BILL ANALYSIS
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 488
Author: Torres (D) and Hagman (D), et al
Amended: 7/14/09 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE : 5-0, 6/9/09
AYES: Liu, Maldonado, Alquist, Runner, Yee
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 13-0, 7/23/09
AYES: Kehoe, Cox, Corbett, Denham, Hancock, Leno, Oropeza,
Price, Runner, Walters, Wolk, Wyland, Yee
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 72-0, 5/14/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Childrens services programs: performance
agreement
contracts
SOURCE : Boys Republic
DIGEST : This bill authorizes the Department of Social
Services (DSS) to renew or extend beyond a three-year time
period specified performance agreements with private,
nonprofit agencies that provide child welfare services.
This bill requires the county or private nonprofit agency
to fund an independent evaluation of the agency's
performance, with a report of the results due to the
department six months prior to the end of the agreement
period, as specified.
CONTINUED
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ANALYSIS : 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.
2. Establishes foster care placement options for
dependents and wards placed in foster care, including
foster homes, relative and non-relative extended
family members' homes, Foster Family Agency-supervised
homes, and group homes.
3. Sets rates of financial assistance for varying
caregivers and providers.
4. Requires documentation that placement is necessary to
meet treatment needs of child as condition of
eligibility for placement in group home.
5. 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.
6. Limits these agreements to a period of up to three
years.
7. Requires counties to provide reports on the
agreements to DSS within three months of the end of an
agreement.
8. Requires the director of DSS to make those reports
available to the Legislature upon request.
9. Authorizes the director of DSS 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.
10. 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
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waiver regulation via performance measures.
11. Requires the director of DSS to notify policy and
fiscal committees of the Legislature of when and why a
waiver of regulations was granted.
This bill allows DSS to extend, for up to three additional
years, performance agreements with private, nonprofit
agencies.
DSS currently has the authority to approve waivers of the
regulations and point values in the RCL system for the
specified private, nonprofit agencies with which counties
can enter into performance agreements. One such waiver was
approved in 2007, for the Boys Republic facility, which
contracts with 8 counties to house and serve approximately
300 adolescent boys. All youth in the Boys Republic main
campus program have been placed by a county Probation
Department, after adjudication in Juvenile Court for a
delinquency offense under Section 602 of the Welfare and
Institutions Code. These youth have committed crimes
which, if they were adults, would have been considered
felonies, and they are wards of the court (rather than
standard foster care dependents of the court). Boys
Republic employs a staffing model that focuses more on
experience and training of staff, rather than its formal
post-graduate education and staffing ratios. The existing
RCL formula is heavily weighted to value the latter two
considerations above the former. Boys Republic received a
waiver of regulations and points, which allows it to be
reimbursed at RCL Level 10. Without the waiver (and, thus,
using the existing RCL rubric), Boys Republic would have
been reimbursed at RCL Level 5. It is unclear whether Boys
Republic, an established nonprofit in operation for over
100 years, would have been able to provide its services
without the waiver. The waiver allows the facility to be
reimbursed at RCL Level 10, which is more than $2,000 more
per month, per ward than RCL Level 5. While the waiver
actually allows the facility to be reimbursed at a higher
RCL than it would have otherwise qualified for, it likely
saves the state and counties money because it is less
expensive than alternative placements. While the Boys
Republic program, when scored against the RCL rubric, met
the standard of an RCL Level 5, it serves a population
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that, in the absence of Boys Republic, would have to be
placed in comparable or higher RCL facilities. Every ward
placed under Section 602 would be served in a facility of
RCL Level 10 or above, and most would have to be placed in
RCL Level 12 or above. Serving these youth at Boys Republic
is comparable to other placements for all wards, and for
most is saves more than $800 per month per ward. If the
waiver is not able to be extended, and Boys Republic did
not continue to serve these wards, the alternatives would
be more costly, and the state and county would incur
additional costs to find the other appropriate placements.
The discussion of this bill focuses primarily on Boys
Republic because it is the only facility that has been
granted the specified waiver that this bill extends.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/9/09 per Senate Human Services
Committee)
Boys Republic (source)
City of Chino Hills
Commonweal
County of Los Angeles Probation Department
Youth Law Center
OPPOSITION : (Verified 6/9/09 per Senate Human Services
Committee)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : Boys Republic states that this
bill is a "short-term but necessary solution to a
longer-term problem," to allow more time for the adjustment
of rate structures under current law. The organization
states that this bill will allow Boys Republic to continue
to provide its program and potentially higher-costing
placements will be avoided. 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."
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ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : In opposition, the American
Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees 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."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill Berryhill,
Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield, Brownley,
Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter, Chesbro,
Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, DeVore, Duvall,
Emmerson, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuller, Furutani,
Galgiani, Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman, Hall, Harkey,
Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jeffries,
Jones, Knight, Krekorian, Lieu, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal,
Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande, Niello,
Nielsen, John A. Perez, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino,
Price, Ruskin, Salas, Silva, Skinner, Solorio, Audra
Strickland, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines,
Yamada, Bass
NO VOTE RECORDED: Ammiano, Conway, Eng, Fuentes, Gaines,
Saldana, Smyth, Swanson
DLW:CTW:nl 8/19/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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