BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 1220 Page 1 Date of Hearing: June 29, 2016 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Lorena Gonzalez, Chair SB 1220 (McGuire) - As Amended April 6, 2016 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Human Services |Vote:|7 - 0 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable: No SUMMARY: This bill requires a county social worker to complete the following activities with regard to a child's case plan: 1)Include a summary or copy of the treatment plan developed for a child who has been assessed as needing behavioral health services. 2)Redact information that is otherwise confidential regarding the child's condition or treatment in order to include the treatment plan as part of the case plan. 3)Indicate in the case plan if a treatment plan has not been finalized, and update the plan at the next regular hearing SB 1220 Page 2 after the treatment plan has been finalized. 4)Attach the treatment plan to a request to authorize the administration of psychotropic medication submitted to the court, as specified. FISCAL EFFECT: 1)Potential increase in social worker time for case management activities of approximately $823,000 ($655,000 GF*) in 2016-17 and $1.6 million ($1.3 million GF*) in 2017-18 and ongoing. This assumes 30 minutes of additional social worker time to update a child's case plan to include a summary or copy of the treatment plan two times per year. The total eligible caseload is 22,876 statewide annually. No significant workload impact is estimated to attach the treatment plan to the psychotropic medication authorization to the court. 2)*Proposition 30 (2012), exempts the State from mandate reimbursement for realigned responsibilities for "public safety services" including the provision of child welfare services. However, legislation enacted after September 30, 2012, that has an overall effect of increasing the costs already borne by a local agency for public safety services applies to local agencies only to the extent that the State provides annual funding for the cost increase. The provisions of Proposition 30 have not been interpreted through the formal court process to date, however, to the extent the local agency costs resulting from this measure are determined to be applicable under the provisions of Proposition 30, this bill could result in additional GF costs to the State. SB 1220 Page 3 COMMENTS: 1)Purpose and Background. Existing law requires a county social worker to create a case plan for foster youth within a specified timeframe after the child is introduced into the foster care system. Existing law requires the case plan to be developed considering the recommendations of the child and family team according to specified requirements, including, among others, a requirement that the child be involved in developing the case plan as age and developmentally appropriate. The "California Guidelines for the Use of Psychotropic Medication with Children and Youth in Foster Care" (2015), jointly released by the Department of Social Services and the Department of Health Care Services provide a statement of best practices for the treatment of children and youth in out of home care, some of who may require the administration of psychotropic medications. The "Guidelines" outline expectations regarding the development and monitoring of treatment plans, the principles for emotional and behavioral health care, psychosocial services, and non-pharmacological treatments, and the principles governing medication safety. This bill seeks to ensure each child's case plan includes the necessary, updated information from a child's treatment plan to ensure compliance by all parties involved with the child's care consistent with the best practices outlined in the "Guidelines." 2)Related Legislation. SB 253 (Monning), 2015, would revise and strengthen juvenile court practices and requirements for the SB 1220 Page 4 administration of psychotropic medications to wards and dependents of the juvenile court. This bill is currently on the inactive file on the Assembly Floor. 3)Prior Legislation. a) SB 238 (Mitchell), Chapter 534, Statutes of 2015, requires additional training on psychotropic medications for foster care providers, and requires the DSS to provide a monthly report to each county placing agency with information about each child for whom one or more psychotropic medications have been paid for under Medi-Cal. b) SB 319 (Beall), Chapter 535, Statutes of 2015, adds to the duties of foster care public health nurses, including monitoring each child in foster care who is administered one or more psychotropic medications. c) SB 484 (Beall), Chapter 540, Statutes of 2015, requires DSS to compile and post on its Internet Web site specified information regarding the administration of psychotropic medications to children placed in group homes and to establish a methodology for identifying group homes with high levels of psychotropic drug use. It further establishes certain requirements for those group homes. Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081 SB 1220 Page 5