In-home supportive services: Community First Choice Option program: noncompliance penalties.

The entire new Section 12306.165 was deleted. This section had established a five-year pilot project (2027-2031) for Contra Costa County to test innovative technologies that transcribe and summarize IHSS in-home eligibility interviews, with the goal of reducing application processing times for CFCO participants.

The legislative findings section (former Section 2) justifying a special statute for Contra Costa County was removed. It had cited the county's disproportionate share of CFCO late penalties (approximately $5 million annually) and its unique demographic circumstances as reasons a general law could not apply.

The bill title changed from 'An act to add Section 12306.165 to amend Section 12306.16' to simply 'An act to amend Section 12306.16,' reflecting the removal of the new section.

All privacy and oversight protections tied to the pilot project were removed, including: requirement for separate written consent before using technology on an individual, prohibition on conditioning services on consent decisions, requirement that a human caseworker review any AI-generated transcription or summary before it is used in a decision, restriction that data be used solely for eligibility interviews and not sold or shared with third parties, and caseworker discretion to disregard inaccurate outputs without penalty.

The definition of 'innovative technology' was removed. It had been defined as software that transcribes or summarizes interview information, explicitly excluding tools that generate predictions, risk scores, classifications, or make decisions about IHSS services.

The bill now amends Section 12306.16 (rebased County IHSS Maintenance of Effort) in addition to adding the new Section 12306.165 pilot project, expanding its reach from a single-county pilot to statewide fiscal provisions affecting all counties.

New penalty provision: beginning July 1, 2026, if the state ceases to receive enhanced federal financial participation for CFCO services due to noncompliance with timely case reassessment, each county must pay 100% of the lost enhanced FFP separately from its MOE payment. For fiscal year 2025-26 only, the state and county each pay 50% of the lost amount.

The department must prepare and submit a report to the Legislature on or before July 1, 2029 detailing the amount of payments made by counties under the new CFCO noncompliance penalty provision.

In the Contra Costa pilot project section, the phrase 'with informed consent of the individual' was removed from the description of what technologies the county must test. The separate written consent requirements in subsection (c) remain unchanged, so the practical effect is minimal but the language is now less redundant.

Removed the phrase 'to be implemented at the election of the county,' making the pilot project mandatory for Contra Costa rather than optional.

Deleted all appropriation provisions (former subdivisions (d) and (e)) that would have continuously appropriated General Fund moneys to the county in an amount equivalent to its 100% share of lost enhanced federal financial participation due to CFCO noncompliance. The bill title no longer references an appropriation.

Added a new subdivision (c) requiring the county to obtain separate and distinct written consent before using innovative technologies during IHSS eligibility interviews, with specific disclosure requirements about purpose, data collected, right to withdraw consent, and assurance that services will not be affected by the consent decision.

Added a new subdivision (d) requiring that any AI-generated transcription or summary be reviewed by a human caseworker before being used to make or facilitate a decision about IHSS services, and that such outputs be clearly identified as machine-generated.

Added a new subdivision (e) restricting use of collected information solely to the IHSS eligibility interview purpose and prohibiting retention, sale, sharing, or other use by any party including third-party vendors.

Added a new subdivision (f) allowing caseworkers to discontinue use of innovative technologies or disregard AI-generated output if it does not accurately reflect what the individual said, with protection against adverse employment action for exercising that discretion.

Added a new subdivision (h) defining 'innovative technology' as a software tool that transcribes or summarizes interview information, and explicitly excluding tools that generate predictions, risk scores, classifications, or that make decisions or provide recommendations about IHSS services.

Changed the required vote from a two-thirds majority to a simple majority, changed the appropriation designation from 'yes' to 'no,' and changed the state-mandated local program designation from 'no' to 'yes.'

New Section 3 adds a state mandate reimbursement provision: if the Commission on State Mandates finds the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement shall be made to local agencies and school districts under Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.

The legislative digest now states the bill 'would impose a state-mandated local program' by creating new duties for the county, and includes an explanatory paragraph about the constitutional requirement for state reimbursement of mandated local costs.

The vote threshold language was clarified from 'Vote: 2/3' to 'Vote: 2/3 majority.' The digest header changed from 'as introduced' to 'as amended.'

Apparent drafting errors were introduced: the word 'Costa' was erroneously inserted into the body text ('at the election of the county, Costa for the purpose') and the word 'services.' was added after 'therefor.' in the bill title.