SENATE BILL NO. 145 "An Act relating to the recovery of overpayments of day care assistance and child care grants; and providing for an effective date." 9:13:11 AM Co-Chair MacKinnon discussed the agenda. She noted that SB 1 would be addressed through a conversation by the committee only. SEAN O'BRIEN, DIRECTOR, DIVISION OF PUBLIC ASSISTANCE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES, stated that SB 145 was a change in law to allow the child care assistance program to collect funds through permanent fund dividend (PFD) garnishment in instances where voluntary payment collection was not possible. He furthered that the change would be consistent with the rest of the division's collection processes. The bill would bring the division in alignment with recouping overpayments and misspent funds. He continued that the bill supported federal compliance with childcare regulations, which required that the division pursue fraudulent and improper payments. He summarized that if volunteer recruitment did not work, the bill would allow the division to move forward with PFD garnishment. Senator Olson asked what programs currently garnished PFDs. MONICA WINDOM, POLICY DEVELOPMENT CHIEF, DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC ASSISTANCE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES, listed the following programs that were able to garnish PFDs: food stamps, adult public assistance, temporary assistance for needy families (TANF), and general relief assistance. She summarized that all public assistance programs could garnish the PFD with the exception of senior benefits and childcare. 9:16:40 AM Senator Olson wondered about entities outside of DHSS that garnished dividends. He asked about daycare as listed in the entitlement programs. Ms. Windom agreed to provide Senator Olson information from the claims unit later in the day. She mentioned the court system and child support. Co-Chair MacKinnon asked for Ms. Windom to direct information to her office so she could disseminate it to the committee members. Co-Chair MacKinnon asked about the retroactivity of the bill, and referred to the effected date of July 1, 2016; but saw a reference on page 2 of the bill, "before, on, or after July 2016." She thought that the language sounded retroactive, and that the state would be able to collect funds in the next dividend cycle. Mr. O'Brien referred to Section 3, which stated that the bill would take effect July 1, 2016. He specified that the current program was set up to go back one year, and the bill would allow the division to collect on the current year's PFD as a garnishment. Co-Chair MacKinnon OPENED public testimony. Co-Chair MacKinnon CLOSED public testimony. SB 145 was HEARD and HELD in committee for further consideration.