AB 4

Bill Subjects

Abstract

(1) Existing law establishes the Department of Child Support Services within the California Health and Human Services Agency, to administer all services and perform all functions necessary to establish, collect, and distribute child support. Existing law requires the department, among other duties, to reduce the cost of, and increase the speed and efficiency of, child support enforcement operations. This bill, effective October 1, 2010, would require the department to impose a $25 administrative fee on a never-assisted custodial party receiving specified services from the child support program, if the annual amount of child support payments collected on behalf of the custodial party is $500 or more. Existing law requires the Department of Child Support Services to administer all services and perform all functions necessary to establish, collect, and distribute child support, and requires the department and the local child support agency to promptly and effectively collect and enforce child support obligations. This bill would require an appropriation made available in the annual Budget Act for the purposes of augmenting funding for local child support agencies in the furtherance of their revenue collection responsibilities to be subject to specified requirements, including, but not limited to, requiring each local child support agency to submit an early intervention plan to the department, and requiring the department to report to the fiscal committees of the Legislature by January 1, 2010, to track and evaluate the impact of the budget augmentation on revenue collections and cost-effectiveness. By placing new responsibilities on local child support agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would require the department and the Office of the Chief Information Officer to jointly produce an annual report to be submitted to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature on the ongoing implementation of the California Child Support Automation System (CCSAS) , as specified. (2) Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to charge an application fee for the initial licensure and renewal of a license to operate community care facilities, residential care facilities for persons with chronic, life-threatening illness, residential care facilities for the elderly, and child day care facilities. These fees are used by the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the licensing and related activities of the department. This bill would increase these fee schedules, as prescribed. (3) Under existing law, the state, through the State Department of Social Services and county welfare departments, is required to establish and support a public system of statewide child welfare services. Existing law also establishes that a case plan, which is required to be adopted by the county for each child receiving child welfare services, such as dependent children and wards of the juvenile court and children in foster care, and which includes prescribed information, is the foundation and central unifying tool in child welfare services. This bill, effective January 1, 2010, would require a case plan shall ensure the educational stability of the child while in foster care, as specified. (4) The Mello-Granlund Older Californians Act establishes the Community-Based Services Network, administered by the California Department of Aging, which, among other things, requires the department to enter into contracts with local area agencies on aging to carry out the requirements of various community-based services programs. Among these programs are the Alzheimer's Day Care-Resource Center Program and the Linkages Program. The Alzheimer's Day Care-Resource Center Program is required to provide access to specialized day care resource centers for individuals with Alzheimer's disease and other dementia-related disorders, and to provide support to their families and caregivers. The Linkages Program is required to provide care and case management services to frail elderly and functionally impaired adults in order to help prevent or delay placement in nursing facilities. Under the Alzheimer's Day Care-Resource Center Program, direct services contractors provide a program of specialized day care for participants with dementia. Existing law imposes requirements on these direct services contractor as a condition of eligibility to receive funding under the program. This bill would delete certain of the requirements applicable to the direct services contractors under the Alzheimer's Day Care-Resource Center Program, and instead would encourage a direct services contractor to perform these activities to the extent possible, within their resources. This bill would require the department, by September 1, 2009, to issue specified revised documentation to contractors regarding prioritization of low-income individuals under the Linkages Program, and would require the contractors to give these individuals priority for enrollment subsequent to the provision of the revised documentation. (5) Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to ensure that performance outcomes for specified public social services programs are monitored at the state and county levels, as specified. Existing law requires the department, if it finds that a county is experiencing significantly worsened outcomes, to report this finding to the appropriate fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature, as specified. Under existing law, if the state is subject to a fiscal penalty for failure to achieve the outcomes required by federal law, counties that failed to meet the federal requirements are required to share in the federal penalty. Existing law declares the intent of the Legislature that the annual Budget Act appropriate state and federal funds in a single allocation to counties for the support of administrative activities undertaken by the counties to provide benefit payments to recipients of aid under the CalWORKs program. This bill would provide for the allocation of funds received by the state from the federal Emergency Contingency Fund for State Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Programs, in accordance with the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5) , to pay county costs for certain wage subsidy programs and nonrecurrent short-term benefit programs, as defined, notwithstanding the provisions of the existing allocation. The bill would revise the definition of needy families for purposes of these provisions. The bill would make these provisions inoperative October 1, 2010, and would repeal the provisions on January 1, 2011. (6) Existing law requires the Office of Systems Integration in the State Department of Social Services to implement a statewide automated welfare system for 6 specified public assistance programs, and requires statewide implementation of the system to be achieved through 4 designated county consortia. This bill would authorize the county consortia to make designated changes with respect to expenditures within the consortia's approved annual budget, as specified. (7) Existing federal law provides for allocation of federal funds through the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant program to eligible states. Existing law provides for the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program for the allocation of federal funds received through the TANF program, under which each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families. Existing law requires, with certain exceptions, that an individual participate in work activities, as defined, in order to remain eligible for CalWORKs benefits. This bill would add to those individuals exempted from participating in welfare-to-work activities certain parents or other relatives who have primary responsibility for caring for one or more children, as specified. The bill would authorize counties to provide and discontinue additional participation exemptions, as prescribed. The bill would make these provisions inoperative as of January 1, 2012. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services, with respect to counties that implement a welfare-to-work plan that includes designated subsidized work activities, to pay the county 50% of the participant's wage subsidy, subject to specified conditions. This bill would make the above provisions inoperative from the date that the bill takes effect until September 30, 2010, unless the department makes specified determinations concerning the provisions relating to the allocation of funds received from the federal Emergency Contingency Fund for State Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Programs. Existing law provides for funding under the CalWORKs program for designated mental health and substance abuse treatment services. This bill would give counties the option to redirect funding from and to the amounts appropriated for CalWORKs mental health employment assistance services and CalWORKs substance abuse treatment services, from and to other specified CalWORKs employment services. Existing law provides that a parent or caretaker relative shall not be eligible for CalWORKs aid when he or she has received aid for a cumulative total of 60 months. Existing law excludes months in which certain conditions exist from being counted as a month of receipt of aid for these purposes. This bill would add to the conditions that establish an exclusion from the 60-month requirement months in which a recipient is excused for good cause from welfare-to-work activities because he or she lacks necessary support services, as specified. The bill would also exclude, until July 1, 2011, months in which the recipient is exempt from participation due to caretaking responsibilities that impair the recipient's ability to be regularly employed. To the extent that the bill would expand CalWORKs eligibility, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. State funds are continuously appropriated to pay for a share of costs under the CalWorks program. This bill would provide that no appropriation would be made for purposes of this bill. (8) Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to administer a voluntary Temporary Assistance Program (TAP) to provide cash assistance and other benefits to specified current and future CalWORKs recipients who meet the exemption criteria for participation in welfare-to-work activities and are not single parents who have a child under one year of age. Existing law requires that the TAP commence on or before April 1, 2010. This bill would extend the date by which the TAP shall commence to October 1, 2010. (9) Existing law, through the Kinship Guardianship Assistance Payment Program (Kin-GAP) , which is a part of the CalWORKs program, provides aid on behalf of eligible children who are placed in the home of a relative caretaker. The program is funded by state and county funding and available federal funds. Existing law requires the rate paid on behalf of children eligible for a Kin-GAP payment to equal 100% of the rate for children placed in a licensed or approved foster home under the Aid to Families with Dependent Children-Foster Care (AFDC-FC) program. Existing law establishes the rate to be paid for 24-hour out-of-home care and supervision provided to children who are both consumers of regional center services and recipients of AFDC-FC benefits, with this rate to be known as a dual agency rate. This bill, would require a child's Kin-GAP rate to be the amount of the dual agency rate if the child, while in foster care, received, a dual agency rate immediately prior to his or her enrollment in the Kin-GAP program. The bill also would require, a child receiving designated early intervention services who is receiving AFDC-FC benefits immediately prior to his or her enrollment in the Kin-GAP program, to be considered and assessed for a dual agency rate. It would require his or her Kin-GAP rate to be set at the amount of the dual agency rate. Because the Kin-GAP program is administered by the counties, this bill would increase county duties, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program. (10) Existing law provides for the AFDC-FC program, under which counties provide payments to foster care providers on behalf of qualified children in foster care. Under existing law, foster care providers licensed as group homes have rates established by classifying each group home program and applying a standardized schedule of rates. An adjusted schedule of rates is applicable to group home programs that receive AFDC-FC payments for services performed during the 2002–03 to 2008–09, inclusive, fiscal years. This bill would extend application of the adjusted schedule of rates through the 2009–10 fiscal year, as specified. This bill would reduce by 10% the standardized schedule of rates for group homes, the rates of licensed group home providers whose rates are not established under the standardized schedule, and foster family agency rates, effective October 1, 2009. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to implement intensive treatment foster care programs for eligible children. Existing law establishes standard rate schedule of service and rate levels for these programs, and provides for the annual adjustment of these rates, as specified. This bill would reduce by 10% the standardized rates applicable to intensive treatment foster care programs, effective October 1, 2009. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to perform or have performed group home program and fiscal audits, as needed, and requires group home programs to maintain specified information affecting ratesetting and AFDC-FC payments for a period not less than 5 years. Existing law prohibits the department from reducing a group home's AFDC-FC rate or rate classification level, or from establishing an overpayment based upon a nonprovisional program audit, for a period of less than one year. This bill would delete the provision prohibiting the department from reducing a group home's AFDC-FC rate or rate classification level (RCL) for a period of less than one year under the above circumstances, except under designated circumstances when the provider's audited RCL is no more than 3 levels below the paid RCL. Existing law requires the Director of Social Services to establish administrative procedures to review group home audit findings, and authorizes a group home provider to request a hearing to examine any disputed audit finding, as specified. Under existing law, the director is required to take one of 3 specified actions within 120 days of submission of a proposed hearing decision. This bill would require the proposed decision to take effect by operation of law if the director fails to take action within the prescribed time period. (11) Existing law provides for the State Supplementary Program for the Aged, Blind and Disabled (SSP) , which requires the State Department of Social Services to contract with the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services to make payments to SSP recipients to supplement Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments made available pursuant to the federal Social Security Act. Under existing law, benefit payments under the SSP are calculated by establishing the maximum level of nonexempt income and federal SSI and state SSP benefits for each category of eligible recipient. The state SSP payment is the amount, when added to the nonexempt income and SSI benefits available to the recipient, which would be required to provide the maximum benefit payment. This bill would reduce the SSI/SSP maximum aid payment for a married couple to equal the minimum amount required by the federal Social Security Act in order to maintain eligibility for federal funding, as specified. The bill would reduce the maximum aid payment for an individual by 0.6%, as specified. This bill would exempt specified payment categories from these reductions. The bill would make these provisions effective as of the first day of the month following 90 days after enactment of this bill. (12) Existing law provides for the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, under which, either through employment by the recipient, by or through contract by the county, by the creation of a public authority, or pursuant to a contract with a nonprofit consortium, qualified aged, blind, and disabled persons receive services enabling them to remain in their own homes. Existing law provides for the payment of a supplementary benefit under the IHSS program to any eligible aged, blind, or disabled person who is receiving Medi-Cal personal care services and who would otherwise be deemed a categorically needy recipient under the IHSS program. This bill would limit this supplementary payment to individuals who meet existing criteria and who are eligible to receive the supplementary payment on June 30, 2009. The bill would eliminate the supplementary payment, effective October 1, 2009. The bill would provide for reinstatement, as specified, of recipients who erroneously lose this benefit on or after July 1, 2009. Existing law prohibits a person from providing supportive services if he or she has been convicted of specified crimes in the previous 10 years. Under existing law, the State Department of Social Services and the State Department of Health Care Services are required to develop a provider enrollment form that each person seeking to provide supportive services shall complete, sign under penalty of perjury, and submit to the county, containing designated statements relating to the provider's criminal history. This bill would revise the required contents of the provider enrollment form, and would designate the form as an application to render services under the Medi-Cal program, consistent with a specified provision of law, and would make related changes. Existing law requires the department to develop a uniform needs assessment tool, as specified, in order to ensure that in-home supportive services are delivered in all counties in a uniform manner. This bill, commencing September 1, 2009, and subject to prescribed exceptions, would require a recipient of IHSS services to be assigned a Functional Index Score, as defined, and would require a determination of eligibility for services to be based upon these scores, as specified. This bill would require the State Department of Social Services to convene a stakeholder group and begin a process with the group to develop and issue a report evaluating the implementation of IHSS quality assurance and fraud prevention and detection activities enacted since 2004. The bill would require the department to provide this report to the Legislature on or before December 31, 2010. (13) Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income persons receive health care benefits. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid provisions. Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal Drug Treatment Program (Drug Medi-Cal) , under which each county enters into contracts with the State Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs for the provision of various drug treatment services to Medi-Cal recipients, or the department directly arranges for the provision of these services if a county elects not to do so. This bill would reduce the rates for Drug Medi-Cal services by 10% for the 2009–10 fiscal year, and, for the 2010–11 fiscal year and thereafter, by the lesser of 10% or the rates applicable in the 2009–10 fiscal year, adjusted as specified. (14) Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to establish a Work Incentive Nutritional Supplement (WINS) program, under which each county is required to provide a $40 monthly additional food assistance benefit for each eligible food stamp household, as defined. The bill would require the state to pay the counties 100% of the cost of WINS benefits, using funds that qualify for the state's Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program maintenance of effort requirements, as specified. Existing law prohibits WINS benefits from being paid before October 1, 2009, and requires full implementation of the program on or before April 1, 2010. This bill would extend the time for payment of WINS benefits to commence to October 1, 2011, and the time for full implementation of the program to April 1, 2012. Existing law authorizes the director to implement the WINS program by all-county letters by March 1, 2009, pending the adoption of emergency regulations. This bill would extend the time for issuance of all-county letters to March 1, 2011. Existing law requires the department to convene a workgroup on or before December 1, 2008, comprised of designated representatives, to consider the progress of the WINS automation effort in tandem with a preassistance employment readiness system (PAERS) program and any other program options that may provide offsetting benefits to the caseload reduction credit in the CalWORKs program. Existing law prohibits full implementation of the WINS program until the workgroup is convened. This bill would extend the date by which the department is required to establish the WINS/PAERS workgroup to December 1, 2010, and would make conforming changes. (15) Existing law provides for the Adoption Assistance Program (AAP) , to be established and administered by the State Department of Social Services or the county, for the purpose of benefitting children residing in foster homes by providing the stability and security of permanent homes. The program provides for the payment by the department and counties, of cash assistance to eligible families that adopt eligible children. Existing law sets forth the conditions under which a child is eligible for AAP benefits, and requires the department to actively seek and make maximum use of available federal funds for purposes of the program. Under existing law, in accordance with the adoption assistance agreement, the adoptive family is paid an amount of aid based on the child's needs otherwise covered in AFDC-FC payments and the circumstance of the adopting parents, not to exceed the foster care maintenance payment that would have been paid based on the age related state-approved foster family home care rate, and any applicable specialized care increment, for a child placed in a licensed or approved family home, as specified. This bill would revise the conditions under which a child would be eligible for AAP benefits, including specifying conditions under which an applicable child, as defined, would be eligible to receive federal funding. This bill would require that with respect to adoption assistance agreements executed on or after January 1, 2010, adoption assistance benefits would be increased based on specified needs of the child, as specified. (16) Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to establish a program of public health nursing in the child welfare services program, and specifies the duties that the foster care public health nurse is authorized to perform. This bill would make the duties of the foster care public health nurse mandatory, and would add to those duties documenting that each child in foster care receives specified health screenings. (17) Existing law establishes the Department of Community Services and Development to perform various functions, including coordinating and assisting community action agencies with respect to antipoverty and community services programs. This bill, notwithstanding any other provision of law or regulation, would require the eligibility threshold for the use of additional Community Service Block Grant funds received under the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to be increased to 200% of the federal poverty level exclusively and only through the term and use of those funds, as determined by the Department of Community Services and Development, or any other department through which these federal funds are administered by the state. (18) This bill would require the State Department of Social Services to consult with designated stakeholders, to determine how best to ensure that existing best practices for family search and engagement and participatory case planning, including, but not limited to, training or technical assistance, are institutionalized statewide. The bill would require the department to provide information at future budget hearings regarding the implementation of these efforts, including available outcome data. (19) This bill would require the State Department of Social Services to develop a risk management form, with input from the counties and specified stakeholders, relating to the provisions of aid for specified personal assistance services. The bill would require the department to implement the form on a trail basis in 3 counties prior to statewide implementation. (20) This bill would provide for the implementation of its provisions through all-county letters or similar instructions, and would provide for the adoption of emergency regulations, with respect to certain provisions of the bill. (21) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions. The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to declare a fiscal emergency and to call the Legislature into special session for that purpose. The Governor issued a proclamation declaring a fiscal emergency, and calling a special session for this purpose, on July 1, 2009. This bill would state that it addresses the fiscal emergency declared by the Governor by proclamation issued on July 1, 2009, pursuant to the California Constitution. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.