BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 294|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 294
Author: Lackey (R) and Steinorth (R), et al.
Amended: 6/15/15 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE: 5-0, 6/9/15
AYES: McGuire, Berryhill, Hancock, Liu, Nguyen
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 77-0, 4/30/15 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Health and human services: state plans: federal
waivers: public notice
SOURCE: Coalition of California Welfare Rights Organizations
DIGEST: This bill requires any department within the
California Health and Human Services Agency (CHHSA) to post on
the homepage of its Web site information about any federally
approved state plan or waiver of federal laws or regulations.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Creates the CHHSA with its 10 constituent departments and a
number of other boards and entities. (GOV 12803)
2)Requires the state Department of Health Care Services (DHCS)
to post the following on its Internet Web site. (WIC 14100.3)
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a) All submitted state plan amendments and all federal
waiver applications and requests for new waivers, waiver
amendments, and waiver renewals and extensions within 10
business days from the date the department submits these
documents for approval to the federal Centers for Medicare
and Medicaid Services (CMS).
b) All final approval or denial letters and accompanying
documents for all submitted state plan amendments and
federal waiver applications and requests within 10 business
days from the date the department receives notification of
final approval or denial from CMS.
c) Notice from DHCS to CMS that it is withdrawing a
submitted state plan amendment or federal waiver
application or request, as defined, within 10 business days
from the date the department notifies CMS of the
withdrawal.
d) All pending submitted state plan amendments and federal
waiver applications and requests, which the department
submitted to CMS in 2009 and every year thereafter.
This bill adds a new Part 0.5 to the Health and Safety Code,
commencing with HSC 135, and a new Division 3.5 to the Welfare
and Institutions Code, commencing with a new Section 3500, both
requiring that a department within the CHHSA that has received
approval of an operational state plan by a federal agency, or
has applied and has been approved for a waiver from a federal
law or federal regulation, to make any and all approved plans or
waivers available to the public by publishing a hyperlink to
that information on the homepage of the department's Internet
Web site.
Background
Federal waivers
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State agencies are required to develop state plans and permitted
to submit waiver proposals to the federal government, as
instructed by the relevant federal agencies, to waive
requirements of specific programs. An example would be the
substantial Home and Community-Based Services waiver, which
permits California to receive federally matched Medicaid funding
for services outside of a health care institution.
California has several Medicaid waivers, including the Section
1115 Research & Demonstration Projects, which allow states
program flexibility to test new or existing approaches to
financing and delivering services. Section 1915(b) Managed Care
Waivers allow states to provide services through managed care
delivery systems or otherwise limit people's choice of
providers. Section 1915(c) Home and Community-Based Services
Waivers allow states to provide long-term care services in home
and community settings rather than institutional settings.
These and other waivers enable California to receive federal
funding for a number of programs through Medicaid waivers or
state plan language including In-Home Supportive Services,
services for individuals with developmental disabilities, those
with AIDS or HIV, assisted living services, in home operations
or pediatric palliative care, services for individuals with
serious mental illness and others.
Additionally, California has federal waivers within its CalFresh
food benefit program to maintain nutrition benefits to
individuals who are unable to find employment during a
recession, waivers to fund various innovations in the foster
care program, and others.
Comments
Currently, state departments post waivers and state plans to
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varying degrees and in various places. The DHCS, which is
responsible for managing all Medi-Cal waivers, regardless of the
department that is applying them to the provision of services,
has a Web site page devoted to the waivers. A link to the waiver
page is on the right side of the DHCS homepage. The Department
of Developmental Services also has a webpage for its waivers and
a link from its home page to the waiver page, however the link
is identified as a home and community-based services site,
rather than a waiver site.
The CHHSA also has a waiver page, but does not have a link from
the homepage. The Department of Aging does not appear to have a
waiver page specifically, although some information about
relevant waivers is on its home page. The Department of Social
Services (CDSS) does not have a waiver link on its home page,
although it receives waivers from the U.S. Department of
Agriculture for its CalFresh program and from the Administration
for Children and Families for its child welfare programs. Much
of the waiver information released from CDSS about waivers and
plans is in the form of instruction letters to counties or
other, similar, directives.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
SUPPORT: (Verified 6/23/15)
Coalition of California Welfare Rights Organizations (source)
AFSCME
Alliance
California Alternative Payment Program Association
California Association of Public Authorities for IHSS
California Hunger Action Coalition
Western Center on Law and Poverty
OPPOSITION: (Verified 6/23/15)
Department of Finance
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ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the author, this bill
will increase transparency for state-run and federally funded
programs within the CHHSA by requiring that the state
departments place a copy of any approved state plans or waivers
on the front page of the administering department's Web site.
This will allow the public to gain knowledge of the programs and
improve departments' abilities to provide critical services to
Californians, the author states. The author also states that
some federally required plans and federal waivers are not
readily accessible to the public because they are not placed on
the web page of the single state agency responsible for the
administration of the program.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: The Department of Finance (DOF)
writes in opposition to this bill that it is unnecessary. "If
there are gaps in what is being posted, Agency can direct the
affected departments to publish the remaining documents. It is
our understanding that departments under Agency already publish
most of their federally approved operational state plans or
federal waiver applications on their respective websites." DOF
also stated that this bill should not result in fiscal impacts
to any departments under the CHHSA as the costs to publish the
necessary documents are likely to be minor and absorbable.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 77-0, 4/30/15
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Chang, Chau,
Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd,
Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia,
Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove,
Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones,
Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low,
Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin,
Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea,
Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago,
Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber,
Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins
NO VOTE RECORDED: Campos, Chávez, Gomez
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Prepared by:Mareva Brown / HUMAN S. / (916) 651-1524
6/24/15 16:23:23
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