BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1319|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 1319
Author: Liu (D)
Amended: 5/7/12
Vote: 21
SENATE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE : 6-0, 4/10/12
AYES: Liu, Emmerson, Berryhill, Hancock, Wright, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Strickland
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
SUBJECT : Child welfare
SOURCE : California Alliance for Child and Family
Services
California Welfare Directors Association
Boys Republic
DIGEST : This bill provides that licensed foster family
homes are not subject to civil penalties under the
California Community Care Facilities Act (Act), allows the
Department of Social Services (DSS) to renew or extend
current performance agreement waivers with private
non-profit agencies serving children, and removes the
sunset date for existing law which exempts certain
community treatment facilities from 24-hour onsite nursing
staff requirements.
ANALYSIS : Existing law:
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1. Enacts the Act which provides for the licensure and
regulation by the DSS of community care facilities, as
defined, including foster family agencies that certify
foster family homes and licensed foster family homes.
2. Defines "foster family agency" to mean any organization
engaged in the recruiting, certifying, and training of,
and providing professional support to, foster parents,
or in finding homes or other places for placement of
children for temporary or permanent care who require
that level of care as an alternative to a group home.
3. Defines "foster family home" to mean any residential
facility providing 24-hour care for six or fewer foster
children that is owned, leased, or rented and is the
residence of the foster parent or parents, including
their family, in whose care the foster children have
been placed.
4. Defines "small family home" to mean any residential
facility, in the licensee's family residence, that
provides 24-hour care for six or fewer foster children
who have mental disorders or developmental or physical
disabilities and who require special care and
supervision as a result of their disabilities.
5. Requires the DSS, in establishing regulations for foster
family homes and certified family homes of foster family
agencies, to consider these homes as private residences,
and to establish regulations for them as a separate
regulation package from regulations for all other
community care facilities.
6. Requires the Department of Mental Health (DMH) to
establish, by regulation, specified program standards
for any facility licensed as a community treatment
facility.
7. Defines "community treatment facility" to mean a
residential facility that provides mental health
treatment services to children in a group setting and
that has the capacity to provide secure containment.
8. Provides that, until January 1, 2013, community
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treatment facilities shall not be required by DMH to
have 24-hour onsite licensed nursing staff, but shall
retain at least one full-time registered nurse onsite
under certain conditions.
9. Provides that a county may enter into performance
agreements with nonprofit agencies to encourage
innovation in the delivery of children's services, to
develop services not available in the community, and to
promote change in the child welfare services system.
10.Authorizes DSS to waive regulations relating to foster
care payments and the operation of group homes for a
period of up to three years, in order to facilitate
these performance agreements. Existing law authorizes
the DSS to extend the regulation waivers for up to three
additional years.
This bill:
1. Adds licensed foster family homes to the list of foster
care license categories which are not subject to civil
penalties under the Act.
2. Deletes the January 1, 2013 expiration date applicable
to the nursing staff requirements for community
treatment facilities, thus making those staffing
requirements permanent.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/8/12)
California Alliance for Child and Family Services
(co-source)
California Welfare Directors Association (co-source)
Boys Republic (co-source)
California State Association of Counties
City of Chino
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the California
Alliance for Child and Family Services, the Boys Republic
facility has been in operation for more than 100 years and
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is widely recognized as a model of rehabilitation for young
men and women with significant behavior issues and with
moderate to serious offence histories. According to the
Alliance, this model of care serves as a placement
alternative to locked juvenile detention facilities and to
the state-run Division of Juvenile Justice. The Alliance
further states that this bill gives the DSS the flexibility
to extend waivers it has already granted to counties, and
is essential for Boys Republic to continue to operate its
highly successful program for delinquent youth.
CTW:kc 5/8/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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