BILL NUMBER: AB 2306 CHAPTERED 09/07/00 CHAPTER 312 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 7, 2000 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 2, 2000 PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 25, 2000 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 25, 2000 AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 23, 2000 AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 8, 2000 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 28, 2000 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 8, 2000 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 11, 2000 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 1, 2000 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Florez and Senator Ortiz (Coauthors: Assembly Members Ducheny, Honda, Knox, Lowenthal, Mazzoni, Strom-Martin, Torlakson, Wiggins, and Wildman) (Coauthors: Senators Alarcon and Costa) FEBRUARY 24, 2000 An act to amend Sections 50455, 50517.5, and 50517.6 of, to amend the heading of Chapter 3.2 (commencing with Section 50517.5) of Part 2 of Division 31 of, and to add Sections 1179.6 and 50517.11 to, the Health and Safety Code, relating to farmworkers, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2306, Florez. Farmworker programs. (1) Under existing law, the California Rural Health Policy Council in the California Health and Human Services Agency is established to improve access to, and the quality of, health care in rural areas. This bill would require the State Department of Health Services to review and survey the extent to which agricultural workers and their families utilize those public health programs for which they are eligible, in order to provide improved delivery of services to the families of agricultural workers. The bill would specify the components of the survey, require the department, in conducting the survey, to ensure the full participation of entities that provide services to agricultural workers, and require the department to report the survey results to the Legislature on or before March 1, 2001, and to submit an implementation plan based on those results to the Legislature on or before December 31, 2001. (2) Under existing law, the Department of Housing and Community Development is required to develop a statewide farmworker housing assistance plan and related policies, goals, and objectives for inclusion in the California Statewide Housing Plan. This bill would require that the farm labor housing assistance plan include specified information regarding availability of, and funding for, housing for farm laborers, and other information. The bill also would require the department to establish a task force to assist in the development of the farm labor housing assistance plan and would require that the plan be developed or revised with the specified information by July 1, 2002. (3) Existing law requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to establish a Farmworker Housing Grant Program to make funds available to local public entities and nonprofit corporations for the construction or rehabilitation of housing for agricultural employees and their families. This bill would rename this program as the "Joe Serna, Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant Program" and would also create the "Joe Serna, Jr. Farmworker Family Wellness Program" to provide for the integration of, among other things, family health and other family services to agricultural workers in conjunction with these programs. The bill would also authorize the department to enter into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) or contract, as specified, with a nonprofit corporation that demonstrates statewide experience, capacity, and capability in designing, financing, and implementing programs for providing housing for agricultural workers and integrating health services with the provision of farmworker housing. The bill would also provide that the department shall not enter into a new MOU or contract or commit additional funding to these programs after January 1, 2004, except as specified. The bill would require the nonprofit corporation to report to the department and would require the department to report the results of the wellness program to the Legislature on or before December 31, 2002. (4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 1179.6 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read: 1179.6. (a) (1) In order to provide improved delivery of services to the families of agricultural workers, the State Department of Health Services shall review and survey the extent to which agricultural workers and their families utilize those public health programs for which they are eligible. In conducting the survey, the department shall ensure the full participation of entities that provide services to agricultural workers, including clinics, community-based agencies, public health departments, and organizations and associations involved with agricultural worker health and well-being. Programs considered in the survey shall include, but shall not be limited to, all of the following: (A) The Medi-Cal program. (B) The Healthy Families program. (C) The Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment Program (EPSDT). (D) The Child Health and Disability Prevention Program (CHDP). (E) Health clinics. (F) Public health prevention programs. (G) Immunization programs. (H) Community mental health programs. (I) Programs funded under the California Children and Families Program. (J) Parenting programs. (K) Teen pregnancy prevention and case management programs. (L) Domestic violence and child abuse prevention programs. (M) Any other relevant programs available in communities of agricultural workers. (2) The department shall use the results of the survey to prepare an implementation plan that maximizes access and streamlines service delivery, in order to make comprehensive family wellness programs readily available to agricultural workers and their families. In developing the implementation plan, the department shall ensure the full participation of entities contributing to the survey of available services. The implementation plan shall be based on the principles set forth in subdivision (g) of Section 50517.5, including all of the following: (A) Involvement of agricultural workers and their families in program design and delivery. (B) Community collaboration on the local level among available public and private agencies. (C) Coordination with the provision of adequate housing. (b) (1) The survey shall address the extent to which outreach programs are directed to, and succeed in, reaching agricultural workers and their families, and shall identify any geographical, cultural, linguistic, or other barriers that may prevent full utilization of available services. (2) The survey shall place significant emphasis on actual experiences of agricultural workers and their families. (c) The department shall report the results of the survey required by this section to the Legislature on or before March 1, 2001, and shall present the Legislature with the implementation plan required by paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) on or before December 31, 2001. SEC. 2. Section 50455 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read: 50455. (a) The department shall develop a statewide farm labor housing assistance plan and related policies, goals, and objectives for inclusion in the California Statewide Housing Plan. (b) The farm labor housing assistance plan shall include, but not be limited to, an identification of impediments to the production of housing affordable to farm laborers, federal, state, and local sources of financing, private sources of funding, innovative approaches to financing that could be used as a model, the analysis of the need for permanent and migrant housing, and measures that need to be implemented to address the need for farm labor housing. (c) The department shall establish a task force to assist in the development of the farm labor housing assistance plan. The task force shall include representatives of state housing departments and agencies involved in the planning and production of housing, infrastructure, and services to farm laborers and representatives from local government, agricultural organizations, organizations of farm laborers, and organizations serving farm laborers and low-income residents in rural areas. (d) The department shall develop or revise the farm labor housing assistance plan on or before July 1, 2002. In the event the department does not update or provide the next revision of the California Statewide Housing Plan pursuant to Section 50452 on or before July 1, 2002, the department shall release the farm labor housing assistance plan separately from the California Statewide Housing Plan. SEC. 3. The heading of Chapter 3.2 (commencing with Section 50517.5) of Part 2 of Division 31 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read: CHAPTER 3.2. THE JOE SERNA, JR. FARMWORKER HOUSING GRANT PROGRAM SEC. 4. Section 50517.5 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read: 50517.5. (a) (1) The department shall establish the Joe Serna, Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant Program under which, subject to the availability of funds therefor, grants shall be made to local public entities and nonprofit corporations for the construction or rehabilitation of housing for agricultural employees and their families. Under this program, grants may also be made for the purchase of land in connection with housing assisted pursuant to this section and for the construction and rehabilitation of related support facilities necessary to the housing. In its administration of this program, the department shall disburse grant funds to the local public entities and nonprofit corporations or may, at the request of the local public entity or nonprofit corporation that sponsors and supervises the rehabilitation program, disburse grant funds to agricultural employees who are participants in a rehabilitation program sponsored and supervised by the local public entity or nonprofit corporation. No part of a grant made pursuant to this section may be used for project organization or planning. (2) The program shall be administered by the Director of Housing and Community Development and officers and employees of the department as he or she may designate. (3) It is the intent of the Legislature that, in administering the program, the director shall facilitate, to the greatest extent possible, the construction and rehabilitation of permanent dwellings for year-round occupancy and ownership by agricultural employees, including ownership of the sites upon which the dwellings are located. (b) (1) The Joe Serna, Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant Fund is hereby created in the State Treasury. Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, all money in the fund is continuously appropriated to the department for making grants pursuant to this section and for costs incurred by the department in administering the grant program. (2) There shall be paid into the fund the following: (A) Any moneys appropriated and made available by the Legislature for purposes of the fund. (B) Any moneys that the department receives in repayment or return of grants from the fund, including any interest therefrom. (C) Any other moneys that may be made available to the department for the purposes of this chapter from any other source or sources. (c) Grants made pursuant to this section shall be matched by grantees with at least equal amounts of federal moneys, other cash investments, or in-kind contributions. (d) With respect to the supervision of grantees, the department shall do the following: (1) Establish minimum capital reserves to be maintained by grantees. (2) Fix and alter from time to time a schedule of rents that may be necessary to provide residents of housing assisted pursuant to this section with affordable rents to the extent consistent with the maintenance of the financial integrity of the housing project. No grantee shall increase the rent on any unit constructed or rehabilitated with the assistance of funds granted pursuant to this section without the prior permission of the department, which shall be given only if the grantee affirmatively demonstrates that the increase is required to defray necessary operating costs or avoid jeopardizing the fiscal integrity of the housing project. (3) Determine standards for, and control selection by grantees of, tenants and subsequent purchasers of housing constructed or rehabilitated with the assistance of funds granted pursuant to this section. (4) (A) Require as a condition precedent to a grant of funds that the grantee be record owner in fee of the assisted real property and that the grantee shall have entered into a written agreement with the department binding upon the grantee and successors in interest to the grantee. The agreement shall include the conditions under which the funds advanced may be repaid. The agreement shall include provisions for a lien on the assisted real property in favor of the State of California for the purpose of securing performance of the agreement. The agreement shall also provide that the lien shall endure until released by the Director of Housing and Community Development. (B) In the event that funds granted pursuant to this section constitute less than 25 percent of the total development cost or value, whichever is applicable, of a project assisted under this section, the department may adopt, by regulation, criteria for determining the number of units in a project to which the restrictions on occupancy contained in the agreement apply. In no event may these regulations provide for the application of the agreement to a percentage of units in a project that is less than the percentage of total development costs that funds granted pursuant to this section represent. (C) Contemporaneously with the disbursement of the initial funds to a grantee, the department shall cause to be recorded, in the office of the county recorder of the county in which the assisted real property is located, a notice of lien executed by the Director of Housing and Community Development. The notice of lien shall refer to the agreement required by this paragraph for which it secures and it shall include a legal description of the assisted real property that is subject to the lien. The notice of lien shall be indexed by the recorder in the Grantor Index to the name of the grantee and in the Grantee Index to the name of the State of California, Department of Housing and Community Development. The department shall adopt by regulation criteria for the determination of the lien period. This regulation shall take into account whether the property is held by multifamily rental, single-family ownership, or cooperative ownership and whether it is new construction or rehabilitative construction. (D) Pursuant to regulations adopted by the department, the department may execute and cause to be recorded in the office of the recorder of the county in which a notice of lien has been recorded, a subordination of the lien. The regulations adopted by the department shall provide that any subordination of the lien shall not jeopardize the security interest of the state and shall further the interest of farmworker housing. The recitals contained in the subordination shall be conclusive in favor of any bona fide purchaser or lender relying thereon. (5) Regulate the terms of occupancy agreements or resale controls, to be used in housing assisted pursuant to this section. (6) Provide bilingual services and publications, or require grantees to do so, as necessary to implement the purposes of this section. (7) The agreement between the department and the grantee shall provide, among other things, that both of the following occur: (A) Upon the sale or conveyance of the real property, or any part thereof, for use other than for agricultural employee occupancy, the grantee or its successors shall, as a condition for the release of the lien provided pursuant to paragraph (4), repay to the fund the department's grant funds. (B) Upon the sale or conveyance of the real property or any part thereof for continued agricultural employee occupancy, the transferee shall assume the obligation of the transferor and the real property shall be transferred to the new owner; provided that the transferee agrees to abide by the agreement entered into between the transferor and the department and that the new owner takes the property subject to the lien provided pursuant to paragraph (4), except that this lien shall, at the time of the transfer of the property to the new owner, be extended for an additional lien period determined by the department pursuant to paragraph (4), and the new owner shall not be credited with the lien period that had run from the time the transferor had acquired the property to the time of transfer to the new owner, unless the department determines that it is in the best interest of the state and consistent with the intent of this section to so credit the lien period to the new owner. However, the lien shall have priority as of the recording date of the lien for the original grantee, pursuant to paragraph (4). (e) The department may do any of the following with respect to grantees: (1) Through its agents or employees enter upon and inspect the lands, buildings, and equipment of a grantee, including books and records, at any time before, during, or after construction or rehabilitation of units assisted pursuant to this section. However, there shall be no entry or inspection of any unit that is occupied, whether or not any occupant is actually present, without the consent of the occupant. (2) Supervise the operation and maintenance of any housing assisted pursuant to this section and order repairs as may be necessary to protect the public interest or the health, safety, or welfare of occupants of the housing. (f) The department shall include in its annual report required by Section 50408, a current report of the Joe Serna, Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant Program. The report shall include, but need not be limited to, (1) the number of households assisted, (2) the average income of households assisted and the distribution of annual incomes among assisted households, (3) the rents paid by households assisted, (4) the number and amount of grants made to each nonprofit corporation and local public entity in the preceding year, (5) the dollar value of funding derived from sources other than the state for each project receiving a grant under this section, and an identification of each source, (6) recommendations, as needed, to improve operations of the program and respecting the desirability of extending its application to other groups in rural areas identified by the department as having special need for state housing assistance, and (7) the number of manufactured housing units assisted under this section. (g) As used in this section: (1) "Agricultural employee" has the same meaning as specified in subdivision (b) of Section 1140.4 of the Labor Code, but also includes any person who works at a packing shed for a labor contractor or other entity that contracts with an agricultural employer in order to perform services in connection with handling, drying, packing, or storing any agricultural commodity in its raw or natural state, whether or not this person is encompassed within the definition specified in subdivision (b) of Section 1140.4 of the Labor Code. (2) "Grantee" means the local public entity or nonprofit corporation that is awarded the grant under this section and, at the request thereof, may include an individual homeowner receiving direct payment of a grant for rehabilitation under this section who occupies the assisted housing both before and after the rehabilitation and who is a participant in a rehabilitation program sponsored and supervised by a local public entity or nonprofit corporation. (3) "Housing" may include, but need not be limited to, conventionally constructed units and manufactured housing. (h) The department may offer the assistance offered pursuant to this chapter in any area where there is a substantial unmet need for farmworker housing. SEC. 5. Section 50517.6 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read: 50517.6. (a) The department may set aside the amount of funds authorized by subdivision (d) for the purposes of curing or averting a default on the terms of any loan or other obligation by the recipient of financial assistance, or bidding at any foreclosure sale where the default or foreclosure sale would jeopardize the department's security in the dwelling unit assisted pursuant to this chapter. (b) The department may use the set-aside funds made available pursuant to this chapter to repair or maintain any dwelling unit assisted pursuant to this chapter that was acquired to protect the department's security interest in the dwelling unit. (c) The payment or advance of funds by the department pursuant to this section shall be exclusively within the department's discretion, and no person shall be deemed to have any entitlement to the payment or advance of those funds. The amount of any funds expended by the department for the purposes of curing or averting a default shall be added to any grant amount secured by the lien and shall be payable to the department upon demand. (d) On the effective date of the act that adds this section, the department may set aside up to two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) from the Joe Serna, Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant Fund for the purposes authorized by this section. On July 1 of each subsequent fiscal year, the department may set aside, for the purposes of this section, up to 4 percent of the funds available in the Joe Serna, Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant Fund on that date. SEC. 6. Section 50517.11 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read: 50517.11. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (1) California's hard-working agricultural workers have made critical contributions to California's agricultural economy for many generations. (2) The health, housing, and economic and social conditions of agricultural workers have been long ignored by public policy, such that this lowest-paid segment of our labor force has lived in poverty conditions, with inadequate health care, housing, and other services. (3) The late Mayor of Sacramento, Joe Serna, Jr., who grew up as a farmworker and provided an inspiration by making invaluable contributions to society, maintained a lifelong interest in improving the conditions of agricultural workers and their families and children. (4) Housing is a primary determinant of health. (5) While California has established a Farmworker Housing Grant Program, it has not attempted to integrate its housing programs with broader programs to ensure the health and improve the conditions of agricultural worker families. (b) It is the intent of the Legislature to enact the "Joe Serna, Jr. Farmworker Family Wellness Act," to provide for all of the following: (1) Integration, coordination, and expansion of health services to achieve the goal of advancing comprehensive strategies for improving the health status of agricultural workers and their families. (2) Integration, coordination, and expansion of community-based services, including housing, educational, recreational, and social services, to serve the varied needs of agricultural worker families. (3) A means for integration and coordination of public, private, and nonprofit services in conjunction with the Joe Serna, Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant Program to maximize the effectiveness of services to agricultural worker families. (c) (1) There is hereby created the Joe Serna, Jr. Farmworker Family Wellness Program, to provide for the integration of family health and other family services with the housing component of Section 50517.5. The program shall contain elements that provide for all of the following: (A) The provision of housing and the provision of health and other family services for agricultural workers in a coordinated manner. (B) Involvement of agricultural workers in decisions about priorities for programs and services that are needed. (C) The participation of other community partners, including schools, in a collaborative effort to provide these programs and services in conjunction with the construction of new housing or the rehabilitation of existing housing. (2) Subject to funding in the Budget Act of 2000 for a program to link up farmworker housing grant funds to housing developments that also provide health and other family services, the Department of Housing and Community Development may enter into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) or contract for the implementation of this program with a nonprofit corporation that demonstrates statewide experience, capacity, and capability in designing, financing, and implementing programs for providing housing for agricultural workers and integrating health services with the provision of farmworker housing. The MOU or contract shall provide that the nonprofit corporation shall process and approve applications received from potential grantees, oversee project development and implementation, and oversee the long-term monitoring and compliance required by Section 50517.5 and this section. The MOU or contract shall include the criteria for consultation with the department or department approval of various components of the program and an expedited process with the intent of providing approvals in a shortened timeframe. The department may prescribe conditions related to the deposit, use, and accounting of funds for operation of the program. The MOU or contract shall further provide that the department funds awarded to any grantee by the nonprofit corporation be used in conjunction with the nonprofit corporation's funds in both the housing construction or rehabilitation component as well as the health and family services component. The nonprofit corporation's funds may be used as all or a portion of the match required by subdivision (c) of Section 50517.5. (3) The department shall not be subject to the requirements of Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Title 2 of the Government Code. (4) A nonprofit corporation selected pursuant to paragraph (2) shall report the information required by this paragraph to the Department of Housing and Community Development and the department shall report to the Legislature the results of the Joe Serna, Jr. Farmworker Family Wellness Program on or before December 31, 2002. The report shall include all of the following: (A) Details of the MOU. (B) Number of grants awarded to grantees. (C) Details about the projects operated using grant funds identifying information related to all of the elements provided in paragraph (1). (D) Number of new housing units built, rehabilitated, or under construction. (E) Details about the physical and other benefits received by agricultural workers and their families from participation in the health and family services programs while living in the housing units assisted by this program. (d) The department shall not enter into a new MOU or contract or commit additional funding to the program after January 1, 2004, except for costs and activities related to long-term compliance and monitoring of projects assisted pursuant to this section. SEC. 7. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are: In order to improve the health and well-being of agricultural workers and their families by improving delivery of public health services and making available grant funds for housing at the earliest possible time, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.