BILL NUMBER: AB 998 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 21, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Fong
( Principal coauthor: Assembly Member
Atkins )
FEBRUARY 22, 2013
An act to amend Section 15657.3 of the Welfare and
Institutions Code, relating to elderly and dependent adults.
add Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 8260) to
Division 8 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to
homelessness.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 998, as amended, Fong. Elderly and dependent adults: civil
actions.
Under existing law, several agencies have prescribed
responsibilities relating to homeless persons.
This bill would create the California Interagency Council on
Homelessness. This bill would provide that the council be composed of
specified members and would authorize the council to perform various
duties, including providing a state plan to end homelessness. This
bill would authorize the council to seek all available federal
funding for purposes of funding the council and its activities.
Existing law provides that the department of the superior court
having jurisdiction over probate conservatorships shall also have
concurrent jurisdiction over civil actions and proceedings involving
a claim for relief arising out of the abduction or abuse of an
elderly or dependent adult. Existing law provides that after the
death of the elder or dependent adult, the right to commence or
maintain an action passes to the personal representative, and if
there is no personal representative, to an intestate heir whose
interest may be affected by the action, to the decedent's successor
in interest, as defined, or an interested person, as defined, subject
to specified conditions.
This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to these
provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no
yes . State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all
of the following:
(a) California has the highest rate of homelessness and the
highest ratio of homeless people per resident, with 135,000 people
sleeping on the streets or in shelters on any given night.
(b) Homelessness is traumatic for those who suffer it, often
leading to separated families, exacerbation of health conditions, a
rise in avoidable emergency room use, social and academic delays
among children, and greater likelihood of incarceration.
(c) Many people who lack permanent shelter and the ability to
access regular support ricochet through separate and expensive public
systems: overburdened corrections systems, overcrowded hospital
emergency rooms, mental health programs, substance abuse treatment
and detox facilities, shelters, and emergency housing. As a result,
people experiencing chronic homelessness use a disproportionate share
of state and local services.
(d) Innovative approaches across the nation and within California
show promise for reducing homelessness and the resulting impact on
state services.
(e) Changing the system and reducing homelessness requires
coordination and cooperation among federal, state, and local
governments, as well as private sector organizations.
(f) Creation of a statewide coordinating council is an important
and effective tool in supporting initiatives to end homelessness in
California.
(g) Creation of a statewide coordinating council will stem
avoidable costs of maintaining the number of homeless persons and
will, therefore, result in reducing avoidable costs to multiple
programs.
(h) Homelessness affects multiple systems in California at a very
high public cost, including housing, mental health and substance
abuse, education, corrections, foster care, health care, and veterans
services. Reducing homelessness would produce cost savings for all
these systems. The state adopted a Ten-Year Chronic Homelessness
Action Plan in February 2010, but has no mechanism in place to assess
progress or hold state agencies accountable to the action steps in
the plan. A codified, structured interagency council on homelessness
would help fill this gap.
(i) In November 2005, Governor Schwarzenegger created the Governor'
s Chronic Homelessness Initiative, which included plans to form an
interagency coordinating council to reduce homelessness. The
Business, Transportation and Housing Agency's 2005-10 Consolidated
Plan further indicates the importance of an interagency council on
homelessness. Despite these intentions, a council has not met
regularly or publicly since the Governor adopted his Chronic
Homelessness Initiative.
(j) California must give priority to developing consolidated,
coordinated, and cooperative approaches to issues of homelessness,
including, but not limited to, specific issues addressing homeless
youth, families, veterans, parolees, victims of domestic violence,
people with mental health and substance use disorders, people
experiencing chronic homelessness, seniors, and disabled people.
(k) Working within current costs, a revitalized Interagency
Council on Homelessness will reduce duplication of efforts and the
costs of homelessness and will redirect resources to more effective
approaches, developing a more integrated system and eliminating
fragmentation. Other states have created interagency councils without
initial investment of resources.
(l) California is not accessing all of the federal funds for
homelessness that it should due to a lack of coordination among some
agencies. For example, 30 other states apply for funds through the
federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act programs. Application
for these funds could total millions of dollars, and requires state
agency collaboration.
SEC. 2. Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 8260)
is added to Division 8 of the Welfare and Institutions
Code , to read:
CHAPTER 7. CALIFORNIA INTERAGENCY COUNCIL ON HOMELESSNESS
8260. For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions
shall apply:
(a) "Council" means the California Interagency Council on
Homelessness.
(b) "Stakeholder organization" means a nonprofit or faith-based
organization whose primary mission is to prevent or end homelessness,
to provide services or health care to people who are homeless, or to
create housing for people who are homeless.
8261. (a) There is hereby created in state government the
California Interagency Council on Homelessness with a mission to
construct cross-agency and community cooperation in responding to
homelessness, and to identify and apply for increased federal funding
to respond to homelessness.
(b) The Governor shall designate a lead agency or representative
from the Governor's staff to direct the work of the council.
(c) The council shall seek all available federal funding,
including, but not limited to, grant and technical assistance funds
under the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C.
Sec. 11301 et seq.), for purposes of funding the council and its
activities.
(d) Membership of the council shall include all of the following:
(1) At least one representative with decisionmaking authority from
each of the following:
(A) The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
(B) The Department of Housing and Community Development.
(C) The California Health and Human Services Agency.
(D) The State Department of Social Services.
(E) The Department of Veterans Affairs.
(2) Two representatives among local law enforcement, county or
city government, or organizations representing these interests. One
representative appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules, and one
representative appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly.
(3) Representatives of two stakeholder organizations, with one to
be appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly and the other to be
appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules.
(4) Two people who have experienced homelessness, with one to be
appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly and the other to be
appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules.
(e) The council may, at its discretion, invite stakeholders,
people who have experienced homelessness, members of philanthropic
communities, and experts to participate in meetings or provide
information to the council.
(f) The Governor shall appoint a chairperson and vice chairperson
from among, or in addition to, the members of the council specified
in subdivision (d). Within current costs, the council may establish
working groups, task forces, or other structures from within its
membership or with outside members to assist it in its work. Working
groups, task forces, or other structures established by the council
shall determine their own meeting schedules.
(g) Members of the council shall serve without compensation,
except that consumer representatives shall receive minimal
compensation if private funds are available. State funds shall not be
used to compensate members of the council.
8262. (a) The council shall hold public meetings at least once
every quarter.
(b) The council may, but is not required to, do all of the
following:
(1) Act as the lead for coordinating and planning the state's
response to homelessness, including identifying federal funding
sources and determining how the state should apply for these
resources.
(2) Engage or accept the services of agency personnel and
nonprofit organizations, or employ council staff to operate, manage,
or conduct the business of the council, only if these services are
provided by private, philanthropic, or other nonstate funding
resources available for that purpose or the Legislature makes a
future appropriation for that purpose.
8263. Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the council
shall operate within the current budget of each department and agency
represented. Each department and agency shall cooperate with the
council and furnish it with information and assistance that is
necessary or useful to further the purposes of this chapter.
SECTION 1. Section 15657.3 of the Welfare and
Institutions Code is amended to read:
15657.3. (a) The department of the superior court having
jurisdiction over probate conservatorships shall also have concurrent
jurisdiction over civil actions and proceedings involving a claim
for relief arising out of the abduction, as defined in Section
15610.06, or the abuse of an elderly or dependent adult, if a
conservator has been appointed for the plaintiff prior to the
initiation of the action for abuse.
(b) The department of the superior court having jurisdiction over
probate conservatorships shall not grant relief under this article if
the court determines that the matter should be determined in a civil
action, but shall instead transfer the matter to the general civil
calendar of the superior court. The court need not abate a proceeding
for relief pursuant to this article if the court determines that the
civil action was filed for the purpose of delay.
(c) The death of the elder or dependent adult does not cause the
court to lose jurisdiction of a claim for relief for abuse of that
elder or dependent adult.
(d) (1) Subject to paragraph (2) and subdivision (e), after the
death of the elder or dependent adult, the right to commence or
maintain an action shall pass to the personal representative of the
decedent. If there is no personal representative, the right to
commence or maintain an action shall pass to any of the following, if
the requirements of Section 377.32 of the Code of Civil Procedure
are met:
(A) An intestate heir whose interest is affected by the action.
(B) The decedent's successor in interest, as defined in Section
377.11 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
(C) An interested person, as defined in Section 48 of the Probate
Code, as limited in this subparagraph. As used in this subparagraph,
"an interested person" does not include a creditor or a person who
has a claim against the estate and who is not an heir or beneficiary
of the decedent's estate.
(2) If the personal representative refuses to commence or maintain
an action or if the personal representative's family or an
affiliate, as those terms are defined in subdivision (c) of Section
1064 of the Probate Code, is alleged to have committed abuse of the
elder or dependent adult, the persons described in subparagraphs (A),
(B), and (C) of paragraph (1) shall have standing to commence or
maintain an action for elder abuse. This paragraph does not require
the court to resolve the merits of an elder abuse action for purposes
of finding that a plaintiff who meets the qualifications of
subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C) of paragraph (1) has standing to
commence or maintain such an action.
(e) If two or more individuals who are either described in
subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (d) or
a personal representative claim to have standing to commence or
maintain an action for elder abuse, upon petition or motion, the
court in which the action or proceeding is pending, may make any
order concerning the parties that is appropriate to ensure the proper
administration of justice in the case pursuant to Section 377.33 of
the Code of Civil Procedure.
(f) This section does not affect the applicable statute of
limitations for commencing an action for relief for abuse of an
elderly or dependent adult.