Legislature(2017 - 2018)SENATE FINANCE 532
04/16/2018 01:30 PM Senate FINANCE
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB151 | |
| HB176 | |
| HB213 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | HB 176 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 213 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | HB 151 | TELECONFERENCED | |
CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 151(FIN)
"An Act relating to the duties of the Department of
Health and Social Services; relating to training and
workload standards for employees of the Department of
Health and Social Services and providing immunity from
damages related to those standards; relating to foster
care home licensing; relating to civil and criminal
history background checks for foster care licensing
and payments; relating to placement of a child in need
of aid; relating to the rights and responsibilities of
foster parents; requiring the Department of Health and
Social Services to provide information to a child or
person released from the department's custody; and
providing for an effective date."
1:36:46 PM
REPRESENTATIVE LES GARA, SPONSOR, introduced himself. He
explained that the bill would result in fewer children in
foster care and for shorter periods of time. He said that
the bill provided average caseload standards, training
standards, and was a model that had worked well in other
states.
MICHELLE SYDEMAN, STAFF, REPRESENTATIVE LES GARA,
introduced herself.
1:37:05 PM
Co-Chair MacKinnon thanked Vice-Chair Gara for his work on
behalf of children in the foster care system.
1:39:30 PM
Representative Gara explained the Sectional Analysis (copy
on file):
Section 1 provides that the short title of the bill is
the Children Deserve a Loving Home Act.
Section 2 amends legislative findings related to
children to add a finding that the department should
enable a child's contact with previous out-of-home
caregivers if it is appropriate and in the best
interests of the child.
Sections 3 - 5 amend AS 47.05.310(c), (i), and (k) to
conform to a new subsection added in section 6 of this
Act.
1:40:38 PM
AT EASE
1:40:40 PM
RECONVENED
Representative Gara continued with the Sectional Analysis:
Section 6 allows the Department of Health and Social
Services (the department) to issue or renew a foster
home license or provide foster care payments to an
entity, individual service provider, or person if the
applicant or a person who resides in the home is
barred from licensure or payments because of a barrier
condition under AS 47.05.3 IO(c), (i)(2), or (i)(3) if
(I) a person in the home is an adult family member or
family friend of a child in the custody or supervision
of the state, (2) the department finds that placing
the child with the entity, individual service
provider, or person is in the best interests of the
child, and (3) the conduct that is the basis of the
barrier occurred at least ten years before the date
the department receives the application for licensure
or renewal or makes a payment to the entity,
individual service provider, or person.
Section 7 amends requirements relating to the transfer
of a child from one placement to another to require a
supervisor at the department to certify in writing
whether the department has conducted a search for an
appropriate placement with an adult family member or
family friend.
Section 8 provides that a foster parent has the right
and responsibility to use a reasonable and prudent
parent standard to make decisions relating to a child
in foster care, and requires the department to provide
foster parents with training relating to the
reasonable and prudent parent standard.
Section 9 requires the department to engage a child in
an out-of-home placement who is 14 years of age or
older in the development or revision of a case plan,
permanency goal, or alternative permanency plan for
the child and allows the child to select up to two
adults, in addition to the child's foster parents or
department employees who are supervising the care of
the child, to participate in the development of the
plan.
Section 10 amends AS 4 7.10.093(a) to conform to new
AS 47.17.030(g) added in section
18 of this Act.
Section 11 amends confidentiality provisions to
require a state or municipal agency or employee to
disclose appropriate confidential information
regarding a case to the sibling of a child who is the
subject of the case if it is in the best interests of
the child to maintain contact with the sibling.
Section 12 requires a supervisor at the department,
when the department takes emergency custody of a
child, to certify in writing whether the department
has conducted a search for an appropriate placement
with an adult family member or family friend.
Section 13 requires the department to search for an
appropriate placement with an adult family member or
friend when the child is removed from the parent's
home. The section also requires a supervisor at the
department to certify in writing whether the
department has conducted the search.
Section 14 amends AS 14.14. l OO(i) to provide that
when a child can remain safely at home with an adult
family member or guardian who lives with the child,
the child may not be placed with an out-of-home care
provider.
Section 15 requires the department to provide contact
information to siblings who are in separate placements
if it is in the best interests of the children to
maintain contact.
Section 16 requires the department to implement
workload standards and a training program for
department employees and to provide a report to the
legislature if the department is not able to meet
certain standards. Section 16 also provides that the
department is immune from suit if the department is
unable to meet workload standards under certain
circumstances. Section 16 requires the division of the
department with responsibility over the custody of
children to provide an annual report to the
legislature on employee recruitment and retention.
Section 17 adds a new subsection requiring the
department to assist an adult family member in
obtaining a foster care license, including any
necessary variances, if placing the child with the
adult family member is in the best interests of the
child.
Section 18 adds a new subsection providing that when
the department or a local government health or social
services agency completes certain investigations and
identifies an appropriate community organization that
will provide support services to families, that the
department or a local government health or social
services agency shall refer the child's parent or
guardian to the community organization upon consent of
the child's parent or guardian. Section 18 also
provides for confidentiality of information received
by the community organization under the new
subsection.
1:46:31 PM
Representative Gara continued to address the Sectional
Analysis:
Section 19 requires the department, for a person who
is 16 years of age or older, to provide the person, or
assist the person with obtaining, the person's birth
certificate, social security card, health insurance
information, medical records, driver's license or
identification card, and certificate of degree of
Indian or Alaska Native blood, if applicable, when the
person is released from state custody under AS 47.10.
Section 20 requires the department, to the extent
feasible, to approve or deny a foster care home
license, including a request for a variance, not more
than 45 days after the date the department receives
the application for a foster care home license.
Section 21 provides secs. 2, 7 ? 9, 11 - 15, 17, and
19 of the Act applies to a child in the custody or
under the supervision of the department under AS 47.10
on or after the effective dates of secs. 2, 7 - 9, 11
- 15, 17, and 19 of the Act. Section 19 also provides
that secs. 3 - 6 and 20 of the Act apply to
applications for a license, license renewal,
certification, certification renewal, or payment
received by the department on or after the effective
dates of secs. 3 - 6 and 20 of the Act Section 22
allows the department to adopt regulations necessary
to implement the changes made by the Act. The
regulations may not take effect until the effective
date of the section of the Act implemented by the
regulation.
Section 23 requires the department to implement the
changes made by secs. 7 - 9 and 12 - 14 not later than
90 days after the effective date of those sections.
Those sections relate to searches for appropriate
placements with family members, foster parent
decision-making, involving children 14 or older in
case plans, and allowing a child to remain in the
child's home with an adult family member. Section 23
also requires the department to implement the changes
made by secs. 2 - 6, 11, 15, 17, 19, and 20, and some
of the changes made by sec. 16, not later than one
year after the effective date of those sections. Those
sections relate to legislative findings, barriers to
foster care licensing and payments, sharing case
information with siblings, providing sibling contact
information in certain situations, department training
and reports, assisting family members in obtaining
foster care licenses, providing identification
information to children 16 or older when released from
department custody, and approval of foster care
licenses within 45 days of receiving an application.
Section 23 further requires the department to
implement the rest of the changes made by sec. 16 of
the Act not later than two years after the effective
date of that section. Those changes relate to employee
workload standards.
Section 24 provides that sec. 22 of the Act takes
effect immediately.
1:47:47 PM
Ms. Sydeman relayed that the bill would give 1 year for the
department to implement searches for placement with
appropriate family members, to train staff on how to
involve children 14 and older on the development of case
plans, to implement the policy of allowing a child to
remain in a home with an adult family member that was not a
parent, and to bring training up to the new standard of 6
weeks of training. She said that there was a 3-year
implementation period for several of the more difficult
parts of the bill. She thought that the Senate Health and
Social Services committee had ultimately adopted a 2-year
training period for caseload standards; to get to the
average standard of 13 families per worker, 6 within the
first 6 months and 12 within the first year.
1:49:16 PM
Representative Gara added that the 90-day effective date
sections were for Sections 7 through 9 and 12 through 14.
Co-Chair MacKinnon requested further clarification.
Representative Gara responded that Sections 7 referred to
the supervisor certifying in writing that a family search
and been done. Section 8 referred to the prudent parent
standard that would allow for children to participate in
extracurricular activities without the consent of the
Office of Children's Services (OCS). Section 9 would allow
for the engagement of children 14 years and older in their
case plan and permanent placement planning goals. Sections
12 and 13 referred to OCS signoff on family friend foster
home placement. Section 14 was a provision that said that
if there was a family member in the home that could keep
the child safe then the child would not be removed from the
home.
1:51:02 PM
CHRISTY LAWTON, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF CHILDREN'S SERVICES,
(OCS) introduced herself.
Co-Chair MacKinnon asked whether the department supported
the bill and the transitional dates therein.
Ms. Lawton replied that the department supported the
legislation. She revealed that the department had worked
with the bill sponsor on the transitional dates and
believed that they could be implemented without delay.
1:51:41 PM
Co-Chair MacKinnon asked whether there was a mechanism in
the bill that required the department to report back to the
legislature on the progress of the transitions.
Ms. Lawton responded that the bill required that an annual
report be submitted to the legislature.
1:51:52 PM
Co-Chair MacKinnon asked whether the department would be
able to submit a report in 90 days that would let the
legislature know that the department that trained
supervisors of the updated requirements.
Ms. Lawton replied in the affirmative.
1:52:30 PM
Senator Micciche expressed concern about Section 6 and the
barrier crimes. He worried that people who had committed
crimes against children might be eligible to become foster
parents.
Ms. Lawton replied that the challenge with the barrier
crimes sometimes came up with grandparents that may have
had previous criminal or child protection history. She said
that the bill allowed for an evaluation on a case by case
basis, it did not require that a license be granted, but
allowed for the person to demonstrate how they had changed
their behavior.
1:53:42 PM
Senator Micciche asked whether a person who had a history
of sexual abuse of a minor or physical abuse of a minor
would be allowed to foster a child after the 10-year
statute of limitations elapsed.
Ms. Lawton replied that no acceptations would be made for
perpetrators of sexual abuse. She said that in the case of
physical abuse the facts of the case would be examined. She
reiterated that each case would be examined on a case by
case basis.
1:54:26 PM
Senator Micciche asked whether there should be a limitation
in written into statute that addressed sexual abuse.
Ms. Lawton believed that the language in the bill was
written sufficiently. She said that process for reviewing
such cases was multi-layered. She did not believe that a
person who should not be licensed would slip through the
cracks.
1:55:15 PM
Senator von Imhof thought that there were aspects of the
bill that could be dealt with in regulation. She wondered
why a statute was required.
Ms. Lawton replied that a statute would offer stability and
the assurance that the changes would not be undone easily
in the future.
1:56:16 PM
Senator von Imhof related that if the proposals in the bill
were best practices, it seemed unlikely that they would be
challenged in the future.
Ms. Lawton replied that having the language in statute
would give additional strength and authority to the tasks
and activities of the department and would help to ensure
correct implementation and retention.
1:56:50 PM
Senator von Imhof understood that the bill would limit the
number of cases per worker, with the intent of making
caseloads manageable. She asked if there was a transition
plan for current workers to give some of their cases to new
workers.
Ms. Lawton replied that the department would need to be
thoughtful about how new staff was incorporated to provide
relief for existing staff. She said that there had been an
increased effort put into having less entries than exits in
the system. She believed that if the department could get
more children safely exiting foster care, and reduce the
number coming in, that would help to safely lower existing
worker caseloads. She said that the department was working
to refer more services over to the Tribal Child Welfare
Compact, which was working on relative searches, helping
with family contact, and conducting safety assessments in
relative's home for placement. She stressed that the
department was working on many ways to bridge the
transition.
2:00:19 PM
Co-Chair MacKinnon asked how many current case workers were
employed by the state and what was the vacancy factor.
Ms. Lawton responded that there were currently 219
authorized, case carrying workers. In 2017, the turnover of
those caseworkers was at 49 percent.
2:01:10 PM
Co-Chair MacKinnon asked how many vacancies the department
currently had.
Ms. Lawton replied that the department had 64 open
caseworker positions.
Co-Chair MacKinnon questioned whether a reduction in
caseloads could result in the openings being filled without
hiring additional workers.
Ms. Lawton responded that even if the openings were filled,
additional caseworkers would be needed to meet the
standards laid out in the bill.
2:01:31 PM
AT EASE
2:02:38 PM
RECONVENED
2:02:48 PM
Co-Chair MacKinnon asked whether there were reasons, other
than caseload numbers, that had led to the high turnover
rate within the division.
Ms. Lawton shared that an annual staff survey had cited
caseloads as the number one reason for leaving a position;
after that, compensation, lack of sufficient supervision,
and the ability to affect real change in communities were
other reasons that people left the agency.
2:04:12 PM
Co-Chair MacKinnon announced that the bill would be held in
committee for further review.
2:04:21 PM
Representative Gara related that the bill was modeled on
child welfare practices in New Jersey, which were common in
other child welfare agencies. He said that the practice of
hiring 20 percent more caseworkers than initially necessary
was in anticipation of high turnover rates. He said that
neglecting to hire the positions in the fiscal note would
result in caseloads of 30 cases per worker. He understood
that it seemed counterintuitive, but that it necessary to
solve the problem of burnout.
2:06:04 PM=
Co-Chair MacKinnon felt that there were too many positions
on the fiscal note. She felt that the number deserved
further scrutiny.
2:06:36 PM
Senator Stevens asked whether the bill would address the
issue of foster children being placed in many homes over
time.
2:07:10 PM
Representative Gara said that more kinship or family homes
would be sought; additionally, less caseloads per worker
would lead to better outcomes for long-term placement of
children.
2:08:14 PM
Senator Micciche understood that the bill would grant the
authorization for the agency to over-hire but that the
expectation of proportion of spend was similar to the
current spend.
2:09:11 PM
Representative Gara reiterated that the extra positions
would be needed to reduce the caseloads so that when new
people were hired they would face a less staggering
caseload. He noted that of the 21 positions, 12 were case
carrying workers and 9 were support and administrative
staff.
Senator Micciche supported that additional positions. He
wondered whether the same amount of positions would be
necessary in the future once the caseload levels decreased.
2:11:02 PM
Representative Gara said that he hoped that turnover could
be reduced enough that fewer positions could be a reality.
2:11:39 PM
Senator von Imhof thought that increasing caseworkers would
not solve all of the problems faced by the division. She
lamented that the bill did not address changes that could
be made by the department to address efficiencies. She
recommended that the money from the unfilled but fully
funded PCNs could be used to fund an audit of the
department.
2:15:23 PM
Co-Chair MacKinnon said that she would be looking into
whether there were funds associated with the vacant
positions.
2:15:56 PM
Vice-Chair Bishop spoke of the successes of New Jersey. He
hoped that OCS might hire some people to handle an overflow
of casework and then lay off those employees once the
workload had decreased.
2:16:40 PM
Senator Olson thought that an audit would cost hundreds of
thousands of dollars. He agreed it could be valuable but
expressed concern that the issues that the bill addressed
would only get worse if the legislature waited for an audit
to be conducted.
2:17:18 PM
Co-Chair MacKinnon understood that the suggested audit was
meant to occur in conjunction with implementation of the
bill. She thought that an audit of OCS could be
illuminating.
2:18:20 PM
Vice-Chair Bishop thought that it was a matter of exploring
best practices.
2:18:42 PM
Senator Micciche suggested that senators review the
comprehensive audit of the department that had already been
conducted. He did not believe that an audit of OCS was
necessary. He believed that the challenges faced by OCS
were obvious and did not require further study.
2:19:47 PM
Co-Chair MacKinnon announced that amendments were due the
following day by 5pm.
CSHB 151(FIN) was HEARD and HELD in committee for further
consideration.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| HB 176 AML Letter.pdf |
SFIN 4/16/2018 1:30:00 PM |
HB 176 |
| HB176 Sponsor Statement.pdf |
SFIN 4/16/2018 1:30:00 PM |
HB 176 |
| HB176 Flow Chart.pdf |
SFIN 4/16/2018 1:30:00 PM |
HB 176 |
| HB176 Letters of Support.pdf |
SFIN 4/16/2018 1:30:00 PM |
HB 176 |
| HB176 - Explanation of Changes.pdf |
SFIN 4/16/2018 1:30:00 PM |
HB 176 |
| HB 213 Letter to House Finance - Dept. of Revenue.pdf |
SFIN 4/16/2018 1:30:00 PM |
HB 213 |
| HB 213 Letter to House Finance - Dept. of Law.pdf |
SFIN 4/16/2018 1:30:00 PM |
HB 213 |
| HB 213--Supportive Letter.pdf |
SFIN 4/16/2018 1:30:00 PM |
HB 213 |
| HB 213 Support letter.pdf |
SFIN 4/16/2018 1:30:00 PM |
HB 213 |
| HB 213 Summary of Changes ver. R 2-8-18.pdf |
SFIN 4/16/2018 1:30:00 PM |
HB 213 |
| HB 213 Summary of Changes Ver U to N.A 4-12-2018.pdf |
SFIN 4/16/2018 1:30:00 PM |
HB 213 |
| HB 213 Sectional Analysis.pdf |
SFIN 4/16/2018 1:30:00 PM |
HB 213 |
| HB 213 Sectional Analysis Ver N.A 4-12-2018.pdf |
SFIN 4/16/2018 1:30:00 PM |
HB 213 |
| HB 213 Actual vs. POMV bar chart.pdf |
SFIN 4/16/2018 1:30:00 PM |
HB 213 |