BILL ANALYSIS �
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 855
Author: Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee
Amended: 6/13/14
Vote: 21
PRIOR VOTES NOT RELEVANT
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : Not available
SUBJECT : Budget Act of 2014: Human Services
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill provides for statutory changes necessary to
enact the human services provisions of the Budget Act of 2014.
Assembly Amendments delete the Senate version of the bill and
instead add the current language.
ANALYSIS : As part of the 2014-15 Budget package, this bill
makes the following statutory changes to implement the 2014-15
Budget Act.
CalWORKs . This bill includes several provisions pertaining to
CalWORKs, including:
1.5% Grant Increase . This bill increases aid payments by 5%, as
of April 1, 2015.
2.Child Support Pass-Through for Safety-Net and Certain
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Child-Only Cases . Last year, the Department of Social
Services (DSS) instructed counties to move Safety-Net and
Drug/Fleeing Felon child-only cases out of the Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program to help meet the
TANF work participation requirement. In implementing this
move-out, DSS and the Department of Child and Support Services
(DCSS) discovered a conflict in federal and state law. Federal
law prohibits DCSS from passing collected child support
through to the state on behalf of non-TANF families, and
requires payments be made directly to the family. In
contrast, state law requires families to assign support rights
and requires counties to refer families on CalWORKs to the
Local Child Support Agencies. This bill resolves the federal
and state law conflicts, and exempts Safety Net and Drug and
Fleeing Felon child-only cases from assigning their child and
spousal support rights to the state/county, cooperating with
the DCSS, and requiring these cases be referred to the DCSS
for child support enforcement/collection services. Also, this
bill removes the requirement that DCSS collect the support on
behalf of the state.
3.Family Stabilization . This bill authorizes funds allocated
for family stabilization to be used to provide housing and
other needed services to a family during any month that a
family is participating in family stabilization. This bill
states the intent of the Legislature that family stabilization
is a voluntary component intended to provide needed services
and constructive interventions for parents and to assist in
barrier removal for families facing very difficult needs.
4.Housing and Homeless Support . This bill specifies that
families receiving CalWORKs benefits when homelessness or
housing instability is a barrier to self-sufficiency or child
well-being, are eligible for specified housing supports,
including financial assistance and housing stabilization and
relocation, in counties that opt to participate in providing
these supports, and to the extent that funding for this
purpose is provided in the annual Budget Act. This bill
requires DSS, in consultation with the County Welfare
Directors Association of California, to develop criteria by
which counties may opt to participate in providing housing
supports to eligible recipients.
5.Temporary Assistance Program (TAP) . This bill delays the
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commencement date of TAP from October 1, 2014, to October 1,
2016.
Community Care Licensing . This bill includes provisions
pertaining to the Community Care Licensing Division within DSS.
Specifically, this bill:
1.Establishes an Emergency Client/Resident Contingency Account .
The accounts, which would be within the Technical Assistance
Fund, would be used at the discretion of the Director of DSS
for the care and relocation of clients and residents, when a
facility's license is revoked or temporarily suspended. The
money in the account must cover costs, such as transportation
expenses, expenses incurred in notifying family members, and
costs associated with providing continuous care and
supervision.
2.Establish a Temporary Manager and Receivership Process . This
bill authorizes DSS to appoint a temporary manager or receiver
to act as the provisional licensee, if DSS determines that
residents of a facility are likely to be in danger of serious
injury or death, and the immediate relocation of clients is
not feasible. The temporary manager or receiver assumes
operation of a facility to bring it into compliance; to
facilitate a transfer of ownership to a new licensee; or, to
assure the transfer of residents, if the facility is required
to close. Facilities that serve less than six residents, and
are also the principal residence of the licensee, are exempt.
This bill specifies: (a) a process to appoint a temporary
manger or receiver; (b) a process by which a licensee may
contest the appointment of the temporary manager; (c) a
temporary manger or receiver's authorized responsibilities;
(d) a receiver's salary and length of appointment; and, (e)
circumstances wherein a facility's owner can sell, lease, or
close the facility.
3.Increase licensing fees . This bill proposes a 10% increase in
licensing and application fees. This bill also requires DSS
to analyze initial application fees and annual fees, at least
every five years, to determine whether the appropriate fee
amounts are being charged.
4.Home Care Services Consumer Protection Act (Act) . This bill
makes changes to several provisions of the Act, including:
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A. Revises the licensure requirements of a home care
organization to require certain disclosures and proof of an
employee dishonesty bond.
B. Revises license renewal requirements for home care
organizations to include insurance and workers'
compensation policies, and being current on all fees and
civil penalties.
C. Provides review procedures for applications for
licensure received by DSS.
D. Requires DSS to cease any further review of an
application for a specified period of time, if it is
determined that the home care organization applicant was
previously issued a license pursuant to the Act or other
specified provisions of law, and that license was revoked.
E. Applies similar requirements to a home care organization
applicant that had previously applied for a certificate of
approval with a foster family agency and was denied.
F. Authorizes DSS to exclude a person from acting as, and
requires the home care organization to remove that person
from, his/her position as a member of the board of
directors, an executive director, or an officer of a
licensee, if DSS determines that the person was previously
issued a license pursuant to the Act or other specified
provisions of law and that license was revoked, as
specified, or if the person was previously issued a
certificate of approval by a foster family agency that was
subsequently revoked.
G. Requires home care organization licensees to report any
suspected or known dependent adult, elder, or child abuse
to DSS.
H. Requires DSS, upon receipt of these reports, to
cross-report the suspected or known abuse to local law
enforcement and Adult Protective Services or Child
Protected Services, as specified. This bill authorizes
home care organization applicants and home care aide
applicants who submit applications prior to January 1,
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2016, to provide home care services without meeting the
tuberculosis requirements described above, provided those
requirements are met by July 1, 2016. This bill authorizes
DSS to adopt and re-adopt emergency regulations to
implement and administer the provisions of the Act.
I. Require all fines and penalties collected for violations
to be deposited into the Home Care Technical Assistance
Fund (Fund), as created by this bill. This bill requires
that the monies in the Fund be made available to DSS, upon
appropriation by the Legislature, for specified purposes.
Child Welfare Services . This bill contains the following
provisions pertaining to child welfare services, including:
1.Tribal Share of Cost . This bill adjusts the tribal share of
costs for a tribe, consortium of tribes, or tribal
organization for the care and custody of Indian children.
2.Minimum Age of Group Home Staff . This bill requires a group
home staff or facility manager, on or after October 1, 2014,
to be at least 21 years old.
3.Services to Child Victims of Commercial Sexual Exploitation .
This bill establishes the Commercially Sexually Exploited
Children Program, as administered by DSS, to serve children
who have been sexually exploited. Specifically, this bill:
A. Requires DSS, in consultation with the County Welfare
Directors Association of California, to develop an
allocation methodology to distribute funding for the
program.
B. Authorizes the use of these funds by counties electing
to participate in the program for prevention and
intervention activities and services to children who are
victims, or at risk of becoming victims, of commercial
sexual exploitation.
C. Requires DSS to contract for training for county
children's services workers to identify, intervene, and
provide case management services to children who are
victims of commercial sexual exploitation, and for the
training of foster caregivers for the prevention and
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identification of potential victims.
D. Requires DSS, no later than April 1, 2017, to provide to
the Legislature, information regarding the implementation
of the program.
E. Require each county, electing to receive funds, to
develop an interagency protocol to be utilized in serving
sexually exploited children who have been adjudged to be a
dependent child of the juvenile court.
F. Requires the county interagency protocol to be developed
by a team led by a representative of the county human
services department and to include representatives from
specified county agencies and the juvenile court. This
bill makes these provisions operative on January 1, 2015.
G. Specifies that nothing precludes a county from providing
a supplemental rate to serve commercially exploited foster
children.
H. Provides that, to the extent federal financial
participation is available, federal funds should be
utilized.
1.Relative Caregivers . This bill establishes the Approved
Relative Caregiver Funding Option Program (Program). Under
the Program:
A. Counties who opt-in must, effective January 1, 2015, pay
an approved relative caregiver a per child, per month rate,
in return for the care and supervision of a federally
ineligible Aid to Families with Dependent Children - Foster
Care (AFDC-FC) child placed with the relative caregiver,
equal to the base rate paid to foster care providers for an
federally eligible AFDC-FC child, if the county has
notified DSS of its decision to participate in the Program.
B. A participating county must affirmatively indicate that
it understands and agrees to specified conditions,
including responsibility to pay any additional costs needed
to make all payments to the relative caregivers, if state
and federal funds are insufficient.
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C. A county must provide at least 120 days' prior written
notice to DSS, if it decides to opt-out of the program, and
must provide at least 90 days' prior written notice to the
approved relative caregiver or caregivers, informing them
that his/her payment will be reduced and the starting date
of the reeducation.
In addition, this bill appropriates $30,000,000 General Fund for
the 2015 calendar year and for each calendar year thereafter for
these purposes. If this appropriation is insufficient to fully
fund the base caseload of approved relative caregivers, this
bill provides for the appropriation of additional funds
necessary to fully fund that base caseload, and requires the
calendar year appropriation amount beginning with the 2016
calendar year to be increased by the same amount of additional
funds and along with the total calendar year appropriation, be
adjusted by the California Necessities Index annually.
CalFresh . This bill makes significant changes to the CalFresh
program. Specifically:
1.State Utility Assistance Subsidy (SUAS) . This bill repeals
provisions pertaining to the existing utility assistance
initiative to provide applicants and recipients of CalFresh a
$0.10 Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)
benefit out of the federal LIHEAP block grant. Effective July
1, 2014, this bill creates SUAS, a state-funded energy
assistance program, and requires the Department of Community
Services and Development to delegate authority over the
program to DSS. DSS must design, implement, and maintain the
SUAS program, to provide households that do not currently
qualify for, or receive, a standard utility allowance with a
SUAS benefit, as specified, if the household would become
eligible for CalFresh benefits or would receive increased
benefits if the standard utility allowance was provided. This
bill conditions the implementation of these provisions on an
appropriation of funds by the Legislature in the annual Budget
Act or related legislation.
2.Modified Categorical Eligibility . This bill raises the
federal poverty level to the federally allowable maximum
amount of 200%, and also requires DSS to establish, design,
and implement a program of categorical eligibility for
CalFresh recipients. This bill provides that the Director of
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DSS can only establish the program of categorical eligibility
with appropriate federal authorization, and if implementation
would not result in the loss of federal financial
participation. Lastly, this bill repeals rulemaking
provisions in law and moves those provisions to an uncodified
section.
3.County Administration Match Waiver . This bill extends
counties' eligibility to receive the full allocation for
CalFresh administration without paying the county's share of
the nonfederal costs above the 1996-1997 expenditure
requirement to the budget year. This bill also reduces the
amount of the waiver throughout subsequent fiscal years and
would eliminate the waiver by the 2018-19 fiscal year.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: Yes Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
JL:k 6/15/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED
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