House Study Bill 590 - Introduced HOUSE FILE _____ BY (PROPOSED COMMITTEE ON HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES BILL BY CHAIRPERSON HARRIS) A BILL FOR An Act requiring the department of health and human services to 1 pay for the costs of a child’s placement in shelter care. 2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 3 TLSB 5343YC (6) 91 dg/ko

H.F. _____ Section 1. Section 232.141, subsection 8, Code 2026, is 1 amended by striking the subsection and inserting in lieu 2 thereof the following: 3 8. All costs for a child’s shelter care shall be paid by the 4 department. 5 Sec. 2. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES —— 6 REIMBURSEMENT OF SHELTER CARE COSTS. The department of health 7 and human services shall amend the department’s rules pursuant 8 to chapter 17A to require the department to pay all costs for a 9 child’s shelter care as that term is defined in section 232.2. 10 EXPLANATION 11 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 12 the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly. 13 “Shelter care” is the temporary care of a child in a 14 physically unrestricting facility at any time between the 15 child’s initial contact with juvenile authorities and the 16 final judicial disposition of the child’s case. Under current 17 law, if the department of health and human services (HHS) is 18 not authorized to pay all of the costs of a child’s shelter 19 care placement, then the child’s custodial parent’s county of 20 residence shall pay for the difference between the actual and 21 allowable costs of the shelter care and the amount HHS paid to 22 the shelter care provider. 23 This bill requires HHS to pay all costs for a child’s shelter 24 care and requires HHS to amend its rules to reflect HHS’s 25 responsibility to pay the costs of shelter care. 26 -1- LSB 5343YC (6) 91 dg/ko 1/ 1