BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1763
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Date of Hearing: April 13, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Jim Beall, Jr., Chair
AB 1763 (Lieu) - As Amended: April 8, 2010
SUBJECT : In-home supportive services
SUMMARY : Requires a county to accept the criminal background
clearance pertaining to an In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS)
provider obtained by the provider's prior county of residence
and authorizes the new county of residence to request notice of
any subsequent arrests. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires a county, or an IHSS nonprofit consortium or public
authority, to accept a clearance of an individual for whom a
criminal background check is required as a condition of being
eligible to provide IHSS services issued to the individual in
another county.
2)Requires the Department of Justice (DOJ) to process a request
from a county, an IHSS nonprofit consortium or a public
authority having criminal record authority to receive
notifications of subsequent arrests when a criminal record
clearance for a provider was originally processed by another
county, nonprofit consortium or public authority only if:
a) The request is submitted by the county, nonprofit
consortium, or public authority that is to be substituted
to receive notification;
b) The request is for the same applicant type as for the
original clearance; and,
c) The request meets the data and format requirements of
the written agreement between the Department of Social
Services (DSS) and DOJ.
3)Makes legislative findings and declarations, including: that
the IHSS program has undergone substantial changes over the
past five years, that mechanisms have been put in place to
improve IHSS program integrity, that it is important that
counties have sufficient direction from the state to implement
these changes consistently, and that it is important to
minimize the need for IHSS providers and recipients to provide
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the same information multiple times.
4)Requires that DSS, in consultation and coordination with
county welfare departments and other designated stakeholders,
establish guidelines to provide counties with instructions to
consistently and accurately comply with the statutory
requirements for the IHSS program.
EXISTING LAW
1)Establishes the IHSS program to provide personal services and
home care for about 448,000 eligible poor, aged, blind and
disabled individuals by approximately 365,000 providers
throughout the state to enable recipients to remain in their
own homes and avoid institutionalization.
2)Permits counties to contract with a nonprofit consortium or
establish a public authority to perform various duties in the
employment of persons providing IHSS services.
3)Directs the public authority or nonprofit consortium to assist
recipients in finding IHSS providers through the establishment
of a provider registry.
4)Requires criminal background checks of potential IHSS
providers as of October 1, 2009, and requires criminal
background checks no later than July 1, 2010 for any provider
who is already on the registry as of October 1, 2009 for whom
a background check has not previously been provided, as a
condition of the provider's continued enrollment in the IHSS
program.
5)Provides that criminal background checks shall be conducted at
the provider's expense.
6)Authorizes DOJ to assess a fee to cover the cost of furnishing
criminal history information.
7)Requires DSS to convene periodic meetings in which supportive
services recipients, providers, advocates, IHSS provider
representatives, organizations representing recipients,
counties, public authorities, nonprofit consortia, and other
interested stakeholders may receive information and have the
opportunity to provide input to DSS regarding required quality
assurance, program integrity, and program consistency efforts.
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FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : In July 2009, ABX4 19 (Evans), Chapter 17, Statutes
of 2009 4th Extraordinary Session, was enacted in conjunction
with the 2009-10 Budget. Among its provisions to enhance
integrity and prevent fraud in the IHSS program, as a condition
of being placed or maintained on a county's IHSS provider
registry, ABX4 19 required criminal background checks to be
completed for all prospective IHSS providers as of October 1,
2009, and to be completed by July 2, 2010 for anyone already a
provider on October 1, 2009. ABX4 19 did not, however, address
whether a provider who moves from one county to another, or who
has clients in more than one county, must undergo multiple
background checks.
Need for this bill : The author states that, "[s]ince IHSS
background checks are run through a single statewide
system, it is unnecessary for an individual to provide
multiple criminal background checks to different counties
when a single background check would provide the same
information that is necessary for eligibility. Multiple
criminal background checks are not only excessive and
unnecessary, but they also impose an extreme hardship on
already low income workers. ... The cost of a single
background check can range from $75 to $100. Requiring
multiple background checks could simply be unaffordable for
many homecare workers."
This bill provides that when an IHSS provider who has been
cleared after a criminal background check moves to another
county and seeks to be an IHSS provider in his or her new
county of residence, the new county, nonprofit consortium,
or public authority must accept the criminal background
clearance from the former county of residence. This bill
also authorizes the new county, nonprofit consortium, or
public authority to request notification of a subsequent
arrest of an individual who was cleared in another county.
In a letter supporting this bill in concept, the County
Welfare Directors Association of California (CWDA) says
that "it makes sense to allow a person who is cleared in
one county to transfer that clearance to a new county,
without requiring an entirely new background check and
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incurring a second set of fees that the provider would have
to pay." CWDA points out that there is a parallel in the
foster care licensing statutes, which explicitly provide
that a foster parent or approved relative may transfer
their criminal background clearance from one county to
another. The foster care statutes also authorize a county
to request to receive notification when a person who was
cleared in another county is subsequently arrested.
Although supporting this bill in concept, CWDA indicates
that they are comfortable with the bill moving forward as
discussions continue to work out any remaining details.
Outstanding issue : This bill currently addresses the issue
of multiple background checks in the case of an IHSS
provider who moves from one county to another. It does not
yet, however, address the circumstance of a provider who
has clients in more than one county and would, therefore,
also be required to undergo multiple background checks.
Requiring multiple background checks for such providers is
likewise inefficient, costly, and unwarranted. The process
for follow-up notification of subsequent arrests is a bit
more complicated in this situation, since notices would
have to go to more than one county. As CWDA notes, this
situation would not likely arise for a provider in the
child welfare context; so, there is no parallel model in
that system. The author and sponsor of this bill intend to
continue to work with CWDA, DOJ and other stakeholders to
address this remaining issue.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
United Domestic Workers of America/AFSCME (sponsor)
Aging Services of California
American Civil Liberties Union
Coalition of California Welfare Rights Organizations, Inc.
(CCWRO)
Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Eric Gelber / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089
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