The state has a seven-year contract with a company that would help integrate the data at a cost that would add up to $41.6 million during that time.

Last year the Legislature approved $8.2 million for fingerprinting as part of an anti-fraud effort in the in-home care program. But legislators still had to authorize the way that officials envisioned spending the money.

Two out of three senators on the subcommittee refused to authorize the expenditure because they said that administration officials had not provided a cost-benefit analysis of the fingerprinting plan and evidence that this type of fraud merits such an investment.

The Legislature didn't approve of taking photos of recipients either, another reason two senators voted to stop the plan.

"The Department of Finance has yet to do a cost-benefit analysis, so to invest further general funds in such a far-reaching proposal without any certainty of savings is a waste of taxpayer dollars," said Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, chairman of the subcommittee.

"The governor (Arnold Schwarzenegger) has made a big issue of this (fraud)," Leno said, "yet there has yet to be significant documentation that the abuse is as far-reaching as he is suggesting."

The senators also voted 2-1 to repeal all fingerprinting requirements for in-care recipients. The Legislature and the governor would have to agree to this repeal in the next round of budget negotiations.

Budget legislation approved last year requires that recipients place their prints on paper timecards that they sign to certify that their caregivers worked for them during a certain time period.

Disabled advocates and county officials have questioned how reliable fingerprints on timecards are, and noted that such prints are not compatible with the Statewide Fingerprint Imaging System.

Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Rachel Arrezola said in response to the subcommittee's action: "Any fraud in our system is too much and we are disappointed this legislative committee chose to not stand up to waste, fraud and abuse in the system."

"We will see a significant return on our investment to combat IHSS fraud," Arrezola said, "and that is very good news not only for taxpayers but especially for the vulnerable Californians that rely on the resources provided by this very important program."

Last Thursday, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office also recommended holding off on putting data from in-home care recipients in the Statewide Fingerprint Imaging System. Analysts said it made sense to wait to see what the results of a pilot project are and if savings are really achieved by investing in this.

The plan to store fingerprints in the statewide imaging system is based on buying $5,000-a-piece portable devices known as MorphoTraks. County social workers would go into in-home care recipients' homes to photograph them and take their prints and download the data into the statewide system.

Two counties, Sacramento and San Diego, have experimented with borrowed MorphoTraks. More counties will be using them as part of a pilot program designed to judge their usefulness and whether they'll save money lost to fraud.

This post was updated at 5:10 p.m. with comments from Leno and Arrezola.