Home Care Services Consumer Protection Act.

Existing law provides for the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, a county-administered program under which qualified aged, blind, and disabled persons receive services enabling them to remain in their own homes. The IHSS program includes various eligibility requirements for individuals who provide services to recipients under the program. Under existing law, a private provider of in-home care services is not subject to the requirements of the IHSS program. Existing law provides for the licensing and regulation of various community care facilities by the State Department of Social Services. This bill would enact the Home Care Services Consumer Protection Act, which would provide, on and after January 1, 2015, for the licensure and regulation of home care organizations, as defined, by the State Department of Social Services, and the registration of home care aides. The bill would exclude specified entities from the definition of a home care organization and would not include certain types of individuals as home care aides for the purposes of these provisions. This bill would require the department to establish and continuously update a home care aide registry, which would include specified information relating to home care aide applicants and registered home care aides. This bill would require background clearances for home care aides, as prescribed, and would set forth specific duties of the home care organization, the department, and the Department of Justice in this regard. The bill would require a home care aide applicant to submit to the Department of Justice a signed declaration under penalty of perjury regarding any prior criminal convictions. The bill would require home care aides to demonstrate they are free of active tuberculosis. The bill would require the department to impose various fees to be deposited in the Home Care Fund to be created by this bill. This bill, in addition, would prescribe enforcement procedures, fines, and penalties for violations of the act by a home care organization or a home care aide. The bill would require any fines and penalties collected under these provisions to be deposited into the Home Care Penalties Subaccount within the Home Care Fund to be created by this bill. This bill would provide that is a misdemeanor for a person to falsely represent or present himself or herself as a home care aide applicant or registered home care aide. The bill would also provide that any person who violates these provisions or willfully or repeatedly violates a rule or regulation promulgated under these provisions is guilty of a misdemeanor. Because this bill creates new crimes, this bill imposes a state-mandated local program. 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.