BILL ANALYSIS Ó
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1002|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 1002
Author: De León (D)
Amended: 8/18/14
Vote: 21
PRIOR VOTES NOT RELEVANT
SENATE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE : 4-0, 8/22/14 (Pursuant to
Senate Rule 29.10)
AYES: Beall, DeSaulnier, Liu, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Berryhill
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 77-0, 8/20/14 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Low-income individuals: eligibility determinations
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill requires the Department of Health Care
Services (DHCS) to seek any federal waivers necessary to use
eligibility information of certain individuals who have been
determined eligible for the CalFresh program to redetermine
their eligibility for Medi-Cal. This bill similarly requires
the Department of Social Services (DSS) to seek any federal
waivers necessary to use eligibility information of individuals
who have been determined eligible for the Medi-Cal program to
determine or redetermine their eligibility for CalFresh. This
bill requires DSS to consult with stakeholders in the
implementation of these provisions.
CONTINUED
SB 1002
Page
2
Assembly Amendments delete the Senate version of this bill
relating to aligning Medi-Cal eligibility periods with CalFresh
certification periods and add the current language.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1.Provides for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program, known in California as CalFresh, formerly the Food
Stamp Program, under which supplemental nutrition assistance
benefits allocated to the state by the federal government are
distributed to eligible individuals by each county.
2.Requires DHCS to seek any federal waivers necessary to use
eligibility information of certain individuals who have been
determined eligible for the CalFresh program to determine
their eligibility for Medi-Cal.
This bill:
1.Makes the following legislative findings and declarations:
A. Approximately 35% of Medi-Cal recipients are potentially
eligible to receive CalFresh benefits, but are not
currently receiving those benefits.
B. Only 77% of CalFresh recipients are currently enrolled
in Medi-Cal despite the fact that the eligibility income
threshold for Medi-Cal is higher than it is for CalFresh.
C. Recent collaboration between DSS, DHCS, and county human
services agencies has resulted in the Express Lane
Enrollment Project, which is an effort to utilize
information in a CalFresh case file to determine
eligibility for Medi-Cal.
D. The Express Lane Enrollment Project has been very
successful, resulting in more than 222,000 CalFresh
recipients being enrolled into Medi-Cal.
E. It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this act
to streamline enrollment and eligibility certification
processes and procedures for CalFresh and Medi-Cal, both at
CONTINUED
SB 1002
Page
3
initial enrollment and at renewal, to improve access to
CalFresh and Medi-Cal, and to reduce administrative burdens
on county agencies and applicant households.
1.Requires DHCS to seek any federal waivers necessary to use the
eligibility information of individuals who have been
determined eligible for Medi-Cal to determine or redetermine
their CalFresh eligibility.
2.Requires DSS to consult with stakeholders in the
implementation of these provisions.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee:
Unknown, significant one-time administrative costs to counties
to incorporate new rules into existing redetermination
procedures. Counties are funded by DHCS to process Medi-Cal
eligibility, but are currently reimbursed on a historical and
negotiated basis, not on a time-basis or per-case basis.
Therefore, increased county administrative costs will result
in additional one-time cost pressure to the state, but the
additional costs will not be funded directly, so there is no
direct state cost impact. On a longer-term basis, the new
rules are not likely to have a significant ongoing fiscal
impact on administrative costs.
Information Technology costs, potentially in the range of
$600,000 General Fund (General Fund/federal), to program
required changes in to the three
Medi-Cal eligibility systems used by county offices.
By increasing the time period for which an individual is
continuously enrolled in Medi-Cal, this bill is likely to
increase costs for Medi-Cal benefits. Precise estimates are
unavailable, but the increased costs could potentially be in
the tens of millions of dollars (General Fund/federal). For
example, assuming this bill allows 1 million people get an
average of an extra week of Medi-Cal benefits at a cost of $43
per week, $43 million total funds (General Fund/federal).
One-time staff costs to DHCS and DSS to develop a waiver
CONTINUED
SB 1002
Page
4
proposal in the range of $200,000 (General Fund/federal).
If the administration is able to secure a waiver to use a
Medi-Cal determination to determine or redetermine eligibility
for CalFresh, unknown, potentially significant ongoing costs
for increased CalFresh benefits (federal). Actual costs would
depend on the terms of the waiver.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 77-0, 8/20/14
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley,
Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier,
Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell,
Gray, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hernández, Holden, Jones,
Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein,
Mansoor, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian,
Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, John A. Pérez, V.
Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas,
Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron,
Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, Atkins
NO VOTE RECORDED: Donnelly, Grove, Vacancy
JL:e 8/22/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED
**** END ****
CONTINUED