Amended  IN  Senate  July 05, 2019
Amended  IN  Assembly  May 17, 2019
Amended  IN  Assembly  April 11, 2019
Amended  IN  Assembly  February 26, 2019

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 67

Introduced by Assembly Members Luz Rivas and Chiu
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Quirk-Silva)
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Gonzalez)

December 03, 2018

An act to add Chapter 5.9 (commencing with Section 13605) to Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to homelessness.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 67, as amended, Luz Rivas. Homeless integrated data warehouse.
Existing law establishes various programs, including, among others, the Emergency Housing and Assistance Program, to provide assistance to homeless persons. Existing law also establishes the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council to, among other things, create a statewide data system or warehouse that collects local data through homeless management information systems, with the ultimate goal of matching data on homelessness programs to programs impacting homeless recipients of state programs, as specified.
This bill would require the Department of Housing and Community Development to create a state homeless integrated data warehouse, in coordination with state and local partners, including the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council, to develop a composite portrayal of the homeless population in the state and the services provided to this population or to those at risk of becoming homeless. The bill would require that the information compiled for the database include the data necessary necessary, if available, to make certain findings, including, among other things, the number of individuals and families experiencing homelessness, their access to benefits, and the stated reasons for their homelessness. The bill would require the department to coordinate with other state agencies to draft and carry out a strategy to integrate information to provide longitudinal, cost-based studies with relevant data, as specified. The bill would require the database to comply with all relevant state and federal laws regarding privacy and personally identifying information and encourage would direct participating local agencies that provide services to homeless persons and use homeless management information systems to to enter into data-sharing agreements and collaborate with the department, as specified. The bill would specify that these provisions would become operative if the Legislature appropriates sufficient funds, including funds from private donations if available, to the department for these purposes.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Chapter 5.9 (commencing with Section 13605) is added to Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:
CHAPTER  5.9. Homeless Integrated Data Warehouse

13605.
 (a) The Department of Housing and Community Development shall do all of the following:
(1) Create a state homeless integrated data warehouse, in coordination with state and local partners, including, but not limited to, the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council established by Section 8257, to compile data from collaborative agencies’ Homeless Management Information Systems. This data warehouse shall serve the purpose of developing a composite portrayal of the homeless population in the state, as well as the services currently provided to individuals and families who are homeless or who are at risk of becoming homeless and who are receiving prevention services. Information If available, information compiled for the warehouse shall include, but not be limited to, the data necessary to determine all of the following:
(A) Basic demographic information regarding individuals experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of homelessness. If available, demographic Demographic information should include ethnic and racial identity, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.
(B) The number of individuals with disabilities and the number of families with a head of household experiencing a disability who have been homeless for at least one year or at least four times in the last three years.
(C) Homeless individuals’ access to benefits.
(D) The number of individuals and families experiencing homelessness.
(E) The number and entry and exit dates of individuals and families living in emergency housing.
(F) The number and entry and exit dates of homeless individuals and families living in transitional housing.
(G) The number and entry and exit dates of homeless individuals and families living in permanent housing.
(H) Last known location or ZIP Code of homeless individuals or families when housed.
(I) Stated reasons for homelessness.
(J) Disability status of people experiencing homelessness.
(K) Veteran status of people experiencing homelessness.
(L) If available, the The number of unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness.
(2) Cooperate and collaborate with each of the following state agencies, as necessary, to draft and carry out a strategy to integrate information from the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the State Department of Education, the State Department of Health Care Services, the State Department of State Hospitals, the State Department of Social Services, and the Department of Veterans Affairs into the warehouse, to provide longitudinal, cost-based studies to determine all of the following information:
(A) The number of people imprisoned each year who were homeless upon arrest and the cost of their imprisonment.
(B) The number of parolees experiencing homelessness each year and the cost of their parole.
(C) The number of children in California schools experiencing homelessness.
(D) Claims for Medi-Cal emergency department, hospital, and nursing home services among people experiencing homelessness, and the costs of those claims each year.

(E)The number of children receiving foster care services whose family members are homeless and the cost of the foster care provided to those children each year.

(E) (i) Commencing upon the statewide implementation of the Child Welfare Services-New System (CWS-NS), also known as the Child Welfare Services-California Automated Response and Engagement System (CWS-CARES), deidentified information regarding all of the following:
(I) The number of parents, guardians, or former foster youth who were or are experiencing homelessness, or are at risk of becoming homeless, at any time while receiving voluntary, informal, or court-supervised child welfare services through a county child welfare agency, probation department, or an Indian tribe that has entered into an agreement with the State Department of Social Services pursuant to Section 10553.1.
(II) The number of nonminor dependents who were homeless, or at risk of becoming homeless, prior to reentering foster care.
(III) The total cost of providing services to the individuals described in subclauses (I) and (II) on an average, cost-per-case basis.
(ii) The information collected pursuant to clause (i) shall be used by the State Department of Social Services to inform the provision of services and improve outcomes for children, youth, and families served by the child welfare system.
(F) Relevant information regarding the number of people who are homeless experiencing homelessness while receiving services through programs administered by the State Department of State Hospitals, the State Department of Social Services, and the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the cost and outcomes of those services.
(G) The number of people living in housing funded through programs administered by the state, including, but not limited to, by the Department of Housing and Community Development who were homeless upon admission.
(3) Facilitate the creation of a users’ group to ensure quality, relevance, and appropriate access to the integrated data. This group should include, but not be limited to, a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 15 select members of contributing federal Continuum of Care Program Collaborative Applicants.
(b) The data warehouse To the extent permitted by federal law, participating agencies shall enter into data-sharing agreements or memoranda of understanding with the Department of Housing and Community Development to facilitate the sharing of data for the purposes of this section. The data warehouse, all state and local agencies, and any other person or entity with access to information in or derived from the warehouse, shall comply with all relevant state and federal laws regarding privacy and personally identifying information. information when inputting, accessing, using, disclosing, transporting, or in any other way interacting with the information or integrated data contained in, or disclosed from, the data warehouse.
(c) Upon completion of a data warehouse that includes the data specified in subdivision (a), participating agencies shall input and update its data, at a minimum, each quarter. Participating agencies shall be granted access to data contained within the data warehouse.
(d) Local agencies providing services to homeless persons that use a homeless management information system are encouraged to collaborate with the Department of Housing and Community Development in developing the data warehouse pursuant to this chapter.
(e) For the purposes of this section, “homeless” has the same meaning as in Section 91.5 of Title 24 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

(e)

(f) This chapter shall become operative if the Legislature appropriates sufficient funds, including funds from private donations if available, to the department for the purposes of this section.