IHSS proposals draw criticism: lawmakers warn cuts would harm seniors and people with disabilities

The Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 2 heard detailed administration proposals on In‑Home Supportive Services (IHSS), the state program that pays caregivers to help older adults and people with disabilities remain at home. Jennifer Troia, director of the Department of Social Services, outlined five May Revision proposals intended to reduce state general fund exposure by constraining IHSS growth.

Troia said the administration proposes a 50‑hour weekly cap on hours a single IHSS provider can work (current caps are 66 hours for providers working with multiple recipients and 70 hours, 45 minutes for single‑recipient providers). The administration estimated the full‑year general fund savings at $688 million but said implementation timing would push a likely effective date to Oct. 1, 2025, reducing 2025–26 savings to about $516 million. She emphasized that authorized hours for recipients would not change and that recipients could hire a second provider to cover hours beyond one provider’s cap.

The department also proposed eliminating IHSS for undocumented adults ages 19 and older. DSS said about 3,300 undocumented recipients age 19+ currently receive IHSS and estimated around 5,400 individuals would lose services under the proposal; because of implementation time the budget‑year savings were updated to about $79 million. The proposal conforms to larger Medi‑Cal changes under consideration in other budget subcommittees.

DSS described a proposal to shift responsibility for penalties tied to the Community First Choice Option (CFCO) — penalties imposed when required reassessments are late — from the state to counties. Troia said counties can avoid penalties by prioritizing CFCO reassessments; LAO raised questions about whether counties have the resources to do so without additional funding. LAO also cited a county administrative cost estimate of roughly $25 million that it said was not included in the May Revision scoring.

Another May Revision item is a conforming IHSS adjustment tied to a proposed reinstatement of a Medi‑Cal asset test for older and disabled adults; on the IHSS side, DSS estimates about 1,900 recipients could lose IHSS under the proposed conforming change (budget‑year savings about $13 million after implementation timing). The administration characterized these estimates as conforming to Medi‑Cal changes and said implementation could occur Jan. 1, 2026.

DSS also requested funds needed to implement federal home‑and‑community‑based‑services (HCBS) automation changes and to comply with a 2024 federal rule expansion. The department said failure to implement necessary automation could expose the state to federal penalties.

Lawmakers and advocates pushed back hard. Assemblymember Dr. Akilah Collins (member of the subcommittee) and others described the IHSS workforce as already fragile and warned a cap that reduces overtime pay could reduce availability of caregivers in many communities and create downstream costs, including increased homelessness and higher institutional care costs. Several legislators asked the administration to provide more detailed modeling, to consider alternatives short of a hard cap, and to provide the committee and counties with further implementation details and timelines.

LAO said it was still early in its review, raised questions about the assumptions underpinning the overtime cap’s savings, asked how many new providers would be needed if recipients hire additional providers, and requested more detail on county administrative costs tied to CFCO reassessments.

No formal decisions were made during the hearing. Legislators asked the administration and Department of Finance for written follow‑up on scoring assumptions, county workload impacts, and alternatives that would reduce state costs without disrupting care.