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
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|Policy |Human Services |Vote:|7 - 0 |
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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