BILL NUMBER: AB 2462INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Dababneh FEBRUARY 21, 2014 An act to amend Section 10609.7 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to social services. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2462, as introduced, Dababneh. Child welfare services: caseload standards. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to convene a stakeholder group to conduct an evaluation of the adequacy of current child welfare services budgeting methodology and to make recommendations for revising the methodology, including appropriate caseload levels, in order to adequately fund the system. Existing law states the intent of the Legislature that this stakeholder group include in its next report the core strategies needed to establish minimum caseload standards. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to those provisions. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 10609.7 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is amended to read: 10609.7. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (1) The department has convened the Child Welfare Services Stakeholders Group for the purpose of making recommendations to redesign California's child welfare system to create and sustain a flexible system,comprisingcomprised of public and private partnerships, that provides a comprehensive system of support for families and communities to ensure the well-being of every child. (2) In the first year of the stakeholders group, there was significant attention brought to the carrying capacity of direct service professionals through the development of an implementation plan of child welfare services workload study pursuant to Section 10609.5. (3) The stakeholders group has convened a series of working groups, including the Human Resources Workgroup, whose tasks are to develop core strategies and recommendations resulting in a high capacity, competent, satisfied child welfare services workforce that is able to perform the essential functions of the redesigned child welfare system. (4) In the second year, the Human Resources Workgroup report found that workload issues have not appreciably declined and that for the child welfare services redesign to be successful, workforce considerations need to be at the forefront of all redesign efforts. (5) The stakeholders group and its Human Resources Workgroup have entered the third year of the redesign process for the state's child welfare services. (b) It is the intent of the Legislature that the Human Resources Workgroup of the Child Welfare Services Stakeholders Group include in its next planned report the core strategies needed to establish minimum caseload standards under the redesigned child welfare services system for all service areas. (c) It is the intent of the Legislature that the Human Resources Workgroup also make recommendations for implementing the new caseload standards, including a recommendation that would achieve at least 20 percent of the caseload reductions annually over a specified period of time, as required under the newly recommended standards.