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(a) The department shall file all necessary state plan amendments, as set forth in Section 457.40 of Title 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations, to exercise the health services initiative (HSI) option made available under the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), established under Title XXI of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 1397aa et seq.), as that option is described in Section 1397ee(a)(1)(D)(ii) of Title 42 of the United States Code, and as HSI is defined in Section 457.10 of Title 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations, to cover vision services provided to low-income children statewide through a mobile optometric office, as defined in Section 3070.2 of the Business and Professions Code and in accordance with subdivision (g) of Section 14043.15 and with Section 14043.26.
(b) (1) This section shall be implemented only to the extent that any necessary federal approvals are obtained and federal financial participation is available. The federal financial participation shall be limited to no more than 3 percent of the total federal dollars available for expenditures not used for Medicaid or health insurance assistance, as described in Section 1397ee(c)(2)(A) of Title 42 of the United States Code.
(2) This section shall be implemented by January 1, 2025, or the date that any necessary federal approvals have been obtained, whichever date is later.
(c) (1) The Vision Services CHIP-HSI Special Fund is hereby created in the State Treasury.
(2) All revenues derived pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (d) and federal financial participation provided for in this section shall be deposited in the State Treasury to the credit of the Vision Services CHIP-HSI Special Fund. Moneys in that fund shall be available to cover vision services, as described in subdivision (a), upon appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act. Commencing with the first fiscal year in which the department requests funds for this purpose and annually thereafter, the department shall report on projected and actual federal and nonfederal resources and expenditures through the budget estimate process.
(d) (1) The department shall seek to fund the implementation of this section, subject to subdivision (c), with funding other than General Fund moneys, including gifts, donations, bequests, or grants of funds from private sources and public agencies, designated for any of the purposes of this section.
(2) This section shall continue to be implemented only if no General Fund moneys are used for this section.
(e) Notwithstanding Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, the department shall implement this section by means of an all-county letter or similar instruction, without taking any further regulatory action, until regulations are adopted.