BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 346
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 346 (Stone)
As Amended September 6, 2013
Majority vote
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|ASSEMBLY: |76-0 |(April 25, |SENATE: |36-0 |(September 10, |
| | |2013) | | |2013) |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Original Committee Reference: HUM. S.
SUMMARY : Provides the California Department of Social Services
(DSS) the authority to license runaway and homeless youth shelters
(RHYSs). Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires DSS to license all RHYSs as a sub-category of group homes
and defines an RHYS as a facility that provides voluntary,
short-term, emergency shelter and personal services to youth who
are homeless.
2)Authorizes RHYSs to provide short-term 24-hour nonmedical care,
supervision and personal services to youth who voluntarily enter
the facility.
3)Defines short-term as 21 consecutive days from the date of
admission to the facility.
4)Permits RHYSs to serve homeless or runaway youth who are between
the ages of 12 and 17 who are homeless or at risk of becoming
homeless, or who are 18 and are completing high school or its
equivalent, as specified.
5)Allows facilities to operate up to a capacity of 25 youths and
requires the staff to youth ratio to be one staff person for every
eight youths.
6)Allows volunteers to be counted as staff for purposes of the
staff-to-youth ratio, as specified.
7)Requires all staff and volunteers to undergo criminal background
checks and have their names checked on the Child Abuse Index.
8)Requires staff to assess all youth prior to admission to the
facility to determine whether the youth presents a threat to
AB 346
Page 2
himself or herself or others in the facility, and provides that a
youth shall not be admitted to the facility if he or she poses
such a threat.
9)Requires RHYSs to establish procedures to aid youth in securing
long-term stability, as specified.
10)Prohibits a RHYS from being used as a placement facility for
foster youth and from receiving a group home funding rate.
11)Requires each RHYS to collect and maintain information in a
monthly report to be provided to DSS upon request, which shall
include the:
a) Total number of youth served per month;
b) Age of each youth served;
c) Length of stay of each youth served; and
d) Number of times a youth accesses its services.
12)Exempts a RHYS from conducting a "needs and services plan" as
required of regular group homes, as specified under Title 22 of
the California Code of Regulations.
13)Requires DSS to adopt regulations necessary to implement this
measure by December 1, 2014.
14)Defines a "group home" as a licensed residential facility that
provides 24-hour care and supervision to minors in a structured
environment, as specified, in the Health and Safety Code.
The Senate amendments :
1)Recast and rename "Emergency Youth Homeless Facilities" as
"Runaway and Homeless Youth Shelters."
2)Place additional requirements on RHYSs to assist youth in securing
long-term stability, as specified.
3)Modify the definition of a homeless youth and adds a definition of
runaway youth, as specified.
4)Clarify that RHYSs are excluded from receiving a group home
AB 346
Page 3
reimbursement rate or from being used as a placement option for
foster youth, as specified.
5)Include double jointing language to avoid chaptering out conflicts
with AB 787 (Stone) of the current legislative session.
6)Makes other technical and clarifying changes.
7)Includes double jointing language to avoid chaptering out issues
with AB 787 (Stone) of the current legislative session and
includes language to reflect changes made by the human services
budget trailer bill; AB 74 (Budget), Chapter 21, Statutes of 2013.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY this bill provided DSS the authority to
license emergency youth shelter facilities.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
1)Minor workload impact likely less than $50,000 (General Fund) to
the DSS to adopt regulations establishing RHYS as a subcategory
under the existing group home licensing category. Minor,
absorbable ongoing costs related to enforcement. There are
approximately 40 facilities, of which 28 facilities are currently
licensed by DSS.
2)Enables youth shelters to retain eligibility for federal funding
in the range of $5 million to $7 million under the Runaway and
Homeless Youth Act. Funding is conditional on compliance with
state licensing standards such that youth shelters could
potentially risk federal citation and loss of federal funding in
the absence of this measure.
3)Ongoing costs to the Department of Justice (DOJ) of less than
$25,000 (Special Fund*) to process additional background checks
and checks of the Child Abuse Central Index (CACI) for staff and
volunteers of RHYS.
*Fingerprint Fees Account/Sexual Habitual Offender Program (SHOP)
COMMENTS :
Homeless Youth : According to the California Research Bureau (CRB)
and the Council on Youth Relations' (CYR) Homeless Youth Project
(HYP), based upon national survey estimates and California's youth
population, it is estimated that there are 200,000 youth under the
AB 346
Page 4
age of 18 and potentially thousands of persons aged 18 - 24 who are
homeless. While this is an approximation of the number of homeless
youth in California, the number is likely to be greater given the
challenges involved in the identification of homeless youth. For
purpose of this population, "homeless youth" typically describes
minors under the age of 18, and 18 - 24-year-olds who are
economically and/or emotionally detached from their families and
have an unstable and inadequate living environment, or are
periodically homeless or homeless.
In a 2010 survey of local, state and federal programs, the HYP was
able to identify 53 programs that offered just over 1,000 beds for
homeless youth throughout the state. Given that the current
estimate of homeless youth amounts to more than 200,000 individuals,
this demonstrates a significant gap between the size of California's
homeless youth population and the number of programs and services
available to meet their needs.
Federal Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RHYA) : In response to
concerns emerging during the early 1970s that little if any federal
and state services were available to youth who were either homeless
or at risk of becoming homeless, Congress established the RHYA in
1974. The Family Youth Services Bureau (FYSB), under the United
States Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Administration
for Children and Families, oversees the issuance of Basic Center
Program grants. The purpose of these grants, according to the FYSB,
is to "establish or strengthen community-based programs that meet
the immediate needs of runaway and homeless youth and their
families." Under these grants, recipient organizations and agencies
provide youth up to age 18 with emergency shelter, food, clothing,
counseling and referrals to youth services. Although the intent is
to help reunite youth with their families through counseling and
supportive services whenever possible, they also help to locate
appropriate alternative placements that can help keep youth off the
streets and avoid becoming chronically homeless.
Over the past five years the federal RHYA grant requirements have
required recipients to be in compliance with their respective
state's shelter licensing requirements. However, while California's
Community Care Facilities Act requires most types of facilities that
serve youth to be licensed, it exempts homeless shelters from
licensure. This is further complicated by the fact that homeless
youth shelters can be considered both a homeless shelter and a
facility that serves youth. Additionally, state law does not
provide clear requirements nor guidance that delineates what is
AB 346
Page 5
considered a homeless shelter versus a youth homeless shelter under
state law. Federal guidance issued by the FYSB in a letter dated
June 28, 2007, clearly stated that the:
? FYSB expects all grantees to be in compliance with their
state and local requirements pertaining to background
checks and/or criminal history checks of the staff
employed along with shelter licensing requirements. FYSB
staff will ask for proof of compliance with such
requirements during monitoring visits.
Analysis Prepared by : Chris Reefe / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089
FN:
0002767