BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                           Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair

                                           378 (Cook)
          
          Hearing Date:  07/13/2009           Amended: 05/04/2009
          Consultant:  Jacqueline Wong-HernandezPolicy Vote: Human  
          Services 4-1
          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____
          BILL SUMMARY: AB 378 requires public authorities and nonprofit  
          consortiums, in consultation with their advisory committees and  
          stakeholders, to develop training standards and core topics for  
          the training they provide to in-home supportive services (IHSS)  
          providers and recipients.
          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____
                            Fiscal Impact (in thousands)

           Major Provisions         2009-10      2010-11       2011-12     Fund
           New requirement on     Potential minor DSS workload increase      
             General
          Public Authorities                                                
             Federal*

          *Title XIX federal grant          
          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____

          STAFF COMMENTS: This bill simply requires the individual public  
          authorities and nonprofit consortiums to develop training  
          standards and core topics for the training it currently  
          provides. It is unlikely to have a direct fiscal impact to the  
          state, outside of minimal DSS involvement in receiving  
          documentation from affected public authorities and nonprofit  
          consortiums whose are monitored to some degree, and whose rate  
          packages are approved, by DSS.

          Existing statute specifies that "providing for training for  
          providers and recipients" is the responsibility of the nonprofit  
          consortiums and public authorities. This bill requires that they  
          individually develop training standards and core topics for  
          training. This bill does not mandate statewide standards or  
          training topics. The California Association of Public  
          Authorities for IHSS (CAPA) developed core training topics in  
          2008, and distributed them to its member counties as suggested  










          topic areas. It is likely that individual counties, since they  
          make at least some training available, have training topics and  
          standards. The bill is sufficiently vague that these current  
          practices might suffice to comply with it, since each public  
          authority or nonprofit consortium can develop its own standards  
          and topics. 

          Current statute allows these entities to implement the provision  
          in this bill. Existing statute does not, however, mandate that  
          providers and recipients attend offered training. To the extent  
          that public authorities and nonprofit consortiums, in  
          consultation with stakeholders, develop "training standards"  
          that increase the level of training offered to providers and  
          recipients, there could be cost pressure to fund that training.  
          It is possible that public authorities and nonprofit consortiums  
          could increase their rate packages to provide the newly adopted  
          training standards. 

          An identical bill, AB 182 (Ma 2008), was vetoed with the  
          following veto message:

          Page 2
          AB 378 (Cook)


          While I support improved quality for In-Home Supportive Services  
          (IHSS) providers and training activities, I cannot support this  
          bill as it is unnecessary. California can already develop  
          training
          standards for IHSS providers administratively at both the state  
          and local levels.  This bill could lead to the development of  
          dozens of different training standards across the state. I  
          believe consistent training standards can be more effectively  
          developed at the state level. To that end, I am directing the  
          Department of Social Services, in consultation with consumers,  
          counties and other key stakeholders, to establish appropriate  
          training standards for IHSS providers
          administratively to the extent resources are available to  
          accomplish this task.