BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1369|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 1369
Author: Cedillo (D)
Amended: 4/10/08
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 8-1, 4/9/08
AYES: Scott, Alquist, Denham, Maldonado, Padilla, Romero,
Simitian, Torlakson
NOES: Wyland
SENATE HEALTH COMMITTEE : 9-0, 4/23/08
AYES: Kuehl, Aanestad, Alquist, Cedillo, Cox, Maldonado,
Negrete McLeod, Steinberg, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Ridley-Thomas, Wyland
SUBJECT : Pupil nutrition: application for free and
reduced price meals
SOURCE : Los Angeles Unified School District
DIGEST : This bill grants school districts the option to
avoid the step of processing a school lunch program
application for the purposes of determining eligibility for
Medi-Cal or Healthy Families, if the district knows that
the child already has an active Medi-Cal or Healthy
Families case.
ANALYSIS : Existing state law establishes the state's
Medicaid program, known as Medi-Cal, which is administered
by the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), and
CONTINUED
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provides comprehensive health benefits to low-income
children, their parents or caretaker relatives, pregnant
women, seniors, persons with disabilities, nursing home
residents, and refugees who meet specified eligibility
criteria. Existing state law establishes the Healthy
Families Program to provide low-cost insurance, including
health, dental and vision coverage to children who do not
have insurance, do not qualify for free Medi-Cal, and are
in families at or below 250 percent of the federal poverty
level.
Existing law establishes an express enrollment process to
expedite Medi-Cal enrollment for children receiving free
lunches through the National School Lunch Program.
Existing law grants school districts and county
superintendents of schools the option to include, in the
school lunch program application materials or the
notification of eligibility, a request for parental consent
for the child to participate in the Medi-Cal program, and
have the information on the school lunch application shared
with the entity designated by DHCS, typically the county,
to make an accelerated determination of Medi-Cal
eligibility. Existing law also allows the sharing of
application information for determining Healthy Families
eligibility and any other public health insurance program.
Existing law prohibits a school, if the school is aware
that a child already has an active Medi-Cal or Healthy
Families case, from forwarding the application to the
entity that makes the accelerated determination, but
requires the school to forward that application to the
local agency that determines Medi-Cal eligibility. In that
case, existing law requires the school to notify the parent
of a child's ineligibility for accelerated Medi-Cal and
that the child's application will be forwarded to the
county. The notice must include a statement, with contact
information, advising the parent to contact the Medi-Cal or
Healthy Families programs for further assistance regarding
the child's eligibility.
This bill grants school districts the option of not
processing the school lunch program application for an
accelerated determination and not forwarding it to the
entity designated by DHCS to make an accelerated
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determination, when the school has data indicating that the
child already has an active Medi-Cal or Healthy Families
case.
This bill adds to the application for free school meals,
for those school districts or county superintendents of
schools who have chosen to participate in express
enrollment, a notification to parents that, if the school
district possesses data indicating that child already has
an active Medi-Cal or Healthy Families case, the
information on the school lunch application will not be
shared. This bill requires that notice sent by a
participating school district contain directions on how to
obtain additional information about the Medi-Cal and
Healthy Families programs so that families can obtain
health care coverage for children.
This bill requires that, if the school district has
verified that the child does not have an active Medi-Cal or
Healthy Families case, it must process the application for
an accelerated Medi-Cal determination and forward it to the
entity designated to make an accelerated determination of
Medi-Cal eligibility.
Comments
According to the author's office, this bill will streamline
eligibility by allowing school districts the option of not
forwarding Medi-Cal applications for children if the school
district has data showing the child is already enrolled.
The author's office states that the Los Angeles Unified
School District found that 40 percent of the applications
the district sends to Los Angeles County are for children
the school district already knows are enrolled in Medi-Cal,
but that the district must, by current law, forward these
applications anyway. The author's office notes that
parents or guardians would be notified and told how to
obtain more information about how to receive coverage under
Medi-Cal or Health Families. The author's office argues
that reducing the number of applications forwarded to the
responsible county agency for processing will significantly
reduce the time and money spent on processing Medi-Cal
applications for children who are already enrolled.
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Related Legislation
AB 2875 (Lieber) requires DHCS to conduct a study to
determine how to implement a pilot program allowing parents
applying for eligibility for Food Stamps for their children
to allow eligibility information to be forwarded to county
health agencies for determining presumptive eligibility for
Medi-Cal or Healthy Families. Pending in the Assembly
Appropriations Committee.
AB 2300 (Laird) directs the Department of Education, in
consultation with DHCS, to develop and implement a process
to use Medi-Cal participation data to verify and directly
certify children into the National School Lunch and School
Breakfast programs. The bill passed the Assembly Education
Committee with a vote of 10-0 on April 2, 2008, and is
pending in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
Prior Legislation
SB 1196 (Cedillo), Chapter 729, Statutes of 2004,
authorizes the sharing of the school lunch program
application for purposes of the Healthy Families Program
and any other county or local sponsored health insurance
program when the child does not meet eligibility
requirements for Medi-Cal.
SB 493 (Sher), Chapter 897, Statutes of 2001, implements a
simplified eligibility process as part of the Food Stamp
Program to expedite the enrollment of individuals and
families in the Medi-Cal and Healthy Families Program.
AB 59 (Cedillo), Chapter 894, Statutes of 2001, establishes
a statewide pilot project to expedite Medi-Cal enrollment
for children receiving free lunches through the National
School Lunch Program.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 4/24/08)
Los Angeles Unified School District (source)
100% Campaign
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California Teachers Association
County Welfare Directors Association of California
Western Center on Law & Poverty
NC:mw 4/30/08 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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