Issue 3 March 19, 2010

VPK Funding At Risk

The House PreK-12 Appropriations Committee released its 2010-2011 proposed budget on Wednesday and, to the consternation of early childhood advocates, reduced VPK funding by 15% ( basically matching the Senate's cut) and significantly reducing per pupil funding. Florida already funds its PreK program at a lower rate than almost every other state. Below is a chart reflecting where the budget proposals for school readiness and VPK stand at this time.
 

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When Voters Speak, Do Legislators Listen?

Voters in counties around the state have voted in referendums to create Children’s Services Councils, to have the Councils composed of certain people, and to allow the Councils to levy property taxes to support children’s services in their communities. SB1216, as originally filed, would have usurped voters’ intent to distance the Councils from political infighting and short-sightedness by requiring county commissions to oversee Council budgets and activities. After an outcry from CSC communities, the bill was temporarily passed last week by the Senate Children, Families and Elders Committee until Thursday. Yesterday, the Committee considered a scaled-back version of the bill that does not include county commission oversight but does require that all CSCs be placed before the voters again every 6 years. The lone exception is the Children’s Trust in Miami-Dade County, which will have to have a referendum in 2016 because it recently had - and overwhelmingly was re-passed by - a referendum. To learn more about the incredible asset that CSCs are to their communities, visit Florida CSC and find a CSC near you.   

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Healthy Families Florida Gets Boost

When the House released its proposed 2010-2011 budget on Tuesday there was a sigh of relief by those who understand both the realities of abuse and neglect in Florida and the tragedy that will befall Florida’s children if the state’s premier child abuse and neglect program is defunded. The House fully funds Healthy Families Florida, while the Senate Health and Human Services Committee has zero-funded it.
One of the most well-respected statesmen of our era visited with legislators on Tuesday to let them know that Healthy Families Florida must be fully funded. Dan Webster, who served as both House Speaker and Senate President during his legislative career, made a rare visit to the Capital to support this critically important program. He also penned a letter to the editor that was published in the Orlando Sentinel last week highlighting why its funding must be maintained. To read the letter, visit Healthy Families.

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Unemployment and Food Stamps: Florida Hurting

Florida’s economic recovery is lagging behind the national recovery and is projected to improve only slowly until next year. For millions of Floridians the light is not even a flicker at the end of the tunnel. Skyrocketing unemployment and food stamp case loads include millions of previously employed workers awaiting an opportunity to return to the workforce. In the last two weeks, updated unemployment and food stamp figures have been released.
The Agency for Workforce Innovation reported that January’s jobless rate hit 11.9 %, up 3.2% from last January and 0.2% higher than December. More than 1.1 million Floridians are out of work, with the state having lost 303,200 jobs just over the last year. The January rate is the highest recorded since May 1975 and remains above the national average of 9.7 percent. Fifty seven of Florida’s 67 counties had double-digit unemployment rates in January, up from 51 in December. To view the unemployment report, visit AWI.   Growth in food stamp rolls generally lags behind unemployment. Florida’s food stamp growth has led the nation for the last three years. The Department of Children and Families reported last week that 2.56 million Floridians are now on food stamps, more than one out of every eight residents, 13.6 percent of the total population. In February, the state distributed a record $350 million in food stamp benefits. To view food stamp and other public benefit growth, visit DCF and scroll to the bottom of the page.

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House and Senate Budgets at Odds

This week the House released its proposed budget for next year, and it included more than $1 billion more than the Senate’s proposal. In addition to some additional funds, about $270 million of the extra money comes from raiding the state’s transportation trust fund, and the House uses about $300 million more general revenue than the Senate. This GR is plugged into the Medicaid budget, thereby drawing down enough federal matching dollars to hit the $1 billion mark.
The House budget fully funds Healthy Families Florida, the Medically Needy Program and many other programs slashed in the Senate budget. It does not, however, fund a number of other programs, including Medicaid coverage for pregnant women whose incomes are between 150% and 185% of the federal poverty level, saving about $30 million and impacting about 5,800 women.
While the House budget is gentler to many programs than the Senate proposal, both slash numerous programs, as noted below in this Legislative Link. The Governor’s budget director proclaimed today what virtually all legislators and advocates are eagerly anticipating: that the check is in the mail. The much anticipated “check” is the $1 billion in federal Medicaid funds that will reduce a significant part of the pain that is being felt under both proposals. It still has to be written by Congress, but some are projecting it could arrive as early as the end of the month. Let’s hope.

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Protect Early Steps, Florida's Part C Program

The Early Steps program serves children from 0 to 36 months old who have a developmental delay, or a condition placing them at risk for developmental delays, by providing early intervention services and supports intended to improve children's chances to develop to their full potential by achieving specific developmental milestones. These milestones are essential to the development of a child's ability to learn, speak, and move at critical periods which research shows lead to optimal abilities in later life.
In 2008-09, Florida provided these critical early intervention services to 41,940 children.
The Legislature must invest an additional $4.2 million dollars in next year’s budget to maintain Early Steps at its current funding level or risk losing its federal grant of $54. If the investment is not made, Florida will lose the Early Steps program and, in addition to the tremendous loss of human potential, the state will be forced to make much higher appropriations in the future to address the unaddressed developmental needs of those children. To find out more about Early Steps visit Florida Developmental Disabilities Council.

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Elder Budget Okay in Senate, but...

Good news for elders: Funding for the Community Care for the Elderly Program, Alzheimer’s Respite Care, and ADRC Funding was not cut/reduced in the Senate’s proposed 2010-2011 budget, and funding for the Aging and Disabled Medicaid Waiver Program was increased by nearly $8.3 million in order to serve level 4 & 5 waiting list clients who are most at risk of nursing home placement. However, the proposal makes cuts to LSP ($7 mill; 50%), HCE ($3.9 mill), and Alzheimer’s Projects ($5.4 mill; eliminated).

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Great Week for Affordable Housing

House and Senate Committees both passed landmark affordable housing legislation this week; legislation that will allow affordable housing trust funds to be used for the purposes for which they were originally intended: affordable housing. The Senate Community Affairs Committee passed SB 262 on Wednesday, and the House Appropriations Council on Education and Economic Development passed hb 665 on Thursday.

The bills address a number of affordable housing issues, arguably the most important being that they both “scrap the cap” that was put on the affordable housing trust funds in 2007. The $243 million cap has resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars intended for affordable housing being “swept” into general revenue and used for other purposes.

These important victories are made possible by the Legislature’s recognition that the inventory of about 300,000 empty homes on the Florida real estate market must be largely sold-down before the construction industry - one of Florida’s main economic drivers - will get back on its feet. Both bills prohibit the trust funds from being used to finance or otherwise assist in new construction until July 1, 2011. To read more about the affordable housing trusts funds and advocacy efforts to remove the cap visit Florida Housing Coalition. Read HB 665. Read SB 262.

The funds available for appropriation from the Housing Trust funds for FY 2010-2011 total $194.59 million. In their initial versions, both the House Economic Development Appropriation Committee and the Senate Transportation and Economic Development Appropriation Committee appropriate $37.5 million to use as down payment assistance for affordable housing. The House committee proposal also sweeps $157 million from the Housing Trust Funds to general revenue. The initial Senate bill leaves the balance of the money in the Housing Trust funds neither appropriated for housing nor swept to general revenue.

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BILLS HEARD THIS WEEK

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SCR 10 – Balance Federal Budget

Senate Concurrent Resolution 10 was passed on a party line vote by the Senate on Tuesday. The resolution calls on Congress to convene a constitutional convention under Article 5 of the U.S. Constitution to propose a constitutional amendment that would require the federal government to achieve and maintain a balanced federal budget, and to control the ability of the federal government to require states to expend funds. Read the bill.

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HB 11 – Crimes Against Homeless Persons

The House Criminal and Civil Justice Council passed HB 11 on Tuesday, amending the “hate crimes” statute to include offenses evidencing prejudice based on the homeless status of the victim. Currently under the statute, the penalty for any felony or misdemeanor offense is reclassified to include harsher penalties if the offense evidences prejudice based on the race, color, ancestry, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, mental or physical disability, or advanced age of the victim. Read the bill.

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SB 146 – Senior Services

The Senate Finance and Tax Committee unanimously passed CS/SB 146 on Tuesday. The bill authorizes counties to create by ordinance an independent special district to provide senior services. Similar to the statute creating Children Services Councils, the independent special district would be authorized to levy ad valorem taxes only if approved by referendum by a majority of the voters in the county. The ad valorem tax rate could not exceed 0.5 mills of accessed value of all property subject to ad valorem taxation within the county. Read the bill.

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HB 211 – Juvenile Justice

HB 211, among others, allows a child to be taken into custody for violating the conditions of preadjudicatory release set by the court, and permits the detention of a child who absconds from home or non-secure detention care, violates the law, intentionally fails to appear for trial, or otherwise violates the terms of release while awaiting placement in a residential facility,. The bill further provides that if the child absconded from home or non-secure detention or otherwise violated the terms of post adjudication release, the child should be placed in secure detention upon intake and the preadjudication and postadjudication time limits for holding the child in detention do no apply. Lastly, the bill increases the length of time a child awaiting placement in a low or moderate risk residential program can be held in secure detention and makes the court primarily responsible for determining the appropriate restrictiveness level for a child committed to a residential program. The bill was passed by the House Public Safety and Domestic Security Policy Council on Tuesday. Read the bill.

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SB 434 – Suicide Prevention Education

CS/SB 434 was passed by the Senate PreK-Education Committee on Wednesday. The bill would require that, beginning with the 2010 – 2011 school year, each school district provide access to suicide prevention education for all instructional and administrative personnel using resources approved by the Statewide Office of Suicide Prevention. Read the bill.

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SB 476 – Medicaid Behavioral Health Care Services

SB 476 requires funds returned to the Agency for Health Care Administration from behavioral health plans that do not spend at least 80% of their capitation rate on behavioral health care services, as required by law, to be deposited in the Medical Care Trust Fund and reallocated to community behavioral health providers in the network of the plan making repayments. The providers must then use the funds for any Medicaid-allowable community behavioral health and case management services. The Senate Health Regulation Committee passed the bill on Thursday. Read the bill.

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HB 705 – Alzheimer’s Disease

There are an estimated 5.2 million Americans with Alzheimer’s disease, and the number is expected to go to 16 million by 2050. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, there are approximately 450,000 cases of Alzheimer’s disease in Florida.

On Monday, the House Elder and Family Service Policy Committee passed HB 705, requiring the Department of Elder Affairs to develop a public education program regarding memory impairment screening, early diagnosis, and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders. The bill authorizes the Department to develop a grant program for entities that provide memory screening information and services. However, the Department has told the Legislature that without an appropriation the department will be unable to implement the grant program, and funding is not currently contained within either the House or Senate proposed 2010-2011 budgets. Lastly, the bill requires the department to conduct or provide support for a study regarding memory impairment screening, including evidenced-based memory screening techniques and the availability of memory screening services. Read the bill. 

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HB 813 - Juvenile Justice Facilities and Programs

HB 813 is intended to improve the quality and delivery of services in the juvenile justice system. The bill defines “ordinary medical care” (which had not been previously defined) as medical procedures that are administered or performed on a routine basis and include, but are not limited to, inoculations, physical examinations, preventive services, and other medical procedures administered or performed on a routine basis that do not involve hospitalization, surgery, use of general anesthesia, or use of psychotropic medications. The bill requires the Department of Juvenile Justice to adopt rules for ordinary medical care, mental health services, substance abuse treatment services, and developmental disability services and to coordinate its efforts with the Department of Children and Families and the Agency for Persons with Disabilities. The bill was passed unanimously by the House Heath Care Services Committee on Tuesday. Read the bill.

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HB 1189 – Mental Health and Substance Abuse Treatment

HB 1189 was passed unanimously by the House Health Care Services Policy Committee on Tuesday.
Creating the Community Mental Health and Substance Abuse Crime Reduction Act, the bill allows the Department of Children and Family Services to identify demonstration sites to develop and implement community-based services targeting individuals with severe mental illnesses and/or substance abuse disorders involved in or at risk of becoming involved in the criminal justice system. The Act is based on a plan developed by a statewide task force convened by the Florida Supreme Court that was comprised of representatives from all three branches of government, as well as leaders from the mental health, substance abuse, and criminal justice fields.Read the bill.

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HB 1203/SB 2014 - School Readiness and VPK

On Wednesday, the House PreK-12 Policy Committee passed HB 1203 and on Thursday the Senate Commerce Committee passed the SB 2014. These similar bills address numerous provisions in the school readiness and VPK programs. Both bills remove flexibility from Early Learning Coalitions (ELCs) to address the unique circumstances of the communities they serve by requiring the Agency for Workforce Innovation (AWI) to adopt specific support service strategies for implementing program requirements, and ELC’s must amend their school readiness plans to conform to AWI’s adopted strategies. The bill expands AWI’s rule making authority to administer the program and directs the Governor to designate AWI as the lead agency for administering the Federal Childcare and Development Fund - the primary funding source for the School Readiness program. The bill requires that AWI adopt and ELC’s use a standard contract for contracting with School Readiness providers. Among others, the bills also increase the statutory limit on the number of ELCs from 30 to 31 and eliminate provisions exempting certain counties from the limit. The bills revise the membership of ELC boards, subject ELCs to AWI - adopted procurement procedures (rather than those for state agencies), eliminate provisions requiring certain ELC’s to hire fiscal agents, and require AWI to review ELC School Readiness plans every 2 years rather than annually. The bills also prohibit ELC’s from imposing unauthorized requirements on providers that do not participate in school readiness programs or receive state and federal funding and eliminate ELC discretion to establish priorities based on local factors. Read HB 1203. Read SB 2014. 

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SB 1234 – Child Care Facilities/Licensing Standards

SB 1234 creates minimum requirements for licensure of child care facilities relating to window blinds and other window coverings. The bill prohibits use of certain types of window blinds and other window coverings that pose a risk of strangulation to young children. The bill was passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday. Read the bill.

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SB 1312 – Florida State Employees’ Charitable Campaign

SB 1312 eliminates the authority of Florida State Employees’ Charitable Campaign Local Steering Committees to direct distribution of a portion of undesignated funds, and instead requires that all undesignated funds be shared proportionately by the participating charitable organizations based on the percentage of designations each receives. The bill was temporarily postponed on Wednesday by the Senate Governmental Oversight and Accountability Committee. Read the bill.

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SB 1520 – Background Screening

CS/SB 1520 was full house on Thursday. The bill substantially rewrites the requirements and procedures for background screening of persons and businesses that deal with vulnerable populations; children, the elderly and disabled. Among others, the bill:

• Provides that no person required to be screened may begin work until the screening has been completed;
• Requires all fingerprints be submitted electronically by July 1, 2012;
• Increases all level one screening to level two screening for persons working with vulnerable populations;
• Requires that volunteers working with vulnerable populations undergo a level two background screening;
• Adds career offenders, sexual offenders, and sexual predators to those individuals who may never apply for an exemption from disqualification.
The bill significantly increases the number of people who will need to undergo background screening prior to working with vulnerable persons. It will also require screening to be done using level two standards instead of level one. Level one screening simply requires a name check against the state records while level two screening requires a fingerprint search against state and national records. Level one costs $24.00 and level two costs $43.25. By increasing the cost in the number of persons subject to screening there will be an impact on employers and employees. Senate staff has anticipated that in most cases, the fees will be passed onto the employee. Read Bill.  The House Companion bill, CS/HB 7069 passed the House Policy Council on Tuesday. Read Bill.

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SB 2192 - Prepaid Developmental Disabilities Savings Program

SB 2192 creates the Prepaid Developmental Disabilities Savings Program, a program very similar to the College Prepaid Tuition Program, only for children with disabilities. The bill authorizes a Florida resident parent or grandparent, or a non-residential, non-custodial parent to enter into a prepaid contract plan for his or her child or grandchild who has a developmental disability and who is under the age of 22. The investment plan authorized by the bill allows a benefactor to deposit funds on behalf of a qualified beneficiary/disabled child into a non-guaranteed fund provided by the Florida Prepaid College Board. The principal and interest accruing during the lifetime of the plan may be used to assist the benefactor after age twenty-two with college and other future needs. The Senate Children, Families, and Elder Affairs Committee passed SB 2192 on Thursday. Read the bill.

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SB 2472 – Education of Children with Disabilities

 The Senate Children, Families, and Elder Affairs Committee passed SB 2472 on Thursday. The bill requires minimum training for childcare personnel to include the identification and care of children with developmental disabilities, including autism spectrum disorder. The bill revises requirements for student eligibility to participate in the John M. McKay Scholarship for Students with Disabilities Program, and requires the Department of Education to incorporate course curriculum relating to developmental disabilities into existing requirements for continuing education or in service training of instructional personnel. Read the bill.

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HB 5305 - Child Welfare

On Tuesday, the House Health Care Appropriations Committee passed PCB HCA 10-04, which now been filed as HB 5305. The bill amends several statutes to conform to the proposed House 2010-2011 state budget. The bill has some significant negative implications for the Road to Independence (RTI) program and the children who receive critical services through it. Among others, the bill:
• Replaces current language that caps the stipend for RTI participants at the equivalent of 40 hours of minimum wage, with language stating the stipend shall not exceed $675.00 per month. This is about a 50% reduction;
• Prorates the stipend in the first month when the child turns 18, at a time when he or she desperately needs the funds to assist with utility and housing deposits;
• Changes funding language in a way that limits the ability of Community Based Care agencies to provide support for transitioning foster youth.; and
• Mandates that benefits are terminated if a young adult is not in school, setting the stage for termination for reasons that are not the young adult’s fault, and even if they are attempting to re-enter school.

Read the bill. 

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