House File 515 - Introduced



                                       HOUSE FILE       
                                       BY  WHITAKER


    Passed House, Date                Passed Senate,  Date             
    Vote:  Ayes        Nays           Vote:  Ayes        Nays         
                 Approved                            

                                      A BILL FOR

  1 An Act relating to decategorization of child welfare funding
  2    project requirements involving authority over funding
  3    designated for a child welfare funding pool and providing an
  4    effective date.
  5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
  6 TLSB 2671HH 81
  7 jp/sh/8

PAG LIN



  1  1    Section 1.  Section 232.188, subsections 4 and 5, Code
  1  2 2005, are amended to read as follows:
  1  3    4.  In a decategorization agreement, the department and the
  1  4 county's or group of counties' decategorization governance
  1  5 board shall agree on all of the following items:  the
  1  6 governance relationship between the department and the
  1  7 decategorization governance board; the respective areas of
  1  8 autonomy of the department and the board; the budgeting
  1  9 structure for the decategorization project; and a method for
  1 10 resolving disputes between the department and the board.  The
  1 11 decategorization agreement shall require the department and
  1 12 the decategorization governance board to agree upon a budget
  1 13 within sixty days of the date by which the group foster care
  1 14 budget targets are determined for departmental service areas
  1 15 under section 232.143 for the fiscal year to which the budget
  1 16 applies.  The budget may later be modified to reflect new or
  1 17 changed circumstances.  The department shall not act
  1 18 unilaterally without the concurrence of a decategorization
  1 19 project's governance board to transfer or otherwise utilize
  1 20 funding designated for the project's child welfare funding
  1 21 pool and a decategorization agreement shall not provide that
  1 22 authority for the department.
  1 23    5.  The state shall provide incentives for a county or
  1 24 counties to participate as a project in a decategorization
  1 25 agreement while maintaining an expectation that the service
  1 26 outcomes for children and families can be improved by the
  1 27 funding flexibility, and the redeployment of funding currently
  1 28 available for services within the system.  Moneys in the child
  1 29 welfare funding pool established for a county or group of
  1 30 counties participating as a project in a decategorization
  1 31 agreement which remain unobligated or unexpended at the end of
  1 32 a fiscal year shall remain available to the county or group of
  1 33 counties participating as a decategorization project during
  1 34 the succeeding fiscal year to be used as directed by the
  1 35 project's governance board to finance other child welfare
  2  1 service enhancements.
  2  2    Sec. 2.  EFFECTIVE DATE.  This Act, being deemed of
  2  3 immediate importance, takes effect upon enactment.
  2  4                           EXPLANATION
  2  5    This bill amends Code section 232.188, relating to
  2  6 decategorization of child welfare funding project requirements
  2  7 involving authority over funding designated for a child
  2  8 welfare funding pool.
  2  9    The bill prohibits the department of human services from
  2 10 acting unilaterally to transfer or otherwise utilize funding
  2 11 designated for a child welfare funding pool and also prohibits
  2 12 a decategorization agreement from providing such authority.
  2 13 The bill provides that unobligated or unexpended moneys in a
  2 14 child welfare funding decategorization project funding pool
  2 15 carried from one fiscal year to the next shall be used as
  2 16 directed by the project's governance board to finance other
  2 17 child welfare service enhancements.
  2 18    The bill takes effect upon enactment.
  2 19 LSB 2671HH 81
  2 20 jp:nh/sh/8