CS/HB 497

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to the personal care attendant program;
3	amending s. 413.402, F.S.; revising provisions governing a
4	program to provide personal care attendants for persons
5	who have disabilities; directing the Florida Endowment
6	Foundation for Vocational Rehabilitation to enter into an
7	agreement with the Florida Association of Centers for
8	Independent Living to administer a program to provide such
9	attendants to persons who have severe and chronic
10	disabilities; providing for the Florida Association of
11	Centers for Independent Living to receive certain funds to
12	administer the program; removing a provision requiring
13	interagency memoranda of understanding; revising
14	eligibility requirements for persons to participate in the
15	personal care attendant program; providing for training of
16	program participants concerning hiring and managing an
17	attendant; providing for the adoption and revision of
18	program policies and procedures by the association in
19	cooperation with an oversight group; providing for
20	membership in the oversight group; removing provisions
21	concerning the training, selection, and recruitment of
22	personal care attendants; amending s. 413.4021, F.S.;
23	increasing the percentage of revenues collected from
24	persons who fail to remit sales tax that is deposited in
25	the operating account of the Florida Endowment Foundation
26	for Vocational Rehabilitation to administer the program;
27	deleting a requirement that the Florida Endowment
28	Foundation for Vocational Rehabilitation select an entity
29	to administer the program; providing for automatic
30	enrollment in the program for certain persons; providing
31	an effective date.
32
33	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
34
35	Section 1.  Section 413.402, Florida Statutes, is amended
36	to read:
37	413.402  Personal care attendant program.--The Florida
38	Endowment Foundation for Vocational Rehabilitation shall enter
39	into an agreement with the Florida Association of Centers for
40	Independent Living to administer, in conjunction with the Brain
41	and Spinal Cord Injury Program in the Department of Health,
42	shall develop a program to provide personal care attendants to
43	persons who have severe and chronic disabilities of all kinds
44	and who are eligible under pursuant to subsection (1). Effective
45	July 1, 2007, the Florida Association of Centers for Independent
46	Living shall receive 15 percent of the funds to be deposited
47	with the Florida Endowment Foundation for Vocational
48	Rehabilitation pursuant to ss. 320.08068(4)(d) and 413.4021(1)
49	to administer the program. The association and the Department of
50	Health shall jointly develop memoranda of understanding with the
51	Department of Revenue, the Florida Medicaid program in the
52	Agency for Health Care Administration, the Florida Endowment
53	Foundation for Vocational Rehabilitation, and the Division of
54	Vocational Rehabilitation of the Department of Education.
55	(1)  To be Persons eligible to participate in the program,
56	a person must:
57	(a)  Be at least 18 years of age, be a resident of the
58	state for at least 12 months immediately prior to application to
59	the program, and be significantly and chronically disabled due
60	to a traumatic spinal cord injury;
61	(b)  Require a personal care attendant for assistance with,
62	or support for, at least two activities of daily living as
63	defined in s. 429.02, as determined by a physician or
64	psychiatrist bathing, dressing, bowel and bladder management,
65	and transportation;
66	(c)  Require a personal care attendant in order to accept a
67	job or maintain substantial gainful employment; and
68	(d)  Be able to acquire hire and direct supervise a
69	personal care attendant.; and
70	(e)  Meet one of the following requirements:
71	1.  Live in a nursing home;
72	2.  Have moved out of a nursing home within the preceding
73	180 days due to participation in a Medicaid home and community-
74	based waiver program targeted to persons with brain or spinal
75	cord injuries; or
76	3.  Presently be employed but, because of a loss of a
77	caregiver, will lose employment and potentially return to a
78	nursing home.
79	(2)(a)  The Florida Association of Centers for Independent
80	Living shall provide training to program participants on hiring
81	and managing a personal care attendant and, in cooperation with
82	the oversight group described in paragraph (b), adopt and revise
83	the policies and procedures governing the personal care
84	attendant program and the training program.
85	(b)  The oversight group shall include, but need not be
86	limited to, a member of the Florida Association of Centers for
87	Independent Living, a person who is participating in the
88	program, and one representative each from the Department of
89	Revenue, the Department of Children and Family Services, the
90	Division of Vocational Rehabilitation in the Department of
91	Education, the Florida Medicaid Program in the Agency for Health
92	Care Administration, the Florida Endowment Foundation for
93	Vocational Rehabilitation, and the Brain and Spinal Cord Injury
94	Program in the Department of Health. The association, in
95	cooperation with the Department of Health and the Florida
96	Endowment Foundation for Vocational Rehabilitation, shall
97	develop a program to recruit, screen, and select candidates to
98	be trained as personal care attendants.
99	(b)  The services of a nurse registry licensed pursuant to
100	s. 400.506 may be utilized to recruit and screen candidates and
101	to operate as a fiscal intermediary through which payments are
102	made to individuals performing services as personal care
103	attendants under the program. The Department of Health and the
104	Agency for Health Care Administration shall seek any federal
105	waivers necessary to implement this provision.
106	(3)  The association and the Department of Health, in
107	cooperation with the Florida Endowment Foundation for Vocational
108	Rehabilitation, shall develop a training program for personal
109	care attendants.
110	(4)  The association, in cooperation with the Department of
111	Health and the Florida Endowment Foundation for Vocational
112	Rehabilitation, shall establish procedures for selecting persons
113	eligible under subsection (1) to participate in the program.
114	(5)  The association, in cooperation with the Department of
115	Revenue, the Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Program in the
116	Department of Health, the Florida Medicaid program in the Agency
117	for Health Care Administration, a representative from the state
118	attorney's office in each of the judicial circuits participating
119	in the program, the Florida Endowment Foundation for Vocational
120	Rehabilitation, and the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation of
121	the Department of Education, shall develop a plan for
122	implementation of the program.
123	(6)  The Department of Health shall establish an oversight
124	workgroup for the personal care attendant program to oversee the
125	implementation and administration of the program. The workgroup
126	shall be composed of one representative from the Brain and
127	Spinal Cord Injury Program in the Department of Health, one
128	representative from the Department of Revenue, one
129	representative from the Florida Medicaid Program in the Agency
130	for Health Care Administration, one representative from the
131	Florida Endowment Foundation for Vocational Rehabilitation, one
132	representative from the Florida Association of Centers for
133	Independent Living, one representative from the Division of
134	Vocational Rehabilitation of the Department of Education, and
135	two members who are persons with traumatic spinal cord injuries
136	or are family members of persons with traumatic spinal cord
137	injuries.
138	Section 2.  Subsections (1) and (2) of section 413.4021,
139	Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
140	413.4021  Program participant selection; tax collection
141	enforcement diversion program.--The Department of Revenue, in
142	coordination with the Florida Association of Centers for
143	Independent Living and the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys
144	Association, shall select judicial circuits in which to operate
145	the program. The association and the state attorneys' offices
146	shall develop and implement a tax collection enforcement
147	diversion program, which shall collect revenue due from persons
148	who have not remitted their collected sales tax. The criteria
149	for referral to the tax collection enforcement diversion program
150	shall be determined cooperatively between the state attorneys'
151	offices and the Department of Revenue.
152	(1)  Notwithstanding the provisions of s. 212.20, 90 50
153	percent of the revenues collected from the tax collection
154	enforcement diversion program shall be deposited into the
155	operating account of the Florida Endowment Foundation for
156	Vocational Rehabilitation, to be used to administer the personal
157	care attendant program and to contract with the state attorneys
158	participating in the tax collection enforcement diversion
159	program in an amount of not more than $50,000 for each state
160	attorney.
161	(2)  The program shall operate only from funds deposited
162	into the operating account of the Florida Endowment Foundation
163	for Vocational Rehabilitation. The Florida Endowment Foundation
164	for Vocational Rehabilitation shall select the entity to
165	administer the personal care attendant program.
166	Section 3.  Notwithstanding any other law, each person
167	enrolled in the personal care attendant program established
168	under s. 413.402, Florida Statutes, on June 30, 2007, and each
169	person enrolled in the pilot personal care attendant program in
170	Lake, Orange, Osceola, and Seminole Counties as authorized in
171	Specific Appropriation 340, chapter 2006-25, Laws of Florida, on
172	June 30, 2007, is automatically eligible for and enrolled in the
173	personal care attendant program established under s. 413.402,
174	Florida Statutes, as amended by this act.
175	Section 4.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2007.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.