BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 363
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 25, 2005

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                   Judy Chu, Chair

                    AB 363 (Chu) - As Introduced:  March 29, 2005 

          Policy Committee:                              Human  
          ServicesVote:6-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:              

           SUMMARY  

          This bill establishes the Child Welfare Services (CWS) Outcomes  
          and Accountability Fund (Fund) in the State Treasury.  
          Specifically, this bill: 

          1)Establishes the Fund and specifies that funding will be  
            appropriated in the annual budget act. 

          2)Requires the Department of Social Services (DSS) to establish  
            an allocation process that includes consideration of progress  
            toward certain child well-being outcomes and indicators.

          3)Requires counties to leverage federal, state, and local funds  
            with dollars allocated from the Fund. 

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          $3.7 million GF was proposed last week in the May Revision of  
          the 2005-06 budget for the Child Welfare Services Outcome  
          Improvement Project. Although AB 363 does not appropriate these  
          funds, this bill is designed to address similar purposes. 

           COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale  .  This bill, sponsored by the California Welfare  
            Directors' Association (CWDA), creates a special fund for  
            counties to access, through an allocation process, funding to  
            improve child welfare and foster care performance as it  
            relates to AB 636 (Steinberg), Chapter 678, Statutes of 2001.  
            AB 636, Child Welfare System Improvement and Accountability  
            Act required DSS to develop a county review process to  








                                                                  AB 363
                                                                  Page  2

            identify strengths and weaknesses in local CWS programs and  
            assist in sharing and implementing best practices.

           2)Existing Law  . California has undertaken several recent efforts  
            designed to improve the outcomes for children and families in  
            the CWS program. The first effort was driven by the federal  
            government when it established a performance-based review of  
            the states to determine the success of their children's  
            programs. States that failed the reviews were required to  
            develop a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP). 

          In the fall of 2002California failed to meet any of the seven  
            safety, permanency, and well-being outcomes measured by the  
            federal government. The state also failed five of the seven  
            systemic factors that measure the quality of services provided  
            to children and families. The state is in the process of  
            implementing a PIP to avoid financial penalties. Failure to  
            make progress toward reaching the federal measures could  
            eventually result in reduced federal funding. This bill will  
            aid in allocating PIP-related funds and clarifying county  
            activities in this area. 
           
           Analysis Prepared by  :    Mary Ader / APPR. / (916) 319-2081