BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
682 (Lowenthal)
Hearing Date: 08/27/2009 Amended: 07/30/2009
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-HernandezPolicy Vote: Human
Services 4-1
_________________________________________________________________
____
BILL SUMMARY: AB 682 requires the Department of Social Services
(DSS) to evaluate existing provisions intended to combat fraud
in the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program. Specifically,
this bill:
1)Requires DSS, beginning January 1, 2010, to use existing
resources or a special appropriation, if any, to dedicate two
positions to evaluating implementation of five program
assurance provisions related to IHSS.
2)Requires DSS to convene a group of stakeholders, including the
Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) and the district
attorney of the county of Los Angeles, to produce a report to
the Legislature by December 31, 2010 that does all of the
following with respect to fraud:
a) Identify the magnitude of IHSS fraud in terms of total
dollars inappropriately spent or removed from the program
through instances that resulted in conviction between
January 1, 2005 and January 1, 2010.
b) Identify the number of individuals involved in fraud,
including providers, consumers, state workers, and county
workers.
c) Provide recommendations to combat IHSS fraud.
3)Specifies that the provisions of the bill will sunset on
January 1, 2011; but, also provides that if the report to the
Legislature is not completed before the statute is repealed,
the report is still required.
4)Provides that the requirements for evaluating and reporting on
IHSS-related fraud shall become operative only if the
governor's proposed increase in funding for IHSS quality
assurance (QA) in the 2009-10 budget is adopted.
5)Makes legislative findings and declarations.
_________________________________________________________________
____
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Fund
Clarifies existing statute $0
$0 $0 General
_________________________________________________________________
____
STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE. AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED.
Page 2
AB 682 (Lowenthal)
This bill incurs significant cost pressure, and possible
additional costs to the state General Fund and Title XIX federal
grant funds. This bill requires DSS to complete an evaluation of
the effectiveness of existing IHSS fraud-prevention provisions
using up to two dedicated PYs. Two dedicated PYs for this study,
which the bill allows for but does not require, could cost the
state up to $300,000 ($150,000 GF). DSS estimates that the total
workload could be conducted with fewer staff hours than the
equivalent of 2 PYs, estimating a cost of $215,000 ($107,000 GF)
to complete the study in the 12 months prescribed. This bill
allows DSS to seek funding for additional staff, but requires
the study with or without additional staff. Completing the study
with current staff creates cost pressure to backfill other QA
workload.
This bill also provides that it will only go into effect if the
Governor's proposed budget increase to IHSS quality assurance is
actualized. If those funds are appropriated for IHSS QA, they
still create a cost to the department because DSS could have
used them for other QA-related efforts. This specifically
earmarks money from a possible future appropriation for a new
activity.
AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED: This bill is being amended to simply
clarify that IHSS providers must pay for their own criminal
background checks, unless the county or public authority choose
to pay for them.