[All of Us or None] Schwarzenegger loses fight on felon caregivers

[Manuel La Fontaine]

Although this ruling by the Alameda County Superior Court is pending
an appeal by the state, it's a step towards the right direction  to repeal
the IHSS mandate that bans people with past convictions from being in-home
service providers.


 SFGate
*Schwarzenegger loses fight on felon caregivers*

Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer

Thursday, February 11, 2010

(02-11) 15:45 PST OAKLAND -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had no legal
authority to disqualify everyone with a felony record from working in the
program that provides in-home care to 430,000 low-income elderly and
disabled Californians, a judge ruled Thursday.

State law bars workers from the program for 10 years if they have been
convicted of child abuse, elder abuse or defrauding Medi-Cal or any patient,
said Judge David Hunter of Alameda County Superior Court.

Outside of people in that category, in-home patients can employ anyone they
want, Hunter said. He said Schwarzenegger's broader ban, covering any past
felony conviction, exceeded his powers.

Schwarzenegger's restrictions took effect Nov. 1 but were suspended Nov. 24
by another judge's restraining order. That order expired Jan. 29, but the
state has refrained from enforcing the ban while awaiting Hunter's ruling,
said Lizelda Lopez, spokeswoman for the Department of Social Services.

The state could appeal the ruling. Lopez said the department is reviewing
it.

"We are following the court order, but we do not believe convicted felons
should be eligible to care for elderly and disabled Californians in their
homes," she said.

The ruling came in a lawsuit by care workers and patients who said the
Republican governor's plan would make it impossible for many recipients to
employ their chosen care-giver - often a close relative or friend - because
of a conviction from many years ago. Losing in-home care might force them
into nursing homes, they said.

One plaintiff is a Sacramento woman who provides in-home care for her
90-year-old mother. She said she would be disqualified under the governor's
plan because of a 1976 conviction for felony grand theft.

Another plaintiff is a Long Beach man who was convicted 40 years ago of
possession of marijuana, then a felony, and now cares for a friend
recovering from a stroke.

The In-Home Supportive Services program provides care to the blind and
disabled and those older than 65 who need help with daily tasks to live at
home. The federal government pays half the cost.

Schwarzenegger says there is widespread fraud in the program and has ordered
background checks for caregivers and fingerprinting for workers and
recipients.

A federal judge has stopped the state from cutting $2 an hour from in-home
workers' wages, now $10 to $12 an hour in most counties. The same judge has
blocked another cost-cutting measure that would eliminate home care for
36,000 people and reduce services for another 97,000. The state has appealed
both rulings.

Schwarzenegger's 2010-11 budget proposes to drop 87 percent of the
recipients from the program, and would eliminate all state funding unless
the federal government increases aid to California by $6.9 billion.
Legislative Democratic leaders have opposed his plan.

E-mail Bob Egelko at begelko at sfchronicle.com.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/11/BAV61C06RV.DTL
© 2010 Hearst Communications Inc.

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Manuel La Fontaine II
Legal Services for Prisoners with Children
Organizer, All of Us or None
1540 Market St. Ste. 490
San Francisco, CA 94102
Work: (415) 255-7036 ext. 328
Cell: (415) 637-8195
manuel at prisonerswithchildren.org
www.prisonerswithchildren.org

"Cowardice asks the question, 'Is it safe?' Expediency asks the question,
'Is it politic?' Vanity asks the question, 'Is it popular?' But, conscience
asks the question, 'Is it right?' And there comes a time when one must take
a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take
it because one's conscience tells one that it is right." -   Martin Luther
King Jr.

The pursuit of full humanity cannot be carried out in isolation or
individualism, but only in fellowship and solidarity; therefore it cannot
unfold in the antagonistic relations between oppressors and oppressed. -
Paulo Freire
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