IHSS enrollment requirements:

State is prohibited from implementing the all-felonies policy to terminate IHSS providers

Judge David Hunter (Alameda Superior Court) has issued an order for the Beckwith (Ellis) v. Wagner case that prohibits CDSS from implementing the policy that would have required counties to use ALL felonies and specified misdemeanors (including shoplifting) as disqualifying crimes for IHSS providers.  This means that DSS’ current attempt to force counties to use crimes beyond child abuse, elder abuse and fraud against government programs to not enroll someone or suspend a current provider’s enrollment remains blocked. Read the rest of this entry »

Whitman welfare ads: Demonizing the poor?

The GOP nominee’s depictions are unfair, critics charge.  SACRAMENTO — Welfare advocates are criticizing Meg Whitman for ratcheting up her rhetoric against welfare recipients as she rails against waste, fraud and abuse in state government.  In a one-minute radio ad that Whitman recently began airing, she touts her plan to create a statewide grand jury to root out waste, fraud and abuse, promising to send to jail anyone “caught robbing the taxpayers.”

Superior Court Judge Stops Schwarzenegger Administration From Disqualifying IHSS Workers Based On All Felony Convictions and Certain Misdemeanors

State Can Only Disqualify Workers Based On Specific Felonies and Other Convictions Already In State Law – Judge’s Ruling Stands Unless Higher State Court Overturns It

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DSS proposes to increase list of disqualifying crimes for homecare providers

The Department of Social Services (DSS), which administers IHSS, has again proposed to disqualify providers with any felonies (not just those specified by the current law)who did not complete their IHSS enrollment by May 24th.  This proposal was stopped earlier this year by the Courts in Beckwith v. Wagner. Here is another instance where DSS is going beyond what the law requires or intends. Read the rest of this entry »

State’s numbers for caregiver anti-fraud checks don’t add up

The Schwarzenegger administration says tough new criminal screening rules for in-home care providers have snared 531 who are ineligible to work in the program mostly because of certain criminal convictions.  But Sacramento County officials say 47 of the 57 workers the state identified as ineligible to provide care here had been turned over by the district attorney’s office as having been convicted of In-Home Supportive Services fraud within the span of the last two to three years — before fingerprinting and other screening rules went into place. Read the rest of this entry »

Urgent: Action Steps for UDW Homecare Providers

Concern and confusion about the new IHSS provider enrollment requirements–especially about new eligibility criteria and criminal background checks–has caused many providers to delay enrolling in the program. This is becoming a serious problem for IHSS providers and clients and for our union.     

That is why we want to provide you with the FACTS about the new enrollment requirements and to urge you to enroll in the program as soon as possible. Read the rest of this entry »