Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 1 Approves the Assembly’s IHSS Proposal

Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 1 on Health and Human Services conducted a vote on the Assembly’s proposal seeking to mitigate the adverse county impacts resulting from the Governor’s action to discontinue the Coordinated Care Initiative (CCI) and eliminate the county maintenance of effort (MOE) on In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) costs. The proposal put forth by the Assembly would:

• Increase the county MOE by $623 million and reinstate the 3.5% annual growth factor.

• Create a new special fund – the County Budget Protection Fund – which would supplement 1991 Realignment revenues to guarantee IHSS is fully funded. 1991 Realignment revenues would replenish the special fund once revenues exceed the increased IHSS costs.

• Retain Statewide bargaining.

Counties thanked the Assembly for their interest in finding feasible solutions for counties through their proposal, yet expressed concerns around counties assuming increased costs in excess of $623 million. The Subcommittee approved the Assembly’s proposal with 4 ‘aye’ votes and 1 member abstaining. In the absence of the Senate taking action, the item will move to conference; however, CSAC is actively engaged in negotiations with the Administration to mitigate the impacts to counties.