BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
Senator Ed Hernandez, O.D., Chair
BILL NO: AB 174
AUTHOR: Monning
AMENDED: June 13, 2012
HEARING DATE: June 27, 2012
CONSULTANT: Marchand
SUBJECT : Office of Systems Integration: California Health and
Human Services Automation Fund.
SUMMARY : Establishes the California Health and Human Services
Automation Fund (Fund), requires the Fund to contain moneys
appropriated to various programs and departments for specified
health and human services information technology projects, and
requires the moneys in the Fund to be available upon
appropriation by the Legislature for expenditure by the Office
of Systems Integration (OSI).
Existing law:
1.Establishes OSI within the California Health and Human
Services Agency (CHHSA), which is the successor to, and is
vested with all of the powers and responsibilities of the
Systems Integration Division of the CHHSA Data Center.
2.Requires any contracts, leases, licenses, or any other
agreements regarding any of the following to be assigned to
OSI:
a. The Statewide Automated Welfare System (SAWS);
b. The Child Welfare Services/Case Management System
CWS/CMS);
c. Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT);
d. The Statewide Fingerprinting Imaging System (SFIS);
e. The Case Management Information Payrolling System
(CMIPS); and
f. The Employment Development Department (EDD) Unemployment
Insurance Modernization Project.
This bill:
1.Establishes the Fund in the State Treasury, and requires
moneys in the Fund to be available upon appropriation by the
Legislature for expenditure by OSI.
2.Requires the Fund to consist of the following:
a. The balance of all moneys available for expenditure by
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the Systems Integration Division of the Office of
Technology Services;
b. An amount of funding transferred from the Department of
Technology Services Revolving Fund to this Fund determined
by the Department of Finance (DOF);
c. Funds appropriated to the Department of Social Services
(DSS) in the annual Budget Act for the management of the
following projects, upon order of DOF:
i. SAWS, including specified related systems;
ii. CWS/CMS;
iii. EBT;
iv. SFIS; and
v. CMIPS.
d. Funds appropriated to the EDD in the annual Budget Act
for the management of the Unemployment Insurance
Modernization Project, upon order of DOF, with transfer of
these resources back to EDD on or before full expenditure
of federal Reed Act funds on a time frame determined by DOF
and EDD;
e. Funds appropriated to the Department of Health Care
Services (DHCS) and the Managed Risk Medical Insurance
Board (MRMIB) in the annual Budget Act, as well as funds
from the California Health Benefit Exchange (Exchange),
pursuant to an interagency agreement between the Exchange
and OSI, for the management of the California Healthcare
Eligibility, Enrollment, and Retention System (Cal-HEERS);
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill has not been analyzed by a fiscal
committee in its current form.
PRIOR VOTES : Not relevant.
COMMENTS :
1.Author's statement. This bill seeks to re-establish the
former Office of Systems Integration Fund, which was
inadvertently abolished through statute. This bill would
correct the error and provide statutory authority for the Fund
and rename it as the California Health and Human Services
Automation Fund.
2.Background on technology projects in this bill.
a. SAWS. According to a February 2013 report from the
Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO), California's SAWS is
made up of multiple systems which support such functions as
eligibility and benefit determination, enrollment, and case
maintenance at the county level for some of the state's
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major health and human services programs, including
Medi-Cal, California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to
Kids (CalWORKS), and CalFresh. The LAO reported that these
automation systems have been a sizable financial commitment
for the state, taking multiple years and hundreds of
millions of state and federal dollars to develop and
maintain. Over the years, the Legislature has consolidated
the total number of SAWS systems, reducing the state's
financial burden of maintaining multiple systems.
b. CWS/CMS. According to the CWS/CMS website, CWS/CMS is a
statewide tool that supports an effective Child Welfare
System of services. The CWS/CMS improves the lives of
children and families by giving service workers information
to improve case work services and freeing them from
repetitive tasks; provides policy makers with information
to design and manage services; and fulfills state and
federal legislative intent. The current automated system,
CWS/CMS, does not fully support child welfare practice and
CWS workers do not have the tools or access to all the
information needed and available to do their jobs. CWS/CMS
is the most complex and largest child-welfare caseload in
the United States. CWS/CMS is in maintenance and operations
mode with minimal development activity occurring. Numerous
requests for changes and upgrades were deferred in
anticipation of the improved system expected with the
CWS/Web Project.
The California 2011-12 enacted Budget indefinitely
suspended the CWS/Web Project due to the state's fiscal
crisis. Pursuant to legislative direction, DSS in
partnership with OSI, legislative staff, and other
stakeholders, issued the Child Welfare Services Automation
Study in April of 2012. This report contains an assessment
of the business needs of Child Welfare Services, an
assessment of the existing system, an analysis of viable
automated system options to meet the critical business
needs, communication from the federal government regarding
SAWS redesign requirements, and a recommendation on next
steps, including a timeline and implementation approach.
c. EBT. According to the OSI website, EBT is an electronic
system that automates the delivery, redemption, and
reconciliation of issued public assistance benefits. EBT is
the method for distributing CalFresh benefits (formerly
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known as Food Stamps and currently known federally as the
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits),
California Food Assistance Program benefits, and cash aid
benefits. EBT is currently used in all 50 states, the
District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and
Guam.
d. SFIS. According to the SFIS website, SFIS was developed
by OSI in conjunction with DSS. The system applies
state-of-the-art fingerprint-imaging technology to
eliminate duplicate aid in the California's public
assistance programs. The Los Angeles Automated Finger Image
Report and Match (AFIRM) system was the first
finger-imaging system to be used for a welfare application.
Based upon the success of AFIRM, the California Legislature
enacted the SFIS.
e. CMIPS. According to the OSI website, CMIPS tracks case
information and processes payments for DSS' In-Home
Supportive Services Program (IHSS), enabling nearly 400,000
qualified aged, blind, and disabled individuals in
California to remain in their own homes and avoid
institutionalization. The mission of the CMIPS II Project
is to award and administer a contract to develop,
implement, and maintain a follow-on system to the current
CMIPS system. The goal is to transition from the legacy
CMIPS to CMIPS II with no disruption in IHSS services.
f. EDD Unemployment Insurance Modernization Project.
According to EDD's Unemployment Insurance Program Business
Plan 2007-2012, the Unemployment Insurance Branch is
implementing a major modernization project that will
enhance service delivery, increase fraud detection and
program integrity, and build a more flexible and responsive
infrastructure to operate the unemployment insurance
program.
g. Cal-HEERS. According to the Exchange, the Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 requires states
to create a simple way for individuals and small businesses
to obtain affordable health care coverage. The Exchange,
DHCS, and MRMIB, collectively serving as Sponsoring
Partners, plan to build CalHEERS, an information technology
(IT) system that will do the following:
Serve as the consolidated IT support for
eligibility, enrollment, and retention for the Exchange,
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MediCal and Healthy Families;
Help improve Californians access to affordable
health care coverage options;
Help make health care coverage more affordable;
Help improve the quality of health care; and
Help people make informed choices among health plan
options.
1.Prior legislation. SB 68 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal
Review), Chapter 78, Statutes of 2005, was the human services
budget trailer bill. Among other provisions, it established
the OSI Fund, and required it to contain certain designated
moneys to be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature,
for expenditure by the OSI. The OSI Fund created by SB 68 is
similar to the Fund created by AB 174. The OSI Fund was
repealed by SB 834 (Figueroa), Chapter 533, Statutes of 2006.
SB 834 made certain statutory changes necessary to reflect the
Governor's Reorganization Plan 2 (GRP 2), which became
effective on July 9, 2005, and also created the Office of
Chief Information Officer. GRP 2 established the Department of
Technology Services within the State and Consumer Services
Agency, comprised of the Stephen P. Teale Data Center, the
Health and Human Services Agency Data Center, and the
Telecommunications Division of the Department of General
Services. As part of the statutory requirements relating to
the reorganization process, the Office of Legislative Counsel
is required to prepare language for a bill to make the
appropriate changes to statute in the next legislative
session. SB 834 contained this language, part of which
repealed the OSI Fund.
SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION :
Support: None received.
Oppose: None received.
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