In a letter to the nation’s governors, the U.S Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced that the public
health emergency (PHE) will likely remain in place for the
entirety of 2021, and when a decision is made to terminate the
declaration or let it expire, HHS will provide states with 60
days’ notice prior to termination.
The California Social Work Hall of Distinction will be honoring
individuals who embody the commitment of the social work
profession or practice in October of this year, coinciding with
the National Association of Social Workers California Annual
Conference.
This week, Governor Newsom released the
Master Plan for Early Learning and Care. The Master Plan is
the result of more than a year of collaboration between the
California Health and Human Services Agency, researchers, and
other stakeholders. This framework outlines a vision for
California to achieve a comprehensive and equitable early
learning and care system by 2030.
The Master Plan outlines this vision through four overarching
goals:
Governor Newsom met the September 30 deadline to take action on
measures approved by the Legislature and delivered to his desk.
To keep counties informed of new laws that impact them, CSAC will
be publishing a series of articles to spotlight those laws in
each policy area. This week, the Health and Human Services policy
area provides information on new laws affecting health, human
services, and behavioral health.
The new laws listed below become effective January 1, 2021 unless
otherwise noted.
This year, a new law went into effect, SB 234 (Chapter 244,
Statutes of 2019), that aims to increase the availability of
family child care homes. The sponsor of the legislation, the
Child Care Law Center, reached out to CSAC to share resources
with counties regarding the implementation of this law.
SB 234 makes various changes regarding licensing and zoning for
family child care homes, including several that directly impact
county regulations. These include:
On Tuesday, the Stakeholder Advisory Committee for the Master
Plan for Aging met and submitted their final recommendations to
the Governor’s Administration for consideration in the state’s
Master Plan for Aging. While the COVID-19 pandemic caused some
delays in the Master Plan timeline and forced meetings to be
conducted remotely, progress on this important initiative
continued and the Governor is anticipated to release the state’s
Master Plan for Aging in December.
CSAC’s Health and Human Services policy committee tracked a
number of bills this legislative cycle. All of the following
bills passed both houses and are awaiting action from the
Governor.
Oppose
AB 1976 (Eggman): Mental Health Services: Assisted Outpatient
Treatment.
In a typical year, many representatives from California counties
would have traveled to Florida recently to gather with counties
throughout the nation for the NACo Annual Meeting. While NACo was
not able to host an in-person Annual Meeting this year, several
virtual events were successfully conducted over the past week.
These included a town hall, NACo Board of Directors meeting,
California Caucus, and Annual Business Meeting. California
members were active contributors at these various events.
Highlights and significant actions are described below.
The Governor’s office recently
announced the appointment of Will Lightbourne to serve as
Director of the California Department of Health Care Services
(DHCS).
Earlier this week, the California Department of Finance
submitted a letter to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee
indicating plans to provide a $5 million augmentation for food
banks from the emergency coronavirus funding bill the Legislature
passed in March.
This week the Legislature began holding public hearings to review
the Governor’s May Revision Budget. With the condensed
Legislative timelines, the Budget Subcommittees are doing their
best to fully examine the proposed investments and cuts laid out
in the Governor’s 172 page
summary. In addition to their internal review, the
Legislature has made an asserted effort to hear from the all
parties that will be impacted by what the Legislature approves by
June 15.
CalOES announced that FEMA funding for the senior restaurant
meals program, now dubbed “Great
Plates Delivered,” has been extended from May 10 to June 10.
View resources and guidance documents for the Great Plates
Delivered program
here.
Over the past week, the Governor has made a series of
announcements and focused significant time in his daily press
briefings on the issue of food assistance for older adults and
families.
The California
Testing Task Force hosted a second webinar for local
elected officials, local public health directors and officers,
and local emergency managers to discuss the rapid increase in
COVID-19 testing capacity and areas that they will continue
working on.
Accompanied by Santa Clara Supervisors Cindy Chavez and Susan
Ellenberg, as well as San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, Governor
Newsom delivered one of his daily COVID-19 updates over the
weekend from a newly leased Motel 6 in Santa Clara County.
This backdrop was significant as Governor
Newsom announced a new statewide master lease
agreement/template with Motel 6 corporate. The agreement includes
5,025 new rooms across Motel 6 locations in 19 counties, and
contains language on extending the leases into the future beyond
the COVID-19 pandemic.
The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) released new
guidance on Employment Services provisions in the California Work
Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program,
through an
All County Welfare Directors Letter (ACWDL). The guidance
encourages counties to minimize the fiscal impacts on families,
during a time of economic uncertainty, while continuing to
support them through supportive services.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, CSAC has been working
across all policy areas to support flexibility throughout county
operations and programs. Over the last few weeks, CSAC has worked
closely with several county affiliates, stakeholders, and state
departments to ensure necessary adjustments are made to vital
county services.
The Governor announced that he would be using the first $150
million of the up to $1 billion provided by the Legislature’s
emergency COVID-19 funding bill for homelessness-related efforts.
CSAC worked closely with the Administration regarding this
significant infusion of funding for counties to address
homelessness and wishes to thank Governor Newsom and his team for
prioritizing homelessness during this crisis and ensuring that
resources are rapidly available to all counties.
Below are details about how the $150 million will be used and
allocated.
In the past week, both the Senate and Assembly Budget
Subcommittees on Health and Human Services featured the In-Home
Supportive Services (IHSS) program on the agenda. CSAC was
featured on panels at both hearings and provided an update on
implementation of the 2019-20 County IHSS Maintenance of Effort
(MOE), shared county progress on IHSS collective bargaining, and
stated our opposition to stakeholder proposals related to IHSS
collective bargaining.
CSAC and Counties continue to engage in the robust stakeholder
process for the Governor’s Medi-Cal Healthier California for All
initiative, formerly known as CalAIM. The initiative seeks to
streamline and simplify the state’s Medicaid program while
presenting opportunities for counties to better serve Medi-Cal
beneficiaries and special populations such as foster youth, those
living without shelter, and people transitioning from
institutions like jails, hospitals, and skilled nursing
facilities.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a
proposed new federal rule for increased Medicaid fiscal
transparency late last year called the Medicaid Fiscal
Accountability Rule, or MFAR.
CSAC, along with the County Welfare Directors Association of
California, submitted comments on January 31 opposing the new
rule, which would limit the types of funding states can use to
draw down federal financial participation (FFP) for Medicaid
services.
Significant progress continues to be made toward the development
of the state’s Master Plan
for Aging. In order to begin gathering written feedback from
the numerous stakeholders involved in this process, the
Department of Aging established a deadline of December 13 for
initial comments and recommendations.
CSAC hosted an In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) Training
Wednesday for counties in partnership with the County Welfare
Directors Association (CWDA) and the California Association of
Public Authorities (CAPA). More than 200 county staff and public
authority staff from nearly every county gathered in Sacramento
for a full day of training about the new IHSS Maintenance of
Effort (MOE) that was enacted by Senate Bill 80 (Chapter 27,
Statutes of 2019).
Governor Newsom signed 870 bills into law this year. To keep
counties informed of new laws that impact them, CSAC will be
publishing a series of articles to spotlight those laws in each
policy area. This week, the Health and Human Services policy area
provides information on new laws affecting foster care, health,
homelessness, and more. Stay tuned for more updates from other
policy areas over the next several weeks.
The new laws listed below become effective January 1, 2020 unless
otherwise noted.
As utility-initiated Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) continue
to impact residents across California, the California Health and
Human Services Agency (CHHS) has established a resource website,
a nonemergency hotline, and PSPS resource guide for counties and
communities during power shutoffs.
The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) released the
Bringing Families Home (BFH) Program application criteria on
September 5, 2019. BFH was established through Assembly Bill 1603
(Chapter 25, Statutes 2016), designed to provide housing related
assistance to child-welfare involved families, but funding was
set to expire June 30, 2019.
As the Legislative bill deadline has passed, CSAC Health and
Human Services staff took support positions on the following
enrolled bills. These bills are currently being reviewed by the
Governor for signature or veto. There are no HHS bills that CSAC
is asking the Governor to veto.
As we near the end of the 2019 legislative year, CSAC continues
to engage with several bill authors and sponsors to advocate for
the best outcomes for counties. CSAC was successful in
negotiating amendments on the two below bills that will allow us
to remove our opposition.
The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) has posted the
application and funding allocations for one-time Housing
Funds for Whole Person Care (WPC) Pilots. The application
was released to current Whole Person Care Lead Entities on
Monday, July 22, 2019 and updated on posted on Friday, August 9,
2019 to their site. The application contains instructions for
counties, the funding allocations, the methodology used, and a
helpful list of deadlines.
