BILL NUMBER: AB 238 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 10, 2007
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Beall
JANUARY 31, 2007
An act to add Section 12304.7 to amend
Section 12300 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to
public social services.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 238, as amended, Beall. In-home supportive services: reading
services for blind and visually impaired recipients.
Existing law provides for the county-administered In-Home
Supportive Services (IHSS) program, under which, either through
employment by the recipient, or by or through contract by the county,
qualified aged, blind, and disabled persons receive services
enabling them to remain in their own homes. Existing law permits
services to be provided under the IHSS program through the employment
of individual providers, a contract between the county and an entity
for the provision of services, a contract between the county and a
nonprofit consortium, or the creation by the county of a public
authority. Under existing law, county welfare departments are
required to provide visually impaired applicants and recipients with
information on, and referral services to, entities that provide
reading services to visually impaired persons, as specified.
Existing law defines "supportive services" for purposes of
the program.
This bill additionally would require
the provision of include within the definition of
supportive services designated reading assistance services to a
recipient of services under the In-Home Supportive Services program
who is blind or visually impaired, or who has another
disability that affects his or her ability to read. By expanding the
scope of available services under the IHSS program, this bill would
impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these
statutory provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 12300 of the Welfare
and Institutions Code is amended to read:
12300. (a) The purpose of this article is to provide in every
county in a manner consistent with this chapter and the annual Budget
Act those supportive services identified in this section to aged,
blind, or disabled persons, as defined under this chapter, who are
unable to perform the services themselves and who cannot safely
remain in their homes or abodes of their own choosing unless these
services are provided.
(b) Supportive services shall include domestic services and
services related to domestic services, heavy cleaning, personal care
services, accompaniment by a provider when needed during necessary
travel to health-related appointments or to alternative resource
sites, yard hazard abatement, protective supervision, teaching and
demonstration directed at reducing the need for other supportive
services, and paramedical services which
that make it possible for the recipient to
establish and maintain an independent living arrangement , and
assistance in reading financial and other documents for a recipient
who is blind or visually impaired, or who has another disability that
affects his or her ability to read .
(c) Personal care services shall mean all of the following:
(1) Assistance with ambulation.
(2) Bathing, oral hygiene, and grooming.
(3) Dressing.
(4) Care and assistance with prosthetic devices.
(5) Bowel, bladder, and menstrual care.
(6) Repositioning, skin care, range of motion exercises, and
transfers.
(7) Feeding and assurance of adequate fluid intake.
(8) Respiration.
(9) Assistance with self-administration of medications.
(d) Personal care services are available if these services are
provided in the beneficiary's home and other locations as may be
authorized by the director. Among the locations that may be
authorized by the director under this paragraph is the recipient's
place of employment if all of the following conditions are met:
(1) The personal care services are limited to those that are
currently authorized for a recipient in the recipient's home and
those services are to be utilized by the recipient at the recipient's
place of employment to enable the recipient to obtain, retain, or
return to work. Authorized services utilized by the recipient at the
recipient's place of employment shall be services that are relevant
and necessary in supporting and maintaining employment. However,
workplace services shall not be used to supplant any reasonable
accommodations required of an employer by the Americans with
Disabilities Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 12101 et seq.; ADA) or other legal
entitlements or third-party obligations.
(2) The provision of personal care services at the recipient's
place of employment shall be authorized only to the extent that the
total hours utilized at the workplace are within the total personal
care services hours authorized for the recipient in the home.
Additional personal care services hours may not be authorized in
connection with a recipient's employment.
(e) Where When supportive
services are provided by a person having the legal duty pursuant to
the Family Code to provide for the care of his or her child who is
the recipient, the provider of supportive services shall receive
remuneration for the services only when the provider leaves full-time
employment or is prevented from obtaining full-time employment
because no other suitable provider is available and where
when the inability of the provider to provide
supportive services may result in inappropriate placement or
inadequate care.
These providers shall be paid only for the following:
(1) Services related to domestic services.
(2) Personal care services.
(3) Accompaniment by a provider when needed during necessary
travel to health-related appointments or to alternative resource
sites.
(4) Protective supervision only as needed because of the
functional limitations of the child.
(5) Paramedical services.
(f) To encourage maximum voluntary services, so as to reduce
governmental costs, respite care shall also be provided. Respite care
is temporary or periodic service for eligible recipients to relieve
persons who are providing care without compensation.
(g) A person who is eligible to receive a service or services
under an approved federal waiver authorized pursuant to Section
14132.951, or a person who is eligible to receive a service or
services authorized pursuant to Section 14132.95, shall not be
eligible to receive the same service or services pursuant to this
article. In the event that the waiver authorized pursuant to Section
14132.951, as approved by the federal government, does not extend
eligibility to all persons otherwise eligible for services under this
article, or does not cover a service or particular services, or does
not cover the scope of a service that a person would otherwise be
eligible to receive under this article, those persons who are not
eligible for services, or for a particular service under the waiver
or Section 14132.95 shall be eligible for services under this
article.
(h) (1) All services provided pursuant to this article shall be
equal in amount, scope, and duration to the same services provided
pursuant to Section 14132.95, including any adjustments that may be
made to those services pursuant to subdivision (e) of Section
14132.95.
(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, the rate
of reimbursement for in-home supportive services provided through any
mode of service shall not exceed the rate of reimbursement
established under subdivision (j) of Section 14132.95 for the same
mode of service unless otherwise provided in the annual Budget Act.
(3) The maximum number of hours available under Section 14132.95,
Section 14132.951, and this section, combined, shall be 283 hours per
month. Any recipient of services under this article shall receive no
more than the applicable maximum specified in Section 12303.4.
SECTION 1. Section 12304.7 is added to the
Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:
12304.7. A recipient of services under this article who is blind
or visually impaired, or who has another disability that affects his
or her ability to read, shall be provided with reading assistance
services for financial and other documents and forms.
SEC. 2. If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this
act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local
agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant
to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of
the Government Code.