Helping Fragile Californians

Mark Stone represents the people of California’s 29th Assembly District. In his second term in office, Mark emerged as a leader on environmental protection, child welfare, public safety and other issues.
In his first term, Stone served as Chair of the Assembly Committee on Human Services, where he led policy decisions on child welfare, foster care, developmental disability services, temporary cash assistance, and CalFresh food benefits. The laws that he wrote made it easier for foster youth to graduate from high school and access special benefits. He also held several key oversight hearings to discuss ways to address childhood poverty and improve information sharing in the foster care system.
It is not surprising that Stone has continued writing legislation that will help some of California’s most fragile residents. His concern for the welfare of youth in the foster care system and vulnerable Californians who live in community care facilities is expressed in the current legislation that he has written.
ADDRESSING FOSTER YOUTH CONCERNS
Assembly Bill 403, sponsored by the California Department of Social Services (CDSS), builds upon years of policy changes to improve outcomes for youth in foster care by comprehensively reforming placement and treatment options. The reforms in this new law will provide youth with the support they need to return to their families or to find a permanent home if returning to their families is not an option.
AB 403 addresses these issues by ensuring that families who provide foster care receive targeted training and support so that they are better prepared to support youth living with them. Children who enter foster care need safe, comfortable, supportive places to stay, whether with a relative, a foster family, or a treatment center, and AB 403 helps accomplish that goal.
Stone will pursue additional legislation in 2016 to ensure that the foster care reforms are implemented smoothly.
Assembly Bill 592 helps former foster youth more easily access important health, education, and housing benefits for which they are eligible. The measure helps former foster youth more easily acquire documentation of their former foster youth status so that they can access programs and benefits specific to former foster youth such as Medi-Cal, FAFSA, and transitional housing programs.
Under the new law created by AB 592, the state, rather than counties alone, may provide former foster youth verification of their time in care including the dates within the foster care system.
Assembly Bill 918 protects vulnerable Californians who live in community care facilities. AB 918 provides much-needed transparency in the care practices of community facilities by requiring facilities to collect data and publicly report the use of resident seclusion and behavioral restraints. For the first time, this information will be available online. The bill also requires facilities to report deaths or serious injuries to the state’s protection and advocacy agency. Under this measure, family members of people in community care facilities will be able to access public data about how often seclusion and restraint techniques are used on their loved ones.
Mark Stone is a resident of Scotts Valley where he lives with his wife and two adult children.