BILL ANALYSIS
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THIRD READING
Bill No: ACR 151
Author: Ma (D), et al
Amended: 6/14/10 in Assembly
Vote: 21
WITHOUT REFERENCE TO COMMITTEE OR FILE
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : Read and adopted, 6/14/10
SUBJECT : In-home supportive services
SOURCE : California Association of Public Authorities
for IHSS
United Domestic Workers
DIGEST : This resolution declares the intent of the
Legislature to ensure the preservation of home care and
personal services to seniors and people with disabilities
through the In-Home Supportive Services program.
ANALYSIS : This resolution makes the following
legislative findings:
1. For over a quarter century, California has provided home
care and personal assistance services to qualifying
residents through a unique, consumer-directed fiscally
sound program called In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS).
2. The IHSS program was signed into law by Governor Ronald
CONTINUED
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Reagan in 1973, to avoid their unnecessary
institutionalization and assist IHSS recipients to live
independently in the community.
3. California's IHSS program has become nationally
recognized as the preferred way to provide long-term
care assistance and is being replicated in other states.
4. February 2010 data from the California IHSS Management
Statistics Summary show that the IHSS program serves
nearly 450,000 residents who qualify for services
because of functional limitations and financial need.
5. The IHSS program is acknowledged as the reason
California has a relatively low number of people in
nursing homes and other institutions.
6. Nearly 370,000 IHSS providers deliver the home care
services and support to make it possible for California
seniors and people with disabilities to remain living
independently in their homes.
This resolution declares the intent of the Legislature to
ensure the preservation of home care and personal services
to seniors and people with disabilities through the IHSS
program.
Background
The IHSS Program helps pay for services so that the
elderly, disabled, or blind individuals can remain in their
own homes and avoid institutionalization. More than
370,000 caregivers provide services under the IHSS program
to a projected 450,000 recipients.
The growth, that is, the success, of the IHSS program has
led to budget actions and budget proposals to control costs
by cutting provider wages, limiting access to services
within the program, narrowing eligibility for the program,
and even elimination of the entire program. Recent budget
actions have reduced the state's participation in provider
wages and benefits, denied all services based on Functional
Index scores, and reduced services based on Functional
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Ranks. These actions have been enjoined as a result of
litigation.
Comments
The Governor's January budget proposal for fiscal year
2010-11 eliminates IHSS eligibility for all but the most
severely impaired individuals, resulting in an 87 percent
reduction in the caseload. The Legislative Analyst's
Office has noted that reducing the IHSS caseload by 87
percent would have other impacts, including the loss of
over 310,000 jobs, thereby increasing the state's
unemployment from a projected 12 percent to as high as 13.2
percent, and further stressing the state's unemployment
insurance fund.
FISCAL EFFECT : Fiscal Com.: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/13/10)
California Association of Public Authorities for IHSS
(co-source)
United Domestic Workers (co-source)
CTW:mw 8/16/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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