Human services.

(1) Under existing law, the State Department of Social Services regulates the licensure and operation of various types of facilities, including community care facilities, residential care facilities for the elderly, residential care facilities for persons with chronic, life-threatening illness, child day care centers, and family day care homes. Existing law requires that some of these facilities be subject to unannounced visits by the department at least once every 5 years. Existing law, the California Community Care Facilities Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of foster family agencies, as defined, by the department. Under existing law, foster family agencies certify foster family homes and find homes or other placements for children. Existing law specifies how foster family agencies are required to carry out these functions, including a requirement that a foster family agency annually recertify a certified family home. A violation of these provisions, or the willful or repeated violation of any rule or regulation promulgated under this provision, is a crime. This bill would require a foster family agency to conduct an announced inspection of a certified family home during the annual recertification and an unannounced inspection when certain circumstances are present, including when a certified family home is on probation. The bill would also authorize a foster family agency to inspect a certified family home more frequently than annually in order to ensure the quality of care provided. The bill would clarify that certain provisions relating to regulation and licensing of community care facilities generally are applicable to certified family homes approved by a foster family agency. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law requires the department to inspect a residential care facility for persons with chronic, life-threatening illness within 90 days after the facility accepts its first resident for placement following its initial licensure. Existing law also requires that evaluations be conducted annually and as often as necessary to ensure the quality of care being provided. This bill would instead require that annual inspections be conducted at least annually and that both types of inspections conducted pursuant to these provisions be unannounced. (3) Existing law, the California Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly Act, provides for the department to license and regulate residential care facilities for the elderly. A violation of the act is a misdemeanor. Existing law requires the department to immediately request a fire clearance and notify an applicant for a license to operate a residential care facility for the elderly to arrange a time for the department to conduct a prelicensure survey if an application for initial licensure is complete. This bill would provide that the prelicensure inspection is optional at the discretion of the department if the department determines that an application is for licensure of a currently licensed facility for which there will be no material change to the management or operations of the facility. (4) Existing law requires, if the Director of Social Services determines that it is necessary to temporarily suspend a license of a residential care facility for the elderly in order to protect the residents or clients of the facility from physical or mental abuse, abandonment, or any other substantial threat to health or safety, the department to make every effort to minimize trauma for the residents. Existing law authorizes and requires the department, in the event of a temporary license suspension or revocation, to comply with specified procedures relating to the transfer of residents, including requiring the department to contact and work with any local agency that may have placement or advocacy responsibility for the residents of a residential care facility for the elderly, as specified, to locate alternative placement sites and contact responsible relatives. Existing law requires, upon an order to revoke a license, a licensee to provide a 60-day written notice of license revocation that may lead to closure to the resident and the resident's responsible person within 24 hours of receipt of the department's order of revocation. Existing law entitles a resident who transfers from the facility during that 60-day period to a refund of preadmission fees in accordance with specified provisions. This bill would require, if the Director of Social Services determines at any time during or following a temporary suspension or revocation of a license that there is a risk to the residents or clients of the facility from physical or mental abuse, abandonment, or any other substantial threat to health or safety, the department to take any necessary action to minimize trauma for the residents, including, but not limited to, arranging for the preparation of the residents' records and medications for transfer and checking in on the status of each transferred resident within 24 hours of transfer. The bill would additionally require the department to contact the Office of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman after a decisions is made to temporarily suspend or upon a final order revoke a license that is likely to result in closure of the facility. The bill would also require, upon an order to temporarily suspend a license, a licensee to immediately provide a written notice of license suspension to the resident and initiate contact with the resident's responsible person, as specified, and would entitle a resident who transfers due to the receipt of a notice of a temporary suspension or revocation of license to be entitled to a refund of preadmission fees. This bill would prohibit a licensee, upon receipt of an order to temporarily suspend or revoke a license, from accepting new residents or entering into admission agreements for new residents. The bill would generally make a licensee who fails to comply with the requirements of these provisions liable for civil penalties in the amount of $500 per violation per day for each day that the licensee is in violation of these provisions until the violation has been corrected. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (5) The bill would authorize the department to appoint a temporary manager to assume the operation of a residential care facility for the elderly for 60 days, subject to extension by the department, when specified circumstances exist, including when the director determines that it is necessary to temporarily suspend the license of the facility and immediate relocation of the residents of the facility is not feasible, or when the licensee has opted to secure a temporary manager in response to a final order to revoke a license. The bill would set forth the duties of the temporary manager, would limit the expenditures and encumbrances by the temporary manager unless approved by the department, and would require that the costs of the temporary manager be paid directly by the facility while the temporary manager is assigned. To the extent department funds are used for the costs of the temporary manager or related expenses, the bill would require the department to be reimbursed from the revenues accruing to the facility or to the licensee, and to the extent those revenues are insufficient, the bill would require that the unreimbursed amount constitute a lien upon the asset of the facility or the proceeds from the sale of the facility, as specified. The bill would also authorize the department to apply for a court order appointing a receiver to temporarily operate a community care facility or a residential care facility for the elderly for no more than 3 months, subject to extension by the department, when circumstances exist indicating that continued management of the facility by the licensee would present a substantial probability of imminent danger or serious physical harm or death to the clients or residents or the facility is closing and adequate arrangements for the relocation of clients or residents have not been made. The bill would specify the duties of a receiver appointed pursuant to these provisions and would require that the salary of the receiver be set by the court and be paid from the revenue coming to the facility. In the event the revenue is insufficient, the bill would require that the salary be paid from the emergency client contingency fund. The bill would require that state funds advanced to pay for that salary or other related expenses be reimbursed from the revenues accruing to the facility. If those revenues are insufficient, the bill would require that the unreimbursed amount constitute a lien on the assets of the facility. (6) Existing law establishes a schedule of licensing fees to be charged by the department for each type of facility, and provides for these fees to be deposited into the Technical Assistance Fund. This bill would increase the licensure and renewal fees for community care facilities, residential care facilities for persons with chronic, life-threatening illness, residential care facilities for the elderly, and child day care facilities, and would require the department to adjust the fees assessed against licensees as necessary to ensure they do not exceed specified costs. (7) Existing law authorizes the department to impose various civil penalties for various licensing violations. Existing law authorizes the department to transmit no more than 12 of those penalties assessed against community care facilities and residential care facilities for the elderly to be used to establish an emergency resident relocation fund to be utilized for the care and relocation of residents when the license of a community care facility or a residential care facility for the elderly is revoked or temporarily suspended, when appropriated by the Legislature. Existing law requires the department to seek the advice of providers in developing a state plan for emergency resident relocation. The bill would instead authorize the creation of an emergency client contingency account and an emergency resident contingency account within the Technical Assistance Fund to be used, at the discretion of the Director of the State Department of Social Services, for the care and relocation of clients and residents when a facility's license is revoked or temporarily suspended. The bill would require the department to seek the input of stakeholders and local agencies in developing policies for emergency client or resident care and supervision. The bill would also authorize the civil penalties deposited in the Technical Assistance Fund to be used for the technical assistance, training, and education of licensees. (8) This bill would provide that it is the intent of the Legislature to comprehensively increase the penalties for facilities licensed by the State Department of Social Services in subsequent legislation, with particular emphasis on penalties for violations that result in serious injury or death. (9) This bill would provide that it is the intent of the Legislature that increased staffing and funding resources for the State Department of Social Service's Community Care Licensing Division appropriated in the Budget Act of 2014 be used to enhance the division's structure and improve operations, as specified. The bill also provides that it is the intent of the Legislature to, over a period of time, increase the frequency of facility inspections resulting in annual inspections for some or all facility types. The bill would require the State Department of Social Services to update the Legislature on the status of the structural and quality enhancement improvements during the 2015–16 legislative budget subcommittee hearings. (10) The Home Care Services Consumer Protection Act, operative January 1, 2015, provides 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 act excludes specified entities from the definition of a home care organization and does not include certain types of individuals as home care aides for the purposes of these provisions. The act requires background clearances for home care aides, as prescribed, and sets forth specific duties of the home care organization, the department, and the Department of Justice in this regard. The act requires home care aides hired after January 1, 2015, to demonstrate they are free of active tuberculosis. A violation of the act is a crime. This bill would revise and recast the provisions of the act and delay the implementation date of the act to January 1, 2016. Specifically, the bill would delete those provisions of the act that exempt specified individuals from the registration requirements for home care aides described above and expand the list of individuals and entities that are not considered home care aides or home care organizations, respectively, for purposes of the act. The bill would require that each home care organization be separately licensed, as specified. This bill would additionally require the chief executive officer or other person serving in a similar capacity in a home care organization, as specified, to consent to a background examination. The bill would prohibit the department from issuing a provisional license or license to any corporate home care organization applicant that has a member of the board of directors, executive director, or officer who is not eligible for licensure, as specified. This bill would revise the licensure requirements of a home care organization to additionally require certain disclosures and proof of an employee dishonesty bond. The bill would also revise the license renewal requirements for home care organizations to include, among other things, specified insurance and workers' compensation policies and being current on all fees and civil penalties due to the department. The bill would provide certain review procedures for applications for licensure received by the department. The bill would, among other things, require the department 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, as specified. The bill would apply 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, as specified. The bill would also authorize the department to exclude a person from acting as, and require the home care organization to remove that person from, his or her position as a member of the board of directors, an executive director, or an officer of a licensee if the department 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, as specified. This bill would require home care organization licensees to report any suspected or known dependent adult, elder, or child abuse to the department. The bill would require the department, 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. The bill would authorize home care organization applicants and home care aide applicants who submit applications prior to January 1, 2016, to provide home care services without meeting the tuberculosis requirements described above, provided those requirements are met by July 1, 2016. The bill would authorize the department to adopt and readopt emergency regulations to implement and administer the provisions of the act, as specified. This bill would require all fines and penalties collected for violations of the above provisions to be deposited into the Home Care Technical Assistance Fund, which would be created by the bill. The bill would require that the moneys in the fund be made available to the department upon appropriation by the Legislature for specified purposes. By expanding the scope of existing crimes, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (11) Existing law, the California Community Care Facilities Act, provides for the licensure and inspection of community care facilities, including, but not limited to, group homes, by the State Department of Social Services. Existing law makes any violation of the act a misdemeanor. This bill would require each person employed as a facility manager or staff member of a group home on or after October 1, 2014, to be at least 21 years of age, except as specified. Because a violation of this requirement would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (12) 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. Pursuant to these agreements, these child welfare activities are delegated to the tribe, consortium of tribes, or tribal organization, which is also required to provide specified matching funds. Existing law specifies the share of costs required of the tribe, consortium of tribes, or tribal organization operating a program pursuant to these agreements. This bill would, notwithstanding those provisions, adjust the tribal share of costs commencing July 1, 2014. (13) Existing law requires a county welfare department to refer all cases in which a parent is absent from the home, or as specified, to the local child support agency immediately at the time of the application for public assistance, except as specified. Existing law requires each county to provide cash assistance and other social services to needy families through the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program using federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) block grant program, state, and county funds. Existing law requires each applicant or recipient to, as a condition of eligibility for aid paid under CalWORKs, assign to the county any rights to support from any other person the applicant or recipient may have on his or her own behalf, or on behalf of any other family member for whom the applicant or recipient is applying for or receiving aid, and to cooperate with the county welfare department and local child support agency in establishing the paternity of a child of the applicant or recipient born out of wedlock with respect to whom aid is claimed, and in establishing, modifying, or enforcing a support order with respect to a child of the individual for whom aid is requested or obtained. The bill would exempt from these provisions an assistance unit that excludes any adults pursuant to specified provisions of law, including a provision that makes an individual ineligible for CalWORKs aid if the individual has been convicted in state or federal court after December 31, 1997. (14) Under existing law, with certain exceptions, an applicant or recipient, as a condition of eligibility for aid under the CalWORKs program, is required to participate in welfare-to-work activities for a specified number of hours each week. The bill would modify the number of welfare-to-work participation hours to conform to certain federal requirements. (15) 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 the TAP to commence no later than October 1, 2014. This bill would delay the commencement date of the TAP until October 1, 2016. (16) Existing law establishes maximum aid grant amounts to be provided under the CalWORKs program, subject to specified adjustments. Existing law increases the maximum aid payments in effect on July 1, 2012, by 5% commencing March 1, 2014. This bill would increase aid payments by 5% as of April 1, 2015. (17) Under existing law, after a family has used all available liquid resources in excess of $100, the family is entitled to receive a CalWORKS allowance for nonrecurring special needs, including homeless assistance. This bill would specify that a recipient of CalWORKs benefits is eligible to receive specified housing supports, including financial assistance and housing stabilization and relocation, if the county determines that the recipient's family is experiencing homelessness or housing instability that would be a barrier to self-sufficiency or child well-being. The bill would require the State Department of Social Services, in consultation with the County Welfare Directors Association of California, to, among other things, develop criteria by which counties may opt to participate in providing housing supports to eligible recipients of CalWORKs benefits. The bill would include a statement of legislative findings and declarations. (18) Under existing law, with certain exceptions, every individual, as a condition of eligibility for aid under the CalWORKs program, is required to participate in welfare-to-work activities. Existing law authorizes recipients to participate in family stabilization if the county determines that his or her family is experiencing an identified situation or crisis that is destabilizing the family and would interfere with participation in welfare-to-work activities and services. This bill would authorize 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. The bill would state 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. (19) Existing federal law provides for the 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 requires the Department of Community Services and Development to receive and administer the federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) block grant. Under existing law, to the extent permitted by federal law, the State Department of Social Services, in conjunction with the Department of Community Services and Development, is required to design, implement, and maintain a utility assistance initiative to provide applicants and recipients of CalFresh benefits a nominal LIHEAP service benefit, as specified, out of the federal LIHEAP block grant. This bill would repeal those provisions and instead, effective July 1, 2014, create the State Utility Assistance Subsidy (SUAS) , a state-funded energy assistance program. The bill would require the Department of Community Services and Development to delegate authority over the program to the State Department of Social Services. The bill would require the State Department of Social Services, among other things, in designing, implementing, and maintaining the SUAS program, to provide households that do not currently qualify for, nor 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. The bill would condition the implementation of these provisions on an appropriation of funds by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act or related legislation. To the extent that the bill would increased the administrative duties of county welfare departments, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (20) Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services, to the extent permitted by federal law, to design and implement a program of categorical eligibility for the purpose of establishing the gross income limit for the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and state maintenance of effort funded service that confers categorical eligibility for those needy households and that includes a member who receives, or is eligible to receive, medical assistance under the Medi-Cal program. This bill would, effective July 1, 2014, delete those provisions. (21) Existing law requires each county to pay 30% of the nonfederal share of costs of administering the CalFresh program. Existing law also requires counties to expend an amount for programs that provide services to needy families that, when combined with the funds expended above for the administration of the CalFresh program, equals or exceeds the amount spent by the county for corresponding activities during the 1996–97 fiscal year. Existing law provides that any county that equals or exceeds the amount spent by the county for corresponding activities during the 1996–97 fiscal year entirely through expenditures for the administration of the CalFresh program in the 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, and 2013–14 fiscal years shall receive the full General Fund allocation for the administration of the CalFresh program without paying the county's share of the nonfederal costs for the amount above the 1996–97 expenditure requirement. This bill would extend counties' eligibility to receive the full allocation for CalFresh administration under the above circumstances to the 2014–15 fiscal year. The bill would also reduce the amount of the waiver throughout subsequent fiscal years, as specified, and would eliminate the waiver by the 2018–19 fiscal year. (22) Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to annually report to the appropriate fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature and to post on its Internet Web site a summary of outcome and expenditure data that allows for monitoring the changes of the 2011 realignment of child welfare services, foster care, adoptions, and adult protective services programs. This bill would require the report to contain specified information, including the child welfare services social worker caseloads per county. (23) Existing law establishes the State Department of Social Services and sets forth its duties and responsibilities regarding ensuring that the needs of foster children are met by local child welfare agencies and foster care providers. Existing law declares the findings of the Legislature that there is a need to develop programs to provide the kinds of innovative strategies and services that will ameliorate, reduce, and ultimately eliminate the trauma of child sexual abuse. This bill would establish the Commercially Sexually Exploited Children Program to be administered by the State Department of Social Services in order to adequately serve children who have been sexually exploited, and would require the department, in consultation with the County Welfare Directors Association of California, to develop an allocation methodology to distribute funding for the program. The bill would authorize the use of these funds by counties electing to participate in the program for certain prevention and intervention activities and services to children who are victims, or at risk of becoming victims, of commercial sexual exploitation. The bill would require the department to contract to provide 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 the training of foster caregivers for the prevention and identification of potential victims, as specified. The bill would also require the department to ensure that the Child Welfare Services/Case Management System is capable of collecting data concerning children who are commercially sexually exploited, as specified. The bill would require the department, no later than April 1, 2017, to provide to the Legislature information regarding the implementation of the program. This bill would require each county electing to receive funds pursuant to the provisions described above 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. The bill would require 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 would make these provisions operative on January 1, 2015. (24) Existing law establishes the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, which may adjudge certain children to be dependents of the court under certain circumstances, including when the child is abused, a parent or guardian fails to adequately supervise or protect the child, as specified, or a parent or guardian fails to provide the child with adequate food, clothing, shelter, or medical treatment. This bill would make a legislative finding that declares that a child is within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court and may become a dependent child of the court if the child is a victim of sexual trafficking, or receives food or shelter in exchange for, or is paid to perform, specified sexual acts, as a result of the failure or inability of his or her parent or guardian to protect the child, and would declare that this finding is declaratory of existing law. (25) Existing law, the Aid to Families with Dependent Children-Foster Care (AFDC-FC) program, provides for payments to group home providers at a per child per month rate, and in accordance with prescribed rate classification levels, for the care and supervision of the AFDC-FC child placed with the provider. This bill would specify that nothing precludes a county from providing a supplemental rate to serve commercially exploited foster children, as specified, and would provide that, to the extent federal financial participation is available, these federal funds should be utilized. (26) Existing law establishes the Aid to Families with Dependent Children-Foster Care (AFDC-FC) program, under which counties provide payments to foster care providers on behalf of qualified children in foster care. In order to be eligible for AFDC-FC, existing law requires a child or nonminor dependent to be placed in a specified placement, including, among others, the approved home of a relative, provided the child is otherwise eligible for federal financial participation in the AFDC-FC payment. Existing law requires foster care providers be paid a per child per month rate, as specified, in return for the care and supervision of an AFDC-FC child placed with them. This bill would establish the Approved Relative Caregiver Funding Option Program and would require counties who opt to participate in the program to, effective January 1, 2015, pay an approved relative caregiver a per child per month rate in return for the care and supervision of an AFDC-FC ineligible child placed with the relative caregiver that is equal to the basic rate paid to foster care providers for an AFDC-FC child if the county has notified the department of its decision to participate in the program, as specified, and the related child placed in the home meets certain requirements, including that the child resides in the state. The bill would require a participating county to affirmatively indicate that the county understands and agrees to specified conditions, including that the county will be responsible to pay any additional costs needed to make all payments to the relative caregivers if state and federal funds are insufficient. If a participating county decides to opt out of the program, the bill requires the county to provide at least 120 days' prior written notice of that decision to the department and to provide at least 90 days' prior written notice to the approved relative caregiver or caregivers informing them that his or her per child per month payment will be reduced, and the date that the reduction will occur. The bill would specify the funding for the program, including the use of state General Fund resources that do not count towards the state's maintenance of effort requirements for the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant. The bill would appropriate the sum of $30,000,000 from the General Fund for the 2015 calendar year and for each calendar year thereafter, as specified, for these purposes. If this appropriation is insufficient to fully fund the base caseload of approved relative caregivers, as specified, the bill would also provide for the appropriation of additional funds necessary to fully fund that base caseload, and would require the adjusted amount for the calendar year appropriation, beginning with the 2016 calendar year, to be adjusted by the California Necessities Index for each subsequent year. (27) 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, 2016. (28) 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. (29) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.