CS/HB 731

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; requiring 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; naming the program the "James Patrick
11	Memorial Work Incentive Personal Attendant Services
12	Program"; providing for payment for the administration of
13	the program; removing a provision requiring interagency
14	memoranda of agreement; revising eligibility requirements
15	for participation in the personal care attendant program;
16	removing provisions concerning the training, selection,
17	and recruitment of personal care attendants; providing for
18	training of program participants concerning hiring and
19	managing an attendant; providing for the adoption and
20	revision of program policies and procedures by the
21	association in cooperation with an oversight group;
22	providing for membership in the oversight group; amending
23	s. 413.4021, F.S.; deleting a provision requiring that the
24	Florida Endowment Foundation for Vocational Rehabilitation
25	select an entity to administer the program; providing for
26	automatic enrollment in the program for certain persons;
27	providing an effective date.
28
29	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
30
31	Section 1.  Section 413.402, Florida Statutes, is amended
32	to read:
33	413.402  Personal care attendant program.--The personal
34	care attendant program created under this section shall be cited
35	as the "James Patrick Memorial Work Incentive Personal Attendant
36	Services Program." The Florida Endowment Foundation for
37	Vocational Rehabilitation shall enter into an agreement with the
38	Florida Association of Centers for Independent Living to
39	administer the James Patrick Memorial Work Incentive Personal
40	Attendant Services, in conjunction with the Brain and Spinal
41	Cord Injury Program in the Department of Health, shall develop a
42	Program to provide personal care attendants to persons who have
43	severe and chronic disabilities of all kinds and who are
44	eligible under pursuant to subsection (1). Effective July 1,
45	2008, the Florida Association of Centers for Independent Living
46	shall receive 15 percent of the funds to be deposited with the
47	Florida Endowment Foundation for Vocational Rehabilitation
48	pursuant to ss. 320.08068(4)(d) and 413.4021(1) to administer
49	the program. The association and the Department of Health shall
50	jointly develop memoranda of understanding with the Department
51	of Revenue, the Florida Medicaid program in the Agency for
52	Health Care Administration, the Florida Endowment Foundation for
53	Vocational Rehabilitation, and the Division of Vocational
54	Rehabilitation of the Department of Education.
55	(1)  In order to be Persons eligible to participate in the
56	program, a person must:
57	(a)  Be at least 18 years of age, be a resident of this
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 association, in cooperation with the Department
80	of Health and the Florida Endowment Foundation for Vocational
81	Rehabilitation, shall develop a program to recruit, screen, and
82	select candidates to be trained as personal care attendants.
83	(b)  The services of a nurse registry licensed pursuant to
84	s. 400.506 may be utilized to recruit and screen candidates and
85	to operate as a fiscal intermediary through which payments are
86	made to individuals performing services as personal care
87	attendants under the program. The Department of Health and the
88	Agency for Health Care Administration shall seek any federal
89	waivers necessary to implement this provision.
90	(3)  The Florida Association of Centers for Independent
91	Living association and the Department of Health, in cooperation
92	with the Florida Endowment Foundation for Vocational
93	Rehabilitation, shall provide develop a training to program
94	participants on hiring and managing a personal care attendant
95	and, in cooperation with the oversight group described in
96	paragraph (b), adopt and revise the policies and procedures
97	governing the personal care attendant program and the training
98	program.
99	(b)  The oversight group shall include, but need not be
100	limited to, a member of the Florida Association of Centers for
101	Independent Living, a person who is participating in the
102	program, and one representative each from the Department of
103	Revenue, the Department of Children and Family Services, the
104	Division of Vocational Rehabilitation in the Department of
105	Education, the Medicaid program in the Agency for Health Care
106	Administration, the Florida Endowment Foundation for Vocational
107	Rehabilitation, and the Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Program in
108	the Department of Health program for personal care attendants.
109	(4)  The association, in cooperation with the Department of
110	Health and the Florida Endowment Foundation for Vocational
111	Rehabilitation, shall establish procedures for selecting persons
112	eligible under subsection (1) to participate in the program.
113	(5)  The association, in cooperation with the Department of
114	Revenue, the Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Program in the
115	Department of Health, the Florida Medicaid program in the Agency
116	for Health Care Administration, a representative from the state
117	attorney's office in each of the judicial circuits participating
118	in the program, the Florida Endowment Foundation for Vocational
119	Rehabilitation, and the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation of
120	the Department of Education, shall develop a plan for
121	implementation of the program.
122	(6)  The Department of Health shall establish an oversight
123	workgroup for the personal care attendant program to oversee the
124	implementation and administration of the program. The workgroup
125	shall be composed of one representative from the Brain and
126	Spinal Cord Injury Program in the Department of Health, one
127	representative from the Department of Revenue, one
128	representative from the Florida Medicaid Program in the Agency
129	for Health Care Administration, one representative from the
130	Florida Endowment Foundation for Vocational Rehabilitation, one
131	representative from the Florida Association of Centers for
132	Independent Living, one representative from the Division of
133	Vocational Rehabilitation of the Department of Education, and
134	two members who are persons with traumatic spinal cord injuries
135	or are family members of persons with traumatic spinal cord
136	injuries.
137	Section 2.  Subsection (2) of section 413.4021, Florida
138	Statutes, is amended to read:
139	413.4021  Program participant selection; tax collection
140	enforcement diversion program.--The Department of Revenue, in
141	coordination with the Florida Association of Centers for
142	Independent Living and the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys
143	Association, shall select judicial circuits in which to operate
144	the program. The association and the state attorneys' offices
145	shall develop and implement a tax collection enforcement
146	diversion program, which shall collect revenue due from persons
147	who have not remitted their collected sales tax. The criteria
148	for referral to the tax collection enforcement diversion program
149	shall be determined cooperatively between the state attorneys'
150	offices and the Department of Revenue.
151	(2)  The program shall operate only from funds deposited
152	into the operating account of the Florida Endowment Foundation
153	for Vocational Rehabilitation. The Florida Endowment Foundation
154	for Vocational Rehabilitation shall select the entity to
155	administer the personal care attendant program.
156	Section 3.  Notwithstanding any other law, each person
157	enrolled in the personal care attendant program under s.
158	413.402, Florida Statutes, on June 30, 2008, and each person
159	enrolled in the pilot personal care attendant program in Lake,
160	Orange, Osceola, and Seminole Counties as authorized in Specific
161	Appropriation 340, chapter 2006-25, Laws of Florida, on June 30,
162	2008, is automatically eligible for and enrolled in the personal
163	care attendant program, as amended by this act, on July 1, 2008.
164	Section 4.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2008.

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