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.; increasing the percentage of revenues
24	collected from persons who fail to remit sales tax which
25	is deposited in the operating account of the Florida
26	Endowment Foundation for Vocational Rehabilitation to
27	administer the program; deleting a provision requiring
28	that the Florida Endowment Foundation for Vocational
29	Rehabilitation select an entity to administer the program;
30	providing for automatic enrollment in the program for
31	certain persons; providing 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 personal
38	care attendant program created under this section shall be cited
39	as the "James Patrick Memorial Work Incentive Personal Attendant
40	Services Program." The Florida Endowment Foundation for
41	Vocational Rehabilitation shall enter into an agreement with the
42	Florida Association of Centers for Independent Living to
43	administer the James Patrick Memorial Work Incentive Personal
44	Attendant Services, in conjunction with the Brain and Spinal
45	Cord Injury Program in the Department of Health, shall develop a
46	Program to provide personal care attendants to persons who have
47	severe and chronic disabilities of all kinds and who are
48	eligible under pursuant to subsection (1). Effective July 1,
49	2008, the Florida Association of Centers for Independent Living
50	shall receive 15 percent of the funds to be deposited with the
51	Florida Endowment Foundation for Vocational Rehabilitation
52	pursuant to ss. 320.08068(4)(d) and 413.4021(1) to administer
53	the program. The association and the Department of Health shall
54	jointly develop memoranda of understanding with the Department
55	of Revenue, the Florida Medicaid program in the Agency for
56	Health Care Administration, the Florida Endowment Foundation for
57	Vocational Rehabilitation, and the Division of Vocational
58	Rehabilitation of the Department of Education.
59	(1)  In order to be Persons eligible to participate in the
60	program, a person must:
61	(a)  Be at least 18 years of age, be a resident of this
62	state for at least 12 months immediately prior to application to
63	the program, and be significantly and chronically disabled due
64	to a traumatic spinal cord injury;
65	(b)  Require a personal care attendant for assistance with
66	or support for at least two activities of daily living as
67	defined in s. 429.02, as determined by a physician or
68	psychiatrist bathing, dressing, bowel and bladder management,
69	and transportation;
70	(c)  Require a personal care attendant in order to accept a
71	job or maintain substantial gainful employment; and
72	(d)  Be able to acquire hire and direct supervise a
73	personal care attendant.; and
74	(e)  Meet one of the following requirements:
75	1.  Live in a nursing home;
76	2.  Have moved out of a nursing home within the preceding
77	180 days due to participation in a Medicaid home and community-
78	based waiver program targeted to persons with brain or spinal
79	cord injuries; or
80	3.  Presently be employed but, because of a loss of a
81	caregiver, will lose employment and potentially return to a
82	nursing home.
83	(2)(a)  The association, in cooperation with the Department
84	of Health and the Florida Endowment Foundation for Vocational
85	Rehabilitation, shall develop a program to recruit, screen, and
86	select candidates to be trained as personal care attendants.
87	(b)  The services of a nurse registry licensed pursuant to
88	s. 400.506 may be utilized to recruit and screen candidates and
89	to operate as a fiscal intermediary through which payments are
90	made to individuals performing services as personal care
91	attendants under the program. The Department of Health and the
92	Agency for Health Care Administration shall seek any federal
93	waivers necessary to implement this provision.
94	(3)  The Florida Association of Centers for Independent
95	Living association and the Department of Health, in cooperation
96	with the Florida Endowment Foundation for Vocational
97	Rehabilitation, shall provide develop a training to program
98	participants on hiring and managing a personal care attendant
99	and, in cooperation with the oversight group described in
100	paragraph (b), adopt and revise the policies and procedures
101	governing the personal care attendant program and the training
102	program.
103	(b)  The oversight group shall include, but need not be
104	limited to, a member of the Florida Association of Centers for
105	Independent Living, a person who is participating in the
106	program, and one representative each from the Department of
107	Revenue, the Department of Children and Family Services, the
108	Division of Vocational Rehabilitation in the Department of
109	Education, the Medicaid program in the Agency for Health Care
110	Administration, the Florida Endowment Foundation for Vocational
111	Rehabilitation, and the Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Program in
112	the Department of Health program for personal care attendants.
113	(4)  The association, in cooperation with the Department of
114	Health and the Florida Endowment Foundation for Vocational
115	Rehabilitation, shall establish procedures for selecting persons
116	eligible under subsection (1) to participate in the program.
117	(5)  The association, in cooperation with the Department of
118	Revenue, the Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Program in the
119	Department of Health, the Florida Medicaid program in the Agency
120	for Health Care Administration, a representative from the state
121	attorney's office in each of the judicial circuits participating
122	in the program, the Florida Endowment Foundation for Vocational
123	Rehabilitation, and the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation of
124	the Department of Education, shall develop a plan for
125	implementation of the program.
126	(6)  The Department of Health shall establish an oversight
127	workgroup for the personal care attendant program to oversee the
128	implementation and administration of the program. The workgroup
129	shall be composed of one representative from the Brain and
130	Spinal Cord Injury Program in the Department of Health, one
131	representative from the Department of Revenue, one
132	representative from the Florida Medicaid Program in the Agency
133	for Health Care Administration, one representative from the
134	Florida Endowment Foundation for Vocational Rehabilitation, one
135	representative from the Florida Association of Centers for
136	Independent Living, one representative from the Division of
137	Vocational Rehabilitation of the Department of Education, and
138	two members who are persons with traumatic spinal cord injuries
139	or are family members of persons with traumatic spinal cord
140	injuries.
141	Section 2.  Subsections (1) and (2) of section 413.4021,
142	Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
143	413.4021  Program participant selection; tax collection
144	enforcement diversion program.--The Department of Revenue, in
145	coordination with the Florida Association of Centers for
146	Independent Living and the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys
147	Association, shall select judicial circuits in which to operate
148	the program. The association and the state attorneys' offices
149	shall develop and implement a tax collection enforcement
150	diversion program, which shall collect revenue due from persons
151	who have not remitted their collected sales tax. The criteria
152	for referral to the tax collection enforcement diversion program
153	shall be determined cooperatively between the state attorneys'
154	offices and the Department of Revenue.
155	(1)  Notwithstanding the provisions of s. 212.20, 90 50
156	percent of the revenues collected from the tax collection
157	enforcement diversion program shall be deposited into the
158	operating account of the Florida Endowment Foundation for
159	Vocational Rehabilitation, to be used to administer the personal
160	care attendant program and to contract with the state attorneys
161	participating in the tax collection enforcement diversion
162	program in an amount of not more than $50,000 for each state
163	attorney.
164	(2)  The program shall operate only from funds deposited
165	into the operating account of the Florida Endowment Foundation
166	for Vocational Rehabilitation. The Florida Endowment Foundation
167	for Vocational Rehabilitation shall select the entity to
168	administer the personal care attendant program.
169	Section 3.  Notwithstanding any other law, each person
170	enrolled in the personal care attendant program under s.
171	413.402, Florida Statutes, on June 30, 2008, and each person
172	enrolled in the pilot personal care attendant program in Lake,
173	Orange, Osceola, and Seminole Counties as authorized in Specific
174	Appropriation 340, chapter 2006-25, Laws of Florida, on June 30,
175	2008, is automatically eligible for and enrolled in the personal
176	care attendant program, as amended by this act, on July 1, 2008.
177	Section 4.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2008.

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