BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2547
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 29, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Mark Stone, Chair
AB 2547 (Beth Gaines) - As Introduced: February 21, 2014
SUBJECT : Placer County Integrated Health and Human Services
Pilot Program
SUMMARY : Extends the Placer County Integrated Health and Human
Services Pilot Program sunset date from July 1, 2016 to July 1,
2021, and extends the repeal date from July 1, 2017, to July 1,
2022.
EXISTING LAW
1)Authorizes Placer County, upon approval of the county, to
implement a pilot program for the funding of services and
benefits through an integrated and comprehensive county health
and human services system, as specified. (WIC 18986.60)
2)Requires Placer County to evaluate the pilot program and
submit the final evaluation of the pilot to the Governor and
Legislature not later than six months following the third year
of the implementation of the pilot program. (WIC 18986.61)
3)Provides that the program shall become inoperative on July 1,
2016, and repeals the authorizing statute as of January 1,
2017, unless the dates are repealed or extended by statute on
or before January 1, 2017.
4)Authorizes Humboldt County, Mendocino County, Alameda County,
and any additional county or counties, as determined by the
Secretary of California Health and Human Services, to
implement, prior to January 1, 2009, a similar pilot program
as Placer County, with requirements for evaluation, but with
no sunset date. (WIC 18986.86, 18986.87)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : This bill extends the sunset date for the Placer
County Integrated Health and Human Services Pilot Program, also
known as the "Placer Model," by five years. In response to
uncoordinated approaches to both delivering services to families
who were in crisis and protecting and meeting the specialized
AB 2547
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needs of children in those families, several pieces of
legislation were authored in the early 1990s to facilitate
better control over program expenditures and coordination at the
county level. SB 1846 (Leslie) Chapter 899, Statutes of 1996,
was the first piece of legislation enacted that was specific to
coordinated services in Placer County. Included in the
legislative findings and declarations of SB 1846 was a statement
that, "The current service delivery system for health and social
services is based on a multitude of narrow, uncoordinated,
separately funded, categorical programs that emphasize
short-term crisis management over prevention, and the system
typically fails to improve conditions and outcomes for service
beneficiaries." The original legislation establishing the
Placer County Pilot had a July 1, 2001 sunset date, which has
since then been extended three times.
Need for this bill : According to the author, "This program has
demonstrated success in implementing a family-centered and
needs-based model (System of Care) of services to children and
families since 1995. This effort has demonstrated how
efficiency, streamlining and fully integrated programming can be
achieved to provide a good public service for families with
needs in child welfare, mental health, probation and education.
Since implementation, the approach has been centered on the
understanding that during times of crisis, families and children
should focus their efforts on getting the care and support
needed, rather than having to figure out how to navigate through
multiple county bureaucracies."
In support of this bill, the Placer County Board of Supervisors
states:
"The 'Placer Model' delivers needed services and meets the same
accountability within the same resources as required for other
counties. However, it does so in a simplified and integrated
approach to the family in contrast to the prior structure, which
required separate child welfare, mental health, probation, and
education case management. This approach enables a greater
investment in direct services to families by reducing
duplicative case management. It has?resulted in significantly
improved outcomes by reducing the recurrence of abuse and
neglect while also significantly reducing the layers of
bureaucracy that families must navigate while struggling through
multiple issues.
AB 2547
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"The 'Placer Model' focuses on outcomes and investing in meeting
client needs and Federal/State accountability in the most
responsive, efficient manner possible. Specifically, it has
resulted in hundreds of children finding stable loving homes
with adoptive parents when their biological parents could no
longer care for them, It has also enabled improved family
access to needed services to safely keep children in their
home."
PRIOR LEGISLATION
AB 1766 (Gaines) Chapter 364, Statutes of 2010, extended Placer
County's pilot program five years to July 1, 2016.
AB 2039 (Logue) 2010, would have deleted the pilot status and
made the Placer County program permanent. The bill was vetoed
by the Governor.
AB 1859 (Leslie) Chapter 268, Statutes of 2006, extended Placer
County's pilot program five years to July 1, 2011.
AB 308 (Leslie), Chapter 17, Statutes of 2001, extended Placer
County's pilot program five years to July 1, 2006.
AB 1259 (Strom-Martin), Chapter 705, Statutes of 1999, gave
specific authority to Alameda, Humboldt, and Mendocino Counties,
to operate an integration pilot similar to Placer County's.
AB 866 (Thomson), Chapter 265, Statutes of 1997, gave specific
authority to Solano County to operate an integration pilot
similar to Placer County's.
SB 1846 (Leslie), Chapter 899, Statutes of 1996, authorized
Placer County's pilot program to integrate the funding and
delivery of services and benefits for the county health and
human services system.
AB 2547
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
(AFSCME)
California State Association of Counties (CSA)
Placer County Board of Supervisors
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Myesha Jackson / HUM. S. / (916)
319-2089