BILL ANALYSIS
AB 488
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Date of Hearing: April 14, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Jim Beall, Jr., Chair
AB 488 (Torres and Hagman) - As Introduced: February 24, 2009
SUBJECT : Children's services programs: performance agreements
SUMMARY : Authorizes the Department of Social Services
(department) to renew or extend beyond a 3-year time period
specified performance agreements with private, non-profit
agencies that serve children.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes a system of child welfare services, including
foster care, for children who have been or are at risk of
being abused or neglected. Establishes foster care placement
options for dependents and wards placed in foster care,
including foster homes, relative and nonrelative extended
family members' homes, Foster Family Agency-supervised homes,
and group homes. Sets rates of financial assistance for
varying caregivers and providers. Requires documentation that
placement is necessary to meet treatment needs of child as
condition of eligibility for placement in group home.
2)Allows counties to enter into performance agreements with
private, nonprofit agencies to encourage innovation, develop
services for children that are not available in the community
and promote change in the child welfare system. Limits these
agreements to a period of up to 3 years. Requires counties to
provide reports on the agreements to the department within 3
months of the end of an agreement. Requires the director to
make those reports available to the Legislature upon request.
Welfare and Institutions Code (WIC) 18987.61.
3)Authorizes the director to waive regulations, except those
pertaining to health and safety, which govern foster care
payments or the operation of group homes to enable counties to
implement the agreements. Allows waivers under specified
circumstances--when the agreement offers a worthwhile test of
innovation, the regulatory requirement prevents implementation
of the agreement and the county proposes to monitor the waiver
regulation via performance measures. Requires the director to
notify policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature of when
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and why a waiver of regulations was granted. WIC 18987.62.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
Author's Stated Purpose for Bill: According to the author, the
department approved waiver applications from 8 counties which
place youth at the main campus in Chino, California of a
provider called Boys Republic. Boys Republic states in its
letter that this campus serves 140 youth between the ages of 13
and 17. The author states that "the overall goal of the waiver
project is to demonstrate that under a more flexible rate
framework," youth with complex needs placed at Boys Republic can
satisfy specific performance outcome measures, including
measures related to community transition, educational
achievement and public safety. Also according to the author, a
secondary goal is to demonstrate that fewer staff with longer
tenure and higher levels of training is a cost-effective
approach to providing care.
History of Performance Agreements and Legislative Efforts
Regarding Group Homes: Authorization for the performance
agreements addressed by this bill was created by SB 933
(Thompson), Chapter 311, Statutes of 1998. Although the
department confirms that Boys Republic is currently the only
provider operating under a waiver based on this type of
agreement, there are no statutory provisions that limit the
agreements to Boys Republic or any narrow group of providers.
SB 933 was a comprehensive bill that contained many changes to
the licensing, oversight, safety and practice standards, and
rates of payment to group homes for children, in addition to
creating the option for performance agreements and related
regulatory waivers addressed by this bill.
Over the last decade, in addition to the passage of SB 933, the
Legislature has attempted several times to examine and change
the use of group homes for foster children. Multiple studies
over time have questioned the efficacy of group care and its
effects on dependent children, for whom it is one of the most
restrictive and least family-like of the frequently used
placement settings. The use of group homes for wards of the
juvenile court is sometimes viewed differently because these
settings may be used as less restrictive, more community-based
placement options.
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As another example of group home reform efforts, pursuant to AB
2876 (Aroner), Chapter 108, Statutes of 2000, DSS contracted for
a study on the funding of group homes with recommendations for
alternative rate settings. That report, completed in February
2002, made several recommendations including refining the
existing levels of care, funding based on a rate per child,
ability for group homes to negotiate supplemental funding to
base rates for particular services, improved outcomes and
accountability, and bundled funding. There has been no further
action on the reports or the project and the recommendations
remain unadopted.
Most recently, AB 1453 (Soto), Chapter 466, Statutes of 2007,
required DSS to develop and share with the Legislature by 2011 a
plan to reconfigure the current statewide system of group homes
into a system of "residentially based services," as defined, and
to encourage counties and private agencies to develop voluntary
agreements to test alternative program design and funding before
the plan is finalized. WIC 18987.7
Arguments in Support of this Bill: Boys Republic states that
this bill is a "short-term but necessary solution to a
longer-term problem. . .", which allows more time for the
adjustment of rate structures under current law that penalize
large campus programs serving older adolescents. As a result,
the organization states that a successful model of serving youth
will not have to be abandoned and higher level placements will
be avoided. In its support of this bill, Los Angeles County's
Probation Department states that it is "extremely pleased with
the results of the performance agreement to date" and views Boys
Republic as "a valued and successful placement resource."
Arguments Against the Bill: In opposition, the American
Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME),
AFL-CIO states that "under the thin veil of innovation, this
bill seeks to allow private companies to provide children's
services to counties under less regulation than otherwise
allowed. Reducing these regulations will directly affect the
quality of care given to this vulnerable population..."
Amendments: The author has agreed to make the following
amendments to this bill:
1)Page 2, line 13- insert "for up to an additional three years"
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after the word "department."
2)Page 2, line 15- strike "each" and insert "the original"
before the word agreement; insert the word "period" after the
word "agreement."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Boys Republic (Sponsor)
Commonweal (The Juvenile Justice Program)
City of Chino Hills
County of Los Angeles Probation Department
Youth Law Center
Opposition
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
(AFSCME)
Analysis Prepared by : Jennifer Troia / HUM. S. / (916)
319-2089