BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 2698
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 12, 2010

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                    AB 2698 (Block) - As Amended:  April 19, 2010 

          Policy Committee:                              Human  
          ServicesVote:5 - 0 

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:              

           SUMMARY  

          This bill makes technical changes to foster youth identity theft  
          provisions by deleting the reference to an "approved counseling"  
          organization, and instead, inserting "a governmental or  
          nonprofit organization" that provides "information and  
          assistance" to victims of identity theft. In addition, this bill  
          authorizes the credit organization to take remedial action to  
          clear the foster youth's credit record and report the results to  
          the referring county or state department. 

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          There are no significant costs associated with this legislation.  


           COMMENTS  

           1)Purpose  . This bill is clean up to AB 2985 (Maze; Chapter 387,  
            Statutes of 2006), a bill that required a county welfare  
            department to request a consumer credit disclosure on a foster  
            youth turning 16, and to refer that foster youth to a credit  
            counseling organization upon any indication of a disclosure  
            revealing negative items or evidence of identity theft. This  
            bill removes references to requiring the organization to be an  
            "approved" counseling service and instead requires that youth  
            be referred to a governmental or nonprofit organization that  
            provides information and assistance with identity theft and  
            other credit problems. 

           2)Related Legislation  . This bill is substantially similar to AB  
            1324 (Bass) of 2009, which was vetoed by the governor.  In his  








                                                                  AB 2698
                                                                  Page  2

            veto message he noted that the original legislation had not  
            been fully implemented and "if, through the implementation, it  
            becomes clear that foster youth are not being served in the  
            way the law intended, I would be willing to reconsider this  
            matter."

            AB 2985 (Maze; Chapter 387, Statutes of 2006) enacted existing  
            requirements for county welfare departments to request a  
            credit report for foster youth, upon turning 16 years of age,  
            and to refer foster youth to an approved organization that  
            provides counseling services to victims of identity theft if  
            identity theft was suspected or discovered.

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916)  
          319-2081