(1) Existing law establishes the Department of Child Support Services to administer all federal and state laws and regulations relating to child support enforcement obligations. Existing law requires each county to maintain a local child support agency with responsibility for promptly and effectively enforcing child support obligations. Existing law establishes a quality assurance and performance improvement program within California’s child support program, and requires local child support agencies, in partnership with the department, to monitor and measure program performance and compliance.
The bill would, beginning July 1, 2018, require the director of the Department of Child Support Services and the president of the Child Support Directors Association of California to jointly lead discussions for the purposes of
identifying programwide operational efficiencies and further refinements to the budget methodology for the child support program, as needed. The bill would also require the department to submit a report to the chairs of the budget committees of each house of the Legislature that includes a description of the topics discussed and recommendations by July 1, 2019. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2021.
The bill would require the department, on or before March 1, 2019, and annually thereafter, to submit a status report to the Legislature on specific topics related to child support collection, including, among other topics, case-to-staff ratios for each local child support agency and collections to families and recoupment collections to county, state, and federal governmental entities.
(2) Existing law requires the Office of Systems Integration to implement a
statewide automated welfare system for specified public assistance programs. Existing law requires that statewide implementation of the statewide automated welfare system be achieved through no more than 4 county consortia, including the Interim Statewide Automated Welfare System (SAWS) consortia, and the Los Angeles Eligibility, Automated Determination, Evaluation, and Reporting (LEADER) System.
This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature that representatives from the State Department of Social Services, the State Department of Health Care Services, the Office of Systems Integration, the SAWS consortia, and the counties meet with advocates, clients, and other stakeholders no less than quarterly to review the development status of the California Automated Consortium Eligibility System (CalACES) and California Statewide Automated Welfare System (CalSAWS) projects. The bill would require the State Department of Social Services, the State Department of Health
Care Services, the Office of Systems Integration, and the SAWS consortia to engage with stakeholders to discuss current and planned functionality changes, system demonstrations of public portals and mobile applications, and advocates’ identification of areas of concern. The bill would require these meetings to commence in the summer of 2018 and to continue at least quarterly through development, implementation, and maintenance. The bill would also require the State Department of Social Services, the State Department of Health Care Services, and the Office of Systems Integration to develop, in consultation with the County Welfare Directors Association of California, the SAWS consortia, and stakeholders, a formal process for health and human services advocates and clients to provide input into new or changing public facing elements of CalACES and CalSAWS. By imposing a new duty on county members of the SAWS consortia to engage with stakeholders, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
(3) Existing law requires public social services for the deaf and hard of hearing to be available in at least 3 regions throughout the state. Existing law requires that those services include job development and placement and independent living skills instruction, among others. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to establish the criteria for funding public social services for the deaf and hard of hearing. Existing law requires the department to contract with public agencies or private nonprofit corporations for a period not to exceed one year for purposes of these provisions, as specified. Existing law authorizes the department to renegotiate those contracts on an annual basis. Existing law requires a private nonprofit corporation to submit a financial statement prior to renewal of a contract under these provisions.
This bill would instead require the department to contract with
those entities for services pursuant to a competitive bid process, as prescribed. The bill would authorize those contracts to be negotiated for a term not to exceed 5 years. The bill would require a private nonprofit corporation to submit a financial statement for its most recent fiscal year prior to any new award or renewal of a contract under these provisions.
(4) Existing law, commonly known as Continuum of Care Reform (CCR), states the intent of the Legislature in adopting CCR to improve California’s child welfare system and its outcomes by increasing the use of home-based family care and the provision of services and supports to home-based family care, and creating faster paths to permanency resulting in shorter durations of involvement in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems, among other things. Existing law, as part of the CCR, requires the State Department of Social Services to implement a resource family
approval process, which replaces the multiple processes for licensing foster family homes, certifying foster homes by foster family agencies, approving relatives and nonrelative extended family members as foster care providers, and approving guardians and adoptive families.
This bill would require the Department of Finance, in consultation with the specified entities, to develop and implement a methodology for determining the state’s and each county’s overall actual costs and savings resulting from the implementation of the CCR initiative, and would require the methodology to take into account the CCR-related assistance and administration costs and savings of the state and each county associated with the implementation of the CCR initiative, based on the best available data.
Existing law establishes the state-funded Kinship Guardianship Assistance Payment
(Kin-GAP) program, the Aid to Families with Dependent Children-Foster Care (AFDC-FC) program, and the Adoption Assistance Program (AAP), under which aid is provided based on a statutorily prescribed rate structure known as the basic foster care maintenance payment rate structure. Existing law, as part of CCR, updated payment rate structures for foster care programs.
This bill would instead require the home-based family care rate structure to be implemented as of January 1, 2017, in furtherance of CCR. The bill would require this rate structure to be the model under which aid is provided under Kin-Gap, AFDC-FC, and AAP, as described, excluding cases in which guardianship has been established in the probate court, which would receive the basic foster care maintenance structure effective and available as of December 31, 2016. The bill would make additional conforming changes. To the extent that this bill would affect agreements administered by county agencies, this
bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
Under existing law, a child who is placed in the approved home of a relative is eligible for AFDC-FC if he or she is eligible for federal financial participation in the AFDC-FC payment, as specified. Existing law establishes the Approved Relative Caregiver Funding Program (ARC) for the purpose of making the amount paid to relative caregivers for the in-home care of children placed with them who are ineligible for AFDC-FC payments equal to the amount paid on behalf of children who are eligible for AFDC-FC payments. Existing law requires counties, until June 30, 2018, to provide an emergency assistance payment or ARC payment to an emergency caregiver who meets specified requirements, and is caring for a child or nonminor dependent placed in the caregiver’s home under specified circumstances, if the child or nonminor dependent resides in California, and is not otherwise eligible for AFDC-FC or ARC. Existing law requires
the payments to be made either through ARC or through the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) block grant Emergency Assistance Program for child welfare services, as specified.
This bill would extend indefinitely the requirement that counties provide an emergency assistance payment or ARC payment to an emergency caregiver, if the emergency caregiver has signed and submitted to the county an application for resource family approval and an application for the Emergency Assistance Program has been completed. The bill would provide for payments if the child or nonminor dependent is ineligible for the TANF block grant Emergency Assistance Program, and payments if the resource family application has not yet been approved or denied, as specified. The bill would require counties to document information and provide information to the State Department of Social Services monthly to receive the federal and state share of
payment, as specified. By expanding the duties of counties, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Community Care Facilities Act provides for the licensure and regulation of community care facilities by the State Department of Social Services. Existing law states that it is the policy of the state to facilitate the proper placement of every child in a residential care facility where the placement is in the best interests of the child. Existing law requires a group home, transitional housing placement provider, community treatment facility, runaway and homeless youth shelter, temporary shelter care facility, transitional shelter care facility, or short-term residential therapeutic program to report to the department’s Community Care Licensing Division upon the occurrence of any incident concerning a child in the facility involving contact with law enforcement, as specified. Existing law requires the facility to provide a followup report
for each incident, including identifying the type of incident. Under existing law, the department is required to inspect the facility at least once a year if the department determines that, based on the licensed capacity, the facility has reported a greater than average number of law enforcement contacts involving an alleged violation of specified crimes by a child residing in the facility. A violation of the act is a misdemeanor.
This bill would require each group home, transitional shelter care facility, short-term residential therapeutic program, and temporary shelter care facility to develop protocols that dictate the circumstances under which law enforcement may be contacted in response to the conduct of a child residing at the facility. The bill would require the protocols to, among other things, specify that contacting law enforcement shall only be used as a last resort once all other deescalation and intervention techniques have been
exhausted and only upon approval of a staff supervisor. To the extent that the bill would impose additional duties on county facilities and expand the scope of an existing crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
This bill would, until July 1, 2023, require the department to allocate funds appropriated to provide training and community-based, culturally relevant, trauma-informed services in order to reduce the frequency of law enforcement involvement and delinquency petitions arising from incidents at group homes and other facilities licensed to provide residential care to dependent children. Among other things, the bill would require the department to annually allocate funds appropriated to the department in the annual Budget Act to lead agencies that submit a 3-year plan with specified information by February 1 of the first year, and submit any modifications to the plan by February 1 of each subsequent year.
Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to determine the rate classification level (RCL) for each group home. Existing law prohibits a new group home rate or changes to an existing rate pursuant to RCL except that the department may grant an exception, on a case-by-case basis and only through December 31, 2018, when there is a material risk to the welfare of children due to an inadequate supply of appropriate alternative placement options to meet the needs of children, as specified.
This bill would authorize the department to grant an additional extension to a group home beyond December 31, 2018, upon a county child welfare department submitting a written request on behalf of a provider and providing required documentation. The bill would authorize extensions in increments up to 6 months and not to exceed a total of 12 months. The bill would authorize the department to implement these provisions through
all-county letters.
Existing federal law establishes the Chafee Educational and Training Vouchers Program for the purposes of providing financial aid to current and former foster youth who are attending qualifying postsecondary educational institutions. Existing law provides that the Student Aid Commission, through an interagency agreement with the State Department of Social Services, currently operates the program in California, and, commencing with the 2017–18 award year, requires the commission to make a new Chafee grant award to a student only if the student attends specified qualifying institutions.
This bill would, commencing with the 2018–19 award year and contingent upon an appropriation of sufficient funds in the annual Budget Act for this purpose, add the condition that the student not be 26 years of age or older by July 1 of the award year in order to receive a Chafee grant award. The bill
would require the commission to annually report to the Legislature specified information regarding Chafee grant awards for the preceding award year, including the number of students that apply to receive the Chafee grant award, and the number of, and age of, students paid through the program.
Existing law authorizes the Director of Social Services to enter into an agreement with a tribe, consortium of tribes, or tribal organization regarding the care and custody of Indian children and jurisdiction over Indian child custody proceedings, under specified circumstances. Existing law requires these agreements to provide for the delegation to the tribe, consortium of tribes, or tribal organization the responsibility that would otherwise be the responsibility of the county for the provision of child welfare services or assistance payments under the AFDC-FC program, or both.
This bill would, to the extent that
funding is expressly provided in the annual Budget Act for these purposes, authorize an Indian tribe, consortium of tribes, or tribal organization, that is a party to an agreement to, in accordance with the agreement, be eligible to receive an allocation of child welfare services funds to assist in funding the startup costs associated with establishing a comprehensive child welfare services program.
(5) Existing law, as part of the Mello-Granlund Older Californians Act, establishes the Office of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman, under the direction of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman, in the California Department of Aging. Existing law provides for the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program under which funds are allocated to local ombudsman programs to assist elderly persons in long-term health care facilities and residential care facilities by, among other things, investigating and seeking to resolve complaints against
these facilities. Existing law requires the department to allocate federal and state funds for local ombudsman programs according to a specified distribution, but prohibits the department from allocating less than $35,000 per fiscal year, except in areas with fewer than 10 facilities and fewer than 500 beds.
This bill would increase the base allocation for local ombudsman programs to $100,000 per fiscal year, regardless of the number of facilities or beds.
Existing law requires each county welfare department to establish and support a system of protective services for elderly and dependent adults who may be subjected to neglect, abuse, or exploitation or who are unable to protect their own interests. Existing law requires the county to establish and maintain a specialized entity within the county welfare department that has the lead responsibility for the operation of the adult protective services
program.
This bill, subject to an appropriation of funds in the annual Budget Act, would establish the Home Safe Program, which would require the State Department of Social Services to award grants to counties, tribes, or groups of counties or tribes, that provide services to elder and dependent adults who experience abuse, neglect, and exploitation and otherwise meet the eligibility criteria for adult protective services, for the purpose of providing prescribed housing-related supports to eligible individuals. The bill would require the department to develop criteria and procedures to award the grants, as specified, and would require the department to enter into a contract with an independent evaluation and research agency to evaluate the impacts of the program.
(6) Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care
Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Under existing law, one of the methods by which Medi-Cal services are provided is pursuant to contracts with various types of managed care plans.
Existing law establishes the county-administered In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program to aged, blind, or disabled persons, as defined, who are unable to perform the services themselves and who cannot safely remain in their homes or abodes of their own choosing unless these services are provided. Existing law authorizes a county board of supervisors to contract with a nonprofit consortium or to establish a public authority to provide in-home supportive services, and provides that the public authority or nonprofit consortium shall be deemed to be the employer of in-home supportive services personnel for the purposes of
collective bargaining over wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment.
Under the Medi-Cal program, services provided under the IHSS program are provided as a Medi-Cal benefit under the IHSS Plus option, and similar services, known as personal care services and home- and community-based attendant services and supports, are provided to eligible individuals. The Medi-Cal program also defines “waiver personal care services” to mean personal care services authorized by the State Department of Health Care Services for persons who are eligible for either nursing or model nursing facility waiver services.
This bill would provide that the county, or the public authority or nonprofit consortium established to provide in-home supportive services, shall be deemed the employer to meet and confer in good faith regarding wages, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment
of individuals providing waiver personal care services. The bill would, for purposes of these provisions, of bargaining unit placement, and of waiver personal care services, require individuals providing waiver personal care services to be deemed a part of the established bargaining unit of in-home supportive service providers of an employer of record in the county in which the individual delivers waiver personal care services. The bill would provide that these provisions shall be implemented only to the extent that any necessary federal approvals are obtained and federal financial participation is available and not otherwise jeopardized. The bill would also make conforming changes.
The California Public Records Act requires state and local agencies to make public records available for inspection by the public, subject to specified criteria and with specified exceptions. The act exempts from public inspection specified information regarding persons paid by the state
to provide in-home supportive services or personal care services.
This bill would additionally exempt from public inspection specified information regarding persons paid by the state to provide in-home supportive services under the IHSS Plus option, home- and community-based attendant services and supports, and waiver personal care services.
Existing law entitles a provider of in-home supportive services who, on and after July 1, 2018, works in California for the same employer for 30 or more days within a year from the commencement of employment to paid sick days, as specified. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services, in consultation with stakeholders, to convene a workgroup to implement paid sick leave for in-home supportive services providers, as specified, and requires the work group to finish its implementation work by November 1, 2017.
This bill, no later than February 1, 2019, would require the State Department of Social Services, in consultation with the Department of Finance and stakeholders, to reconvene the paid sick leave workgroup for in-home supportive services. The bill would require the workgroup to discuss how paid sick leave affects the provision of in-home supportive services and to consider the potential need for a process to cover an in-home supportive services recipient’s authorized hours when a provider should need to utilize his or her sick time. The bill would require the workgroup to finish its work by November 1, 2019.
(7) 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 SSP are calculated by establishing the maximum level of nonexempt income and federal SSI and state SSP benefits for each category of eligible recipient, with an annual cost-of-living adjustment, effective January 1 of each year. Existing law prohibits, for each calendar year, commencing with the 2011 calendar year, any cost-of-living adjustment from being made to the maximum benefit payment unless otherwise specified by statute, except for the pass along of any cost-of-living increase in the federal SSI benefits. Existing law continuously appropriates funds for the implementation of SSP.
This bill would provide for an annual cost-of-living adjustment to the SSP benefit payment commencing July 1, 2022, which shall be 0%, unless otherwise
specified in the annual Budget Act.
(8) Existing law establishes the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, under which each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families using federal, state, and county funds.
This bill would, on and after January 1, 2019, establish the CalWORKs Home Visiting Initiative as a voluntary program for the purpose of supporting positive health, development, and well-being outcomes for eligible pregnant and parenting women, families, and infants born into poverty, expanding their future educational, economic, and financial capability opportunities, and improving the likelihood that they will exit poverty. The bill would include case management and evidence-based home visiting, as defined, as a primary component of the program, and would require home visiting to be offered to an
individual who meets certain criteria, as specified, and to include, but not be limited to, specified resources and referrals relating to prenatal, infant, and toddler care, among other things. The bill would make participation in the program optional for counties and would require a county that applies for funds under the program to agree to the terms of the program and to include specified information in its application. The bill would, subject to an appropriation in the annual Budget Act, require the State Department of Social Services to award funds to participating counties for the purposes of the program. The bill would authorize the department to implement and administer the program through all-county letters or similar instructions until regulations are adopted.
Existing law establishes the maximum aid payment amounts to be provided to each family receiving aid under CalWORKs, and increases the maximum aid payments by 1.43% effective October 1, 2016.
Existing law continuously appropriates moneys from the General Fund to defray a portion of county costs under the CalWORKs program, and requires a county share of cost to be subtracted from that General Fund appropriation.
This bill would, effective April 1, 2019, increase the maximum aid payment amounts by an additional 10%. The bill would, commencing in the 2019–20 fiscal year, and for each fiscal year thereafter, if an incremental adjustment is made to the maximum aid payments, require the counties’ share of that adjustment to be based upon the total incremental adjustment or the increase in the California Necessities Index, as specified, for the fiscal year in which the adjustment becomes effective, whichever is lower.
Existing law provides an annual cost-of-living adjustment to the maximum aid payment, but suspends the adjustment for certain periods, including for the 2010–11
fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter.
This bill would provide for an annual cost-of-living adjustment to the maximum aid payment commencing July 1, 2022, which shall be 0%, unless otherwise specified in the annual Budget Act.
Existing law makes a homeless family that has used all available liquid resources in excess of $100 eligible for homeless assistance benefits to pay the costs of temporary shelter if the family is eligible for aid under the CalWORKs program. Under existing law, the nonrecurring special needs benefit to pay for temporary shelter for a family of up to 4 is $65 per day. Existing law provides up to $15 per day for the 5th and additional members of the family, up to a daily maximum of $125.
This bill would, on and after January 1, 2019, increase the nonrecurring special needs benefit to pay for temporary shelter for
a family of up to 4 to $85 a day, and would provide that the daily maximum amount for the payment of additional family members is $145. The bill would require the State Department of Social Services to adopt emergency regulations to implement these provisions by January 1, 2021, as specified, and would authorize the department to implement those provisions by all-county letters or similar instructions until regulations are adopted. To the extent that this bill may increase the administrative duties of counties, it would impose a state-mandated local program.
Existing law requires a recipient of CalWORKs to participate in welfare-to-work activities as a condition of eligibility, but permits a student who is enrolled in an undergraduate degree or certificate program that leads to employment to continue in that program under specified conditions. If a recipient’s participation in educational or vocational training, as determined by the number of hours required for
classroom, laboratory, or internship activities, is not at least 30 hours, or 20 hours, as specified, existing law provides that county shall require the recipient to participate concurrently in work activities, as specified.
This bill would include hours required for study time provided for by an educational or training institution when determining the minimum number of hours of participation in educational or vocational training necessary for a recipient to be exempt from concurrent work activities. To the extent that the bill would increase the number of individuals who maintain their eligibility for the CalWORKs program, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
Because moneys from the General Fund are continuously appropriated to defray a portion of county costs under the CalWORKs program, the bill would make an appropriation.
(9) Existing federal law provides for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), known in California as CalFresh, under which supplemental nutrition assistance benefits allocated to the state by the federal government are distributed to eligible individuals by each county. Existing law, administered by the State Department of Social Services, provides for the establishment of a statewide electronic benefits transfer (EBT) system for the purpose of providing financial and food assistance benefits, including CalFresh benefits.
This bill would establish the California Fruit and Vegetable EBT Pilot Project, which would require the department, in consultation with the Department of Food and Agriculture and stakeholders with experience operating CalFresh nutrition incentive programs, to include within the EBT system a supplemental benefits mechanism that allows an authorized retailer, as
defined, to deliver and redeem supplemental benefits, as specified.
The bill would create in the State Treasury the California Fruit and Vegetable EBT Grant Fund, as specified. The bill would, upon the deposit of sufficient moneys into the fund, as determined by the department, and upon the appropriation of moneys from the fund by the Legislature for this purpose, also require the department to provide a minimum of 3 grants to nonprofit organizations or government agencies for pilot projects to implement and test the supplemental benefits mechanism in existing retail settings, and to develop and adopt guidelines for awarding the grants. The bill would require the department to evaluate the pilot projects and make recommendations to further refine and expand the supplemental benefits mechanism, and to submit a report to the Legislature with the outcomes of that evaluation when the department has sufficient data to evaluate the pilot, but no later than January 1,
2022. The bill would exempt contracts under the pilot project from specified public contracting requirements and would authorize the department to implement, interpret, or make specific these provisions through all-county letters or similar instructions without taking any regulatory action. The bill would require the department to seek any necessary federal approvals to establish this pilot project, and would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2024.
Existing law requires that the eligibility of households for CalFresh benefits be determined to the extent permitted by federal law, and requires the State Department of Social Services to establish a program of categorical eligibility for CalFresh in accordance with federal law. Existing law requires SSP payments to be reduced for individuals and couples, as specified, for purposes of CalFresh eligibility, if permitted by federal law.
This bill would repeal SSP payment reductions for purposes of CalFresh eligibility, and would grant CalFresh eligibility, as specified, to recipients of SSI, SSP, or both as of June 1, 2019, or an alternate implementation date determined by the department that is no later than August 1, 2019. The bill would require a county welfare department to determine continuing eligibility and benefits for households, as specified. By imposing requirements on counties relative to CalFresh, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
This bill would establish the SSI/SSP Cash-In Supplemental Nutrition Benefit (SNB) Program to provide nutrition benefits to a CalFresh household that had its benefits reduced when a previously excluded SSI or SSP recipient was added to the household under the new eligibility provisions. The bill would also establish the SSI/SSP Cash-In Transitional Nutrition Benefit (TNB) Program
to provide nutrition benefits to a CalFresh household that became ineligible when a previously excluded SSI or SSP recipient was added to the household under the new eligibility provisions. The bill would provide that the SNB and TNB program benefits would be granted only to the extent funding is appropriated in the annual Budget Act. The bill would make conforming changes to related provisions, as specified.
(10) The bill would authorize the State Department of Social Services to implement specified provisions of the bill through all-county letters or similar instructions and would require the department to adopt emergency regulations implementing these provisions no later than January 1, 2020.
(11) Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of
public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.
This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
(12) 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be
made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
(13) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.