HF 2291 (LSB 5752YH (6) 85)

HOUSE FILE 2291

BY  KRESSIG, LENSING, BACON, MUHLBAUER, ISENHART, JACOBY, R. OLSON, ABDUL-SAMAD, HANSON, MURPHY, GASKILL, FISHER, OURTH, STECKMAN, H. MILLER, WOOD, KAJTAZOVIC, OLDSON, FORBES, KELLEY, RUFF, LYKAM, BERRY, GAINES, and STAED

A BILL FOR

An Act making an appropriation to provide assistance to parents, guardians, and custodians with costs resulting from the death of a child.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  CHILD FUNERAL ASSISTANCE.  There is appropriated from the general fund of the state to the department of public health for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2014, and ending June 30, 2015, the following amount, or so much thereof as is necessary, to be used for the purposes designated:

   For a grant to assist parents in this state with costs resulting from the death of a child in accordance with this section:

.................................................. $    100,000

   1.  The department shall award the amount appropriated in this section in the form of a grant to a nonprofit organization located in a city in this state with a population of more than 2,283 but less than 2,320. The organization shall be approved to operate under section 501(c)(3) of the federal Internal Revenue Code and have been providing assistance since at least July 2011, to parents, guardians, and custodians with funeral-related expenses resulting from the unintended death of a child.
   2.  The grantee shall utilize the grant to assist parents who reside in this state with costs incurred for a funeral, burial or cremation, cemetery costs, or grave marker costs associated with the unintended death of a child of the parent or a child under the care of a guardian or custodian. The grantee shall apply the following eligibility factors in awarding such assistance:
   a.  The child was a stillborn infant or was less than age eighteen at the time of death.
   b.  The request for assistance was approved by the local board or department of health or the county general assistance director and may have been referred by a local funeral home.
   c.  To be eligible, the parent, guardian, or custodian must be receiving public assistance benefits through the county, state, or federal government, or provide other evidence of a lack of financial resources to pay more than a portion of the costs. Public assistance benefits shall include but are not limited to county general assistance, or benefits provided through the family investment program, federal food assistance program, medical assistance program, or state child care assistance program, or housing assistance.
   d.  The maximum amount of grant assistance provided under this section to a parent, guardian, or custodian associated with the death of a child is $2,000. If the death is a multiple death and the infants or children are being cremated, or buried together, the same limitation applies.
   e.  To the extent the overall amount of assistance received by a recipient for the costs addressed under this section does not exceed the overall total of the costs, the recipient may receive other public or private assistance in addition to grant assistance under this section.
   3.  Notwithstanding section 8.33, moneys appropriated in this section that remain unencumbered or unobligated at the close of the fiscal year shall not revert but shall remain available for expenditure for the purposes designated until expended.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with

the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   This bill makes an appropriation to the department of public health for a grant to provide assistance to parents, guardians, and custodians with the costs resulting from the death of a child.
   The bill includes grantee qualifications; limits assistance to the costs incurred for a funeral, burial or cremation, cemetery costs, or grave marker costs associated with the unintended death of a child of the parent or a child under the care or custody of the guardian or custodian; limits eligibility to parents, guardians, and custodians who receive county, state, or federal public assistance or do not have the financial resources to pay for more than a portion of the costs; requires approval of a request for assistance by a local board or department of public health or the county general assistance director; limits assistance under the grant to not more than $2,000; and allows a recipient to receive other public or private assistance in addition to grant assistance. The appropriation does not revert but remains available until expended.