Assembly Standing Committee on Human Services

Good afternoon. I call this hearing of the Assembly Committee on Human Services to order. I'd like to take a moment to welcome the new Assembly Members, especially our Vice Chair, on this committee. We are witnessing the dismantle of core safety net programs at the federal level.

But California will not allow our vulnerable populations to go without the basic needs being met. As Chair of this committee, I will continue to fight to protect all programs for all Californians. I look forward to working with each of you in accomplishing that. Today, once we have established quorum, we'll be voting to adopt our committee rules.

Then we have four bills on the agenda, two of which are on consent. Please note that we limit testimony to two witnesses in support and two witnesses in opposition. Each witness has two minutes to testify. All additional witnesses will be limited, saying their name, organization if they represent one, and their position on the bill.

I also want to note that we are accepting written testimony through the position letter portal on the committee's website. Lastly, I would like to address disruptions during the hearing. Conduct that disrupts or otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of this hearing is prohibited. If disruptive behavior occurs today, you will be removed from the hearing room by the Assembly Sergeant, so please do not disrupt our business. Since... Madam Secretary, can you please establish quorum?

[Roll Call]

The committee rules are adopted. Oh, we have a quorum. Oh, sorry. This was, that was quorum. I'm getting ahead of myself. Do I have a motion and a second to adopt the committee rules? Moved by Assembly Member Jackson. Second by Assembly Member Calderon. Madam Secretary, please call the roll on the committee rules.

To adopt the committee rules. [Roll Call]

The Committee rules are adopted. Thank you. Seeing as Assembly Bennett is here first, let's start with file item 2, AB 276 by Assemblymember Bennett on background checks. Please come forward when you are ready.

One of you go here, one of you there.

Whenever you're ready, Mr. Bennett. You may begin with your witnesses.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Members. AB 276 provides a practical and urgently needed solution to a staffing crisis at agencies who serve foster youth. The Bill allows children's residential agencies to provisionally hire qualified employees while awaiting their out-of-state child abuse registry.

Professionals from outside of California often wait up to nine months for clearance, even after passing all the federal and California criminal background checks. Now, I know when you do something like this, the number one question we have Is what about somebody being with a child inappropriately and us having problems?

So to ensure children's safety, prospective employees must clear the checks through the DOJ, the FBI, and the California Child Abuse Central Index before beginning their work. That's pretty substantial review at that point in time. Additionally, the employees would not be allowed any unsupervised contact with kids until the full out-of-state background check has taken place.

But it is, I would just offer to you, after working at a county supervisor for 20 years, trying to hire people in these kind of situations, and you find a great candidate and you say to them, you know, in nine months we'll be able to start paying you. Right? In nine months.

Hang around for nine months and we'll hire you. Right. Just is not an effective way to have foster children get professional help that they need. And so we literally, we just have a roadblock.

And out-of-state organizations, out-of-state agencies don't have the incentive to say, we're going to rush to try to process this California request. They're rushing to try to process all the other things that they're doing, short staffed, et cetera.

And so we have to come up with a solution that makes it possible because foster children are suffering because they're not getting the staffing help that they need and the professional help that they need. And with me Today, I have Dr. Theresa Plante, and she's the regional Director of Casa Pacifica, a great program in Ventura.

And then Annie Thomas from the California Alliance of Child and Family Services. And I'll turn it over to them.

All right, two minutes each, please.

Okay. Good afternoon, Chair Lee and Members. Annie Thomas, on behalf of the California Alliance of Child and Family Services, proud to sponsor this Bill. Thank you. At the California alliance, we represent 165 community based organizations across the state that provide crucial care and services to California's most vulnerable youth, including foster youth, justice involved youth and youth with complex behavioral health needs.

Many of these providers operate short term residential therapeutic programs, transitional housing programs, and other licensed community based residential programs, all of which are facing a severe workforce shortage that threatens their ability to care for these youth. Providers are losing qualified candidates before they can even begin.

Many programs receive 30% or more of their applicants from out of state. Yet background check delays, sometimes lasting over a year, force applicants to take jobs elsewhere. With critical positions unfilled, the care for youth is impacted. Providers operate on fixed funding models that do not account for months long hiring delays.

When positions are vacant, programs are not operating at capacity, again leaving youth without the vital care that these programs offer. AB 276 ensures that qualified candidates who have already cleared the FBI, DOJ and California's Child Abuse Central Index Screenings can begin working under supervision while awaiting their background checks, in alignment with federal law.

We urge your I vote on AB 276 to to ensure that youth in California have access to stable, high quality care that they deserve and our providers have the workforce that they need to deliver nurturing and safe environments that these youth rely on. Thank you.

Thank you very much. You may begin.

Hello everyone. Dear Chair Lee and Members, can you guys hear me? My name is Dr. Theresa Plante, I am Regional Director of Casa Pacifica Centers for Children and Families, one of the largest nonprofits in Ventura in Santa Barbara counties.

Casa Pacifica serves at risk children and adolescents with severe emotional, behavioral and mental health challenges including foster youth, probation youth and adoption assistance youth, residing in our short term residential therapeutic program. On behalf of Casa Pacifica, we strongly urge you to support your support for AB 276.

I would like to share a real world example that occurred just last week. We were hiring for one of our urgently needed open positions. I should also mention our campus is located about eight miles from a naval base. As you can imagine, we get some candidates from the families of those housed at the naval base.

And as you can also imagine, those candidates have lived in multiple states in the last five years as the family unit faithfully serves our country. Our top candidate for the position is a spouse of someone serving on the naval base.

She has lived in two other states in the past five years as the Navy has moved their family. Now I must decide is my best candidate worth the wait?

That's absolutely unfair both to the candidate who is best qualified and to the youth whom they would be serving who who deserve to work with the best staff we can provide for them. The cumbersome out of state background check process has hindered our ability to source and quickly hire talent from out of state.

As a result, applicants have faced excessively long wait times averaging three to six months, leading many to pursue other employment opportunities, further depleting our already limited workforce talent pool.

By aligning California law with federal standards and bringing the state in line with best practices from other states, AB 276 will reduce harmful hiring delays while maintaining child safety protections. For these reasons, we were respectfully request your I vote on AB 276.

Thank you. Now, do we have any members of the public in the hearing room who should testify and support? Please come up to the microphone. Name organization please.

Should be on.

Yeah Good afternoon. Kathy Van Austen representing John Burton Advocates for Youth, in support.

Thank you. Now, do we have any Members of the.. Do I have any witnesses in opposition? Any witnesses opposition? Do we have any members of the public wish to testify in opposition to the Bill, please come forward to the mic. Seeing none. I'm going to bring it back to the Committee Members. Any questions or comments from Committee Members?

All right. Okay. Assemblymember Rodriguez, yes.

Thank you for sharing more about this Bill. I wanted to just understand what would come up in this out of state check that wouldn't come up in all of the other precautionary measures that you've already laid out in the.

Ms. Thomas, our expert is prepared to answer that question. We thought it was coming.

So it would identify individuals that not necessarily would have criminal records, but they would have a documented history of child abuse or neglect. So every state is different on what they put in their out of state checks. Some it would only include court approved cases or substantiated reports from Child Protective Services. In California, it's the latter. It would include substantiated reports from law enforcement or CPS.

And then do I understand correctly that within the Bill to ensure that if anything comes back, everyone was protected in the interim they don't have unsupervised contact with children, Correct?

Okay. Thank you.

That's correct.

All right. Thank you. Any other questions or comments from Committee Members? Seeing none, I'm going to invite the author to close.

I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Very good. I'm recommend.. Thank you for bringing forward the Bill and thank you to your witnesses today. I am recommending an aye vote. Do I have a motion, a second on AB 276?

Moved by Assemblymember Calderon, second by Assemblymemebr Jackson. Madam Secretary, please call the roll.

File item 2, AB 276. The motion is do passed to the Assembly Public Safety Committee.

Lee? Lee, Aye. Castillo? Castillo, aye. Calderon? Calderon, aye.

Elhawary? Essayli? Essayli, aye. Jackson? Jackson, aye. Celeste Rodriguez? Celeste Rodriguez, aye.

That bill is out.

Thank you very much.

Five to zero. Thank you. All right. Seeing how we do not have any other authors present at the moment, Assembly Member Jackson, do you, would you like to present your bill? File item 3, AB 319.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, Committee Members. I would like to thank the Chair and committee staff on working with us on this bill, and we will be accepting the committee's amendments. AB 319 seeks to improve the care and support we provide to foster youth who have experienced severe trauma, ensuring they receive the most effective therapeutic interventions in the least restrictive settings possible.

Under AB 319, counties will be required to submit detailed plans to the Joint Interagency Resolution team by January 1, 2027 outlining how they will develop and expand therapeutic care options for foster youth. These plans will be updated every two years thereafter, ensuring that progress is tracked and counties are continuously improving their services. I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Thank you, Assembly Member Jackson. Do we have any members of the public who wish to testify in support of this bill? Please come to the microphone.

Hi, my name is Monique Rodriguez. I'm a former, I'm a former college student at Mount St. Mary's University. As someone who is in the foster care, I support this bill.

Great. Thank you. Now, do we have any opposition to this bill? Please come forward. Any opposition? All right. Any members of the public wish to testify in opposition, please come to the microphone. Seeing none, I'm going to bring it back to the Committee Members. Any questions or comments on this bill? Do you have a question? All right.

So my comment is with the mental health. Right. Because I'm a therapist and I used to work for county, and I worked with foster youth as well. And I also know how there is a low rate of therapists available to service, so I just want to ensure that that is also known.

And I, you know, having worked for the county, I know that they put these requirements as well, but there's also a need for therapists within that field. So there's not enough therapists to serve the youth. You know, I mean, I worked with them, you know, and I feel like they're our most vulnerable population and there does need. So, but I think there's another part of it that needs to be addressed, which is the lack of therapists within that ability to serve them. But, I mean, I support this.

No, absolutely. I think that, number one, through the governor's Youth Behavioral Health Initiative, to be able to continue to, number one, provide funding for more therapists, continuing to support the state's career pathway to for more therapists, right, are definitely essential.

What we're asking counties to do is, there's not a year that goes by, and we'll probably get another article this year, about the inappropriate placement of our foster youth. And it'll always be said, well, we don't have enough placements. We don't have this, we don't have that.

Well, this asks us to make sure that counties plan for this and everything that comes with it. So STRTPs being the most well rounded environment, which will include therapists and include all the other things that are individualized service that a young person may need. This makes sure that there's a holistic plan to do that, which then goes up to the state to make sure we have a statewide plan.

Any other comments or questions from Committee Members? All right. Seeing none, I'll invite the author to close.

I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Well, thank you for bringing this bill forward, Assembly Member Jackson, and working with my staff on the amendments. I'm recommending an aye vote. The bill has been moved by Assembly Member Calderon. Do I have a second for this bill? Seconded by Celeste Rodriguez. Madam Secretary, please call the roll on AB 319.

The motion is do pass as amended to the Assembly Appropriations Committee. [Roll Call]

Five to zero. That bill's out. All right, Members, we are still waiting for one more author for file item number one. But in the meantime, let's take up the... Oh, they're both on consent. Never mind. Let's take up the consent calendar then, since we aren't waiting for authors.

Move consent.

The consent calendar has been moved. Is there a second? Seconded by Assembly Member Calderon.

On the consent calendar. [Roll Call]

Five to zero. The consent calendar is out. I will remain here for the absent Members to fill in votes. But thank you so much for being here.

Madam Secretary, please open the roll for the committee rules.

On the committee rules, current vote is five to zero. [Roll Call] Current vote is 6 to 0. On the consent calendar, current vote is 5 to 0. [Roll Call] Current vote is 6 to 0.

Madam Secretary, please open the roll on the remaining bills.

File item 2, AB 276. The current vote is 5 to 0. The motion is do pass to the Assembly Public Safety Committee. [Roll Call] Current vote is 6 to 0. File item 3, AB 319. The current vote is 5 to 0. The motion is do pass as amended to the Assembly Appropriations Committee. [Roll Call] Current vote is 6 to 0.

Seeing as we will not be expecting our last Member, business before the Assembly Human Services Committee is complete. The hearing is now adjourned.