Bill Text: CA AB2346 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Public social services: hearings.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)

Status: (Passed) 2016-09-23 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 522, Statutes of 2016. [AB2346 Detail]

Download: California-2015-AB2346-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 2346	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  AUGUST 18, 2016
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 30, 2016
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 31, 2016

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Baker
   (Coauthor: Assembly Member Obernolte)

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2016

   An act to amend Section 10952.5 of the Welfare and Institutions
Code, relating to public social services.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2346, as amended, Baker. Public social services: hearings.
   Existing law provides various public social services and requires
that an applicant for, or recipient of, public social services be
accorded an opportunity for a state hearing if, among other reasons,
the applicant or recipient is dissatisfied with any action of the
county department relating to his or her application for, or receipt
of, public social services. Existing law requires, if regulations
require a public or private agency to write a position statement
concerning the issues in question in a fair hearing, or if the agency
chooses to develop such a statement, the agency to make available to
the applicant or recipient a copy of the agency's position statement
at the county welfare department not less than two working days
prior to the date of the hearing. Existing law excludes the State
Department of Health Care Services and the State Department of Public
Health from that requirement.
   This bill would  additionally require a public or private
agency, upon request, to provide a copy of the agency's position
statement to the applicant or recipient through electronic means and
would require the State Department of Health Care Services to make
its position statement available to the applicant or recipient and
the State Department of Social Services through electronic means, as
specified.   instead require the public or private
agency to make the agency's position statement available to the
applicant or recipient at the county welfare office or via United
States mail, or, upon request, through electronic means, as
specified.  The bill would exempt, for a specified period, a
public or private agency from complying with this requirement if it
submits a specified report to the State Department of Social Services
by December 31 of each year. The bill would also make technical,
nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 10952.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is
amended to read:
   10952.5.  (a) If regulations require a public or private agency to
write a position statement concerning the issues in question in a
fair hearing, or if the public or private agency chooses to develop
that statement, not less than two business days before the date of a
hearing provided for pursuant to this chapter, the public or private
agency shall make available to the applicant for, or recipient of,
public social services requesting a fair hearing, a copy of the
public or private agency's position statement on the forthcoming
hearing. The public or private agency shall make the copy available
to the applicant or recipient at the county welfare 
department,   department or  via United States
mail, or, upon request, through electronic means. Except as provided
in subdivision  (d),   (c),  if the
applicant or recipient requests a position statement that
contains personal identifying information  to be delivered
through electronic means, the position statement shall be delivered
through secure electronic  means.   means if
required by state or federal privacy laws.  A public or private
agency shall be required to comply with this section only if the
public or private agency has received a 10-day prior notice of the
date and time of the scheduled hearing.
   (b) If the public or private agency does not make the position
statement available not less than two business days before the
hearing or if the public or private agency decides to modify the
position statement, the hearing shall be postponed upon the request
of the applicant or recipient, if an applicant or recipient agrees to
waive the right to obtain a decision on the hearing within the
deadline that would otherwise be applicable under regulations. A
postponement for reason of the public or private agency not making
the position statement available within not less than two business
days shall be deemed a postponement for good cause for purposes of
determining eligibility to any applicable benefits pending
disposition of the hearing. 
   (c) Subdivisions (a) and (b) shall not apply to the State
Department of Health Care Services or the State Department of Public
Health, except that the State Department of Health Care Services
shall make its position statement available to the applicant or
recipient and the State Department of Social Services through
electronic means not less than two business days before the scheduled
hearing.  
   (d) 
    (c)  (1) A public or private agency shall not be
required to make a copy of its position statement available to an
applicant or recipient through electronic means if the agency submits
a report by December 31 of each year to the State Department of
Social Services that includes both of the following:
   (A) The barriers the agency has identified that substantially
impede or prohibit the electronic provision of hearing documents.
   (B) The steps the agency is taking to address these barriers.
   (2) This subdivision shall become inoperative on the date that the
statewide electronic case management system administered by the
State Department of Social Services becomes operational and has the
capacity to provide position statements to claimants through secure
electronic means.