BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  AB 159
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   April 13, 2011

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                    AB 159 (Beall) - As Amended:  March 24, 2011 

          Policy Committee:                              Human 
          ServicesVote:6 - 0 

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program: 
          No     Reimbursable:              

           SUMMARY  

          This bill removes the sunset date for the workload relief 
          provided to foster family agencies (FFA) as a result of a rate 
          reduction. Specifically, this bill: 

          1)States that foster family agencies must employ one full-time 
            social worker supervisor for every eight social workers until 
            the foster family agency rate is restored to the rate that was 
            in effect on September 30, 2009.

          2)Requires that, prior to repealing the workload relief statute 
            noted above, the director of the Department of Social Services 
            (DSS) issue a declaration to the budget committees and policy 
            committees in both houses confirming that the rate has been 
            restored.


           FISCAL EFFECT 

          Costs associated with DSS issuing a declaration to the 
          Legislature would be minor and absorbable within existing 
          resources.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale  . Current state regulations state that foster family 
            agencies must employ one full-time social worker supervisor 
            for every six social workers employed by the agency. The 
            2009-2010 budget reduced the FFA grant amount by 10%.  Along 
            with that reduction, the budget allowed for a temporary change 
            in the supervisor to social worker ratio as a way of allowing 








                                                                  AB 159
                                                                  Page  2

            the FFAs to offset the grant reduction. Given the on-going 
            General Fund condition, that grant amount has not been 
            increased or restored. This bill would maintain that reduced 
            supervisor to staff ratio until such time as the grants are 
            restored to their former levels. 

           2)Related Legislation  . AB 2474 (Beall) Chapter 43, Statutes of 
            2010 extended by one year, from 2011 to January 1, 2012, the 
            sunset provision on the requirement for FFAs to employ one 
            full-time social work supervisor for every eight social 
            workers.

            SB 597 (Liu), Chapter 339, Statutes of 2009, adjusted the 
            ratio of FFA supervisor to staff ratio from one social work 
            supervisor to six social workers to the existing 1:8 ratio.  

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