Honorable Charles Schwertner, Chair, Senate Committee on Health & Human Services
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB780 by West (Relating to monetary assistance provided by the Department of Family and Protective Services to certain relatives and designated caregivers.), As Introduced
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated from provisions of the bill related to amending payment amounts. The fiscal impact of requiring initial annual payments to be made sooner cannot be determined because insufficient information is available.
The bill would amend the payment amounts for relative caregiver monetary assistance payments provided by the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS). For children not placed as part of a sibling group, the bill would make the current maximum initial one-time payment of $1,000 a minimum payment. The bill would require the one-time cash payment to caregivers be made not later than the 60th day after the initial placement. The bill would require the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to adopt rules governing the method for allocating the one-time cash payment between DFPS and HHSC.
The bill would make the current maximum annual payment (following the one-time initial payment) of $500 a minimum payment. The bill would require the initial reimbursement for an annual payment to be issued as soon as possible but not later than the 180th day after placement.
The provisions of the bill would apply only to payments for children with an initial placement occurring on or after the effective date of the bill.
Current payment amounts for the initial one-time cash payment and the annual payment meet the requirements of the bill. It is assumed the payment amounts would not be increased; therefore, there would be no significant fiscal impact from changing the maximum payments to minimum payments. DFPS would have the authority to increase payment amounts and if this occurred, there could be a significant fiscal impact.
Requiring initial reimbursements for annual payments to be issued no later on than 180 days after placement would result in an increase in the number of payments made. There would be an increase in fiscal year 2018 for making the current number of payments sooner. In subsequent fiscal years, the increase would be offset by a reduction for payments that had already been made. Additionally, there would be an increase in the number of payments made each year because some caregivers previously exiting the program before receiving an annual payment would receive a payment under the new requirements and other caregivers may receive additional payments. For example, a caregiver remaining in the program for 18 months who previously only received one annual payment would likely now receive two. The cost of this provision cannot be determined because information necessary to determine the number of increased payments and the number of payments that would be made sooner in the first year is not available from DFPS at this time.
According to DFPS and HHSC, any administrative costs associated with implementing the provisions of the bill can be absorbed within existing resources.
Local Government Impact
No fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.
Source Agencies:
529 Health and Human Services Commission, 530 Family and Protective Services, Department of