LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 246, as introduced, Benoit. In-home supportive services:
registries: criminal background checks.
Existing law provides for the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS)
program, under which, either through employment by the recipient, by
or through contract by the county, by the creation of a public
authority, or pursuant to a contract with a nonprofit consortium,
qualified aged, blind, and disabled persons receive services enabling
them to remain in their own homes.
Existing law requires a nonprofit consortium or public authority
to provide for various functions, including establishing a registry
of in-home supportive service providers and investigating the
qualifications and background of prospective registry applicants.
Under existing law, the investigation may include criminal background
checks requested by the nonprofit consortium or public authority and
conducted by the Department of Justice.
This bill would, instead, require the investigation to include
criminal background checks. This bill would require that, as part of
the criminal background check, an in-home supportive services
provider be fingerprinted and submit the fingerprint images and any
other related information required by the Department of Justice to
assist the department in obtaining information related to the
existence and content of any records of any state or federal
convictions and arrests. The bill would provide that an in-home
supportive services provider shall be responsible for covering the
cost of providing fingerprint images and other information to the
Department of Justice.
This bill would provide that, in order to be employed as an
in-home supportive services provider in a county that has contracted
with a nonprofit consortium or established a public authority, an
applicant shall, as a condition of employment, be on the registry or
be placed on that registry within 90 days of when the applicant first
begins to provide in-home supportive services. The bill would
provide that an in-home supportive services provider who is already
providing services on January 1, 2010, and who is not on the registry
on that date shall have until April 1, 2010, to be placed on the
registry in order to continue to provide in-home supportive services.

Because the bill would require certain counties to perform
additional responsibilities in administering the IHSS program, 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, if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these
statutory provisions.