BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                AB 346
                                                                Page  1

        CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
        AB 346 (Stone)
        As Amended  September 6, 2013
        Majority vote
         
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        |ASSEMBLY:  |76-0 |(April 25,      |SENATE: |36-0 |(September 10, |
        |           |     |2013)           |        |     |2013)          |
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         Original Committee Reference:    HUM. S.  

         SUMMARY  :  Provides the California Department of Social Services  
        (DSS) the authority to license runaway and homeless youth shelters  
        (RHYSs).  Specifically,  this bill  :  

        1)Requires DSS to license all RHYSs as a sub-category of group homes  
          and defines an RHYS as a facility that provides voluntary,  
          short-term, emergency shelter and personal services to youth who  
          are homeless.

        2)Authorizes RHYSs to provide short-term 24-hour nonmedical care,  
          supervision and personal services to youth who voluntarily enter  
          the facility.

        3)Defines short-term as 21 consecutive days from the date of  
          admission to the facility.

        4)Permits RHYSs to serve homeless or runaway youth who are between  
          the ages of 12 and 17 who are homeless or at risk of becoming  
          homeless, or who are 18 and are completing high school or its  
          equivalent, as specified.

        5)Allows facilities to operate up to a capacity of 25 youths and  
          requires the staff to youth ratio to be one staff person for every  
          eight youths.

        6)Allows volunteers to be counted as staff for purposes of the  
          staff-to-youth ratio, as specified.

        7)Requires all staff and volunteers to undergo criminal background  
          checks and have their names checked on the Child Abuse Index.

        8)Requires staff to assess all youth prior to admission to the  
          facility to determine whether the youth presents a threat to  








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          himself or herself or others in the facility, and provides that a  
          youth shall not be admitted to the facility if he or she poses  
          such a threat.

        9)Requires RHYSs to establish procedures to aid youth in securing  
          long-term stability, as specified.

        10)Prohibits a RHYS from being used as a placement facility for  
          foster youth and from receiving a group home funding rate.

        11)Requires each RHYS to collect and maintain information in a  
          monthly report to be provided to DSS upon request, which shall  
          include the:

           a)   Total number of youth served per month;

           b)   Age of each youth served;

           c)   Length of stay of each youth served; and

           d)   Number of times a youth accesses its services.

        12)Exempts a RHYS from conducting a "needs and services plan" as  
          required of regular group homes, as specified under Title 22 of  
          the California Code of Regulations.

        13)Requires DSS to adopt regulations necessary to implement this  
          measure by December 1, 2014.

        14)Defines a "group home" as a licensed residential facility that  
          provides 24-hour care and supervision to minors in a structured  
          environment, as specified, in the Health and Safety Code.

         The Senate amendments  :  
           
        1)Recast and rename "Emergency Youth Homeless Facilities" as  
          "Runaway and Homeless Youth Shelters."

        2)Place additional requirements on RHYSs to assist youth in securing  
          long-term stability, as specified.

        3)Modify the definition of a homeless youth and adds a definition of  
          runaway youth, as specified. 

        4)Clarify that RHYSs are excluded from receiving a group home  








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          reimbursement rate or from being used as a placement option for  
          foster youth, as specified. 

        5)Include double jointing language to avoid chaptering out conflicts  
          with AB 787 (Stone) of the current legislative session.

        6)Makes other technical and clarifying changes.

        7)Includes double jointing language to avoid chaptering out issues  
          with AB 787 (Stone) of the current legislative session and  
          includes language to reflect changes made by the human services  
          budget trailer bill; AB 74 (Budget), Chapter 21, Statutes of 2013.

         AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY  this bill provided DSS the authority to  
        license emergency youth shelter facilities.

         FISCAL EFFECT  :  According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:

        1)Minor workload impact likely less than $50,000 (General Fund) to  
          the DSS to adopt regulations establishing RHYS as a subcategory  
          under the existing group home licensing category.  Minor,  
          absorbable ongoing costs related to enforcement. There are  
          approximately 40 facilities, of which 28 facilities are currently  
          licensed by DSS.

        2)Enables youth shelters to retain eligibility for federal funding  
          in the range of $5 million to $7 million under the Runaway and  
          Homeless Youth Act.  Funding is conditional on compliance with  
          state licensing standards such that youth shelters could  
          potentially risk federal citation and loss of federal funding in  
          the absence of this measure.

        3)Ongoing costs to the Department of Justice (DOJ) of less than  
          $25,000 (Special Fund*) to process additional background checks  
          and checks of the Child Abuse Central Index (CACI) for staff and  
          volunteers of RHYS.

        *Fingerprint Fees Account/Sexual Habitual Offender Program (SHOP)
         
        COMMENTS  :   

         Homeless Youth  :  According to the California Research Bureau (CRB)  
        and the Council on Youth Relations' (CYR) Homeless Youth Project  
        (HYP), based upon national survey estimates and California's youth  
        population, it is estimated that there are 200,000 youth under the  








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        age of 18 and potentially thousands of persons aged 18 - 24 who are  
        homeless.  While this is an approximation of the number of homeless  
        youth in California, the number is likely to be greater given the  
        challenges involved in the identification of homeless youth.  For  
        purpose of this population, "homeless youth" typically describes  
        minors under the age of 18, and 18 - 24-year-olds who are  
        economically and/or emotionally detached from their families and  
        have an unstable and inadequate living environment, or are  
        periodically homeless or homeless.

        In a 2010 survey of local, state and federal programs, the HYP was  
        able to identify 53 programs that offered just over 1,000 beds for  
        homeless youth throughout the state.  Given that the current  
        estimate of homeless youth amounts to more than 200,000 individuals,  
        this demonstrates a significant gap between the size of California's  
        homeless youth population and the number of programs and services  
        available to meet their needs. 
         
        Federal Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RHYA)  :  In response to  
        concerns emerging during the early 1970s that little if any federal  
        and state services were available to youth who were either homeless  
        or at risk of becoming homeless, Congress established the RHYA in  
        1974.  The Family Youth Services Bureau (FYSB), under the United  
        States Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Administration  
        for Children and Families, oversees the issuance of Basic Center  
        Program grants.  The purpose of these grants, according to the FYSB,  
        is to "establish or strengthen community-based programs that meet  
        the immediate needs of runaway and homeless youth and their  
        families."  Under these grants, recipient organizations and agencies  
        provide youth up to age 18 with emergency shelter, food, clothing,  
        counseling and referrals to youth services.  Although the intent is  
        to help reunite youth with their families through counseling and  
        supportive services whenever possible, they also help to locate  
        appropriate alternative placements that can help keep youth off the  
        streets and avoid becoming chronically homeless. 

        Over the past five years the federal RHYA grant requirements have  
        required recipients to be in compliance with their respective  
        state's shelter licensing requirements.  However, while California's  
        Community Care Facilities Act requires most types of facilities that  
        serve youth to be licensed, it exempts homeless shelters from  
        licensure.  This is further complicated by the fact that homeless  
        youth shelters can be considered both a homeless shelter and a  
        facility that serves youth.  Additionally, state law does not  
        provide clear requirements nor guidance that delineates what is  








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        considered a homeless shelter versus a youth homeless shelter under  
        state law.  Federal guidance issued by the FYSB in a letter dated  
        June 28, 2007, clearly stated that the:

             ? FYSB expects all grantees to be in compliance with their  
             state and local requirements pertaining to background  
             checks and/or criminal history checks of the staff  
             employed along with shelter licensing requirements.  FYSB  
             staff will ask for proof of compliance with such  
             requirements during monitoring visits.
         

        Analysis Prepared by  :    Chris Reefe / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089 


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