BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1013
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 1013 (Budget and Fiscal Review Committee)
As Amended June 25, 2012
Majority vote. Budget Bill Appropriation Takes Effect
Immediately
SENATE VOTE :Vote not relevant
Summary : Contains necessary statutory and technical changes to
implement provisions of the Budget Act of 2012 related to 2011
Realignment and Child Welfare Services. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Proposed Flexibilities for Counties.
a) Makes statutory changes to make the following programs
optional for counties and to create more flexibility within
requirements related to them:
i) Specialized Care Increments that can be used to
supplement basic care and supervision rates in order to
pay for additional care and supervision needs; and,
ii) Clothing allowances for children living in foster
family homes (because of their incorporation into
recently revised rates applicable to foster family
homes).
b) Makes statutory changes to revise, or create more
flexibility within, requirements related to the following
programs, which already offer some degree of county option:
i) The Transitional Housing Program (THP)-Plus, which
provides housing and supportive services to former foster
youth ages 18-24;
ii) The Specialized Training for Adoptive Parents (STAP)
program, which is intended to facilitate the adoption of
children who are HIV-positive or who were born to mothers
with substance-abuse problems;
iii) The Options for Recovery Program, which is intended
to recruit and train specialized foster caregivers;
SB 1013
Page 2
iv) The Supportive Transitional Emancipation Program
(STEP), which is intended to assist youth who have exited
the foster care system while they are participating in an
educational or training program, or activity consistent
with their transitional independent living plan up to 21
years of age;
v) The Kinship Support Services Program (KSSP), which
provides community-based family support services to
relative caregivers and the children they are caring for;
and,
vi) Stipends that supplement the Independent Living
Program and may support youth who have exited the foster
care system by assisting with bus passes, housing rental
deposits, work-related equipment, or other needs.
2)Accountability and Oversight.
a) Clarifies that counties shall continue to be responsible
for and accountable to the Department of Social Services
(DSS) for defined program performance measures, and
requires DSS to monitor county performance, on an ongoing
basis and via a comprehensive review at least once every
five years.
b) Specifies that process guides for county
self-assessments shall include a description of the process
by which DSS and counties shall develop agreed upon
performance targets for improvements, and that counties
shall submit updates to the department regarding their
progress no less than annually. Authorizes DSS to require
a corrective action plan from a county that has not met its
performance targets.
c) Clarifies that DSS is authorized to conduct or have
conducted audits and reviews related to child welfare
programs, along with due process requirements regarding
counties' notice, opportunity to respond, and the potential
consequences of such an audit or review.
d) Requires specified reporting related to the 2011
SB 1013
Page 3
realignment of Child Welfare Services (CWS) programs,
including a requirement for DSS to annually report a
summary of outcome and expenditure data that allows for
monitoring of changes over time and indicates the degree to
which programs are meeting designated outcome measures.
e) Requires counties to report to DSS on the expenditure of
savings realized as a result of maximizing available
federal adoption assistance funding.
3)Congregate Care, the Continuum of Care and Needs
Assessment-Related Reforms.
a) Revises the selection criteria that apply to out-of-home
foster care placements and the placement-related
documentation required in a child welfare services case
plan.
b) Requires DSS to establish, in consultation with
specified entities, a workgroup to develop recommended
revisions to the current Aid to Families with Dependent
Children-Foster Care rate setting system, and to submit
these recommendations to the Legislature by a specified
date.
c) Requires DSS, with the advice and assistance of
stakeholders, to establish a working group to develop
performance standards and outcome measures for providers of
out-of-home care placements, as specified.
d) Raises, on an interim basis, the monthly care and
supervision payment rates applicable to Intensive Treatment
Foster Care (ITFC) placement settings. The rates would
range from $4,034 to $5,581 per month, rather than $2,985
to $4,476 per month. These placement settings are intended
to offer lower-cost, family based care to children and
youth who would otherwise be served in more expensive and
restrictive congregate care settings.
4)Repeals of Sunsets and Changes to Make Specified Programs
Statewide.
a) Amends existing law related to the development of a
unified, family friendly, and child-centered resource
SB 1013
Page 4
family approval process to replace the existing multiple
processes for licensing foster family homes, approving
relatives and nonrelative extended family members as foster
care providers, and approving adoptive families. Specifies
selection process for counties that will be early
implementation counties and process for authorizing
statewide implementation.
b) Eliminates provisions that would otherwise cause
statutes that prohibit peace officers from, without a
warrant, taking into temporary custody a newborn who tested
positive for exposure to illegal drugs and who is the
subject of a proposed adoption to sunset on January 1,
2013.
c) Eliminates provisions that would otherwise cause the
statutes authorizing tribal customary adoptions to sunset
on January 1, 2014. Tribal customary adoption means
adoption by and through the tribal custom, traditions, or
law of an Indian child's tribe. Termination of parental
rights is not required to effect the tribal customary
adoption.
d) Allows specified nonminor dependents to continue to
receive assistance during a window of time in which they
might otherwise have a gap in eligibility (e.g., if they
received assistance as an 18-year-old in 2012, but attained
19 years of age prior to January 1, 2013, when 19-year-old
nonminor dependents become eligible to remain in the foster
care system). Further, ensures that otherwise eligible
nonminor dependents between 20 and 21 years can benefit
from continued support, effective January 1, 2014.
5)Technical Changes.
a) Authorizes or requires county adoption agencies to
perform activities for which 2011 realignment funding has
been directed to them without needing to be licensed by
DSS.
b) Requires funding and expenditures for specified child
welfare and adoption programs to be consistent with
specified provisions relating to the Local Revenue Fund
2011, commencing with the 2011-12 fiscal year.
SB 1013
Page 5
c) Establishes a new framework and sharing ratios for the
remittance of the federal share of foster care
overpayments.
d) Specifies of the shares of costs required of tribes,
consortiums of tribes, or tribal organizations that enter
into an agreement with the state regarding the care and
custody of Indian children and jurisdiction over Indian
child custody proceedings.
e) Repeals several obsolete references or provisions.
6)Other.
a) Requires counties to expend funds for family
preservation and support services in a manner that will
maximize eligibility for federal financial participation
under the Promoting Safe and Stable Families program.
b) Requires counties to submit specified data regarding
Independent Living Program expenditures to DSS and
restricts, consistent with federal requirements, the amount
that can be spent on housing. Further, requires them to
ensure that eligible foster youth receive information
about, and are provided with an opportunity to complete,
the National Youth in Transition Database survey.
c) Revises the licensing or certification standards
applicable to categories of transitional housing, including
the Transitional Housing Program-Plus for former foster
youth who have emancipated from the foster care system and
who are 18-24 years olds, as well as the Transitional
Housing Placement-Plus Program-Foster Care program, which
is intended to serve nonminor dependents between the ages
of 18 and 20, inclusive.
d) Increases the basic care and supervision rates paid to
foster families certified by foster family agencies, to
bring them into parity with the basic rates paid to
licensed foster family homes (which were recently increased
as a result of litigation). Establishes an annual
cost-of-living adjustment applicable to these rates.
Specifies that these changes shall not change the remaining
SB 1013
Page 6
components of the foster family agency rate.
e) Specifies that after July 1, 2011, counties may allow
designated former state employees of DSS who become
employed by counties to retain, as a county employee,
specified benefits they had accumulated as state employees.
f) Authorizes DSS to implement rule changes related to
specified provisions of this bill by means of all-county
letters or similar instructions until regulations are
adopted. Further, authorizes the department, in limited
circumstances and after consultation with stakeholders, to
implement newly enacted federal laws by means of all-county
letters or similar instructions that would expire 15 months
after issuance.
7)Contains an appropriation allowing this bill to take effect
immediately upon enactment.
COMMENTS : The 2011-12 Budget realigned $1.6 billion in state
funding for the CWS, foster care, and adoptions programs, to the
counties. For the first year of the 2011 realignment, no
changes were made to state law governing CWS and adoptions
programs. During the 2012-13 budget process, however, the
Administration proposed programmatic trailer bill language
related to the following major themes, all of which are
addressed by this trailer bill:
1)Proposed Flexibilities for Counties;
2)Accountability and Oversight;
3)Congregate Care and Continuum of Care-Related Reforms and
Needs Assessment; and,
4)Technical Changes.
The CWS system includes child abuse prevention, emergency
response to allegations of abuse and neglect, supports for
family maintenance and reunification, and out-of-home foster
care. The system includes federal, state, and county agencies,
juvenile courts, and private providers of care and services.
Federal and state laws establish the legal, regulatory, and
fiscal frameworks that govern the roles and responsibilities of
SB 1013
Page 7
these entities and individuals. In general, CWS programs are
some of the more highly regulated among federally supported
human services programs. Existing law also establishes the
California Child and Family Service Review System administered
by DSS to review all county child welfare systems.
The total 2011-12 Budget for CWS (excluding adoptions) is $5.2
billion ($2.5 billion federal funds, $1.6 billion 2011
realignment funds, and $1.1 billion county funds).
Approximately half of those funds support counties to administer
or provide these programs and half support payments to families
and other providers of foster care. The total 2011-12 Budget
for adoptions programs includes $121 million ($64 million 2011
realignment funding). DSS regulates, provides oversight, and
maintains records for: 1) adoptions that occur through public
agencies; 2) adoptions that occur through private agencies; 3)
independent adoptions that are handled by a private attorney;
and, 4) adoptions of children from other countries. Before the
2011 realignment, there were seven DSS district offices that
also directly provided agency adoption services to 28 counties
and independent adoption services to 55 counties. The remaining
counties were licensed by DSS to provide those services
directly.
Analysis Prepared by : Nicole Vazquez / BUDGET / (916) 319-2099
FN: 0004186