BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1763
Page 1
REPLACE - 06/02/2010 Technical change (Member name)
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1763 (Lieu)
As Amended April 8, 2010
2/3 vote. Urgency
HUMA SERVICES 4-0 APPROPRIATIONS 12-5
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|Ayes:|Beall, Ammiano, Hall, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Ammiano, Bradford, |
| |Swanson | | |
| | | |Charles Calderon, Coto, |
| | | |Davis, |
| | | |Monning, Ruskin, Skinner, |
| | | |Solorio, |
| | | |Torlakson, Torrico |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+----------------------------|
| | |Nays:|Conway, Harkey, Miller, |
| | | |Nielsen, Norby |
| | | | |
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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 that 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 that 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
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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)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.
4)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 the same information
multiple times.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires criminal background checks of potential IHSS providers
as of October 1, 2009, and 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.
2)Provides that criminal background checks shall be conducted at
the provider's expense.
3)Authorizes DOJ to assess a fee to cover the cost of furnishing
criminal history information.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee,
costs associated with DOJ processing the requests and sending
subsequent arrest notices to the new county would be approximately
$800,000 in the first year and $700,000 per year thereafter. The
DOJ has the authority to charge fees to cover the cost of the
background check. Presumably a fee sufficient to cover the cost of
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the bill would be charged to county welfare departments. That cost
would be state-reimbursable (General Fund) as this bill constitutes
a new mandate for counties."
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
requires 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.
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.
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 author and sponsor of
this bill intend to continue to work with CWDA, DOJ and other
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stakeholders to address this remaining issue.
Analysis Prepared by : Eric Gelber / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089
FN: 0004595