senate✓ Signed
Appropriates $103,048,600 to the Department of Health and Welfare for the divisions of Child Welfare, Services for the Developmentally Disabled, and Service Integration for fiscal year 2017; limits the number of authorized full-time equivalent positions for the three divisions to 731.46; 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; and directs expenditures for Head Start.
This is the fiscal year 2017 appropriation to the Department of Health and Welfare for three divisions: Child Welfare, Services for Developmentally Disabled, and Service Integration. It includes $34,646,500 from the General Fund, $3,608,900 from dedicated funds, $64,793,200 from federal funds, and 731.46 FTP for a total appropriation of $103,048,600. The bill also includes three sections of department-wide legislative intent language, one section 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, 27th payroll 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 $9,500 shift from the General Fund to federal funds as a nondiscretionary adjustment due to changes in the state's FMAP rate. There is also one approved line item that adds $260,000 to conduct a study that will identify the next step for replacing the Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System (SACWIS). 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. The Services for Developmentally Disabled Division also includes a $6,000 shift from the General Fund to federal funds for changes related to the FMAP rate. This division was approved for one line item to transfer $169,100 from trustee and benefit payments to personnel costs. This transfer will be used to reclassify 11 positions in the Infant Toddler Program. The reclassification, once complete,wouldbringthenumberofearlyinterventiontherapists(occupationaltherapists,physical therapists, and speech pathologists) to a total of 21 or three per region. Service Integration was a maintenance budget and only included standard budget ad