BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1369
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Date of Hearing: June 18, 2008
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Gene Mullin, Chair
SB 1369 (Cedillo) - As Amended: April 10, 2008
SENATE VOTE : 30-3
SUBJECT : Pupil nutrition: free and reduced priced meals:
application.
SUMMARY : 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. Specifically, this
bill :
1)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 determine Medi-Cal eligibility and make an
accelerated determination, when the school has data indicating
that the child already has an active Medi-Cal or Healthy
Families case.
2)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. 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.
3)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.
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EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes an express enrollment process to expedite Medi-Cal
enrollment for children receiving free lunches through the
National School Lunch Program.
2)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.
3)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.
4)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 county for further assistance.
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill is keyed non-fiscal.
COMMENTS : According to the author, this bill will streamline
eligibility by allowing school districts the option of not
forwarding Medi-Cal applications for children to the county if
the school district has data showing the child is already
enrolled. The author 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
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.
A 2006 report by The Children's Partnership entitled,
"California's Express Enrollment Program," studied the
effectiveness and efficiency of the express enrollment pilot
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program implemented in the following school districts: Fresno
Unified, Los Angeles Unified, Redwood City Unified, San Diego
Unified, Lucia Mar, Laytonville, and Point Arena. The study
found that roughly 40% of the applications returned to the
districts were for students already enrolled in Medi-Cal, but
the districts were required, by current law, to forward these
applications to the county anyway.
Express Enrollment Process . Under express enrollment, families
in a participating school district can apply for Medi-Cal by
authorizing the use of their child's school lunch application
information for a Medi-Cal eligibility determination. School
districts review the applications of children eligible for free
school meals and provide a certification for express enrollment
into Medi-Cal, on the basis of the information in the school
lunch application, within five days. Families do not need to
complete a full Medi-Cal application or document their income
since eligibility for the school lunch program meets these
requirements. Children certified as eligible for express
enrollment immediately receive temporary health care coverage
and are sent a beneficiary card while the county collects
additional information to make a final eligibility
determination. If a child is found ineligible based on the
information, the county conducts a complete review for Medi-Cal
eligibility and also may send the information to the Healthy
Families program.
The sponsor of the bill, the Los Angeles Unified School District
(LAUSD), argues that this bill will allow school districts the
option of not processing applications for express eligibility
determinations when they know of a child's active Medi-Cal case.
According to LAUSD, between 40% and 80% of the applications for
Medi-Cal received from school districts by counties are for
children who already have active Medi-Cal cases.
The County Welfare Directors Association (CWDA) supports the
bill and argues that this bill will eliminate duplicative work
on the part of schools and counties who are processing
applications for children who are already receiving Medi-Cal.
CWDA argues that this will allow them to focus on those children
for whom an application is truly needed and will expedite the
enrollment of eligible children into Medi-Cal or Healthy
Families.
Related Legislation : AB 2875 (Lieber) from 2008 would require
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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. The bill is
pending referral from Senate Rules Committee.
AB 2300 (Laird) from 2008 directs the California 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
currently pending hearing in the Senate Health Committee and
Senate Education Committee.
Previous 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.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
100% Campaign
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees,
AFL-CIO
Association of California School Administrators
California Teachers Association
County Welfare Directors Association of California
Los Angeles Unified School District
Western Center on Law & Poverty
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Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Chelsea Kelley / ED. / (916) 319-2087