Chapter 1Legislative Intent and Policy

Section § 38000

Explanation

This law outlines the expectations for how quickly certain contracts and payments should be handled by departments within the Health and Welfare Agency. Once an agency approves a contract, the State has 30 days to approve it and also has 30 days to pay for services once they've received an invoice. If there are delays in either approval or payment, the State must notify the service provider within 15 days with options on whether to pause services or continue under agreed conditions to cover any extra costs incurred.

The Legislature states its intent with respect to direct service contracts of the departments within the Health and Welfare Agency as follows:
(a)CA Health and Safety Code § 38000(a)  Contract approval process should take no longer than 30 days from the time the administrative agency generating the contract has approved its provisions.
(b)CA Health and Safety Code § 38000(b)  Payment for services rendered shall take no longer than 30 days after an invoice has been approved by the responsible department.
(c)CA Health and Safety Code § 38000(c)  If contract approval or payment or both are delayed, the state shall notify community based agencies within 15 days with instructions to either defer or interrupt services to be contracted. If the state requests an agency to continue providing services, conditions shall be mutually agreed upon in advance for amortization of particular additional costs to the agency involved.
direct service contracts contract approval process payment timeline invoice approval community-based agencies service interruption additional costs contract delays service deferral mutually agreed conditions Health and Welfare Agency contract management state notification service continuation amortization of costs
(Added by Stats. 1980, Ch. 990.)