BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1714
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 18, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1714 (Halderman) - As Amended: March 27, 2012
Policy Committee: Human
ServicesVote:4 - 2
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
Current law prohibits individuals who have been convicted of
certain crimes from working as In-Home Supportive Services
(IHSS) providers, unless they submit a signed waiver from the
recipient who hires them. This bill adds felony forgery, felony
embezzlement, felony extortion and felony identify theft to the
list of offenses which require a waiver.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Currently, there are over 500,000 registered IHSS providers.
To date there have been 747 potential providers who are
ineligible due to being convicted of one of the 106 current
Tier 2 felonies. In addition, there are 516 providers with
felony convictions who were provided with waivers. Given the
small number of excluded providers, it is unlikely that adding
four additional crimes to the list of felonies would result in
significant workload costs or reduction in the pool of
providers.
2)Potential minor nonreimbursable costs to counties for
prosecution and incarceration related to violations of the
bill's provisions, offset to some extent by fine revenues.
(The bill expands provisions of current law, the violation of
which is a misdemeanor.)
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . The intent of this legislation is to add four felony
crimes (embezzlement, forgery, extortion and identify theft)
perpetrated against an individual who is neither elderly nor a
AB 1714
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dependent adult to the list of Tier 2 felonies that bar an
individual from serving as an IHSS provider for 10 years,
unless the IHSS recipient signs a waiver.
The author contends, "The state should not allow those
convicted of identity theft to have easy access to the
financial documents of an elderly or disabled Californian. AB
1714 provides necessary protection to IHSS recipients and
keeps them from being victimized by financial predators at
taxpayer expense."
2)Background . The 2009 IHSS budget trailer bill, ABX4 19
(Evans), Chapter 17, Statutes of 2009 4th Extraordinary
Session, included provisions intended to prevent fraud, and
enhance the integrity of the IHSS program. As a condition of
being placed or maintained on a county's IHSS provider
registry, ABX4 19 required criminal background checks to be
completed for all prospective IHSS providers as of October 1,
2009, and to be completed by July 2, 2010 for anyone already a
provider on October 1, 2009.
3)Tier 1 Crimes . Under California law, consistent with federal
Medicaid law, an individual may not serve as a provider of
services under the IHSS program for 10 years following a
conviction for specified crimes involving fraud against a
government health care or supportive services program, child
endangerment, or elder or dependent adult abuse. (These are
commonly referred to as Tier 1 offenses.) Among these
specified crimes are offenses contained in this legislation.
However, they are only considered Tier 1 offenses if those
crimes were perpetrated against an elder or dependent adult.
4)Tier 2 Crimes . The 2010 human services budget trailer bill, AB
1612 (Committee on Budget), Chapter 725, Statutes of 2010,
provided for the additional exclusion, with certain
exceptions, of provider applicants for 10 years following a
conviction for a violent or serious felony, as defined in the
Penal Code, and other specified felony offenses. These
exclusions, referred to as "Tier 2" offenses, apply
prospectively, to new provider applicants, beginning 90 days
following the effective date of that bill.
With respect to these added, Tier 2, exclusions, AB 1612
provided that a recipient who wishes to employ a provider
applicant who has been convicted of such an offense may seek
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from the county an individual waiver of the exclusion. The
waiver form must be signed by the recipient or by the
recipient's authorized representative. In signing a waiver,
the individual agrees that he or she accepts the
responsibility for this decision and the risk of any potential
actions that may occur as a result of this decision.
5)Opposition . Opponents argue that it is currently difficult to
find a pool of qualified and willing IHSS providers given the
fact that home care work is difficult, has high injury rates,
and low rates of pay. Their concern is that adding additional
restrictions will further reduce the pool of available
workers.
Analysis Prepared by : Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916)
319-2081