BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 930 Page 1 Date of Hearing: August 25, 2011 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Felipe Fuentes, Chair SB 930 (Evans) - As Amended: August 15, 2011 Policy Committee: Human ServicesVote:4 - 1 Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: SUMMARY This bill repeals various anti-fraud provisions in the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program that were put in place as part of a 2009 budget agreement. Specifically, this bill: 1)Repeals the requirement that IHSS recipients provide fingerprint images at the time of assessment or reassessment. 2)Repeals the requirement that the standardized timesheet include designated spaces for the index fingerprints of the provider and the recipient. 3)Deletes the prohibitions related to the use of a post office box address by an IHSS provider. 4)Requires that when an IHSS provider applicant is denied eligibility to provide supportive services due to a criminal record and that individual appeals the decision, the county, public authority, or nonprofit consortium responsible for that denial must send the Department of Social Services (DSS) the individual's state-level criminal offender record information (CORI) that has been provided by the Department of Justice (DOJ). FISCAL EFFECT Savings of $41.6 million ($21 million GF) spread over seven years associated with not implementing the finger imaging requirements. Those savings would be offset to an unknown degree by forgone savings associated with deterring fraudulent activity. SB 930 Page 2 1)Absent this bill, it is assumed that the administration would need to comply at some point with current law and implement the finger imaging requirements and the prohibition against providers using post office boxes. Previous budget estimates suggest that total costs for finger imaging would be approximately $41.6 million ($21 million GF) over seven years. Therefore, this bill removes that cost pressure. 2)Though these anti-fraud provisions were never implemented, the Governor's 2010-11 budget assumed all of the anti-fraud initiatives adopted in 2009 would result in approximately $390 million ($135 million GF) in savings in the first full year. It is unclear how much of that would have been attributable to finger imaging and the prohibition against post office boxes. Proponents of this finger imaging policy would argue, however, that there are foregone savings of perhaps tens of millions of dollars associated with this legislation. Proponents of this legislation, on the other hand, argue that there is no evidence of widespread fraud in the IHSS program and therefore it is unlikely the level of savings assumed by the previous administration is realistic. COMMENTS 1)Rationale . According to the author, this bill is intended to repeal three central components of the IHSS Anti-Fraud Initiative included in the 2009-10 budget trailer bill, (AB X4 19, Statutes of 2009). The author argues that there is no evidence to support the effectiveness of these three anti-fraud mandates and states, "In the absence of this evidence, the $41.6 million to be spent on this part of the program should be spent on other priorities." In addition, this bill clarifies that counties and public authorities are responsible for forwarding background check information to DSS in the event a provider is denied certification to work as an IHSS provider and that applicant appeals the decision to DSS. 2)Arguments in support . The California State Association of Counties (CSAC) and County Welfare Directors Association of California (CWDA) note in their joint support letter that the state has estimated that it would need $8.2 million this year SB 930 Page 3 alone and a total of $41.6 million over the next seven years, to implement the recipient fingerprinting requirement. According to CSAC and CWDA , "Clearly, in these difficult fiscal times, the expenditure of millions to implement an anti-fraud initiative in the absence of demonstrated widespread fraud would be imprudent at best." The Western Center on Law and Poverty quotes a May 8, 2010 letter to DSS from the Obama Administration concerning fingerprinting in the CalFresh program, which notes that "Ým]ost States satisfy the requirement to establish a system to prevent duplicate participation by matching names with social security numbers, which is far less costly than finger image systems yet equally effective at detecting duplicate participation." 3)Arguments in opposition . The California District Attorneys Association (CDAA) suggests that the anti-fraud measures in question, and particularly the fingerprinting requirements have a deterrent effect and that repealing these measures "will significantly hinder efforts to deter persons from seeking duplicate aid and could potentially make the discovery of such fraud more difficult." CDAA also opposes repeal of the prohibition on using post office boxes, asserting that "Ýt]he less physical information law enforcement and prosecutors have about persons who would defraud the IHSS program, the harder it is to intercede and stop such activity." Analysis Prepared by : Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916) 319-2081