REPORT TO SHASTA COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

BOARD MEETING DATE:  July  18, 2017
CATEGORY:  Consent - Health and Human Services-8.

SUBJECT:

Joint Powers Authority Agreement Amendment and Memorandum of Understanding Amendment with the California Automated Consortium Eligibility System

Supervisorial District No. :  All

DEPARTMENT CONTACT:  Melissa Janulewicz, Branch Director, HHSA Regional Services, (530) 225-5066

STAFF REPORT APPROVED BY:  Melissa Janulewicz, Branch Director, HHSA Regional Services

RECOMMENDATION

Approve and authorize the Chairman to sign: (1) An amended and restated evergreen Joint Powers Authority (JPA) agreement, with the California Statewide Automated Welfare System Consortium IV (C-IV) JPA for the design, development, migration, implementation, and on-going operation and maintenance of California Automated Consortium Eligibility System (CalACES) as well as to add the County of Los Angeles, effective September 1, 2017; and (2) the Amended Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with various costs to the County as listed in the MOU for the purposes of delineating the areas of understanding and agreement between CalACES and Shasta County with regard to the Vendor agreements and other areas of mutual interest in the fulfillment of the Consortium’s purpose and to add the County of Los Angeles for the period September 1, 2017 until termination of the JPA or Shasta County’s membership in the JPA.

SUMMARY

Shasta County has been a participating consortium member of the C-IV, a 39 county JPA, since June 1, 2007. The proposed Amended and Restated JPA and accompanying MOU provides for a migration to consolidate the Statewide Automated Welfare Systems (SAWS) and adds the County of Los Angeles and changes the name of the JPA to CalACES.

DISCUSSION

Since 2007, Shasta County has been a participating member in C-IV along with 38 other counties over seven regions, which provides user-friendly services for eligibility determinations for  programs including Medi-Cal, CalWORKS, and CalFresh and  coordinates the system’s ongoing operation and maintenance. 

In July 2011, the State of California presented to the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and Survey and Certification of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), its plans for reducing the complexity of the eligibility system configuration in California.  This plan included reducing the number of “SAWS” from three to two by merging the C-IV system with Los Angeles County’s Leader Replacement System (LRS).

California Assembly Bill 16 (ABX 16), signed September 20, 2011 as codified in the Welfare and Institutions Code section 10823, requires that the existing 39 C-IV Counties migrate to a system jointly designed by the 39 Counties and Los Angeles County.  This migration will result in a new consortium composed of 40 Counties, called the California Automated Consortium Eligibility System and the joint system shall be called “CalACES”.

On April 28, 2017, the C-IV Board of Directors and General Membership granted approval of the amended and restated JPA and will allow the consolidation of merging Los Angeles County to become the 40th county member and become the 8th region to the consortia. The proposed revision of the MOU creates a single MOU for all 40 counties.

The regional county representation model will continue with the addition of Los Angeles County as Region 8. Regions 1 through 7 will appoint one Director per Region to serve on the Board.  Region 8 will appoint four Directors to serve on the Board.  At least six of the Directors from Regions 1 through 8, which must include two Directors from Region 8, shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.  The affirmative votes of at least six of the seated Directors from Regions 1 through 8, which must include two affirmative votes from Region 8, shall be required to take any action by the Board. The specifics of the new voting structure and dispute resolution process to resolve any vote blocked solely by Los Angeles County are described in Sections 2.04 and 2.07 of the JPA. This regional model ensures all counties have a voice in making the decisions of the consortium.

The revised MOU also adds a requirement that counties will enter into appropriate confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements if requesting access to system information or data relating to another participating county. In addition, it clarifies that personnel loaned to the consortium remains under the determination and control of that providing county.  There are no significant proposed changes to Fiscal Responsibilities and Claiming, Liability to County, or County Hardware and Software License Purchases provisions.

C-IV and Los Angeles County will each respectively retain responsibility and liability for their current computer systems as they are phased out. All 40 counties will be jointly responsible for the purchase, implementation, and maintenance of the new computer system. Migration design and implementation begins January 2018 and Los Angeles County will begin to transfer its LEADER Replacement System design to CalACES.  Building and testing of the new design will begin July 2018 and continue until July 2020.  In July 2020, the remaining 39 counties will go live with CalACES.

ALTERNATIVES

The Board could choose not to approve the JPA and MOU.

OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT

Risk Management and Information Technology have approved the JPA and MOU. County Counsel has approved the JPA and MOU as to form.  This recommendation has been reviewed by the County Administrative Office. The C-IV Board of Directors and General Membership approved the Amended and Restated JPA Agreement and MOU on April 28, 2017.

FINANCING

WIC Section 10824 requires counties to pay a percentage of the application development costs related to additional program applications, which is based on their share of the total consortium caseload.  Costs associated with the 40 County membership migration, design and implementation will be shared among the 40 counties utilizing the current persons count methodology. Los Angeles County’s share is expected to be about 50% of the total, which will likely reduce or have no impact on the other 39 counties share. Shasta County’s share of the total consortium caseload is approximately 1.61 percent. The County’s share of the application development costs, including Administrative Costs such as insurance and audit services, in Fiscal Year (FY) 2017-18 is $7,399.  WIC Section10824 also requires counties to pay a share of ongoing Maintenance and Operations (M&O) costs based on the county’s share of consortium caseload.  The County’s share of M&O for FY 2017-18 is $93,014. The JPA is funded through Administrative Overhead and requires a County share, which is largely met through Realignment.  These costs are included in the department’s FY 2017-18 Requested Budget. No additional County General Funds are requested.