TO: | Honorable Patrick M. Rose, Chair, House Committee on Human Services |
FROM: | John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
IN RE: | SB1411 by West (Relating to financial assistance programs in connection with certain children in the conservatorship of the Department of Family and Protective Services and to certain training for caregivers of children.), As Engrossed |
Fiscal Year | Probable Net Positive/(Negative) Impact to General Revenue Related Funds |
---|---|
2010 | ($1,877,318) |
2011 | $747,210 |
2012 | $2,766,653 |
2013 | $5,519,256 |
2014 | $8,267,824 |
Fiscal Year | Probable (Cost) from General Revenue Fund 1 |
Probable Savings from General Revenue Fund 1 |
Probable Savings from Federal Funds 555 |
Probable (Cost) from Federal Funds 555 |
---|---|---|---|---|
2010 | ($1,877,318) | $0 | ($357,584) | $0 |
2011 | ($2,470,918) | $3,218,128 | ($2,635,337) | $4,343,942 |
2012 | ($4,338,355) | $7,105,008 | ($4,125,951) | $9,565,070 |
2013 | ($6,731,388) | $12,250,644 | ($5,986,528) | $16,496,881 |
2014 | ($9,025,317) | $17,293,141 | ($7,752,661) | $23,301,265 |
Fiscal Year | Change in Number of State Employees from FY 2009 |
---|---|
2010 | 17.0 |
2011 | (45.5) |
2012 | (123.6) |
2013 | (213.5) |
2014 | (307.5) |
Extension of Adoption Assistance Benefits. State law currently provides adoption assistance benefits for children with special needs who are 0 to 17 years old; extends the benefits to age 19 if the child is receiving financial support from parents and is enrolled in a high school, vocational or technical program; and extends the benefits to age 21 if the child is receiving financial support from parents, has a disability, and an application has been filed for Supplemental Security Income. DFPS estimates that 50 children would be eligible for extended adoption assistance benefits starting on October 1, 2010, and 54 additional children would become eligible for extended adoption assistance benefits each following year. The number of eligible children would increase in fiscal years 2012 and 2013 due to the addition of new children, and then level off in fiscal year 2014 as children begin to age out of the system. It is assumed that the average monthly payment would be $428.30 and 79.2 percent of the children would be eligible for Title IV-E federal financial assistance. It is also assumed that General Revenue Funds freed-up by the use of federal matching funds for payments that would have been made under current law would be negligible. The total cost for extended adoption assistance benefits would be $0.3 million in All Funds and $0.1 million in General Revenue Funds in fiscal year 2011, rising to $1.0 million in All Funds and $0.5 million in General Revenue Funds in fiscal year 2014. The cost of providing Medicaid coverage for these children would be $0.2 million in All Funds and $0.1 million in General Revenue Funds in fiscal year 2011, rising to $0.8 million in All Funds and $0.3 million in General Revenue Funds in fiscal year 2014.
Training in Trauma-informed Programs and Services. DFPS indicates that it would require foster parents, adoptive parents, kinship providers, and caseworkers to fulfill the new training requirement by listening to a set of five trauma-informed care DVDs. The agency estimates it would cost $72,000 to purchase the DVDs. The method of financing would be 40 percent gifts, donations and grants ($28,800), and 60 percent Title IV-E federal matching funds ($43,200). These costs are assumed to be insignificant.
Extension of Foster Care Benefits. State law currently provides foster care benefits for children who are 0 to 17 years old; extends the benefits until the child graduates from high school, or ceases to be enrolled in a secondary school program leading toward a high school diploma; and extends the benefits to age 21 if the child is regularly attending an institution of higher education or a vocational or technical program. DFPS reports that extended foster care benefits were paid on behalf of 461 children who were 18, 19, or 20 years old in November 2008. The agency assumes there would be 3 percent annual growth in this population which is already eligible for extended foster care benefits. It is assumed that the average monthly number of children living in extended foster care arrangements would increase from 489 in fiscal year 2011 to 534 in fiscal year 2014. Because some of these children would be eligible for Title IV-E federal financial assistance under the bill, there would be a savings of $0.9 million in General Revenue Funds and $2.4 million in TANF Federal Funds in fiscal year 2011, which would be offset by an equal amount of Title IV-E federal matching funds. The savings would rise to $1.0 million in General Revenue Funds and $2.7 million in TANF Federal Funds in fiscal year 2014 with an equivalent offset in federal matching funds.
Because the bill would extend foster care benefits to new groups of children (such as those working at least 80 hours a month), it is assumed that there would be a 10 percent increase in the number of children willing to accept extended foster care benefits in fiscal year 2011, with 3 percent annual growth in subsequent years. The average monthly number of new children would rise from 49 in fiscal year 2011 to 54 in fiscal year 2014; the average monthly payment would range from $1,043 to $5,217 (only two of the children would qualify for the highest monthly payment each year); and 73 percent of the children would be eligible for Title IV-E federal financial assistance. The total cost of extended foster care benefits for this group would be $0.9 million in All Funds and $0.6 million in General Revenue Funds in fiscal year 2011, rising to $1.0 million in All Funds and $0.7 million in General Revenue Funds in fiscal year 2014. It is assumed that any cost associated with providing Medicaid coverage for these children would be negligible because Medicaid coverage is already provided to former foster youth up to age 21.
New Permanency Care Assistance Program. This section has been updated based on clarification of provisions in the new federal law and updated information from the agency. It is assumed that children entering the permanency care assistance program cannot be adopted or returned home, and that these children would enter the program from paid regular foster care, or from paid relative foster care based on mandatory notification and waiver of licensing standards provisions in the new federal law. It is assumed that 612 children would enter the program during fiscal year 2011 and 734 children would enter the program each subsequent year. All children would remain in the program to age 18 or 21. The cost of providing permanency care assistance benefits would be $1.3 million in General Revenue Funds and $2.3 million in All Funds in fiscal year 2011, rising to $7.3 million in General Revenue Funds and $12.5 million in All Funds in fiscal year 2014. The amount of foster care savings would be $1.6 million in General Revenue Funds and $4.1 million in All Funds in fiscal year 2011, rising to $8.9 million in General Revenue Funds and $22.2 million in All Funds in fiscal year 2014. The All Funds savings includes $1.0 million in TANF Federal Funds in fiscal year 2011, rising to $5.3 million in fiscal year 2014. It is assumed that children receiving permanency care assistance benefits would already be eligible for Medicaid coverage under current law.
There would be savings associated with the new program because conservatorship caseworkers would not have to visit children who are living with permanent relative guardians. It is assumed that 50 percent of the children would have been visited once a month by a caseworker who has 140 hours of work time each month. It is also assumed that each visit would have required two hours of work time (including travel). There would be a reduction of 39.1 caseworker positions in fiscal year 2011, rising to 212.4 positions in fiscal year 2014. There would be a related reduction of 22.0 functional unit positions in fiscal year 2011, rising to 105.0 positions in fiscal year 2014. There would also be a reduction in enterprise support services costs and FTEs (1.4 position at the Health and Human Services Commission in fiscal year 2011, rising to 7.1 positions in fiscal year 2014). The total savings would be $1.6 million in General Revenue Funds and $3.5 million in All Funds in fiscal year 2011, rising to $8.4 million in General Revennue Funds and $18.4 million in All Funds in fiscal year 2014. The All Funds savings includes $1.1 million in TANF Federal Funds in fiscal year 2011, rising to $5.9 million in fiscal year 2014.
DFPS indicates it would need 1 FTE (Program Specialist VI) to coordinate and develop rules and policy for the permanency care assistance program, and 12 FTEs (Program Specialist IVs) to negotiate permanency assistance agreements starting in June 2010. The total cost would be $0.5 million in All Funds and $0.4 million in General Revenue Funds in fiscal year 2010 and $1.1 million in All Funds and $0.9 million in General Revenue Funds in subsequent years.
Source Agencies: | 530 Family and Protective Services, Department of
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LBB Staff: | JOB, CL, PP, NM
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