BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
2129 (Bass)
Hearing Date: 08/02/2010 Amended: 08/02/2010
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-HernandezPolicy Vote: Human
Services 4-1
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BILL SUMMARY: AB 2129 would extend to July 1, 2014, the deadline
for the Department of Social Services (DSS) to develop a plan to
transform the current statewide system of group homes into a
system of residentially based services (RBS). Requires DSS to
conduct a review of the county residentially based services
program, as specified, and allows DSS to terminate the county's
participation in the residentially based services reform project
for specified reasons. Provides that voluntary agreements
between counties and private nonprofit agencies to test
alternative program design and funding models for transforming
individual group home programs into residentially based services
programs terminate on or before January 1, 2015.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 Fund
Extends pilots up to $185
Potentially significant costs; General
potentially substantial long term savings* General
Federal/Local
Extends workgroup deadline Likely minor
General
Private
*Potential offsetting savings from pilot projects after first
year of implementation.
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STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
In 2007, AB 1453 (Soto, Chapter 466, Statutes of 2007), required
DSS to convene a workgroup of stakeholders, which would be
responsible for developing an operational plan for implementing
RBS programs on a statewide basis and to submit a detailed plan
to the Legislature by January 1, 2011 delineating how to
transform the current system of group care for foster children
into an RBS system. AB 1453 limited the length of contracts
between the counties and their RBS providers to a maximum of
five years, through January 1, 2013.
The workgroup authorized by AB 1453 has not completed a report
to the Legislature, and the pilot projects have not been
implemented; though, there are contracts with three counties to
participate in the pilot projects and to begin implementation
this year. This bill would permit these contracts to remain
valid through January 1, 2015, which will allow the
demonstration projects nearly five years to test their program
and funding models. This bill would also extend the workgroup's
plan deadline to July 1, 2014, in order to learn from the
results of the pilot projects.
The goal of RBS is to reduce lengths of stay in high-end group
care and increase permanency for children. To the extent that
RBS is successful, there will be substantial savings to the
state from serving youth outside of a group home in the future.
Groups
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AB 2129 (Bass)
home placements are the most expensive foster care option, and
those with the most intensive services can cost nearly $8,000
per child, per month.
RBS would front-load intensive services while the child is
residing in the RBS group home, resulting in additional upfront
costs, in order to achieve more substantial savings in future
years. According to the Administration, this would result in
higher up-front costs, but represent a savings of as much as
fifty percent over the span of a child's time in foster care.
The Governor's May Revision proposal includes $185,000 General
Fund for RBS, but in order to utilize the funds, the authority
to continue the RBS pilots would have to be extended by
legislation. Currently, no budget has been enacted for fiscal
year 2011-12. Extending RBS authority creates cost pressure to
fund this program in the budget. Absent this authority, the
$185,000 proposed in the May Revision, if adopted, would revert
back to the General Fund.