BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  AB 899
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 27, 2011

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                     AB 899 (Yamada) - As Amended:  May 11, 2011 

          Policy Committee:                              Human 
          ServicesVote:4 - 2 
                        Judiciary                             7 - 2 

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program: 
          No     Reimbursable:              

           SUMMARY  

          This bill establishes the Home Care Services Act to license and 
          regulate home care services for the elderly, frail, and persons 
          with disabilities. Specifically, this bill: 

          1)Requires that home care services cannot be provided to a 
            client unless the individual or entity first obtains a license 
            from the Department of Social Services (DSS).

          2)Defines home care services as non-medical services such as 
            bathing, dressing, feeding, exercising, personal hygiene, 
            assisting with self-administered medication, meal preparation, 
            laundry and companionship.

          3)Establishes a maximum civil penalty of $400 per day for any 
            violation of the act.

          4)Requires DSS to establish procedures for receiving, 
            investigating and resolving complaints against home care 
            services providers.

          5)Requires DSS to make available on their web site a list of 
            licensed home care providers.

          6)Allows DSS to assess licensing, renewal and other fees for 
            home care providers sufficient to cover the cost of the 
            program.

          7)Creates the Home Care Organization Fund and continuously 
            appropriates those funds for DSS to use in carrying out is 








                                                                  AB 899
                                                                  Page  2

            home care licensing duties.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          1)Assuming that each agency, on average, employs 10 home care 
            workers, DSS would be required to license and investigate 
            complaints for 7,100 new entities. This would constitute 
            almost a 10% increase in the number of facilities licensed by 
            DSS. Based on that increase, the on-going cost for DSS' 
            Community Care Licensing Division (CCLD) could be 
            approximately $12 million.

          2)One-time costs of at least $1 million for regulations, forms, 
            and information technology related with creating the new 
            licensing system.

          3)This bill requires DSS to assess fees for providers to cover 
            the cost of the licensing activity.  Based on the cost 
            assumptions above, agencies would pay approximately $1,700 per 
            year in licensing and renewal fees.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Purpose  . Estimates suggest that there are over 71,000 home 
            care aids working in California.  The agencies overseeing 
            these workers and the workers themselves are currently 
            completely unregulated by any state agency. This bill would 
            create a licensing framework that would help protect the 
            health and safety of those individuals who require the 
            services of a home care worker. 

           2)Prior Legislation  . In 2007, AB 853 (Jones),  a substantially 
            similar bill was held on this committee's suspense file. 

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