BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
AB 846 (Bonilla)
Hearing Date: 06/27/2011 Amended: 06/07/2011
Consultant: Jolie Onodera Policy Vote: Human Services 7-0
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BILL SUMMARY: AB 846 would add the Department of Social Services
(DSS) to the list of entities authorized to request credit
reports on behalf of specified foster youth and clarifies the
procedures for DSS and the county welfare departments to use
when handling suspected identity theft that may be discovered
during this process. This bill requires the Office of Privacy
Protection (OPP) to, in consultation with the DSS and other
stakeholders, to develop a list of nonprofit organizations and
governmental agencies that assist consumers with identity theft
issues.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Fund
New DSS authority* Potential significant costs in excess of
Fed/General
$100
OPP to develop list Minor and absorbable costs
General
Authorizes state and counties Voluntary actions; potential
contracting General
to take specified actions costs of $125 to DSS Local
*To the degree that DSS assumes the credit request
responsibilities would result in reduced county welfare
department workload.
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STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
There are approximately 4,000 foster youth who reach their 16th
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birthday each year in the state of California. Existing law
provides for counties to run credit checks on foster youth who
reach the age of 16.
Under existing law, when a youth in a foster care placement
reaches his or her 16th birthday, the county welfare department
is required to request a consumer disclosure, pursuant to the
free annual disclosure provision of the federal Fair Credit
Reporting Act, on the youth's behalf to ascertain whether or not
identity theft has occurred. If there is a disclosure for the
youth, and if the consumer disclosure reveals any negative
items, or any evidence that some form of identity theft has
occurred, the county welfare department is required to refer the
youth to an approved counseling organization that provides
services to victims of identity theft. Current law states
"Nothing in this section shall be construed to require the
county welfare department to request more than one consumer
disclosure on behalf of a youth in care, or to take steps beyond
referring the youth to an approved organization."
This bill would change existing procedures to allow the county
welfare department or the DSS to request the consumer
disclosure. Should DSS submit the request, the bill requires
that the department use the most efficient means possible, such
as via a batch process on a quarterly or semiannual basis. This
bill does not, however, mandate that DSS do so, nor absolve the
counties from doing so. This bill makes the timeline more
flexible by allowing the consumer disclosure to be requested "in
the year that a youth in a foster care placement reaches his or
her 16th birthday," giving the agency a full year to submit the
request.
Due to budgetary constraints, statewide implementation of the
existing requirements has been suspended for the past few years.
AB 106 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review) 2011, the human
services trailer bill passed by the Legislature, would delay
implementation of the requirements under existing statute until
July 1, 2013. However, a pilot project is currently being
conducted by Los Angeles County and the OPP. Based on
preliminary information from the pilot, it has been found that
the process of ordering credit reports for minors differs from
that for adults, and a credit check via a manual process must be
requested in lieu of the use of the automated credit report
ordering system available to adults.
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DSS indicates there would be a limited-term resource need to
develop the procedures for submitting identifying information
for processing the credit checks using a batch process to the
credit reporting agencies, as well as to establish contracts or
agreements with the entities. Resource costs for one year are
estimated at approximately $110,000 ($70,000 General Fund). The
workload associated with requesting and processing the credit
checks once the batch process is developed and implemented would
also increase DSS workload. However, to the degree DSS assumes
the credit request responsibilities would result in reduced
county welfare department workload.
This bill authorizes DSS or the county welfare department to act
on behalf of the youth, in the event that identity theft is
suspected, to resolve potential identity theft issues.
Consistent with existing law, the youth must be referred to an
organization or governmental agency that helps consumers resolve
identity theft and credit issues. Although not mandated to do
so, DSS has indicated potentially contracting with a
governmental or non-profit agency to assist youth with clearing
a negative credit report, as impacted youth would likely need
assistance with remediation efforts.
This bill requires OPP to consult with DSS and specified
stakeholders to generate a list of approved organizations and
agencies for referral. OPP has indicated that developing the
list would be minor and absorbable within existing resources.
Locally, the bill changes procedures within the general duties
of county welfare departments within the scope of work they
already complete under existing statutory requirements.
Prior Legislation. AB 2698 (Block) 2010 was virtually identical
to this measure and was vetoed by the Governor with the
following veto message:
I am returning Assembly Bill 2698 without my signature. I vetoed
a similar bill last year and this measure does not address any
of the concerns I outlined in last year's veto message about
counties attempting to shift workload to the state. For this
reason, I am unable to sign this bill.
AB 1324 (Bass) 2009 was the similar bill noted above and was
vetoed by the Governor with the following message:
I signed a measure in 2006 to protect foster youth from identity
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theft that has not yet been fully implemented because of the
state's fiscal challenges. This funding was appropriated in 2008
and when fully implemented, existing law will help foster youth
that have been the victims of identity theft. Since the current
program is still not fully operational, I believe this measure
is premature and may have the unintended consequence of shifting
county workload to the state. If, through the implementation, it
becomes clear that foster youth are not being served in the way
the law intended, I would be willing to reconsider this matter.
For this reason, I am unable to sign this bill.