BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
AB 823 (Dickinson)
Hearing Date: 08/15/2011 Amended: 08/15/2011
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-HernandezPolicy Vote: Human Services
4-3
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BILL SUMMARY: This bill would establish the Children's Cabinet
of California to serve, until January 1, 2019, as an advisory
body responsible for improving the collaboration among agencies
that provide services to the children and youth of the state, as
specified. This bill would provide that the cabinet shall be
comprised of, among others, the Superintendent of Public
Instruction (SPI), the Secretary of California Health and Human
Services, the Chief Justice of California, or his or her
designee, and the heads of various specified state agencies. The
bill would require the cabinet to provide recommendations to the
Governor and the Legislature every odd-numbered year. This bill
would become operative upon a determination by the Department of
Finance (DOF) that sufficient federal or private funds are
available. This bill makes various legislative findings and
declarations.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Fund
Children's Cabinet Substantial on-going cost
pressure Federal/General
Cabinet staffing Low to mid-hundreds of
thousands annually Federal/General
BSA audit Potentially
significant cost pressure General
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STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
AB 823 (Dickinson)
Page 1
This bill establishes the Children's Cabinet (Cabinet) within
state government serving as an advisory body to improve
collaboration among agencies serving children and youth in
California. It provides that the Cabinet be co-chaired by the
SPI and the secretary of the Health and Human Services Agency,
and consist of 13 other members, including: the chief justice
(or designee), the secretary of the Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation (or designee), the directors of the
departments of social services, health care services, public
health, mental health, alcohol and drug programs, developmental
services, and child support services, two members of the
Assembly (appointed by the Speaker) and two members of the
Senate (appointed by the President pro Tempore), as well as
additional members that the Governor may choose to appoint. None
of the members will receive compensation, but the bill
explicitly states that they may be reimbursed for "travel and
related expenses."
Beyond the basic parameters (and within its mission), the
Cabinet's activities will be largely determined by the
co-chairs. The bill grants the co-chairs authority call meetings
more frequently than quarterly, to establish committees within
the Cabinet to further its work (and committee members may also
be reimbursed for travel and related expenses), and identify
Cabinet goals and benchmarks. This bill specifies that the
Cabinet cannot be established until the DOF determines that
enough federal or private funds have been received to fully
support the Cabinet's activities. With the authority for
determining the scope of those activities given to the co-chairs
of a not-yet-established Cabinet, it is not clear how the DOF
would know what would be a sufficient amount of federal or
private funds to fully cover the Cabinet's expenses. Children's
cabinets in other states operate differently from one another in
terms of scope of activities and staffing models.
This bill is likely to result in General Fund pressure to begin
activities related to the Cabinet before federal or private
funding is received; otherwise, it will be very difficult for
the DOF to decide what constitutes a sufficient level of
funding. Moreover, because the bill does not specify which
private funds it expects to use, nor that they be designated
specifically for a children's cabinet, it creates cost pressure
to use federal funds that could be used for that purpose or
could have been used for other qualifying purposes toward this
AB 823 (Dickinson)
Page 2
new advisory body. For example, West Virginia's Children's
Cabinet uses $1.2 million in Medicaid administration funds and
Community Based Family Resource and Support Program (federal
Title II funds) as part of its $3.8 million annual operating
budget.
The responsibility for staffing the cabinet and preparing
required reports will be shared by the Cabinet co-chairs, "to
the extent that federal or private funds are made available for
this purpose". According to the National Governors' Association
Center for Best Practices' publication, A Governor's Guide to
Children's Cabinets, it is important to have dedicated staff for
the Cabinet. Staffing models differ by state, as do the size of
the cabinet membership. For example, Louisiana uses a total 2
dedicated positions which are funded by the Governor's office,
while West Virginia has 2 senior staff and 4 support positions
funded by a mix of state and federal funds. Staffing costs would
be in the hundreds of thousands, depending on the staffing model
and scope of activities. Costs would likely vary depending on
the number of committees created and public meetings held, as
determined by the co-chairs.
This bill permits the Bureau of State Audits (BSA) to conduct a
performance audit of the cabinet, reporting findings by January
1, 2018. This authority creates cost pressure for the BSA to
conduct such as audit, especially because this will be a
sizeable new program created in difficult fiscal times.