In-home supportive services: onsite provider orientation.

Existing law establishes the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, administered by the State Department of Social Services and counties, under which qualified aged, blind, and disabled persons are provided with services in order to permit them to remain in their own homes and avoid institutionalization. Existing law, with some exceptions, permits IHSS program services to be provided through the employment of individual providers, a contract between the county and an entity to provide services, the creation by the county of a public authority, or a contract between the county and a nonprofit consortium. Existing law requires all prospective IHSS providers to, as a condition of IHSS program participation, complete, sign, and submit a provider enrollment form and complete a provider orientation, which is required to include specified topics, including the requirements to be an eligible IHSS provider and a description of the IHSS program. This bill would additionally require the provider orientation to include applicable federal and state requirements regarding minimum wage and overtime pay, including paid travel time and wait time, and other specified requirements. The bill would, beginning no later than April 1, 2015, require that the orientation be an onsite orientation, and that all prospective providers attend in person only after completing the application for the IHSS provider enrollment process. The bill would additionally require that any oral presentation and written materials presented at the orientation be translated into all IHSS threshold languages in the county, and would require that representatives of the recognized employee organization in the county be permitted to make a presentation of up to 30 minutes at the orientation. By increasing the duties of counties, the bill would impose 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, 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. This bill would appropriate $1,000 from the General Fund to the State Department of Social Services for purposes of implementing the bill. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.