Bill Text: CA SB996 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Juveniles: dependent children: documents.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-1)

Status: (Vetoed) 2014-09-28 - In Senate. Consideration of Governor's veto pending. [SB996 Detail]

Download: California-2013-SB996-Introduced.html

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BILL NUMBER: SB 996	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Evans
   (Coauthor: Senator Wyland)

                        FEBRUARY 12, 2014

   An act to amend Section 10609.4 of the Welfare and Institutions
Code, relating to juveniles.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 996, as introduced, Evans. Juveniles: Independent Living
Program.
   Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to
develop statewide standards for the Independent Living Program for
emancipated foster youth and eligible former dependent children of
the juvenile court established and funded pursuant to federal law, to
assist those individuals in making the transition to
self-sufficiency. Existing law requires, consistent with federal law
and reporting requirements, each county department of social services
to submit to the State Department of Social Services an annual
Independent Living Program report, which is required to include,
among other things, an accounting of federal and state funds expended
for implementation of the program. Existing law requires that
expenditures be related to the specific purposes of the program.
Under existing law, authorized program purposes may include, among
other things, providing training in daily living skills, budgeting,
locating and maintaining housing, and career planning.
   This bill would specify that providing financial literacy
training, including, but not limited to, banking, credit card
interest rates, credit scores, the importance of savings, and the
effects financial decisions can have on a youth's future, is also an
authorized purpose.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 10609.4 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is
amended to read:
   10609.4.  (a) On or before July 1, 2000, the State Department of
Social Services, in consultation with county and state
representatives, foster youth, and advocates, shall do both of the
following:
   (1) Develop statewide standards for the implementation and
administration of the Independent Living Program established pursuant
to the federal Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of
1985 (Public Law 99-272).
   (2) Define the outcomes for the Independent Living Program and the
characteristics of foster youth enrolled in the program for data
collection purposes.
   (b) Consistent with federal law and reporting requirements, each
county department of social services shall submit to the department
an annual Independent Living Program report, which shall include the
following:
   (1) An accounting of federal and state funds expended for
implementation of the program. A county shall spend no more than 30
percent of federal Independent Living Program funds on housing.
Expenditures shall be related to the specific purposes of the
program. It is the intent of the Legislature that the department, in
consultation with counties, shall develop a process for reporting
that satisfies federal law and reporting requirements. Program
purposes may include, but are not limited to, all of the following:
   (A) Enabling participants to seek a high school diploma or its
equivalent or to take part in appropriate vocational training, and
providing job readiness training and placement services, or building
work experience and marketable skills, or both.
   (B) Providing training in daily living skills, budgeting, locating
and maintaining housing, and career planning.
   (C) Providing for individual and group counseling.
   (D) Integrating and coordinating services otherwise available to
participants.
   (E) Providing each participant with a written transitional
independent living plan that will be based on an assessment of his or
her needs, that includes information provided by persons who have
been identified by the participant as important to the participant in
cases in which the participant has been in out-of-home placement for
six months or longer from the date the participant entered foster
care, consistent with the participant's best interests, and that will
be incorporated into his or her case plan.
   (F) Providing participants who are within 90 days of attaining 18
years of age, or older as the state may elect under Section 475(8)(B)
(iii) of the federal Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 675(8)(B)
(iii)), including those former foster care youth receiving
Independent Living Program Aftercare Services, the opportunity to
complete the exit transition plan as required by paragraph (16) of
subdivision (f) of Section 16501.1.
   (G) Providing participants with other services and assistance
designed to improve independent living.
   (H) Convening persons who have been identified by the participant
as important to him or her for the purpose of providing information
to be included in his or her written transitional independent living
plan. 
   (I) Providing financial literacy training, including, but not
limited to, banking, credit card interest rates, credit scores, the
importance of savings, and the effects financial decisions can have
on the participant's future. 
   (2) Counties shall ensure timely and accurate data entry into the
Child Welfare Services/Case Management System (CWS/CMS) for all youth
receiving services pursuant to this section.
   (3) Counties shall ensure that eligible foster care youth continue
to receive information about, and are provided with an opportunity
to complete, the National Youth in Transition Database (NYTD) survey,
based on an updated process that shall be developed jointly by the
department, in consultation with counties to ensure maximum
participation in the survey completion and compliance with federal
requirements, as follows:
   (A) Counties shall provide information to the youth about the NYTD
survey within 60 days prior to the date the current or former foster
youth is required to be offered the survey.
   (B) Within 45 days following the youth in foster care turning 17
years of age, counties shall ensure that each youth has an
opportunity to complete the NYTD survey as required by federal law.
   (C) Counties shall contact the youth who completed the survey at
age 17, in order to request that they complete the followup survey
before their 19th and 21st birthdays.
   (D) Counties shall provide opportunities for current and former
eligible foster youth to take the NYTD survey online at child welfare
services and probation offices.
   (c) The county department of social services in a county that
provides transitional housing placement services pursuant to
paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 11403.2 shall include in
its annual Independent Living Program report a description of
currently available transitional housing resources in relation to the
number of emancipating pregnant or parenting foster youth in the
county, and a plan for meeting any unmet transitional housing needs
of the emancipating pregnant or parenting foster youth.
   (d) In consultation with the department, a county may use
different methods and strategies to achieve the standards and
outcomes of the Independent Living Program developed pursuant to
subdivision (a).
   (e) In consultation with the County Welfare Directors Association,
the California Youth Connection, and other stakeholders, the
department shall develop and adopt emergency regulations, no later
than July 1, 2012, in accordance with Section 11346.1 of the
Government Code that counties shall be required to meet when
administering the Independent Living Program and that are achievable
within existing program resources and any federal funds available for
case management and case plan review functions for nonminor
dependents, as provided for in the federal Fostering Connections to
Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-351).
The initial adoption of emergency regulations and one readoption of
the initial regulations shall be deemed to be an emergency and
necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health
and safety, or general welfare. Initial emergency regulations and the
first readoption of those regulations shall be exempt from review by
the Office of Administrative Law. The initial emergency regulations
and the first readoption of those regulations authorized by this
subdivision shall be submitted to the Office of Administrative Law
for filing with the Secretary of State and each shall remain in
effect for no more than 180 days.
   (f) The department, in consultation with representatives of the
Legislature, the County Welfare Directors Association, the Chief
Probation Officers of California, the Judicial Council,
representatives of tribes, the California Youth Connection, former
foster youth, child advocacy organizations, labor organizations,
dependency counsel for children, juvenile justice advocacy
organizations, foster caregiver organizations, and researchers, shall
review and develop modifications needed to the Independent Living
Program to also serve the needs of nonminor dependents, as defined in
subdivision (v) of Section 11400, eligible for services pursuant to
Section 11403. These modifications shall include the exit transition
plan required to be completed within the 90-day period immediately
prior to the date the nonminor participant attains the age that would
qualify the participant for federal financial participation, as
described in Section 11403, pursuant to Section 675(5)(H) of Title 42
of the United States Code. Notwithstanding the Administrative
Procedure Act, Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1
of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, through June 30,
2012, the department shall prepare for implementation of the
applicable provisions of this section by publishing all-county
letters or similar instructions from the director by October 1, 2011,
to be effective January 1, 2012.
   (g) Beginning in the 2011-12 fiscal year and for each fiscal year
thereafter, funding and expenditures for programs and activities
required under this section shall be in accordance with the
requirements provided in Sections 30025 and 30026.5 of the Government
Code.