Bill Text: CA AB366 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended

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

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Bill Title: County human services agencies: workforce development.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Vetoed) 2024-09-20 - Vetoed by Governor. [AB366 Detail]

Download: California-2023-AB366-Amended.html

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Amended  IN  Assembly  May 18, 2023

Amended  IN  Assembly  March 23, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 366

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Introduced by Assembly Member Petrie-Norris

February 01, 2023

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An act to add Section 19812 to the Government Code, and to add Section 10005 to the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to human services.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 366, as amended, Petrie-Norris. County human services agencies: workforce development.

Existing law  generally provides for various human services programs, including, but not limited to, child welfare services. Existing law requires the state, through the department and county welfare departments, to establish and support a public system of statewide child welfare services to be available in each county of the state, and requires all counties to establish and maintain specialized organizational entities within the county welfare department, which have sole responsibility for the operation of the child welfare services program.

This bill would require the State Department of Social Services to establish a $5,000,000 stipend program, subject to an appropriation by the Legislature, for the purpose of providing grants in the form of educational stipends to community college students who have an interest in public child welfare work. The bill would require the department to administer the program through existing mechanisms applicable to other postsecondary education stipend programs administered by the department for which the state receives matching funds pursuant to specified federal law. The bill would require the program to provide stipends to students enrolled in a community college in counties with a population of 500,000 or less, and who are in a relevant program of coursework, as specified.

The bill also would provide for competitive grants, subject to an appropriation for that purpose, to be made to eligible entities for the purpose of establishing career-track programs within the county human services departments. The bill would define eligible entities for this purpose to include county human services agencies, public education agencies, and nonprofit organizations, as specified. The bill would require grant awards to be prioritized based on geographic diversity, with priority to rural and central valley counties, and other factors, including, but not limited to, the applicant’s ability to establish, in collaboration with local public colleges and universities, dedicated county internship programs that provide educational training and credit towards related human service degree programs. The bill would authorize the department to implement, interpret, or make specific the competitive grant provisions through all-county letters or similar instructions.

Existing law vests the Department of Human Resources with the jurisdiction and responsibility of establishing and maintaining personnel standards on a merit basis, and administering merit systems for local government agencies where those merit systems of employment are required by statute or regulation as a condition of a state-funded program or a federal grant-in-aid program established under federal law, including, but not limited to, the Social Security Act, as specified. Existing law requires the department, for the purposes of administering those state or federally supported programs, by regulation, to establish and maintain personnel standards on a merit basis for local agencies, as specified, as necessary for proper and efficient administration, and to ensure state conformity with applicable federal requirements. Existing law requires the department to administer the merit system for employees engaged in administering state-funded and federal grant-in-aid programs in a local agency not administering its own merit system, as specified.

This bill, notwithstanding those provisions, would require the department, for local agencies with an employment vacancy rate of 20% or greater for 30 consecutive days in any state-funded or federal grant-in-aid program, to allow those agencies to use alternate minimum qualifications and processes to screen applications and establish eligibility lists for recruitment of new staff, and advancement of existing staff, until the vacancy rate falls below 20 percent continuously for 12 3 consecutive months. The bill would authorize those alternatives to include, but not be limited to, allowing counties to screen and establish eligibility lists directly with oversight by the department, implementing alternative examination requirements without advance approval by the department, and waiving examination components. The bill would require the department, by July 1, 2026, to convene representatives of local agencies and applicable state departments, including, but not limited to, the State Department of Social Services and the Department of Child Support Services to develop and implement streamlined processes and requirements in the implementation of a merit-based personnel system. The bill would require the department to implement any policy changes through departmental memoranda until regulations are adopted, and would require those regulations to be adopted by July 1, 2027.

Digest Key

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

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Bill Text

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) County human services agencies are struggling, like many other service sectors, to recruit and retain staff due to competition with other industries for a limited supply of workers.

(b) A human services labor shortage impacts all program areas, including child welfare and foster care services, adult protective services, in-home supportive services, Medi-Cal eligibility, California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids Program (CalWORKs), CalFRESH, CalFresh, and housing and homelessness services. This threatens the ability of counties to deliver critical public safety net services, which in turn threatens the ability of counties to meet their federal and state mandates and implement new federal and state initiatives to eliminate poverty and protect children and older adults from abuse and neglect.

(c) Many county human services agencies are experiencing significant staff vacancies and turnover, which can undermine counties’ efforts at system improvements across all programs and, in some instances, such as child welfare programs, can lead to fiscal sanctions for the state and counties.

(d) Higher employee vacancy rates and turnover among human services agencies impacts remaining staff who are taking on increasingly higher caseloads and workloads, resulting in worker burnout and further attrition.

(e) Constantly hiring new staff also has negative impacts, as those staff are less experienced and have less knowledge of complex program requirements, which results in lost productivity as new workers take time to learn the work. County costs also have increased due to this turnover, requiring constant recruiting, hiring, and training.

(f) Many counties rely upon the Department of Human Resources (CalHR) and Merit System Services to recruit, screen, and hire county human services staff, and counties statewide regardless are all required to abide by certain policies put forth by CalHR in their screening and hiring practices.

(g) Post-pandemic labor shortages and recent investments in health and human services programs necessitate new and updated approaches in recruitment and retention of human services staffing in order to remain competitive with other industries.

SEC. 2.

 Section 19812 is added to the Government Code, to read:

19812.

 (a) (1) Notwithstanding Sections 19801 and 19803, for local agencies with an employment vacancy rate of 20 percent or greater for 30 consecutive days in any state-funded or federal grant-in-aid program, the Department of Human Resources shall allow those agencies to use alternate minimum qualifications and processes to screen applications and establish eligibility lists for recruitment of new staff and advancement of existing staff until the vacancy rate falls below 20 percent continuously for 12 three consecutive months.

(2) Alternatives authorized under this section include, but are not limited to, allowing counties to screen and establish eligibility lists directly with oversight by the department, implementing alternative examination requirements without advance approval by the department, and waiving examination components.

(3) Any alternative processes requiring departmental approval shall be responded to within seven calendar days of the receipt of the request from the county.

(4) Any alternative criteria or processes shall comply with all applicable departmental regulations.

(b) (1) The department shall convene representatives of local agencies and applicable state departments, including, but not limited to, the State Department of Social Services and the Department of Child Support Services to develop and implement streamlined processes and requirements in the implementation of a merit-based personnel system. The department shall comply with this requirement no later than July 1, 2026. Notwithstanding the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code), the department may implement any policy changes through departmental memoranda, which shall have the same force and effect as regulations, until regulations are adopted.

(2) The department shall adopt regulations to implement this section by July 1, 2027.

SEC. 3.

 Section 10005 is added to the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:

10005.

 (a) The Legislature finds that as California’s human services and safety net programs rely almost exclusively on implementation and administration by California’s counties, it is critical that counties have an educated, well-trained, and diverse workforce. It is, therefore, the intent of the Legislature to fund educational programs focused on human services and county administration of programs to be prioritized to address significant workforce shortages to ensure California’s citizens have access to services in which they are entitled to participate.

(b) (1) The State Department of Social Services shall create the Building Diversity in Human Services Workforce Program in accordance with this subdivision to establish education and training grants in human services programs.

(2) Subject to an appropriation for this purpose in the annual Budget Act, the department shall establish a five-million-dollar ($5,000,000) stipend program, which shall be known as the California Community College Workforce and Economic Development Grant Program, for the purpose of providing grants, in the form of educational stipends, to community college students who have an interest in public child welfare work.

(A) The program shall be administered by the department through existing mechanisms applicable to other stipend programs administered by the department pursuant to Title IV-E of the federal Social Security Act, in association and agreement with the California Social Work Education Center (CalSWEC), the County Welfare Directors Association of California (CWDA), county human services agencies, and the California Community Colleges, to the extent permitted by federal law.

(B) The program shall provide stipends to students who are enrolled in community college in counties with a population of 500,000 or less, and who are in a relevant program of coursework as specified in this subdivision.

(C) State-level agencies may use up to a total of 5 percent of the appropriated funds for administration of the grant program.

(c)(1)Subject to an appropriation for this purpose in the annual Budget Act, the department shall provide competitive grants to eligible entities for the purpose of establishing career-track programs within county human services departments. The department, in consultation with the County Welfare Directors Association and relevant stakeholders, shall determine the methodology for, and manner of, distributing grants awarded pursuant to this section and any reporting requirements for grantees. Grant funding shall be available for expenditure by the grantee for two fiscal years from the date the grant is awarded.

(2)Grant awards shall be prioritized based on the following criteria:

(A)Geographic diversity, with priority to rural and central valley counties.

(B)The applicant’s ability to do all of the following:

(i)Provide community-based training programs that offer mentorship to trainees and have an emphasis on trainees with lived experience using human services programs and who are representative of their community.

(ii)Establish, in collaboration with their local community colleges or high schools, a human services certificate program whereby students may receive educational training in county human services programs and receive certification to be employed in those programs. Obtaining a human services certificate shall give participating students preference in county hiring.

(iii)Establish, in collaboration with local public colleges and universities, dedicated county internship programs that provide educational training and credit towards related human service degree programs.

(3)Program applications should incorporate lowest barrier to entry models and account for educational, language, or cultural difficulties in accessing educational opportunities or public employment.

(4)In order to receive grant funds pursuant to this subdivision, an eligible entity shall submit a plan to the department describing its planned strategies, consistent with the criteria described in paragraph (2), any planned partnerships with county agencies, educational entities or community-based organizations, outcomes to be achieved, and methods for measuring success.

(5)For the purposes of this section, “eligible entity” means any of the following:

(A)A county human services agency.

(B)A public education agency that provides a letter of support from a county human services agency.

(C)A nonprofit organization that is exempt from federal income taxation under Section 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(5) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and that provides a letter of support from a county human services agency.

(6)Notwithstanding any other law, a grant awarded pursuant to this subdivision shall be exempt from the personal services contracting requirements of Article 4 (commencing with Section 19130) of Chapter 5 of Part 2 of Division 5 of Title 2 of the Government Code, the Public Contract Code, and the State Contracting Manual, and shall not be subject to the approval of the Department of General Services.

(7)Notwithstanding the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code), the department may implement, interpret, or make specific this subdivision through all-county letters or similar instructions, without taking regulatory action until regulations are adopted.