§ 18254

(a) Retroactive to January 1, 2017, the rate for wraparound services, under the county optional wraparound services program, shall be equal to the rate for short-term residential therapeutic programs established pursuant to Section 11462, less the cost of any concurrent out-of-home placement.

(b) For each fiscal year, funding and expenditures for programs and activities under this section shall be in accordance with the requirements provided in Sections 30025 and 30026.5 of the Government Code.

(c) County and federal foster care funds, to the extent permitted by federal law, shall remain with the administrative authority of the county, which may enter into an interagency agreement to transfer those funds, and shall be used to provide intensive wraparound services.

(d) Costs for the provision of benefits to eligible children, at rates authorized by subdivision (a), through the wraparound services program authorized by this chapter, shall not exceed the costs that otherwise would have been incurred had the eligible children been placed in a short-term residential therapeutic program.

(e) Commencing July 1, 2017, and each July 1 thereafter, an annual cost-of-living increase shall be applied to the wraparound rate, subject to the availability of county funds, equal to the California Necessities Index used in the preparation of the May Revision for the current fiscal year.

(f) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2017.

(Amended by Stats. 2017, Ch. 732, Sec. 124. (AB 404) Effective January 1, 2018.)