Bill Text: CA AB826 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Emergency food assistance: COVID-19.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-0)
Status: (Vetoed) 2020-09-29 - Vetoed by Governor. [AB826 Detail]
Download: California-2019-AB826-Amended.html
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Amended
IN
Senate
July 02, 2020 |
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Amended
IN
Assembly
April 29, 2019 |
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Amended
IN
Assembly
March 21, 2019 |
| Introduced by Assembly Member (Coauthor: Assembly Member Reyes) |
February 20, 2019 |
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services (department), under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Under existing law, specialty mental health services include federal Early and Periodic Screenings, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) services provided to eligible Medi-Cal beneficiaries under 21 years of age. Existing law requires each local mental health plan to establish a procedure to ensure access to outpatient specialty mental health services, as required by the EPSDT program standards, for youth in foster care who have been placed outside their county of adjudication, as described.
Existing law requires the department to issue policy guidance
concerning the conditions for, and exceptions to, presumptive transfer of responsibility for providing or arranging for specialty mental health services to a foster youth from the county of original jurisdiction to the county in which the foster youth resides, as prescribed.
This bill would make those provisions for presumptive transfer inapplicable to foster youth placed in a group home or a short-term residential therapeutic program (STRTP) outside of their county of original jurisdiction, as specified.
The bill would prohibit the presumptive transfer of foster youth placed in a group home or an STRTP unless an exception is invoked, as requested by one of specified individuals or entities pursuant to certain criteria. The bill would make the county probation agency or the child welfare services agency responsible for determining whether invoking the exception is appropriate.
The bill would set forth various notification requirements on the county placing agency and county mental health plans, and would require documentation of the request’s steps in the foster youth’s case plan. The bill would authorize a requester who disagrees with the county agency’s determination to request judicial review, as specified.
The bill would set forth procedural requirements for mental health assessments of the affected foster youth. Under the bill, and pursuant to federal law, a foster youth placed out of county would be entitled to continue their therapeutic relationship with prior treatment providers if the youth so chooses.
By creating new duties for county agencies with regard to processing requests for presumptive transfer, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The bill would require the department and the State Department of Social Services to adopt regulations by July 1, 2020, to implement certain of the above provisions, and would authorize those departments to implement and administer those provisions through all-county letters, information notices, or similar written instructions until regulations are adopted.
The bill would condition implementation of
the presumptive transfer
provisions on the availability of federal financial participation and the receipt of all necessary federal approvals. The bill would require the department to make a request for any necessary federal approvals no later than January 1, 2021.
The bill would require the department, in collaboration with the State Department of Social Services, to collect data, as specified, on the receipt of EPSDT specialty mental health services by foster youth who are placed outside of their county of original jurisdiction, and would require that those data be included in a specified performance dashboard.
The bill would require the department, no later than March 1, 2020, to create standardized forms to be used by counties for the purpose of simplifying the notification of presumptive transfers or waivers. The bill would require the department, no later than June 1, 2020, to work with the State Department of Social Services to determine the feasibility of automating forms for use by county child welfare agencies and county mental health plans, as specified. By requiring counties to use certain forms relating to presumptive transfers, 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 no reimbursement is
required by this act for a specified reason.
