00 HOUSE BILL NO. 436 01 "An Act requiring the Department of Health and Social Services to employ a sufficient 02 number of social workers; relating to the protection of children in need of aid by 03 reducing the caseloads and supervisory duties to comply with certain national 04 standards; and providing for an effective date." 05 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 06 * Section 1. AS 47.05.010 is amended to read: 07 Sec. 47.05.010. Duties of department. The Department of Health and Social 08 Services shall 09 (1) administer adult public assistance, the Alaska temporary assistance 10 program, and all other assistance programs, and receive and spend money made 11 available to it; 12 (2) adopt regulations necessary for the conduct of its business and for 13 carrying out federal and state laws granting adult public assistance, temporary cash 14 assistance, diversion payments, or self-sufficiency services for needy families under 01 the Alaska temporary assistance program, and other assistance; 02 (3) consistent with AS 47.05.014, establish minimum standards for 03 personnel employed by the department and adopt necessary regulations to maintain 04 those standards; 05 (4) require those bonds and undertakings from persons employed by it 06 that, [WHICH] in its judgment, are necessary, and pay the premiums on them; 07 (5) cooperate with the federal government in matters of mutual 08 concern pertaining to adult public assistance, the Alaska temporary assistance 09 program, and other forms of public assistance; 10 (6) make the reports, in the form and containing the information, that 11 the federal government from time to time requires; 12 (7) cooperate with the federal government and [,] its agencies or 13 instrumentalities in establishing, extending, and strengthening services for the 14 protection and care of homeless, dependent, and neglected children in danger of 15 becoming delinquent, and receive and expend funds available to the department by the 16 federal government and [,] the state or its political subdivisions for that purpose; 17 (8) cooperate with the federal government in adopting state plans to 18 make the state eligible for federal matching in appropriate categories of assistance, and 19 in all matters of mutual concern, including adoption of the methods of administration 20 that are found by the federal government to be necessary for the efficient operation of 21 welfare programs; 22 (9) adopt regulations, not inconsistent with law, defining need, 23 prescribing the conditions of eligibility for assistance, and establishing standards for 24 determining the amount of assistance that an eligible person is entitled to receive; the 25 amount of the assistance is sufficient when, added to all other income and resources 26 available to an individual, it provides the individual with a reasonable subsistence 27 compatible with health and well-being; an individual who meets the requirements for 28 eligibility for assistance shall be granted the assistance promptly upon application for 29 it; 30 (10) grant to a person claiming or receiving assistance and who is 31 aggrieved because of the department's action or failure to act, reasonable notice and an 01 opportunity for a fair hearing by the department, and the department shall adopt 02 regulations relative to this; 03 (11) enter into reciprocal agreements with other states relative to 04 public assistance, welfare services, and institutional care that are considered advisable; 05 (12) establish the requirements of residence for public assistance, 06 welfare services, and institutional care that are considered advisable, subject to the 07 limitations of other laws of the state, or law or regulation imposed as conditions for 08 federal financial participation; 09 (13) establish the divisions and local offices that are considered 10 necessary or expedient to carry out a duty or authority assigned to it and appoint and 11 employ the assistants and personnel that are necessary to carry on the work of the 12 divisions and offices, and fix the compensation of the assistants or employees except 13 that a person engaged in business as a retail vendor of general merchandise, or a 14 member of the immediate family of a person who is so engaged, may not serve as an 15 acting, temporary or permanent local agent of the department, unless the 16 commissioner of health and social services certifies in writing to the governor, with 17 relation to a particular community, that no other qualified person is available in the 18 community to serve as local welfare agent; for the purposes of this paragraph, a 19 "member of the immediate family" includes a spouse, child, parent, brother, sister, 20 parent-in-law, brother-in-law or sister-in-law; 21 (14) provide education and health-related services and referrals 22 designed to reduce the number of out-of-wedlock pregnancies and the number of 23 induced pregnancy terminations in the state; 24 (15) investigate reports of abuse, neglect, or misappropriation of 25 property by certified nurse aides in facilities licensed by the department under 26 AS 47.32. 27 * Sec. 2. AS 47.05 is amended by adding a new section to read: 28 Sec. 47.05.014. Social worker caseload for work under AS 47.10; 29 supervision limits. (a) The department shall employ, for work conducted under 30 AS 47.10 pertaining to child-in-need-of-aid proceedings, a sufficient number of 31 qualified social workers to enable the department to comply with the limits set in this 01 section for at least nine months during each fiscal year. 02 (b) For social workers employed by the department in the Municipality of 03 Anchorage, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, the Fairbanks North Star Borough, and 04 the City and Borough of Juneau, the department shall assign to a social worker a 05 caseload for work conducted under AS 47.10 that is not more than 06 (1) 12 new active cases a month for initial assessment or investigation; 07 (2) 17 ongoing active cases a month that do not involve initial 08 assessment or investigation; not more than one ongoing active case for every six 09 ongoing active cases assigned may be newly assigned to the social worker each 10 month; 11 (3) 10 ongoing active cases that do not involve initial assessment or 12 investigation and four new active cases that involve initial assessment or investigation; 13 or 14 (4) 15 children in foster care. 15 (c) For social workers employed by the department in areas of the state not 16 identified in (b) of this section, the department shall employ a sufficient number of 17 qualified social workers for work conducted under AS 47.10 to enable the department 18 to comply with the standards recommended by the department's 2005 social work 19 caseload audit or with the caseload limits under (b) of this section. If the standards 20 recommended by the department require more social workers than the caseload limits 21 set out in (b) of this section, the department shall adopt necessary regulations to 22 maintain those standards. 23 (d) The requirements under (b) and (c) of this section do not apply to the 24 extent the department is unable, after diligent recruiting efforts and after providing an 25 annual report to the legislature describing the department's recruiting efforts, to hire a 26 sufficient number of social workers to meet the requirements. 27 (e) The department may not assign a social worker to supervise more than five 28 social workers for work conducted under AS 47.10. 29 (f) In this section, 30 (1) "active case" means a family or child referred to the department 31 under AS 47.10 who requires monitoring and intervention each month; 01 (2) "social worker" means a person licensed under AS 08.95 or a 02 caseworker who is primarily assigned social work functions and has at least a 03 bachelor's degree; 04 (3) "social work functions" means work involving direct contact with a 05 foster child and a foster parent and investigation of reports of child abuse or neglect. 06 * Sec. 3. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 07 read: 08 TRANSITION: REGULATIONS. The Department of Health and Social Services 09 may proceed to adopt regulations necessary to maintain the minimum standards to implement 10 AS 47.05.010(3), as amended by sec. 1 of this Act. The department shall adopt the necessary 11 regulations not later than January 1, 2007. The regulations take effect under AS 44.62 12 (Administrative Procedure Act), but not before the effective date of sec. 1 of this Act. 13 * Sec. 4. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 14 read: 15 TRANSITION: EMPLOYMENT. The Department of Health and Social Services 16 may proceed to take steps to employ additional personnel necessary to implement 17 AS 47.05.014, enacted by sec. 2 of this Act. 18 * Sec. 5. Sections 1 and 2 of this Act take effect October 1, 2007. 19 * Sec. 6. Sections 3 and 4 of this Act take effect immediately under AS 01.10.070(c).