Legislature(1997 - 1998)

04/16/1998 03:12 PM House HES

Audio Topic
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
txt
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.            
                                                                               

Document Name Date/Time Subjects