Section 18999.1 - Administration; funding(a) Subject to an appropriation of funds for this purpose in the annual Budget Act, the State Department of Social Services shall administer the Housing and Disability Income Advocacy Program to provide state funds to participating counties, tribes, or combinations of counties or tribes for the provision of outreach, case management, and advocacy services to individuals as described in Section 18999. Housing assistance shall also be offered to individuals described in subdivision (b) of Section 18999.2.(b) Funds appropriated for this chapter shall be awarded to grantees by the department according to criteria developed by the department, in consultation with the County Welfare Directors Association of California, tribes, and advocates for clients, subject to the following restrictions: (1) State funds appropriated for this chapter shall be used only for the purposes specified in this chapter.(2) The annual ongoing appropriation of funds for this chapter, subject to an appropriation made by the Legislature, is defined as a twenty-five million dollar ($25,000,000) General Fund appropriation.(3) A grantee shall, at a minimum, maintain a level of funding for the outreach, active case management, advocacy, and housing assistance services described in this chapter that is at least equal to the total of the amounts expended by the grantee for those services in the 2015-16 fiscal year.(4) As part of its application to receive state funds under this chapter, a prospective grantee shall identify how it will collaborate locally among, at a minimum, the county departments and tribal entities, as may be appropriate, that are responsible for health, including behavioral health, and human or social services in carrying out the activities required by this chapter. This collaboration shall include, but is not limited to, the sharing of information among these departments or other entities as necessary to carry out the activities required by this chapter.(c) For purposes of this chapter, "grantee" means a participating county, tribe, or combination of counties or tribes receiving state funds pursuant to this chapter.(d)(1) 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 and administer the changes made to this section, as amended by Section 3 and added by Section 4 of the act that added subdivision (e), by means of all-county letters or similar instructions from the department that shall have the same force and effect as regulations until regulations are adopted.(2) The department shall adopt regulations implementing this chapter no later than July 1, 2024.(e) This section shall become operative on July 1, 2024.Ca. Welf. and Inst. Code § 18999.1
Added by Stats 2024 ch 46 (AB 161),s 66, eff. 7/2/2024.