10506. (Amended by Stats. 2013, Ch. 22, Sec. 102.)

(a) Except as otherwise required by Sections 10614 and 14100.5, the State Department of Health Care Services (Genetically Handicapped Persons, CCS, CHDP, and the caseload programs in the Genetic Disease Branch), Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board, State Department of Developmental Services, State Department of State Hospitals, and Department of Child Support Services shall submit to the Department of Finance for its approval all assumptions underlying all estimates used to develop the departments’ budgets by September 10 of each year, and those assumptions, as revised by, March 1 of the following year.

(b) The Department of Finance shall approve, modify, or deny the assumptions underlying all estimates within 15 working days of their submission. If the Department of Finance does not modify, deny, or otherwise indicate that the assumptions are open for consideration pending further information submitted by the department by that date, the assumptions as presented by the submitting department shall be deemed to be accepted by the Department of Finance as of that date.

(c) Each department or board described in subdivision (a) shall also submit an estimate of expenditures for each of the categorical aid programs in its budget to the Department of Finance by November 1 of each year and those estimates as revised by April 20 of the following year. Each estimate shall contain a concise statement identifying applicable estimate components, such as caseload, unit cost, implementation date, whether it is a new or continuing premise, and other assumptions necessary to support the estimate. The submittal shall include a projection of the fiscal impact of each of the approved assumptions related to a regulatory, statutory, or policy change, a detailed explanation of any changes to the base estimate projections from the previous estimate, and a projection of the fiscal impact of that change to the base estimate.

(d) Each department or board shall identify those premises to which either of the following applies:

(1) Have been discontinued since the previous estimate was submitted. The department or board shall provide a chart that tracks the history of each discontinued premise in the prior year, the current year, and the budget year.

(2) Have been placed in the basic cost line of the estimate package.

(e) In the event that the methodological steps employed in arriving at the estimates in May differ from those used in November of the preceding year, the department or board shall submit a descriptive narrative of the revised methodology. In addition, the estimates shall include fiscal charts that track appropriations from the Budget Act to the current Governor’s Budget and May Revision for all fund sources for the prior year, current year and budget year. This information shall be provided to the Department of Finance, the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, the Health and Human Services Policy Committees, and the fiscal committees, along with other materials included in the annual May Revision of expenditure estimates.

(f) The estimates of average monthly caseloads, average monthly grants, total estimated expenditures, including administrative expenditures and savings or costs associated with all regulatory or statutory changes, as well as all supporting data provided by the department or developed independently by the Department of Finance, shall be made available to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, the Health and Human Services Policy Committees, and the fiscal committees.

(g) On or after January 10, if the Department of Finance discovers a material error in the information provided pursuant to this section, the Department of Finance shall inform the consultants to the fiscal committees of the error in a timely manner.

(h) The departmental estimates, assumptions, and other supporting data prepared for purposes of this section shall be forwarded annually to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, the Health and Human Services Policy Committees, and the fiscal committees of the Legislature, not later than January 10 and May 14 by the department or board if this information has not been released earlier by the Department of Finance.

(i) The requirements of this section do not apply to the State Department of Social Services estimate or the State Department of Health Care Services’ Medi-Cal Program estimate, which are governed by Sections 10614 and 14100.5, respectively.

(j) The Department of Rehabilitation shall submit assumptions and an estimate of case services expenditures for the Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) program specifically detailing the VR supported employment and work activity elements in accordance with this part, except that assumptions shall be submitted only annually, on or before March 1, and an estimate of expenditures shall be submitted only annually, on or before April 20, to the Department of Finance. The departmental assumptions and the departmental estimate of expenditures shall be forwarded annually, on or before May 14, to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, and to the health and human services policy committees and fiscal committees of the Legislature, if this information has not been released earlier by the Department of Finance.