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

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