BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1970
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 13, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Jim Beall, Jr., Chair
AB 1970 (Fong) - As Amended: April 5, 2010
SUBJECT : In-home supportive services providers: emergency
shelter services
SUMMARY : Permits county social services departments to make
in-home supportive services (IHSS) provider registries available
to emergency shelters during a declared state of emergency.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Defines "emergency shelter" to mean a safe facility contracted
by the county to provide shelter and resources to evacuees of
a federally declared state of emergency.
2)Authorizes county departments of social services to make IHSS
service provider registries available to emergency shelter
operators.
3)Requires that, upon request of an emergency shelter operator,
a person designated by the county as a county social services
department representative shall assess the shelter to
determine the assistance needs of seniors and people with
disabilities at the shelter site.
4)Provides that the county representative may work with a third
party, including the public authority, in conducting the
assessment of the shelter.
5)Provides that, following the assessment, the county social
services department may direct the public authority or other
entity responsible for IHSS services in the county to contact
IHSS providers who are willing and available to provide
assistance to seniors and persons with disabilities at the
shelter site.
6)Provides that the public authority or other local entity may
utilize the provider registry, if available, to identify IHSS
providers.
7)Requires that the timesheet for an IHSS provider approved by
the county to provide services at the emergency shelter site
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is to be included in the county's regular reimbursement
application for submission to the appropriate state entity for
reimbursement from any federal funds provided to the state for
emergency response, and that the original timesheet shall be
forwarded to the state case management information and payroll
system for IHSS.
8)Provides immunity from liability for IHSS providers providing
assistance to seniors and people with disabilities at an
emergency shelter if the provider was acting within the scope
of his or her responsibility as an IHSS provider and the harm
was not the result of willful or criminal misconduct, gross
negligence, reckless misconduct, or a conscious, flagrant
indifference to the rights or safety of the individual harmed.
EXISTING LAW
1)Establishes the IHSS program to provide personal services and
home care for eligible poor, aged, blind and disabled
individuals to enable recipients to remain safely in their own
homes or abodes and avoid institutionalization.
2)Establishes income and resource eligibility criteria for the
receipt of IHSS.
3)Enables eligible recipients to receive IHSS in their own homes
or abodes of their own choosing, or other authorized
locations.
4)Permits counties to contract with a nonprofit consortium or
establish a public authority to perform various duties in the
employment of persons providing IHSS.
5)Directs the public authority or nonprofit consortium to assist
recipients in finding IHSS providers through the establishment
of a provider registry.
6)Establishes, under federal law, procedures for the declaration
of a federal state of emergency upon request of the Governor
for purpose of receiving federal emergency assistance.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : The IHSS Program helps pay for services so that the
elderly, disabled, or blind individuals can remain in their own
AB 1970
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homes and avoid institutionalization. IHSS services include,
but are not limited to, housecleaning, meal preparation,
laundry, grocery shopping, personal care services (such as bowel
and bladder care, bathing, grooming and paramedical services),
accompaniment to medical appointments, and protective
supervision for people with mental impairments. A portion of
the costs for IHSS services are paid by federal funding. The
entire program consists of over 448,000 recipients and on
average 365,000 IHSS workers.
Nearly all of California's counties have established a public
authority, or contract with a nonprofit consortium, to provide
for the delivery of IHSS services in the county. Among the
functions of the public authority or nonprofit consortium is the
provision of assistance to IHSS recipients in finding IHSS
providers through the establishment of an IHSS provider
registry.
Need for this bill : According to the author, "[a] 2004 report
by the California State Independent Living Council found that
the emergency response plan for people with disabilities
floundered during the 2003 wildfires in which 730,000 acres of
the state burned." Further, the author says, during the San
Bernardino fires of 2006 there were reportedly a number of
seniors and people with disabilities who were evacuated from
their residence and unable to utilize emergency shelter services
without assistance from shelter personnel. Seniors and disabled
persons were either unable to or had difficulty with activities
of daily living such as: dressing, eating, and utilizing
restrooms." The author points out that, currently, "IHSS
workers can only provide services for IHSS recipients they have
been directly hired by and are attached to in the county payroll
database. If the IHSS worker has not been hired by the
recipient they are not eligible to be paid for providing
services in the home or at a shelter."
To address this problem, the author says, this bill, sponsored
by the California Senior Legislature, "allows for IHSS workers
to receive payment for providing services for senior and
disabled evacuees at emergency shelter locations while being
free of liability. [This bill] allows IHSS workers to provide
immediate care to senior and disabled evacuees at emergency
shelter locations during a declared emergency using existing
emergency management funds."
AB 1970
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Thus, this bill will provide that at least some of the costs
associated with providing support to emergency shelters during a
declared emergency will be reimbursed through federal emergency
management funds. But, while this bill provides for payment to
service providers, it is not clear, for example, whether county
and state entities may incur additional costs to administer the
provider contact and coordination, assessment, and payroll
processing components of this bill. Nor is it clear whether or
to what extent utilizing IHSS providers for these purposes will
impact the availability of providers for IHSS recipients, at
least in some counties.
Other outstanding questions : There are a number of other
questions with some of the details of this bill that may need to
be further addressed or clarified. For example:
Once use of the provider registry has been authorized, are
only providers from the registry eligible to be paid from the
available federal emergency management funds? Will other
volunteers providing similar services at the emergency shelter
not be paid?
What does the county's determination of "the assistance needs
of seniors and persons with disabilities at the shelter site"
entail? Is there any determination made of, or limit placed
on the nature of the services or the number of hours of
assistance that are eligible for reimbursement?
Is reimbursement contingent on the availability of sufficient
federal funding and, if so, will providers not be paid for
services rendered in the event that it is subsequently
determined that sufficient federal funds are not available?
The immunity provision of this bill says that IHSS providers
who provide assistance at an emergency shelter are not liable
for harm caused by acts or omissions "if the provider was
acting within the scope of his or her responsibilities as an
[IHSS] provider at the time of the act or omission ....." The
effect of this provision is unclear, however, since it is the
explicit purpose of this bill to authorize payment for
services provided by IHSS providers outside the scope of their
IHSS responsibilities.
Providing emergency shelters with access to providers on county
IHSS registries in the event of a federally declared emergency
AB 1970
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will meet a vital and unmet need of seniors and people with
disabilities. It is recommended that the author continue
working with the State Department of Social Services and other
stakeholders to address outstanding fiscal, procedural and other
issues with meeting this need.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Aging Services of California
Association of Regional Center Agencies (ARCA)
California Alliance for Retired Americans
Coalition of California Welfare Rights Organizations, Inc.
(CCWRO)
Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
United Domestic Workers of America/AFSCME
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Eric Gelber / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089