BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 199
Page 1
Date of Hearing: July 8, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
SB 199
(Hall) - As Amended June 2, 2015
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Policy |Human Services |Vote:|7 - 0 |
|Committee: | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------|
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------|
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
Yes
SUMMARY: This bill would expand the scope of services available
under the IHSS program for a recipient who is blind, to include
assistance in reading and completing financial and other
documents, limited to two hours per month.
SB 199
Page 2
FISCAL EFFECT:
1)One-time costs to the Department of Social Services (DSS) in
2015-16 of up to $1.7 million (GF/Federal Fund), and up to
$3.0 million on-going to fund additional authorized IHSS
provider hours for services to 9,710 IHSS recipients who are
blind, assuming all potential recipients are authorized for an
additional two hours per month. These costs will be lower to
the extent that not all potential recipients are authorized
for this service or are authorized for less than two hours.
2)Unknown but potentially significant one-time automation costs
(GF/Federal Fund)
3)Minor one-time costs to DHCS to submit the request for federal
approval of this service.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, "Reading assistance is
critical for consumers who need to know about notices that may
affect their ability to live independently, including
insurance coverage, prescription drug labels, housing
notifications or other time sensitive information that may
require action."
Although counties are currently required to provide
information and referrals to blind individuals, advocates
agree that the demand for reading assistance for IHSS
SB 199
Page 3
recipients far exceeds the availability of volunteers at local
blind/visually impaired service centers. Further, in most
cases, those organizations that can provide reading and
document completion services do so only on-site and often
don't travel to people's homes to provide such assistance.
Consequently, blind IHSS recipients who live far away from
services in the community or who are unable to travel are left
with few, if any, options for reading services.
2)Background. Existing law provides for the IHSS program,
administered by the Department of Social Services (DSS),
through which qualified aged, blind, or disabled individuals
receive supportive services enabling them to remain in their
own homes. Existing law defines the scope of supportive
services under the IHSS program to include 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 which make it possible for the recipient
to establish and maintain an independent living arrangement.
Because reading services are not included among the covered
services, social workers are not able to allot hours for
reading, document completion or other related services even
when it is clear that blind recipients cannot complete those
activities without assistance and other sources of support are
not readily available. Instead, county welfare departments are
required to provide visually impaired applicants and
recipients with information on, and referral services to,
entities that provide reading services to visually impaired
persons.
SB 199
Page 4
According to DSS, as of May 2015, there were 9,824 blind IHSS
recipients (approximately 2% of the total IHSS caseload). Of
those blind recipients, 114 had already been assessed for the
statutory maximum number of IHSS hours (283 hours per month),
leaving approximately 9,710 blind IHSS recipients potentially
eligible for the services in this bill. (These numbers do not
include individuals who are visually impaired but who do not
meet the statutory definition for blind.)
3)Prior Legislation.
a) AB 1703 (Hall), 2014, was similar to this bill, but
broader in scope. It applied to individuals who are blind,
and to those who are visually impaired, or who have another
disability that significantly impairs an individual's
ability to read. It also did not contain any limit on the
number of hours that could be provided. It was held on the
Senate Appropriations Committee suspense file.
b) AB 238 (Beall), 2007, was nearly identical to AB 1703
(Hall). It was vetoed by the Governor.
Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
SB 199
Page 5