders, which may include:
o Community-based domestic violence victim service provider
o Community-based sexual violence victim service provider
o Community-based service provider for non-violence and rehabilitation
o A Survivor Advisory representative, once it has been formed
o Family Justice Center leadership
o San Mateo County Supervisor
o County Executive’s Office representative
o District Attorney’s Office representative
o Coroner’s Office representative
o Public safety representative
o Health and Human Services Agency representative
o Representatives from the judiciary, including family law courts
o Legal aid representative specializing in family law
o San Mateo County Office of Education representative
• Report to Board of Supervisors annually, at a minimum
Dissolving the DVC in its current form and recommending that the County Executive identify an appropriate County Office or Department to oversee a restructured group will create a more effective and responsive group to address intimate partner violence and sexual violence in San Mateo County. The Domestic Violence Council recommends that the Board of Supervisors approve this dissolution and recommend restructuring effective immediately to maximize impact and improve service coordination for survivors, ultimately resulting in making families and individuals safer in San Mateo County.
COMMUNITY IMPACT:
Dissolving and restructuring the DVC provides an opportunity to advance equity by centering the voices and needs of historically marginalized communities most impacted by domestic and sexual violence. Under its current structure, the DVC’s ability to equitably engage survivors-especially those from underrepresented racial, ethnic, gender, LGBTQIA+, and immigrant communities-has been limited due to legal and procedural constraints under the Brown Act. The proposed restructuring would allow for more inclusive and culturally responsive engagement by removing barriers to survivor participation, expanding scope to include all gender identities, and formally integrating survivor voices through the creation of a Survivor Advisory.
Additionally, broadening the DVC’s scope to include sexual violence aligns with equity principles by addressing the overlapping and compounded experiences of trauma that disproportionately affect communities of color, low-income individuals, and other vulnerable populations. Embedding this function within the County Executive’s Office or a future Family Justice Center will enable more coordinated, survivor-centered services and policies that are grounded in equity and lived experience.
This restructuring is a step toward ensuring that all San Mateo County residents-regardless of background-have access to effective, timely, and compassionate responses to intimate partner and sexual violence.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact associated with dissolution of the Domestic Violence Council.
Attachment 1: Proposal to Restructure the San Mateo County Domestic Violence Council, April 10, 2025