BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó






                                  SENATE HUMAN
                               SERVICES COMMITTEE
                            Senator Jim Beall, Chair


          BILL NO:       AB 2187                                      
          A
          AUTHOR:        Cooley                                       
          B
          VERSION:       April 21, 2014
          HEARING DATE:  June 10, 2014                                
          2
          FISCAL:        No                                           
          1
                                                                      
          8
          CONSULTANT:    Sara Rogers                                  
          7

                                        

                                     SUBJECT
                                         
                         County children's trust funds

                                     SUMMARY  

          This bill requires that birth certificate fees collected by  
          a county for a child, whose mother resides in another  
          county, shall be transmitted to the county children's trust  
          fund in the county of the mother's residence. This bill  
          removes the specification that the transfer is only  
          required if the county of residence has no licensed health  
          facility that provides maternity services within its  
          jurisdiction.

                                     ABSTRACT  

           Existing Law: 


           1.Establishes the State Children's Trust Fund, for the  
            purpose of funding innovative and distinctive child abuse  
            and neglect prevention and intervention projects and  
            permits individuals to designate income taxes, counties  
            to designate a portion of birth certificate fees, and  
                                                         Continued---



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            private individuals to grant, gift and bequeath monies to  
            the fund. (WIC 18965 et seq, RTC 18711) 


          2.Authorizes a board of supervisors to designate a  
            voluntary commission, board or council to establish a  
            county children's trust fund, consisting of fees  
            collected from birth certificates, grants, gifts, or  
            bequests from private sources to be used for child abuse  
            and neglect prevention and intervention programs, and any  
            funds appropriated by local governmental entities or the  
            Legislature.  (WIC 18965 and 18966)


          3.Establishes a birth certificate fee structure of $12 to  
            be paid by an agency applicant, as specified and $18 to  
            be paid by any other applicant, $4 of which is to be paid  
            to either a county children's trust fund or to the State  
            Children's Trust Fund, as specified.  (HSC 103625(b))


          4.Requires birth certificate fees collected for the county  
            children's trust fund by a county for a child whose  
            mother resides in another county that does not have a  
            licensed health facility providing maternity services, to  
            be transmitted by the county treasurer to the county of  
            the mother's residence. (WIC 18966)


          5.Provides that counties that receive less than $20,000 per  
            year for the county children's trust fund from birth  
            certificate fees shall be granted from federal matching  
            funds an amount that brings the trust fund up to $20,000.  
            From the remainder (if applicable), each county is  
            required to receive $10,000, with the remaining funds to  
            be distributed based on population. (WIC18966.1)


          This bill: 


          1.Removes the condition that a county shall transmit county  
            children's trust fund moneys to the county of residence  
            only when that county has no licensed health facility  
            providing maternity services.




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                                  FISCAL IMPACT  

          This bill was keyed non-fiscal. This bill may lead to small  
          distributional impacts between counties to the extent that  
          children are born out of the mother's county of residence  
          despite having a health facility within the county.

                            BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION  

           Purpose of the bill:


           According to the author, currently, if a mother gives birth  
          in a delivery facility that is outside of her county of  
          residence, and her county of residence has a delivery  
          facility, the fee charged for the copies of her child's  
          birth certificate remains with the county where she  
          delivered her child. The author states that as a result,  
          the birth certificate fee revenue that would benefit the  
          child's county of residence, in the form of neglect and  
          abuse prevention programs and services, is lost to the  
          county of delivery.


          The author states that because health insurance parameters  
          often dictate what delivery facilities that are in a  
          patient's "network," some pregnant mothers may need to  
          deliver outside of the county in which they live. To ensure  
          that each county receives the funds for the children it  
          provides programs and services for, the author argues that  
          it is vital that the fee for requests of copies of a  
          child's birth certificate should follow the child,  
          regardless of where the child's mother gives birth.


          State Children's Trust Fund and County Children's Trust  
          Fund 

          The State Children's Trust Fund was established in 1982 to  
          provide funding for innovative and distinctive child abuse  
          and neglect prevention and intervention projects. It is  
          funded through county birth certificate surcharges, state  
          income tax designations and private donations. These monies  
          were not realigned and are awarded by the state Office of  




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          Child Abuse Prevention to counties that have submitted  
          proposals. The purpose of these funds is to research,  
          evaluate and disseminate information to the public, to  
          establish public-private partnerships with foundations and  
          corporations, and to increase public awareness about child  
          abuse and neglect via media campaigns. 


          Similarly, the county children's trust funds were  
          established the same year to support county child abuse  
          prevention coordinating councils, as well as child abuse  
          prevention and intervention programs provided by community  
          based organizations or universities. Counties are required  
          to report the following information to the Office of Child  
          Abuse Prevention:


                 Descriptions of the types of programs and services  
               funded from the county trust funds; 
                 Target populations benefitting from these programs;
                 Amount of each revenue source county trust funds as  
               of June 30 of each year; 
                 Amount disbursed in the preceding fiscal year. 

          Community Based Child Abuse Prevention 

          The community-based child abuse prevention program provides  
          federal grant funding to support community-based efforts  
          aimed at the prevention of child abuse and neglect and the  
          coordination of resources and activities to support  
          families. In California, the program targets improved  
          public awareness and education about preventing child  
          abuse, and providing supportive services to vulnerable  
          populations and families including mental health care,  
          substance abuse, respite care, housing, and transportation,  
          among others. 


          Community-based child abuse prevention funds are allocated  
          annually by the state to counties that have applied for the  
          funds, with smaller counties receiving funds to supplement  
          the County Children's Trust Fund accounts of less than  
          $20,000, after which all applying counties receive a base  
          award of $10,000 and the remainder of monies to be  
          distributed by population. 




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                                   PRIOR VOTES  

          Assembly Floor           76 - 0
          Assembly Human Services    7 - 0


                                    POSITIONS  

          Support:       None received.

          Oppose:   None received.






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