Legislature(1997 - 1998)
04/16/1998 03:12 PM House HES
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HB 401 - STATE/REG'L/TRIBAL FAMILY ASS'T PROGRAMS Number 0704 CHAIRMAN BUNDE announced the next bill for consideration was HB 401, "An Act relating to contracts for the provision of state public assistance to certain recipients in the state; providing for regional public assistance plans and programs in the state; relating to grants for Alaska tribal family assistance programs; and providing for an effective date." He asked Jay Livey to come forward to the witness stand. Number 0727 JAY LIVEY, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Health and Social Services, commented that before getting into the specifics of the bill, he would give the committee some background information as to why the department is considering this issue at this particular time. He said federal welfare reform established a process, as part of the federal welfare reform, by which Alaska Native nonprofit regional corporations, if they wished, could apply to the federal government and receive authorization to administer welfare programs in the regions. As part of the process, the regional corporations would be eligible to receive from the federal government the equivalent of the federal funds that the state spent on welfare services within those regions in 1994. It basically establishes a federal block grant for regional corporations deciding to take on welfare responsibilities for their region. MR. LIVEY said the federal funds, however, will only be about half of the funds that have historically been spent on welfare in regional corporation areas. He pointed out the current welfare program is partially state funded and partially federally funded. The mechanism in the federal welfare reform law only deals with the federal funds and HB 401 sets up a mechanism by which the state can fund the other half needed to run the entire program. MR. LIVEY said the state and regional corporations have had ongoing meetings for the last couple years regarding the federal language and through those discussions, the state has come up with five principles used to guide the development of HB 401. First, the state and regional corporations both recognized the primary goal to support self-sufficiency; everyone wants individuals to be economically independent and to not be dependent on public assistance programs and services. The second principle is to promote flexibility in designing local approaches to achieving self-sufficiency. The state recognized that regional corporations have specific conditions as well as specific economies, and wanted to give freedom to those corporations to develop regional assistance plans that make sense to their area. The third principle was to ensure that any programs set up were efficiently managed, avoiding any duplication of effort and creating an economy of scale with regard to administrative expenditure. Fourth was to discourage disparity in benefit levels in order to avoid having similar-situated Alaskans being treated differently with respect to benefits. Fifth was to address the complex legal issues relating to the delegation of state authority. Number 0945 MR. LIVEY directed the committee's attention to a flow chart describing the mechanism set up by HB 401. Number 0959 REPRESENTATIVE DYSON asked if there was any opposition to this legislation? MR. LIVEY responded that most people support the concept. Number 1011 MR. LIVEY, referring to the flow chart, explained if this legislation passes, the regional corporations would send the department a copy of their tribal assistance plan to be reviewed for two sets of standards. He continued, "First of all we would review those standards to make sure that the service delivery area that the regional corporation's proposing to serve makes sense and we want that to make sense in terms of the state's obligation to provide services. Also, we just want to make sure the two fit together so we're not duplicating administrative costs and we're providing the services most efficiently. Secondly, there are five requirements that we believe should be in the regional corporation's assistance plan - that those are five principles of welfare reform that we believe should be in any program in the state. Briefly, there must a dependent child in the household; the regional corporation payment amount must be in line with the state's payment amount; minor parents must live within an approved adult-supervised setting; able-bodied participants must work; and participants must comply with child support. If the regional corporation meets those requirements, then they are eligible to receive a grant and the grant that we send to the regional corporation then provides the state portion of the program. Remember, they're already getting the federal money directly - they're already getting money from the federal government - the state portion fills out the program for them." CHAIRMAN BUNDE observed the department had submitted a zero fiscal note. MR. LIVEY said the funds being sent to the regional corporations would already be in the department's budget or subject to future appropriation by the legislature. CHAIRMAN BUNDE said there should be a fiscal note showing the flow of funds and the volume. MR. LIVEY explained one of the reasons for the zero fiscal note is that the amounts of money flowing back and forth will depend on how many regional corporations choose to participate in the program. MR. LIVEY continued with his explanation of HB 401 and said, "If the commission determines that it's -- you mentioned before that within a regional corporation there may be nontribal members who are being served in that area through the state program -- if the commission determines as a condition of receiving money from the state, the state can require that those individuals would be served by the regional corporation, again as a way of making sure that the state's not duplicating administrative services in those areas." MR. LIVEY concluded the department considers this a good bill for three reasons: 1) welfare will be more successful if locally administered and locally designed to meet local economic conditions; 2) there's a benefit for the state in partnering with the regional nonprofit corporations, many of whom have fairly extensive employment and training programs already operating; and 3) it makes sense to encourage areas of the state to take some responsibility for welfare services and public service in the respective areas. Number 1220 CHAIRMAN BUNDE questioned first what system would account for the expenditure of funds and secondly, what rights of appeal is available for individuals who feel they are being treated unfairly. MR. LIVEY said the fiscal oversight would be the same as for existing state grants and contracts with a single audit as well as all the department's grant regulations. With respect to appeals, the regional corporation would need an approved appeal process in their original plan for individuals served by the regional corporation program and nontribal members served by the regional corporation would have appeal rights through the state. CHAIRMAN BUNDE verified for the record that the program would serve all residents in the area, both tribal and nontribal. MR. LIVEY confirmed that. Number 1270 REPRESENTATIVE GREEN inquired if this was merely a transfer of funds rather than new funds. MR. LIVEY explained the general fund portion is money that is already being spent on behalf of welfare clients in those areas. For example in the Alaska Village Council Presidents (AVCP) region, the state is already paying for welfare services in that region. CHAIRMAN BUNDE asked Bob Charles to present his remarks at this time. Number 1300 BOB CHARLES, Vice President of Operations, Alaska Village Council Presidents (AVCP), testified via teleconference from Anchorage that AVCP supports HB 401 and urges its adoption by the legislature. He said the AVCP was established in 1964, incorporated in 1978 and serves 47 villages in the Yukon-Kuskokwim-Delta region. In 1978, the AVCP began contracting with the federal government primarily with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, to provide services to the people in the Yukon-Kuskokwim-Delta area. The AVCP has formed the Yukon/Kuskokwim Health Corporation and the regional housing authority as separate organizations to provide health and housing services. He described the services provided by AVCP for families, children and elders in the region including a variety of training and technical assistance services for village administrators; a fairly large village public safety officer program; a Head Start Program and various other programs. Number 1485 CHAIRMAN BUNDE observed that AVCP must be very busy, and asked if they could take on another project like administering the welfare program proposed under HB 401. MR. CHARLES explained the AVCP has a fairly good sized structure in place in all the villages that allows AVCP the opportunity to administer this as just another program. He noted that recently AVCP operated a contract with the Division of Public Assistance for the Work Force Development Project, in which the division initially wanted AVCP to work with 328 two-parent families, but AVCP set a goal of 510 families and since starting last July, the number has increased to 760 families. CHAIRMAN BUNDE thanked Mr. Charles for his testimony and asked Mr. Hoefferle to present his comments. Number 1544 TERRY HOEFFERLE, Chief of Operations, Bristol Bay Native Association (BBNA), testified via teleconference from Dillingham. He said the Bristol Bay Native Association is an association of 31 tribal communities in Bristol Bay. He noted he would address two issues in his testimony. First, the capacity of organizations like BBNA to operate a program such as that being proposed in HB 401 and BBNA's accountability for operating programs such as this. He said there are 12 regional nonprofit Native associations in the state of Alaska which have many similarities. Generally, the associations were formed to work toward passage of the land claims settlement act and once regional corporations were formed under that act, the 12 regional nonprofit associations took on the task of not for profit social issues - issues such as education and the economies of the region, et cetera. Currently, the BBNA operates over 30 programs ranging from the village public safety officer program to Head Start to elderly nutrition programs to employment and training program. The association has an annual budget of $16 million and 294 employees; 55 of which are employed in the central office and 239 are employed at village locations throughout the region. Currently, BBNA operates nine programs that are directly related to employment and training, education on welfare assistance type programs, general assistance employment and training, higher education and child care programs with a budget of $1.7 million. All the programs are operated under Public Law 103-477 which allows tribal organizations to combine the funding for similar kinds of federal programs that are operated either from the Departments of Education or Health and Social Services or the Bureau of Indian Affairs. By combining the operation of these programs, BBNA has achieved a number of administrative savings; it reduced the administrative costs of those programs by 30 percent and has placed those savings directly into increased client services. The PL 103- 477 programs years ago began to set the stage for much of what is now called welfare reform as enacted by the federal government and the state of Alaska in recent years. A combination of those programs has provided a model for "one stop shops" that the state of Alaska is utilizing to implement the temporary assistance for the needy families' program enacted by the legislature two years ago. The Tribal Work Experience program which BBNA and their sister organizations operate throughout the state marked the way for Work fare where individuals are required to provide local work service in order to receive general assistance benefits. The Bristol Bay Native Association has operated these programs under the (indisc.) of the United States Government and also operated similar types of programs under contract with the state of Alaska. MR. HOEFFERLE said BBNA is familiar with not only operating programs that apply to all the residents in Bristol Bay but also operates different programs that only Native members of the association are eligible for. For 30 years BBNA has adequately reported and accounted for the expenditure of federal funds. During his eight year tenure at BBNA, the audits have never raised a question regarding cost. MR. HOEFFERLE concluded the PL 103-477 program provides the model by which their association would implement HB 401. Currently, in the state of Alaska, the implementation of welfare reform legislation in the urban areas provide the way for the people to get on welfare and a way for people to get into a job. In rural Alaska, the system provides for a way to get on welfare, albeit a much harder way to get on welfare and it provides no road to jobs. This is just a recognition that it's much more difficult to develop jobs than it is to cut a welfare check. But the Alaska Temporary Assistance to Needy Families Act includes a counseling and planning individual work responsibility plan to help people find their way off welfare and into work, but it's impossible to provide this counseling and assistance by means of telephone, particularly where cultural and language differences may be quite different from one community to another. The BBNA employs approximately 60 employees that are performing different jobs whose expertise could be used to leverage state funds to provide a better service to the residents of the state who need these services. CHAIRMAN BUNDE thanked Mr. Hoefferle for his comments and asked Don Shircel to testify at this time. Number 1860 DON SHIRCEL, Director, Tanana Chiefs Conference (TCC) Family Services, testified via teleconference from Fairbanks. He holds a Master of Science degree in behavioral disabilities and administers $6 million of the total $55 million annual budget of state and federal health and social service programs operated by Tanana Chiefs Conference. He said as a social service professional and program planner, he strongly supports HB 401. In a state, especially of our size, it makes a lot of sense to regionally design and administer temporary assistance programming. House Bill 401 is consistent with the same rationale from which state and federal welfare reform emerged. Programs closest to the people are more responsive, relevant, effective and efficient than large centrally administered "one size fits all" programs planned and administered outside the community. MR. SHIRCEL gave the committee a little background on some of TCC's efforts to date. He remarked that since 1993, member communities of the Tanana Chiefs Conference initiated and have been jointly implementing over $1.3 million annually of "workfare" assistance programming under the BIA assistance grant program. Over the course of the past three years, the Tanana Chiefs Conference has conducted regional, subregional and village community meetings and teleconferences regarding the development and implementation of state and federal welfare reform legislation and programming. As part of the Interior region's TANF program planning process, TCC conducted a regionwide survey in December 1996 of its member communities to determine local preferences in program design. In March 1997, TCC developed and circulated for discussion a draft regional TANF program concept paper based on consensus elements of the survey. They solicited and received comment on each program element of the plan at the TCC annual convention and board of directors meeting and held a special board of directors meeting in June 1997 to establish consensus on all key program design elements. Additional discussion and input from Interior communities was initiated through separate subregional board meetings in the fall of 1997 and a draft regional TANF plan was developed and distributed for public review by each of the 37 communities in the service area and three separate teleconferences were held to solicit additional comments on the draft plan. In February 1998, a final draft of the plan was developed which incorporated the comments garnered through the community public review process. The executive board of directors of TCC reviewed and approved the regional TANF plan on February 24, 1998, and TCC has submitted the plan for approval to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. These formal decision processes, along with a regionwide public awareness effort utilizing the agency's regional newsletter and ongoing planning sessions with other regional Native nonprofit corporations and the state of Alaska, Division of Public Assistance, constitute the broad range of sustained planning and public awareness efforts utilized by TCC which were incorporated into the development of their plan. In the truest sense of the word, the TCC plan is programming developed by the communities themselves. The deliberate actions that have been taken to reach consensus on all aspects regarding the design of their region plan, assures maximum ongoing collaboration between the local and regional partners of the project, creates a collective ownership, investment and commitment by all parties regarding the goals of the plan and establishes a shared responsibility toward reaching the objectives of the joint programming. The TCC plan has been developed by Interior Alaska communities with and for their families. MR. SHIRCEL continued the regional plan is designed through ongoing local discussion and regional consensus decision making processes, focusing on available resources, practical realities and the joint investments and commitments of over 37 Interior communities. While many of the specific elements of the TCC TANF plan are identical to those of the state to assure standards of fairness to all Alaskan citizens, many key elements differ as a reflection of the strong attitudes and local values of communities in Interior Alaska. The TCC plan incorporates the same standards relative to available income and allowable exemptions. It incorporates the same definitions for earned and unearned income, the same standards of need and eligibility, the same amount of benefits for children, pregnant women and disabled adults and the same 60 month life-time limit to assistance. The TCC TANF plan differs from the state's temporary assistance plan only in that their regionally designed plan gets a far bigger bang for the buck than the state's current program. For the same dollar amount under the TCC plan, all applicants are required to undergo alcohol and substance abuse evaluations and follow the recommendations of the evaluation or lose a percentage of their benefit. For those who comply with the evaluation recommendation within six months, their benefits are restored and the percentage withheld is returned to them upon successful completion of their treatment. Under the TCC plan, all parents receiving benefits are required to attend their children's parent teacher conferences and include their children in regular health screenings made available in the community. Failure to do so results in a reduction in their benefits. Under the TCC plan in two-parent households in which domestic violence is a problem, the perpetrator is required to leave the home and receive counseling, by court order if necessary. He may receive a portion of the household benefit only if he continues counseling outside the home. The TCC TANF plan actually reduces the benefits of nondisabled adults by 5 percent and requires more households to work more than does the current state plan. Under the current state TANF plan, households are required to engage in 20-35 hours of work activities within two years from the time of their application. Under the TCC plan, the same households are required to engage in 25-35 hours of work activities within two months of the time of their application for benefits. Under the same current use of these same funds, one- stop centers are financed and available in only a handful Alaska's urban centers. The TCC plan incorporates a service delivery system that includes 37 existing community based offices and assigned staff located in one-stop centers in each of the communities of the service area created through shared funding from new and existing federal program funds. These shared staff and facilities are funded through the combined resources of multiple federal programs to minimize administrative cost and maximize the level of collaboration with other support services needed by families seeking to enter the labor market. MR. SHIRCEL concluded Alaska's rural communities, through the regional nonprofit corporations, have been designing programs to better fit the needs of their families. Many have also been developing local and regional infrastructures that now rival the state's capacity to provide a comparable level of local service delivery especially in rural remote areas. For communities in the Interior, this is and has been the case for quite some time. House Bill 401 would maximize our efforts to combine programs and funding streams to more efficiently and effectively get people off of welfare and on to work. He said TCC requested the committee to seriously consider moving this bill out of committee and onto passage. CHAIRMAN BUNDE thanked Mr. Shircel for his remarks and asked Sharon Olsen to come forward to the witness table. Number 2202 SHARON OLSEN, Director, Employment and Training Programs, Central Council Tlingit and Haida Indians of Alaska, said much of her testimony had already been discussed by previous witnesses. Central Council is made up of 22 communities through the Southeast region and has found that with industries like logging and fishing slowing down or even closing, many tribal members are in need of assistance. According to BIA's 1995 Labor Force Report, the overall unemployment percentage of Indians residing in Southeast Alaska unemployed or not in the labor force is about 60 percent. MS. OLSEN had prepared a brief summary of Central Council's tribal TANF plan including their goals, principles and strategies, some of which are to emphasize work, promote self-sufficiency, promote education, discourage unwed pregnancies, promote family stability, promote responsibility, discourage dependency, minimize bureaucracy and maintain a safety net. She directed the committee's attention to a letter written to Commissioner Perdue supporting HB 401 and expressing the concerns of the Central Council. Also included with her materials was a special report she had prepared which discusses what Central Council is doing in terms of their involvement in the welfare reform movement. For example, Central Council implemented the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills program in 1989, has a one- stop shop and has consolidated under Public 103-477, and made major expansions in employment and training, one of which is the new regional vocational training and resource center under construction. MS. OLSEN noted that Sealaska Corporation had just presented Central Council with $150,000 .... TAPE 98-47, SIDE B Number 0002 MS. OLSEN continued .... had computer training, small business, tourism, mining, construction and a variety of other training that Central Council has actually taken to the villages and helped train and place people in their respective villages. She noted that her briefing statement discusses some of the impacts of welfare reform. Oftentimes being forced to work first without adequate training reduces the likeliness of success in the work force. Central Council views that as a very serious issue and as such designed training and concentrated on preparing individuals for work so an individual is not just placed in a job but keeps and grows in the job. She said Alaska Natives make up about 17 percent of the state's total population and about 36 percent of the state's welfare assistance caseload. She has been stressing to the tribal leaders and organizations that everyone needs to play a part in reducing welfare. Her report talks about conducting tribal census which would identify needs of the tribal members by community, encourages contact with legislators and congressmen to advocate for a state match, to insist on equal access of services, to prepare for census 2000 by making sure there's accurate information, to work with the state on the economic development plan, to support the state/tribal liaison position which has now been filled, to monitor the impacts of the food stamp and child support enforcement programs and stresses that tribal leaders must play an active role in the state's strategic plan for welfare reform. Number 0374 REPRESENTATIVE GREEN referred to the chart Ms. Olsen had distributed and asked, "I see this very impressive chart and if we were to overlay the population of Natives in these various communities would it look similar; in other words, is there a geographic difference in the unemployment or the recipient rate or is it far less, say they're more job opportunities in a place like Juneau than there would be in some of these other communities." MS. OLSEN said "There are; in fact, Juneau, Sitka and Ketchikan, even though they have the largest number of people on welfare, those seem to be the only places where there's permanent type work. Otherwise we deal with seasonable work situations." CHAIRMAN BUNDE asked if there would be any net loss of benefits to recipients under this plan and if there was an administrative cap? MR. LIVEY replied there is an administrative cap of 20 percent set in federal law which would be applied to the tribal assistance plan as approved. Number 0509 CHAIRMAN BUNDE closed public testimony on HB 401 and asked the wishes of the committee. Number 0515 REPRESENTATIVE DYSON made a motion to pass HB 401 from committee. Number 0520 REPRESENTATIVE PORTER made the following comment for the record: "The first time that I heard of this bill and was told of it, a couple of things popped into my mind that would be of concern, but the bill has anticipated them and met them. This isn't an abdication of state power to anybody, it's just a delegation of state power like the state does in a myriad of situations by contracting out, if you will, to nonprofit organizations for the delivery of services. It's, I guess in the Republican sense, privatization - nothing wrong with that - and the only thing I'm a little disappointed in is not seeing a negative fiscal note for some of the money that's going to be saved by doing this. Although, it's going to Finance .... It will serve nontribal members as well as tribal members and it's a system that is set up and in listening to some of the descriptions of the systems in place, I'm not kidding when I say I wish we could do that in Anchorage. I'm ready." Number 0590 REPRESENTATIVE DYSON said there are several reasons he's enthusiastic about it. One, it continues an effort that Representative Ivan has been working on in trying to make government and delivery of services work better all over Alaska. Quite a number of rural communities have been contracting with nonprofits and tribal organizations to deliver services of all kinds and his sense is there's a significant amount of competency developed in many communities. CHAIRMAN BUNDE noted there was a motion before the committee. He asked if there was objection. Hearing none, HB 401 passed out of the House Health, Education and Social Services Standing Committee.
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