BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1930
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Date of Hearing: March 29, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Susan Bonilla, Chair
AB 1930
(Lackey) - As Amended March 28, 2016
SUBJECT: In-home supportive services: family caregivers:
advisory committee
SUMMARY: Establishes the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS)
Family Caregiver Benefits Advisory Committee for the purpose of
studying, and providing a report on, employment-based supports
and protections as they pertain to IHSS providers.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Creates the IHSS Family Caregiver Benefits Advisory Committee
to describe the availability of, and barriers to accessing,
employment-based supports and protections, and to study the
impact of lack of access to these supports and protections on
IHSS providers of care for specified family members, and their
communities.
2)Requires the advisory committee to be made up of not more than
15 individuals, and further requires those individuals to
represent specified entities, including, but not limited to,
the Department of Social Services (DSS), IHSS public
authorities, labor organizations that represent IHSS
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providers, and IHSS providers and consumers.
3)Requires the Governor, the Speaker of the Assembly, and the
Senate Committee on Rules to each, after consulting with labor
organizations that represent IHSS providers, appoint not more
than five members to the advisory committee.
4)Requires, by January 1, 2018, the advisory committee to
provide a peer-reviewed report to certain Legislative
committees that includes a summary of findings and
recommendations on steps the state could take to ensure that
all IHSS providers who provide care for specified family
members have access to employment-based supports and
protections, as specified.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes the IHSS program to provide supportive services,
including domestic, protective supervision, personal care, and
paramedical services as specified, to individuals who are
aged, blind, or living with disabilities, and who are unable
to perform the services themselves or remain safely in their
homes without receiving these services. (WIC 12300 et seq.)
2)States that counties may choose to contract with a nonprofit
consortium or establish a public authority for the provision
of IHSS services. Requires nonprofit consortia and public
authorities to, among other things, establish a registry to
assist recipients in locating IHSS providers, and to
investigate the background and qualifications of potential
providers, as specified. (WIC 12301.6)
3)Maintains an IHSS recipient's right to hire, fire, and
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supervise the work of any IHSS provider, regardless of the
employer responsibilities of a public authority or nonprofit
consortium, as specified. (WIC 12301.6)
4)Requires the application for IHSS to contain a notice to the
recipient that his or her provider(s) will be given written
notice of the recipient's authorized services and allotted
hours and further requires the application to inform
recipients of specified Medi-Cal contact information for
reporting fraud or abuse. (WIC 12301.15)
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown.
COMMENTS:
In-Home Supportive Services: The IHSS program enables
low-income individuals who are at least 65 years old, living
with disabilities, or blind to remain in their own homes by
paying for care providers to assist with personal care services
(such as toileting, bathing, and grooming), domestic and related
services (meal preparation, housecleaning, and the like),
paramedical services, and protective supervision. Approximately
464,000 Californians receive IHSS, with approximately 99%
receiving it as a Medicaid benefit.
When an individual is determined eligible for IHSS services by a
county social worker, he or she is authorized for a certain
number of hours of care. IHSS recipients are responsible for
hiring, firing, directing, and supervising their IHSS workers.
These responsibilities include some administrative duties, such
as scheduling and signing timesheets; however, the state handles
payroll. There are currently about 433,400 IHSS providers in
the state; approximately 69% are relatives and an estimated 50%
are live-in. Providers must complete an enrollment process,
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including submitting fingerprint images for a criminal
background check and participating in a provider orientation
prior to receiving payment for services.
Access to some employment-based benefits and protections may be
limited for certain IHSS providers, particularly if a provider
is related to the IHSS consumer. According to IHSS provider
training materials from DSS, "some family members, especially
spouses and parents of consumers, are not eligible to have
Social Security (FICA) funds withheld from paychecks," and
"Unemployment Insurance benefits may be available to you if you
are not the parent or spouse of your employer/recipient and
become unemployed, able and available to work and you meet
certain eligibility requirements."
Need for this bill: According to the author, this bill "would
establish an advisory committee to study how this exclusion [of
certain relative IHSS providers from Social Security, Medicare,
and unemployment insurance coverage] impacts the economic
security of individuals who provide these critical services and
their communities. This committee would include policy experts
as well as those directly impacted by the exclusion. The
committee would be tasked with drafting a report to the
Legislature with recommendations on steps the state can take to
ensure that all IHSS providers have access to social security,
Medicare, and unemployment insurance. Over several decades, the
fact that these workers cannot access Social Security, Medicare
or Unemployment Insurance benefits has resulted in terrible
economic hardship for tens of thousands of IHSS workers who are
at or near retirement age. It also results in indirect costs to
taxpayers as hard working seniors are forced into poverty and
reliance on state public assistance programs. It is worth
exploring why benefits that are provided to one category of
workers that are denied to another category of workers in the
same program."
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Staff comments: This bill as currently written requires the
IHSS Family Caregiver Benefits Advisory Committee to be composed
of up to 15 individuals representing specified entities. It
further requires the Governor, the Speaker of the Assembly, and
the Senate Committee on Rules to each appoint not more than five
members to the advisory committee. However, this bill does not
offer clear direction on which vacancies each of the appointing
authorities is to fill, and the manner in which these vacancies
are to be filled. This could lead to confusion both in
establishing the original composition of the advisory committee,
and also in filling any vacancies that may arise during the
committee's tenure. Therefore, should this bill move forward,
the author may wish to consider including clear direction on
each appointing authority's purview and responsibilities
regarding the filling of vacancies on the advisory committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees
(AFSCME)
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California Alliance for Retired Americans (CARA)
California Domestic Workers Coalition
California Labor Federation
Coalition of California Welfare Rights Organization (CCWRO)
Congress of California Seniors
Justice in Aging
National Employment Law Project
Personal Assistance Services Council
UDW/AFSCME Local 3930 - sponsor
Opposition
None on file.
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Analysis Prepared by:Daphne Hunt / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089