BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 211 (Gomez) - In-home supportive services
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|Version: February 2, 2015 |Policy Vote: HUMAN S. 3 - 1 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: July 6, 2015 |Consultant: Jolie Onodera |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: AB 211 would require the California In-Home Supportive
Services Authority (Statewide Authority) to assume employer
responsibility for collective bargaining in all 58 counties
effective January 1, 2016. This bill would remove the provisions
in existing law conditioning the transfer of collective
bargaining responsibility to the Statewide Authority that is
currently limited to seven counties and contingent upon each
county's implementation of specified provisions of the
Coordinated Care Initiative (CCI), and would delink various
provisions of law currently contingent upon the continued
operation of the CCI.
Fiscal
Impact:
Potential costs (General Fund) in the high tens to hundreds of
millions of dollars annually to the extent the provisions of
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this measure result in an increase in IHSS provider wages and
health benefits with the implementation of the Statewide
Authority in all 58 counties effective January 1, 2016. The
Department of Social Services (DSS) estimates annual costs of
$518 million General Fund assuming an increase in provider
wages to $12.10 effective January 1, 2016, for specified
counties.
Annual costs in the range of $6.9 million (50 percent General
Fund, 50 percent federal funds) to the Department of Human
Resources (CalHR) to implement and operate a collective
bargaining platform on behalf of the Statewide Authority
expanded to cover all 58 counties effective January 1, 2016.
Additional one-time significant costs (General Fund) to CalHR
for limited-term staff and overtime required to support the
workload imposed under the accelerated implementation date
mandated in this measure.
To the extent the CCI would have otherwise become inoperative
at some future date due to an estimate by the Director of
Finance that the CCI would not generate net General Fund
savings, as specified, the annual costs noted above would
continue to be incurred. The counties' share of cost limited
by the County IHSS MOE would not revert to the original
cost-sharing formula, and CalHR/DSS costs would continue to
support the activities of the Statewide Authority.
Background: The In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program provides
in-home custodial care to aged, blind, and disabled individuals
who meet specified eligibility criteria. Eligible IHSS
recipients receive such services as housecleaning, meal
preparation, laundry, grocery shopping, personal care services,
accompaniment to medical appointments, and protective
supervision. IHSS providers are organized into 56 bargaining
units, totaling approximately 380,000 employees located within
58 counties. The administration of IHSS is a complex partnership
that includes the IHSS recipients, the Department of Social
Services (DSS), the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS),
counties, public authorities, program advocates, providers, and
employee unions. Currently, the employers' interests for
collective bargaining purposes under the IHSS program are
represented either by each county's public authority or by the
county itself.
The 2012-13 Budget included changes to authorize the Coordinated
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Care Initiative (CCI), a demonstration project in eight counties
to integrate the delivery of medical services, long-term
services and supports (including IHSS), and behavioral health
services through Medi-Cal managed care plans, with the intent to
expand the integration into managed care statewide if the pilot
proved successful. As part of the demonstration project, SB 1036
(Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review) Chapter 45/2012, also
established a Statewide Authority for specified purposes of
collective bargaining as IHSS became a benefit provided through
managed care in those counties in the CCI.
Currently, seven counties remain in the CCI pilot program.
Numerous delays in the implementation of the CCI have resulted
in delays transitioning to the Statewide Authority. San Mateo
County transitioned to the Statewide Authority in February 2015,
and Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego
Counties are anticipated to transition in July 2015. Santa Clara
County is expected to transition in January 2016, and Orange
County in August 2016.
Continued operation of the CCI is statutorily dependent on an
annual determination by the Director of Finance that operation
of the CCI generates net General Fund savings, as specified.
Under existing law, the transfer of collective bargaining
responsibility to the Statewide Authority for CCI counties is
contingent upon the continued operation of the CCI. Similarly,
continued existence of the IHSS MOE share of cost, which is to
be counted in lieu of a likely increasing amount of a county's
level of nonfederal IHSS program costs, is contingent upon
continued operation of the CCI.
Proposed Law:
This bill would delink the statewide bargaining provision of
IHSS providers and associated creation of the Statewide
Authority from other provisions and timelines of the CCI.
Specifically, this bill:
1) Eliminates the requirement to delete authority for the
Statewide Authority and related requirements if the CCI becomes
inoperative.
2) Removes the requirement to link the establishment of the
statewide employee organization to a county's implementation of
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the CCI, and makes related language changes in numerous places
in the statute.
3) Eliminates the requirement to revert a county's IHSS County
MOE share of cost to the original cost-sharing formula if the
CCI is not implemented or becomes inoperative.
4) Deletes the requirement that the establishment of the
Statewide Authority be tied to the completed enrollment of
beneficiaries into the CCI and the notification of such by the
Director of the DHCS.
5) Sets January 1, 2016, as the date that the Statewide
Authority assumes responsibility for statewide collective
bargaining.
6) Eliminates language that renders inoperative the requirement
to count a county's
IHSS MOE in lieu of a county's share of cost of negotiated wage
and benefit increases, as specified.
7) Changes the required date for plans to establish an MOU with
county public authorities that transfers bargaining
responsibility to the Statewide Authority from the
implementation of the CCI in each county to January 1, 2016.
8) Deletes statute that would eliminate the Statewide Authority
and return the role of employer of record to the counties should
the CCI become inoperative.
9) Eliminates from the list of code sections that shall be
deleted if the CCI becomes inoperative those sections that
establish the IHSS Employer-Employee Relations Act, establish
and define the duties of the Statewide Authority, establish the
IHSS Fund, require all counties to have a County IHSS MOE, and
require counties to pay the County IHSS MOE instead of paying
the nonfederal share of IHSS costs, as specified.
Prior
Legislation: AB 485 (Gomez) 2014 was nearly identical to this
measure. This bill died on concurrence on the Assembly Floor.
SB 1036 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review) Chapter 45/2012
established the Statewide Authority, incorporated IHSS into the
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CCI, and established a statewide bargaining process to be
implemented as each county implemented the CCI. The statute
anticipated that as soon as March 1, 2013, the pilot would begin
in the demonstration counties and provided that once IHSS was an
established Medi-Cal benefit through managed care plans,
collective bargaining would be transferred to the Statewide
Authority. This bill also required all counties, commencing July
1, 2012, to have a County IHSS MOE, which required counties to
pay the County IHSS MOE instead of paying the nonfederal share
of IHSS costs, as specified.
Staff
Comments: Accelerating and expanding the implementation of statewide
bargaining to all 58 counties could result in potentially major
ongoing costs (General Fund) in the high tens to hundreds of
millions of dollars to the extent the provisions of this measure
result in an increase in IHSS provider wages and health benefits
with the implementation of the Statewide Authority effective
January 1, 2016. As only those wage and benefit increases that
are locally negotiated or imposed before the Statewide Authority
assumes employer responsibility result in an adjustment to the
County IHSS Maintenance of Effort (MOE), any increases
negotiated by the Statewide Authority would not require a county
share of costs. The nonfederal share of costs would be fully
funded by the state, resulting in major ongoing costs to the
General Fund.
The DSS has estimated increased costs of $553 million ($250
million General Fund) in Fiscal Year (FY) 2015-16 and $1.1
billion ($518 million General Fund) in FY 2016-17 assuming an
increase in provider wages to $12.10 effective January 1, 2016,
for 56 of the 58 counties (two counties currently provide wages
in excess of $12.10).
Under current law, the Statewide Authority becomes the
bargaining entity for IHSS providers only in the eight counties
participating in the CCI demonstration, and only upon the
Director of the DHCS' determination that enrollment into managed
care plans has been completed for the Med-Cal beneficiaries in
that county. Because existing law restricts the transfer to
statewide bargaining to the seven CCI demonstration counties
upon complete Medi-Cal enrollment to managed care, this bill
potentially accelerates the implementation date for those
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counties not already transitioned to the Statewide Authority,
and expands statewide bargaining to the remaining 51 counties.
The provisions of this measure could result in annual costs in
the range of $6.9 million to CalHR to implement and operate a
collective bargaining platform on behalf of the Statewide
Authority expanded to cover all 58 counties effective January 1,
2016. In addition, CalHR will incur one-time significant costs
for limited-term staff and overtime required to support the
workload imposed under the accelerated implementation date
mandated in this measure.
To the extent the CCI would have otherwise become inoperative at
some future date due to an estimate by the Director of Finance
that the CCI would not generate net General Fund savings, as
specified, the annual costs noted above would continue to be
incurred. The counties' share of cost limited by the County IHSS
MOE would not revert to the original cost-sharing formula, and
CalHR/DSS costs would continue to support the activities of the
Statewide Authority.
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