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California Disability Community Action Network

November 3, 2009

Assembly adopts stakeholder process to address changes in IHSS worker requirements; text now goes to Senate and if passed, to Governor

By Marty Omoto

California Budget Crisis:

Text of SB 69 as passed by assembly Monday evening - Bill heads for likely vote in Senate today

Measure With Amendments by Assemblymember Evans Passed Assembly Late Monday Evening By Vote of 60 to 0 With Support from Assembly Democrats and Republicans – Would Delay Implementation of IHSS Worker Requirements

SACRAMENTO, CALIF (CDCAN) [Updated 11/03/09 06:41 AM (Pacific Time) - A copy of SB 69, as passed by the Assembly late Monday evening by an initial vote of 60 to 0, was released (and is attached to this report as a 4 page PDF file titled “sb_69_20091102_amended_asm_v98.pdf” ), which would delay the November 1st implementation of several new requirements for In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) workers (providers) that counties and disability and senior advocates say is causing “panic and confusion” among the over 462,000 persons with disabilities, mental health needs, the blind, low income seniors receiving services under IHSS. [CDCAN Note: A HTML version (and also the pdf version) of the bill is also available on the CDCAN website at www.cdcan.us ] At least 28 counties have sent letters to the Department of Social Services, according to the Assembly, representing about 86% of the population receiving IHSS, indicating they would not or would have major problems in complying with the November 1st implementation date.

The bill will likely be taken up by the State Senate sometime possibly as early as this morning when that house convenes at 11:30 AM to largely focus on finishing up work on bills dealing with the state’s water crisis. Both houses were in session Monday to take final action on a long delayed package of bills addressing the state’s water crisis. The Assembly is set to reconvene its floor session on the water crisis at 09:30 AM this morning.

The Assembly passed SB 69, with amendments by Assemblymember Noreen Evans (Democrat – Santa Rosa) by an overwhelming initial vote of 60 to 0 – with that vote total in support of the bill growing before the Assembly adjourned late last night (several members were not on the floor when the vote was taken late this evening). As previously reported, SB 69 received support from Assembly Democrats and Republicans including Assembly Republican Leader Sam Blakeslee (Republican – San Luis Obispo) who spoke on the Assembly floor urging Assembly Republicans to support the measure.

The bill as approved by the Assembly, with amendments by Assemblymember Noreen Evans (Democrat – Santa Rosa) would require the following:

  • Requires the Department of Social Services to conduct a full stakeholder process prior to implementing the provisions that were intended to be in effect on November 1, 2009.
  • Requires the stakeholder process to be concluded by February 1, 2010.
  • Delays implementation of the IHSS worker (provider) requirements by 60 days after the stakeholder process is concluded.

The bill changes effective dates for several of the provisions dealing with IHSS worker (provider) requirements in budget related bills passed by the Legislature and approved by the Governor in late July as part of the 2009-2010 revised state budget including provisions in ABx4 19.

If the State Senate approves SB 69 as amended, it would then next head immediately to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for his signature. At this point it is not certain what he will do – though the support from both legislative Democrats and Republicans will make a veto of the bill more difficult – though not impossible for him to do.

If the Governor signs the bill, the measure would take effect immediately. More details of the bill and its impact in a later CDCAN Report on Tuesday after the State Senate has taken action. .

Bill received support from Assembly Democrats and Republicans

SB 69 as amended received wide spread support from both Assembly Democrats and Republicans including the following who co-authored the measure with Assemblymember Evans and Assembly Speaker Karen Bass: Assemblymembers Beall, Bradford, Brownley, Carter, Chesbro, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, Eng, Fong, Fuentes, Galgiani, Hill, Huffman, Jones, Krekorian, Lieu, Bonnie Lowenthal, Monning, Nava, John A. Perez, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Salas, Saldana, Skinner, Solorio, Swanson, Torres, Torrico, and Yamada.