Appropriates $107,113,200 to the Department of Health and Welfare for the divisions of Child Welfare, Services for the Developmentally Disabled, and Service Integration for fiscal year 2018; limits the number of authorized full-time equivalent positions for the three divisions to 739.46; provides for General Fund transfers to the Cooperative Welfare Fund; limits transfers for trustee and benefit payments; provides for program integrity; provides legislative intent on educating children in the department's care; requires a report on foster care support staff; directs expenditures for Head Start; and appropriates an additional $868,100 to the Department of Health and Welfare for the Child Welfare Division for fiscal year 2017.

This is the fiscal year 2018 Original Appropriation to the Department of Health and Welfare for three divisions: Child Welfare, Services for Developmentally Disabled, and Service Integration. This bill also includes the fiscal year 2017 supplemental appropriation for the Child Welfare Division. Thefiscalyear2018portionincludes$37,375,800fromtheGeneralFund, $3,363,100fromdedicatedfunds, $66,374,300 from federal funds, and 739.46 FTP for a total appropriation of $107,113,200. The bill also includes three sections of department-wide legislative intent language, two sections for Child Welfare, and one section for Service Integration. All divisions include standard budget adjustments for the changes in employee benefit costs, statewide cost allocation, cybersecurity insurance, and the 3% merit-based change in employee compensation that is to be awarded at the discretion of the director. The Child Welfare Division includes the Child Welfare and Foster Assistance and Payments Programs. Within this division, there was a $25,800 shift from the General Fund to federal funds as a nondiscretionary adjustment due to changes in the state's FMAP rate. There are four approved line items. Line item 3 adds $1,026,700tocontinuewithyeartwoofthereplacementandmodernizationoftheChildWelfareinformation system. This system is used to document and track case information and to process payments to foster families for any services related to the care of eligible children. Line item 18 includes $839,100 to increase the foster care reimbursement rates by 20%. Line item 19 adds six new client service technician positions to transportchildrenasneeded. Lineitem49addstwoadditionalsocialworkerstoreducethecurrentworkload of staff, and improve services for the program. For fiscal year 2017, the bill provides $868,100 to account for the demand for services over time. The Services for Developmentally Disabled Division includes Community Developmental Disability Services and the Southwest Idaho Treatment