BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
SB 930 (Evans)
Hearing Date: 05/09/2011 Amended: As Introduced
Consultant: Jolie Onodera Policy Vote: Human Services 4-3
_________________________________________________________________
____
BILL SUMMARY: SB 930 would repeal the following requirements
related to enrollment and fingerprinting in the In-Home
Supportive Services (IHSS) Program:
1) Repeals the requirement that IHSS applicants and
recipients provide fingerprint images at the time of
initial assessment or reassessment;
2) Repeals the requirement that the standardized
timesheet include designated spaces for the index
fingerprints of the IHSS provider and recipient; and,
3) Deletes the requirements and prohibitions related to
the use of a post office box address by an IHSS provider
to receive payments.
_________________________________________________________________
____
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Fund
Repeal of three IHSS Over $50,000 in avoided costs;
Federal/General
anti-fraud provisions unknown, potential forgone savings
_________________________________________________________________
____
STAFF COMMENTS:
Existing law provides for various anti-fraud measures that were
enacted under Chapter 17/2009 as part of a broad IHSS Anti-Fraud
Initiative, the components of which collectively were enacted to
enhance state and county efforts to increase the prevention and
detection of fraud in the IHSS program. The primary components
of the Anti-Fraud Initiative include the following measures:
County Investigators - includes 78 county investigators
and unannounced home visits to confirm services are being
provided as authorized;
County District Attorney (DA) activities - includes
county anti-fraud plans and activities in collaboration
with county DAs;
Related activities which includes targeted mailings,
fraud training for county staff, modified notices of
action, provider orientations, reviews of criminal offender
record information, subsequent arrest notifications,
appeals of provider terminations, timecard fingerprinting
and accountability; and,
SB 930 (Evans)
Page 3
Fingerprinting IHSS recipients.
This bill would repeal three components of the anti-fraud
provisions described above. Specifically, this bill would 1)
repeal the requirement that IHSS recipients provide fingerprint
images at the time of assessment or reassessment; 2) repeal the
requirement that the standardized timesheet include designated
spaces for the index fingerprints of the IHSS provider and
recipient; and, 3) repeal the prohibition related to the use of
a post office box address by an IHSS provider.
Repealing the requirement to obtain fingerprints of IHSS
recipients will result in significant cost avoidance to the
State. Estimated costs over the contract period for the
development, implementation, and operation of the new system are
$41.6 million ($21.6 million General Fund) including contractor
services and handheld devices to obtain fingerprint images at
the recipients' homes. Further, the Department of Social
Services (DSS) estimate of administrative costs associated with
manually fingerprinting IHSS recipients of $4.5 million ($1.6
million General Fund) would be additional avoided costs.
Repealing the requirement for IHSS provider and recipient
fingerprints on timesheets is estimated to result in cost
avoidance of an additional $3.6 million ($1.3 million General
Fund) associated with supplies, mailing, and processing. There
may also be additional cost savings associated with automation
changes that would have otherwise been required. The cost
avoidance associated with repealing the prohibition on the use
of post office box addresses by IHSS providers is unknown, but
could alleviate additional workload for counties associated with
processing and documenting written requests for exemption from
this requirement. In total, approximately $50 million ($24.5
million General Fund) in avoided costs are estimated through the
contract period due to the repeal of these specific provisions.
Additional administrative cost savings would also result in
future years.
Elimination of the three specific anti-fraud provisions may
result in some level of foregone savings associated with fraud
that may have been deterred or discovered had the activities
been conducted, however the amount is unknown. The savings
associated with all IHSS Anti-Fraud Initiative activities as
reflected in the DSS November 2010 Subvention are estimated at
SB 930 (Evans)
Page 4
$130 million General Fund in FY 2011-12, however the savings per
specific anti-fraud provision is not broken out by component and
is unknown at this time. Further, it is unknown if the $130
million in estimated savings would actually be realized under
current law. As seven of the ten anti-fraud provisions enacted
under Chapter 17/2009 would still be in place, the estimated
cost savings for those measures may still be realized. In the
absence of data supporting that fingerprinting of IHSS
recipients will greatly reduce fraudulent activity, realized
savings could be well below the significant costs required to
develop and implement this process.