BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 876|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 876
Author: Valadao (R)
Amended: 5/16/11 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE : 7-0, 6/14/11
AYES: Liu, Emmerson, Berryhill, Hancock, Strickland,
Wright, Yee
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-0, 5/19/11 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : In-Home Supportive Services program
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill narrows the circumstances that allow a
provider of in-home supportive services to sign, on the
client's behalf, the form that allows the client to hire a
provider with a criminal record that includes various
felonies.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Establishes the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS)
program to provide domestic services to qualifying
individuals allowing them to remain safely in their
homes.
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2. Precludes from providing IHSS, for 10 years from the
date of conviction, persons found guilty of specific
felonies.
3. Exempts from this 10-year ban an individual who has
obtained a certificate of rehabilitation.
4. Allows a recipient of IHSS who wishes to employ a
provider who is under the 10-year ban to submit to the
county an individual waiver of the exclusion.
5. Prescribes that the individual waiver must be signed by
the IHSS client or by the client's "authorized
representative."
This bill redefines "authorized representative" to exclude
a provider with the criminal record unless that individual
is a parent, guardian, or person having legal custody of a
minor recipient, a conservator of an adult recipient, or a
spouse or registered domestic partner of a recipient.
Background
The 2009 IHSS budget trailer bill ÝAB19 X4 (Evans), Chapter
17, Statutes of 2009 Fourth Extraordinary Session] includes
provisions intended to prevent fraud in, and enhance the
integrity of the IHSS program. As a condition of being
placed or maintained on a county's IHSS provider registry,
AB 19X4 (Evans) requires criminal background checks to be
completed for all prospective IHSS providers as of October
1, 2009, and to be completed by July 2, 2010 for anyone
already a provider on October 1, 2009.
Under existing state law, consistent with federal Medicaid
law, an individual may not serve as a provider of services
under the IHSS program for 10 years following conviction
for specified crimes involving fraud against a government
health care or supportive services program, child
endangerment, or elder or dependent adult abuse. (These
are commonly referred to as "Tier 1" offenses.) The 2010
human services budget trailer bill ÝAB 1612 (Budget
Committee), Chapter 725, Statutes of 2010] provides for the
additional exclusion, with certain exceptions, of provider
applicants for 10 years following a conviction for a
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violent or serious felony, as defined in the Penal Code,
and other specified felonies. These exclusions, referred
to as "Tier 2" offenses, apply to new provider applicants
prospectively, beginning 90 days after the effective date
of that bill.
With respect to Tier 2 exclusions, AB 1612 (2010) provides
that a recipient who wishes to employ a provider applicant
who has been convicted of such an offense "may submit to
the county an individual waiver of the exclusion." The
waiver form must be signed "by the recipient or by the
recipient's authorized representative, if applicable." In
signing a waiver, the individual agrees that he/she is
"accepting the responsibility for this decision and the
risk of any potential actions that may occur as a result of
this decision."
The AB 1612 exclusion for prior convictions of Tier 2
offenses was part of a larger budget compromise that was
not vetted through legislative policy committees. The
provision of AB 1612 permitting an authorized
representative to sign a waiver on behalf of a recipient to
enable them to provide IHSS services does give the
appearance of a conflict of interest. In effect, however,
what this provision does is to simply create a de facto
exception to the Tier 2 exclusions for parents of minors
and other authorized representatives. This bill, with
specified exceptions, would eliminate that exception.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/15/11)
Kings In-Home Supportive Services Public Authority
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The Kings County In-Home
Supportive Services Public Authority writes: "This bill
takes a major step toward protecting the most fragile
consumers of IHSS. Existing law authorizes a recipient of
services who wishes to employ a provider applicant who has
been convicted of a specified offense to submit to the
county a prescribed individual waiver, signed by the
recipient, or by the recipient's authorized representative.
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This bill would prohibit an IHSS provider applicant from
signing his or her own individual waiver form as the
recipient's authorized representative."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-0, 5/19/11
AYES: Achadjian, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos,
Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson,
Donnelly, Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani,
Beth Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Grove,
Hagman, Halderman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger
Hernández, Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight,
Lara, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mansoor, Mendoza,
Miller, Mitchell, Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Norby,
Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Portantino, Silva,
Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson, Torres, Valadao,
Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Alejo, Gorell, Hueso, Monning
CTW:mw 6/15/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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