California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 978

Introduced by Assembly Member Mayes

February 26, 2015

An act to amend Section 12300 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to public social services.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 978, as introduced, Mayes. In-home supportive services.

Existing law provides for the county-administered In-Home Supportive Services program, under which qualified aged, blind, and disabled persons are provided with services in order to permit them to remain in their own homes and avoid institutionalization.

This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 12300 of the Welfare and Institutions
Code is amended to read:

12300.  

(a) The purpose of this article is to provide in every
county in a manner consistent with this chapter and the annual
Budget Act those supportive services identified in this section to
aged, blind, or disabled persons, as defined under this chapter,
who are unable to perform the services themselves and who cannot
safely remain in their homes or abodes of their own choosing unless
these services are provided.

(b) Supportive services shall include domestic services and
services related to domestic services, heavy cleaning, personal
care services, accompaniment by a provider when needed during
necessary travel to health-related appointments or to alternative
resource sites, yard hazard abatement, protective supervision,
teaching and demonstration directed at reducing the need for other
supportive services, and paramedical services begin delete which end delete begin insert that end insert make it
possible for the recipient to establish and maintain an independent
living arrangement.

(c) Personal care services shall mean all of the following:

(1) Assistance with ambulation.

(2) Bathing, oral hygiene, and grooming.

(3) Dressing.

(4) Care and assistance with prosthetic devices.

(5) Bowel, bladder, and menstrual care.

(6) Repositioning, skin care, range of motion exercises, and
transfers.

(7) Feeding and assurance of adequate fluid intake.

(8) Respiration.

(9) Assistance with self-administration of medications.

(d) Personal care services are available if these services are
provided in the beneficiary’s home and other locations as may be
authorized by the director. Among the locations that may be
authorized by the director under this begin delete paragraph end delete begin insert subdivision end insert is the
recipient’s place of employment if all of the following conditions
are met:

(1) The personal care services are limited to those that are
currently authorized for a recipient in the recipient’s home and
those services are to be utilized by the recipient at the recipient’s
place of employment to enable the recipient to obtain, retain, or
return to work. Authorized services utilized by the recipient at the
recipient’s place of employment shall be services that are relevant
and necessary in supporting and maintaining employment.
However, workplace services shall not be used to supplant any
reasonable accommodations required of an employer by the
Americans with Disabilities Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 12101 et seq.;
ADA) begin delete or end delete begin insert , end insert other legal entitlements begin insert , end insert or third-party obligations.

(2) The provision of personal care services at the recipient’s
place of employment shall be authorized only to the extent that
the total hours utilized at the workplace are within the total personal
care services hours authorized for the recipient in the home.
Additional personal care services hours may not be authorized in
connection with a recipient’s employment.

(e)  begin delete Where end delete begin insert If end insert supportive services are provided by a person having
the legal duty pursuant to the Family Code to provide for the care
of his or her child who is the recipient, the provider of supportive
services shall receive remuneration for the services only when the
provider leaves full-time employment or is prevented from
obtaining full-time employment because no other suitable provider
is available and where the inability of the provider to provide
supportive services may result in inappropriate placement or
inadequate care.

These providers shall be paid only for the following:

(1) Services related to domestic services.

(2) Personal care services.

(3) Accompaniment by a provider when needed during necessary
travel to health-related appointments or to alternative resource
sites.

(4) Protective supervision only as needed because of the
functional limitations of the child.

(5) Paramedical services.

(f) To encourage maximum voluntary services, so as to reduce
governmental costs, respite care shall also be provided. Respite
care is temporary or periodic service for eligible recipients to
relieve persons who are providing care without compensation.

(g) A person who is eligible to receive begin delete a service or end delete services
under an approved federal waiver authorized pursuant to Section
14132.951, or a person who is eligible to receive begin delete a service or end delete
services authorized pursuant to Section 14132.95, shall not be
eligible to receive the same begin delete service or end delete services pursuant to this
article. In the event that the waiver authorized pursuant to Section
14132.951, as approved by the federal government, does not extend
eligibility to all persons otherwise eligible for services under this
article, or does not cover a service or particular services, or does
not cover the scope of a service that a person would otherwise be
eligible to receive under this article, those persons who are not
eligible for services, or for a particular service under the waiver
or Section 14132.95 shall be eligible for services under this article.

(h) (1) All services provided pursuant to this article shall be
equal in amount, scope, and duration to the same services provided
pursuant to Section 14132.95, including any adjustments that may
be made to those services pursuant to subdivision (e) of Section
14132.95.

(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, the rate
of reimbursement for in-home supportive services provided through
any mode of service shall not exceed the rate of reimbursement
established under subdivision (j) of Section 14132.95 for the same
mode of service unless otherwise provided in the annual Budget
Act.

(3) The maximum number of hours available under Section
14132.95, Section 14132.951, and this section, combined, shall
be 283 hours per month. Any recipient of services under this article
shall receive no more than the applicable maximum specified in
Section 12303.4.