HB 184-REQUIRE TRIBAL CHILD WELFARE COMPACT  4:19:01 PM CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY announced that the final order of business would be HOUSE BILL NO. 184, "An Act requiring state participation in a tribal child welfare compact." 4:19:22 PM The committee took an at-ease from 4:19 p.m. to 4:20 p.m. 4:20:54 PM CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY presented HB 184, as prime sponsor, via a PowerPoint presentation entitled, "HB184 Tribal Child Welfare Compact," [hard copy included in the committee packet]. She explained that the bill seeks to protect implementation of the "historic and landmark" Tribal Child Welfare Compact (TCWC) by codifying it in Alaska statute. She said that the TCWC is an agreement between tribes and the state that seeks to help address deep, structural inequities in the way that Alaska children are cared for across the state. She began on slide 2, "Why the work began," which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: Significant Disparities • Alaska Native Children make up 15% of the state's general population but represent 60% of the children in state custody • Disparities of this nature indicate a system failure in our child welfare system OCS Retention Difficulties • Office of Children's Services (OCS) typically operates at a 50% vacancy rate and require frontline workers to carry caseloads more than 3x the national average • The goal of HB 151 (2018) was to lower turnover and vacancy rates, but despite increased funding, turnover rates have not decreased CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY continued on slide 3, "How the work began," which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: Tribal State Collaboration Group • A 25-year partnership between state, tribal representatives, and invited stakeholders • Goals: • Strengthen Alaska's compliance with the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) of 1978. • ICWA is a Federal law that established standards for the removal and placement of American Indian children and enabled Tribes and families to be involved in child welfare cases. • Reduce the disproportionality of Alaska Native children in state custody • Build & strengthen working relationships Tribal Title IV-E Agreements • Provides Federal funding to states and tribes for foster care, transitional independent living programs, guardianship assistance, and adoption assistance • Tribes also receive a higher reimbursement rate than states for covered services, resulting in significant General Fund savings. CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY proceeded to slide 4, "What is Alaska's Child Welfare Compact?" The slide read as follows [original punctuation provided]: • The Alaska Tribal Welfare Compact (Compact) is a government-to-government agreement to improve the life outcomes for Alaska's children and families by transferring specific, negotiated child welfare services and supports (including revenue streams) from the Office of Children's Services (OCS) to the Tribal Co-Signers • The Compact was signed in 2017 by Governor Walker and 18 Tribal Co-Signers; representing 161 Federally- recognized Tribes and Tribal Organizations and continued under Governor Dunleavy in 2019 CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY addressed slide 5, "Implementation Timeline," which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: FY2018 • Tribal Co-Signers developed their programs, built capacity and infrastructure • OCS began sharing Protective Services Reports (PSRs or 'screen ins' or 'screen outs'), and provided training and technical support FY2019 • Tribal Co-Signers began performing Initial Diligent Relative Searches • The Parties negotiated four new Scopes of Work for Ongoing Relatives Searches, Family Contact, Licensing Assists, and Safety Evaluations • However, the State declined to sign due to a change in Administration 4:24:19 PM CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY spoke to slide 6, "Implementation Timeline," which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: FY2020 • Parties worked out differences and signed all five previously-negotiated Scopes: • Initial Diligent Relative Searches (IDRS) • Ongoing Relative Searches (ORS) • Family Contact • Licensing Assists • Safety Evaluations FY2021 • Negotiations will take place in May 2021 CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY advanced to slide 7, "Advantages," which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: • Provides higher quality services, closer to home, at a lower cost through leveraging Tribal resources • Strengthens state services by engaging Tribes, often the most local government, on an issue of shared interest • Increased public trust through existing family relationships with Tribes CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY proceeded to slide 8, "Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES)," which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) have a tremendous impact on future violence victimization and perpetration, and lifelong health outcomes. ACEs are potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood (0-17 years): • Experiencing violence, abuse, or neglect • Witnessing violence in the home or community • Having a family member attempt or die by suicide • Growing up in a household with substance abuse, mental health problems, instability due to parental separation or household members in prison ACEs are linked to: • Chronic health problems • Mental illness • Substance abuse problems in adulthood Increased incarceration rates ACEs can negatively effect: • Education • Job opportunities • Earning potential 4:26:08 PM CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY discussed slide 9, "Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES)," which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) have a tremendous impact on future violence victimization and perpetration, and lifelong health outcomes. How big is the problem? • ACEs are common. 61% of adults surveyed across 25 states reported that they had experienced at least one type of ACE, and nearly 1 in 6 reported they had experienced four or more types of ACEs. • Preventing ACEs could potentially reduce a large number of health conditions. For example, up to 1.9 million cases of heart disease and 21 million cases of depression could have been potentially avoided by preventing ACEs. • Women and several racial/ethnic minority groups are at greater risk for having experienced 4 or more types of ACEs. • ACEs are costly. The economic and social costs to families, communities, and society totals hundreds of billions of dollars each year. CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY continued on slide 10, "Sectional Analysis," which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: Section 1: Amends AS 47.05 to add a new section to article 1 requiring the State to participate in a Tribal Child Welfare Compact. 4:29:16 PM NICOLE BORROMEO, General Counsel and Executive Vice President, Alaska Federation of Natives, testified in support of HB 184. She stated that the bill is necessary to cement the compact in law and make it no longer at the will of the administration. She said the bill would allow for opportunity to improve the child welfare system. 4:30:36 PM MELANIE BAHNKE, President, Kawerak Organization, testified in support of HB 184. She shared that Kawerak is a regional tribal consortium in the Bering Strait region of Alaska and has been providing services for over 40 years, including operating a child advocacy center. She expressed that more local control results in better outcomes, whether it's the health care system, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) programs, or child welfare programs. She echoed Ms. Borromeo's statement that it is important to codify the compact in statute to protect it from being "wiped away" with an incoming administration. She said that significant resources are being invested as part of the negotiation process, and all participating Kawerak staff are being compensated through Kawerak funds. She added that Kawerak is willing and capable of taking on this work and would appreciate the assurance that the state will not write off the compacting process, but instead codify it into law. 4:33:29 PM VIVIAN KORTHUIS, Chief Executive Officer, Association of Village Council Presidents (AVCP), testified in support of HB 184. She explained that the (AVPC) represents 66 federally recognized tribes on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. She said that the top three priorities of AVCP are public safety, economic development, and community wellness. She stated that healthy children and families are paramount to achieve community wellness. She said that the TCWC presents an opportunity for tribes and the government to work together. She added that the experience and knowledge of the tribes make the tribes an excellent resource in delivering child welfare services, especially in rural Alaska. She noted that tribes have decades of experience in working with the federal government in avenues such as healthcare. MS. KORTHUIS specified that there are approximately 500 tribal children from the AVCP region in OCS custody, and these children all rely on the tribes to make appropriate decisions that will impact the lives of the children. She said she has over 15 years of experience working in tribal compacting, and is aware that implementing a compact takes time, effort, funding, and commitment. She shared an example of a child being removed by OCS in November 2020 from the child's parents in Anchorage. She said that AVPC was contacted to help place the child with a relative and was able to successfully find an appropriate relative in the village, which was possible only because of the compact. She reiterated AVCP's support for codifying the compact in law through HB 184. 4:39:59 PM REPRESENTATIVE FIELDS asked Co-Chair Zulkosky whether Alaska is the leading state in child welfare compacts. CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY responded yes and offered her understanding that the proposed compact is the first of its kind. REPRESENTATIVE FIELDS shared his understanding that it would also be the first statutory requirement for a child welfare compact. Noting that it would be the first statute of its kind, he asked about the thought process behind the language of the bill, what "participate" means in a legal sense, and what the nature of a compact would be. CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY responded that the intention behind the construct of the legislation as it is written is to give the most latitude to the governor and the state in its negotiations, as well as the tribes. It intends to not be "too prescriptive" and ensure that there is flexibility. 4:43:17 PM ELIZABETH HENSLEY, General Counsel, Maniilaq Association, in response to Representative Fields' question, stated that the term "participate" intends to indicate inclusion without being too prescriptive. She explained that it intends to avoid mandating the compact to look a particular way, and it intends to allow for a unique agreement that affirms that there are two governments, each with its own sovereign nature, coming together into the agreement. She said the risk is that the state could treat the tribes not as the unique entities that the tribes are, but as "any old third party." REPRESENTATIVE FIELDS asked Ms. Hensley whether she thinks that the scope of a child welfare compact can change over time within the parameters of the language. MS. HENSLEY answered that the type of compact at hand is a child welfare compact, and the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), a federal law, speaks to that. She explained that ICWA authorizes states and tribes to enter into an agreement with respect to child welfare, which connects it to federal law. She stated it would be desirable for the compact to be able to evolve over time to be most tailored to the needs of Alaska's children. This is why there's an annual negotiation cycle in the compact, she said, and the next negotiation is set to happen in May 2021. CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY recalled Ms. Korthuis mentioning in her testimony that the tribal health compact has evolved over the past 25 years. She said the health care community has made great strides during those 25 years. She explained that the brevity of the language is to ensure that those types of strides and accomplishments can be achieved, while protecting the compact in statute. 4:48:22 PM REPRESENTATIVE KURKA said the timing of the bill seems awkward. He opined that the agreement should be finalized before passing the law to require conformance with it. He noted that Co-Chair Zulkosky mentioned in her presentation that the negotiations would be taking place in May. CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY responded that the compact is already in place and ongoing; it was signed in 2017 and agreements have happened both on the state and tribal sides. Annual negotiations to update the agreements are in place to have any ongoing discussions. REPRESENTATIVE KURKA asked whether this would mean requiring the state to comply with the parts of the compact that have been negotiated and agreed upon, and not the new parts. CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY answered that the intention of the broadness of the language is to protect the child welfare compact in statute. It would require that the state and the tribes participate in the compact, she said. The details related to the different scopes of work are not included, and the ongoing particulars about what has previously been negotiated is not included intentionally because, as was mentioned in testimony, those are updated from year to year. She explained that these items might be negotiated upon again and there may be tribes that opt to participate and others that may take on more scopes of work. The bill, she said, would require that the compact remain in place. 4:52:04 PM REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ offered her understanding that the compact has already been signed, and that it is a policy approach that has carried over from administration to administration. What is being proposed in the bill, she said, is to codify what it is that has already been happening without being too prescriptive, telling Governor Dunleavy what he must compact for, or telling tribes what they must compact for. It instead would simply mandate participation in the compact. She asked Co-Chair Zulkosky if she's correct in her understanding. CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY responded yes, and that it's not only to avoid being over prescription, but it has been a compact agreement and working relationship that has spanned multiple administrations. She said that the intention of keeping it broad is to make sure there is latitude for incoming administrations while protecting the work that's been done to date. REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ stated that the language of the bill is elegant and would allow the compact to grow, particularly regarding health care compacting. 4:54:09 PM REPRESENTATIVE MCCARTY requested a review of "the contract arrangements." CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY asked Ms. Hensley to review the difference between contracting and compacting, and what agreements are in place for compacting. 4:55:14 PM MS. HENSLEY stated that the compact is available on the Department of Health and Social Services website. She said it was a momentous occasion when the 18 cosigners and the state signed the compact. The compact is a government-to-government agreement and leaves it up to the discretion of the tribal organization to dictate the process that is most appropriate for that tribal organization. She stated that the compact ensures that services be provided in a culturally appropriate manner, and in a way that will help the child feel loved and rooted in who they are as an Alaska Native person, as well as help the child grow into a healthy adult and contributing member of society. She explained that a contract dictates the scope of work. Compacts allow for the tribes to draw on their 10,000 years of history and allow the tribes to use that expertise to provide the service to the kids. This is the reasoning behind choosing a compact over a contract, she added. MS. BORROMEO noted that the compact was jointly drafted in partnership with the Attorney General's office, not a draft agreement crafted exclusively by tribal attorneys and presented to the state. She added that the state will never have the access of the tribe and the tribes will never have the resources had by the state. She emphasized that to make the compact stronger it needs to be codified in statute. [HB 184 was held over.]