Upon the adjournment of session last fall, several bills were
deemed two-year bills and left open for action upon the
Legislature reconvening. On January 4, the Legislature will
reconvene and will have until January 31 to take action on those
bills in both policy and fiscal committees. Key HHS-related bills
are noted below.
Behavioral Health
AB 1300 (Ridley-Thomas) – OPPOSE
Two-Year Bill
The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) released its third
iteration of their
Health Homes for Patients with Complex Needs Concept Paper –
Version 3.0 for comment on December 14. Recall, the Medicaid
Health Home State Plan option is afforded to states under Section
2703 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act enacted in
March 2010.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the
Secretary’s First
Annual Report on Transparency in the Review and Approval of
Section 1115 Demonstration (Amendments to the SSA and Title II of
this Act).
The California Budget and Policy Center published a California
Budget Bite related to the Health Care Special Session which
remains open. The California Budget and Policy Center’s Q&A
addresses seven key questions about the special session as
Californians anticipate the release of the Governor’s proposed
2016-17 state budget in January 2016. The full blog can be read
here.
The National Association of Counties (NACo) will be hosting a
webinar for the Stepping Up series focusing on key strategies for
connecting people with mental illnesses to community service
after released from jail. In May, CSAC hosted a news conference
at the State Capitol to help draw attention to the number of
mentally ill inmates in county jails. It was one of several
similar events held to kick off the Stepping Up for Mental
Illness initiative sponsored by NACo, the Council of State
Governments Justice Center and the American Psychiatric
Association.
The Health Care Special Session remains open after efforts to
pass a MCO tax during the last few days of the regular session
fell short. The Administration was disappointed that they could
not reach agreement with the health plans and legislature and
released a
formal statement.
Senate Special Session Bills with Active CSAC Positions
SBX2 2 (Hernandez) – Pending
As Amended on September 4, 2015
SBX2 2, by Senator Ed Hernandez, was voted on the Senate Floor
last night. It received a single yes vote, which allows it to be
referred to the newly formed Health Special Session Conference
Committee.
SBX2 14 (Hernandez) – Pending
As Introduced on September 9, 2015
While it was a generally quiet week for the Health Care Special
Session, the Assembly Public Health and Developmental Services
Committee did convene a hearing on ABX2 15 – the End of Life bill
by Assembly Member Susan Eggman. Additionally, Assembly Member
Susan Bonilla introduced another tax measure into the special
session called “The Cocktails for Healthy Outcomes Act.”
Additional details are provided below.
End of Life Bill
ABX2 15 (Eggman) – Watch
As Introduced on August 17, 2015
Senator Richard Pan and Assembly Member Rob Bonta released
identical tobacco tax legislation in the Second Extraordinary
Special Session on Health – SBX2 13 and ABX2 16 respectively. The
bills would expand the definition of tobacco products to include
electronic cigarettes and would impose the same licensing
requirements on electronic cigarette manufactures, importers,
distributers, wholesalers and retailers.
This week, the Legislature returned to Sacramento and kicked off
a series of hearings related to the Health Special Session. The
Senate convened two hearings, one to explore the managed care
organization (MCO) tax and the other to hear a series of tobacco
legislation introduced during the special session. The Assembly
also convened two hearings, one to discuss community
developmental services funding and the other focused on the
Medi-Cal program.
As the legislative session enters the final month, there are
several bills still in play in the health and human services area
– all of which will be heard on August 17 in the Senate
Appropriations Committee:
This week, the 2nd Extraordinary Session Assembly Public Health
and Developmental Services Committee followed the Senate’s lead
by convening their informational hearing on the Managed Care
Organization (MCO) tax and Developmental Disabilities.
Chairing this Committee is Assembly Member Rob Bonta, alongside
Assembly Member Brian Maienschein, Vice Chair. Other Committee
members include Assembly Members: Catharine Baker, Susan Bonilla,
Nora Campos, Eduardo Garcia, Marc Levine, Chad Mayes, Miguel
Santiago, Marc Steinorth, Mark Stone, Tony Thurmond and Jim
Wood.
This week, the 2nd Extraordinary Session Assembly Public Health
and Developmental Services Committee followed the Senate’s lead
by convening their informational hearing on the Managed Care
Organization (MCO) tax and Developmental Disabilities.
Today, the 2nd Extraordinary Session Senate Public Health and
Developmental Services Committee convened an informational
hearing. Members of the Committee include Senators Ed Hernandez
(Chair), Mike Morell (Vice Chair), Joel Anderson, Jim Beall,
Isadore Hall, Mark Leno, Mike McGuire, Holly Mitchell, Bill
Monning, John Moorlach, Jim Nielson, Richard Pan and Lois
Wolk.
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to uphold the Affordable Care Act
(ACA) in the King vs. Burwell Case, which challenged the
subsidies provided through the Internal Revenue Service in 36
exchanges run by the federal government under the law.
Challengers argued that the law prohibited subsidies in federal
exchanges and that the law only applied to subsidies established
by a State.
Today both houses will hear 2015-16 budget trailer bills during
their floor sessions. A detailed analysis of the Legislature’s
budget actions will be included in a CSAC Budget Action Bulletin.
This week, the joint Budget Conference Committee closed out all
remaining open items. For details regarding the Conference
Committee’s actions, please refer to the June 10 edition of the
CSAC Budget Action Bulletin.
CSAC Board Adopts Resolution to Combat Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children
On May 28, the CSAC Board of Directors approved a resolution to affirm CSAC’s commitment to developing and supporting strategies to prevent, reduce and serve the child victims of commercial sexual exploitation and work to eliminate sex trafficking in California. The Board also approved the distribution of a sample resolution to counties for consideration by each County Board.
The Senate and Assembly Appropriations Committees convened suspense file hearings on Thursday, May 28. There were several health and human services-related bills of significance to counties on the suspense file. See below for a recap of the bill and actions that were taken.
This week, the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee No. 3
and the Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 1 concluded their budget
discussions by taking up myriad vote-only items.
Highlights of actions taken by both Subcommittees thus far
include:
The Governor released his May Revision to the January budget this
Thursday, May 14. The May Revision contained a new proposal to
implement a state Earned Income Tax Credit, an additional
investment in California’s workforce programs, increased AB 85
county diversion estimates, and smaller than expected funding for
Medi-Cal county administration.
The California Budget and Policy Center recently released a data
hit revealing a disproportionate share of children living in
poverty in California. From 2011 to 2013, an average of 24.3
percent of Californians were children. Of Californians living in
deep poverty, 32.7 percent were children.
The high-profile vaccination bill continues to move through the
Senate. SB 277, by Senator Richard Pan, would eliminate the
personal belief exemption for required immunizations in order to
attend private (K-12) schools and daycare facilities. After being
heard in both the Senate Health and the Senate Education
Committees, the bill was passed this week by the Senate Judiciary
Committee. It now moves to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
CSAC supports SB 277.
This week, the Senate Education Committee passed SB 277, by
Senator Pan, which would eliminate the personal believe exemption
for required immunizations in order to attend public or private
(K-12) schools and daycare facilities. Recall last week, the
Committee held the bill, however with Senator Pan’s recent
amendments – to allow the personal beliefs exemption for students
in a home-based private school and students enrolled in an
independent study – the bill passed and will now be heard in
Senate Judiciary on Tuesday, April 28.
Senate Health Committee Passes Health Care Coverage for the
Undocumented Bill
This week the Senate Health Committee heard SB 4, a measure by
Senator Ricardo Lara to provide health care coverage through
Medi-Cal or Covered California to undocumented people in
California. The Committee heard testimony from advocacy groups
and undocumented individuals, who recalled several occasions
where the individual or a family member required medical
attention, but did not obtain it due to the cost of the services
and/or knowing that they would be turned away from primary care.
Thursday was a busy day for Senate Budget and Fiscal Review
Subcommittee No. 3, which convened at 11 a.m. and adjourned
shortly after 4 p.m. Several items of importance to counties were
discussed, including the Drug Medi-Cal Waiver, Continuum of Care
Reform, and the County Welfare Directors of California’s Approved
Relative Caregivers budget augmentation proposal. All items were
held open. Agendas are linked below and contain good background
information on the issues heard:
California Submits Medicaid Waiver Renewal to Feds
The California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS)
submitted its Medicaid Section 1115 waiver renewal proposal –
titled “Medi-Cal 2020” – to the federal Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services (CMS) on March 27. DHCS has a waiver submission
page on its website with all of the documents submitted to
CMS:
www.dhcs.ca.gov/provgovpart/Pages/1115-Waiver-Renewal-Official-Submission.aspx
This week the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee No. 3
on Health and Human Services heard several items of importance to
counties including: In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS),
Supplemental Security Income/State Supplemental Payments
(SSI/SSP) and CalWORKs.
California Assembly Bill x1-1 (Chapter 3, Statutes of 2013)
requires quarterly reporting on eligibility and enrollment
processes for all California insurance affordability programs.
DHCS and Covered California recently released the first report
for the reporting period of October 2013 through September 2014
focusing on initial steps and outcomes of the enrollment process
for new applicants.
The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) convened its final
Medicaid Section 1115 waiver workgroup meeting this week. The
safety net financing workgroup met via webinar to discuss merging
the Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) and Safety Net Care
Pool funding into what DHCS is calling global budgets.
During the course of the meeting, DHCS shared additional
information about the Medicaid Section 1115 waiver renewal
process, including:
Senate and Assembly Health Committees to Hold Joint Hearing
Next Wednesday, March 4 the Senate and Assembly Health Committees
will hold a joint hearing to explore the subject of Medi-Cal
rates and whether they ensure sufficient access to care. The
meeting will be held in the State Capitol, Room 4202. Additional
information will be posted on the Assembly Committee on
Health website.
Below are the updated county-by-county
diversion estimates. The original estimates
published in our January 16
bulletin did not accurately reflect the jurisdictional
risk amounts for the CMSP counties. This has been corrected.
Please note that all county estimates will be updated during the
May Revise.
State Releases Financing Detail on Medicaid Section 1115
Waiver
The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) provided an
overview of their financing proposal for the renewal of
California’s “Bridge to Reform” Medicaid Section 1115 waiver on
January 30. The current waiver has provided approximately $10
billion in federal funds over the five-year life of the waiver.
The Brown Administration unveiled a $17 billion federal waiver
renewal proposal last week.
Jennifer Kent Appointed as Director of the Department of Health
Care Services
This week Governor Brown appointed Jennifer Kent as Director of
the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), succeeding
Director Toby Douglas. Kent formerly served DHCS as Associate
Director in 2011 and Deputy Director of Legislative and
Governmental Affairs from 2004 to 2007. She has also served as
Deputy Legislative Secretary in the Office of the Governor during
the Schwarzenegger Administration and as Associate Secretary of
Legislative Affairs at the California Health and Human Services
Agency.
The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) is in the midst of
the process to renew California’s “Bridge to Reform” Medicaid
Section 1115 Waiver. DHCS has outlined their process as follows:
Commissioner Dave Jones issues emergency regulation
On Monday, January 5, California’s Insurance Commissioner Dave
Jones was sworn-in for a second term. Immediately after being
sworn-in, Commissioner Jones issued an emergency regulation to
establish stronger requirements for health insurers to create and
maintain sufficient medical provider networks to provide timely
access to medical care.
Senate pro Tempore Kevin de Lèon announced committee chairs this
week. The following is a summary of the key health and human
services posts.
Senate Health Committee: Senate pro Tempore reappointed
Senator Ed Hernandez, O.D., to chair the Senate Health Committee.
Senator Hernandez – a former health care provider in
predominantly low-income communities – chaired the Senate Health
Committee the last several years.
