BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE HUMAN
SERVICES COMMITTEE
Senator S. Joseph Simitian, Chair
BILL NO: AB 363
A
AUTHOR: Chu
B
VERSION: March 29, 2005
HEARING DATE: June 28, 2005
3
FISCAL: Appropriations
6
3
CONSULTANT:
Hailey
SUBJECT
Child and family service review system
SUMMARY
Creates the child welfare services outcomes and
accountability incentive fund to be used by counties as
they implement improvements outlined through their federal
child and family service review.
ABSTRACT
Current law
1. Requires counties to establish and meet outcome
measures in the delivery of child welfare services on
behalf of abused and neglected children.
This bill
1. Establishes a fund consisting of money appropriated by
the Legislature in the annual Budget Act.
2. Requires the Department of Social Services (DSS) to
establish a process for allocating the moneys in the fund
to counties that are not already receiving funds, in the
2005-06 Budget Act or subsequent budget acts, for
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implementation of program improvements.
3. Requires the allocation process to take into account
the extent to which the proposed funding would be used for
activities that are reasonably expected to help the county
make progress toward their outcome measures, as specified.
4. Requires, to the extent possible, that counties use
moneys received through this fund in a manner that enables
the county to draw down additional federal, state and local
funds, while noting that the counties' inability to receive
additional matching funds shall not play a determining
factor in the allocation process.
FISCAL IMPACT
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, $3.7
million General Fund was proposed in the governor's 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.
In its budget actions, subcommittees in both the Senate and
Assembly approved the May Revision proposal for $14.3
million ($4.4 million GF) million and adopted an increase
of $5.6 million ($3.5 million GF) for the child welfare
services outcome improvement project. According to the
Senate budget subcommittee on health and human services,
this funding would support program reforms and improvements
to the child welfare services system, including
implementation of the child welfare services' outcomes and
accountability system, the state's program improvement
plan, and expanded child abuse prevention efforts.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
In 2001, the Legislature passed AB 636 (Steinberg) Chapter
678, Statutes of 2001. This bill established the child
welfare outcomes and accountability system, which measures
outcomes-based indicators for each county, including the
measures used in the federal child and family service
review. Counties, in collaboration with other local
agencies and their communities, are required to formulate a
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county system improvement plan, which outlines program
priorities, defines strategies and steps to achieve
improvement, and sets forth quantitative measurements of
success.
In 2002, California, along with nine other states, failed
all seven safety, well-being, and permanency outcomes in
the federal child and family service review. While states
may be penalized for failing to meet their outcomes and
measurements, California and other states have been given
an opportunity to submit plans for improvement and meet
specific benchmarks towards success before they are
assessed penalties. The state child welfare outcomes and
accountability system also requires counties to address all
of the federal review indicators and measurements.
Counties began to receive data from AB 636 activities this
year, allowing them to identify weaknesses in their
performance and focus on specific improvements. To avoid
federal penalties, California must develop and implement
program improvement plans. Every county has submitted
their system improvement plan to DSS. In the coming
months, DSS is expected to send letters to each county
indicating their approval of each plan. Despite the
progress counties have made on the plans, according to the
author, counties do not have the necessary funds to
implement needed improvements.
Additionally, a legislatively mandated child welfare
workload study released in 2000 documents that child
welfare workers carry caseloads that are twice as high as
they should be in order to meet the law's basic
requirements let alone ensure the provision of enhanced
activities required to improve county performance.
While this bill does not appropriate funds, it creates a
fund and a competitive grant process that counties can use
to implement their plans, should funds be appropriated by
the Legislature. Counties can then use these dollars to
meet the benchmarks for success as outlined in their plans
and as required by the federal review.
In 2003, DSS released the legislatively mandated child
welfare services redesign final report. Among other
recommendations, the report identified 11 counties to pilot
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a series of child welfare service system improvements. The
original recommendation also identified a second cohort of
counties to continue the pilot. The governor's January
2005 budget proposal requests money to complete the work by
the first cohort of counties and to initiate a second
cohort of redesign counties. If these funds are included
in the 2005-06 Budget Act and this bill becomes law, the
funds will be deposited into the special account and used
to fund improvements to the CWS system as outlined in each
individual county system improvement plan. The author
believes that this course of action would expedite program
improvements as required by the federal review and could
enable California to avoid federal penalties.
According to the author, "AB 363 will additionally create a
feedback mechanism between the Legislature and DSS." DSS
would be required to provide information to the Legislature
regarding the findings and recommendations for improvements
identified in the counties' improvement plans.
Assembly votes
Floor: 74-0
Appropriations Committee:18-0
Human Services Committee: 6-0
POSITIONS
Support: County Welfare Directors Association
(sponsor)
American Federal of State, County and
Municipal Employees
California State Association of Counties
Service Employees International Union
Solano County Board of Supervisors
Oppose: None received
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