AN ACT CONCERNING STATE INVESTMENT IN PREVENTION AND CHILD POVERTY REDUCTION.

AN ACT CONCERNING STATE INVESTMENT IN PREVENTION AND CHILD POVERTY REDUCTION.

This bill merges the state's Child Poverty and Prevention councils. It imposes new reporting requirements on the governor, executive branch agencies, and the new Child Poverty and Prevention Council. It ties prevention services to others included in the Child Poverty Council's plan to reduce child poverty by 50% by June 30, 2014.

The new council terminates on June 30, 2015, as does the Child Poverty Council under current law.

All current members of the Prevention and Child Poverty councils are designated under the bill as members of the Child Poverty and Prevention Council. These are:

1. the Office of Policy and Management secretary, who serves as chairperson;

2. the Senate president, House speaker, and ranking members of both chambers;

3. the commissioners of the departments of Children and Families, Social Services, Correction, Mental Retardation, Mental Health and Addiction Services, Transportation, Economic and Community Development, and Labor;

4. the chief court administrator;

5. the chairmen of the Board of Governors for Higher Education and Children's Trust Fund;

6. the child advocate; and

7. the executive director of the Commission on Children.

In addition to the duties of the predecessor councils, the bill directs the Child Poverty and Prevention Council, as part of its plan to reduce child poverty, to:

1. promote the health, education, safety, and economic security of children from birth to age 21 and provide related prenatal services; and

2. advise the governor and legislature on realignment of the state budget and other resources.

Prevention services under the bill are the same as those currently recognized by the Prevention Council. These are policies and programs that promote healthy, safe, and productive lives and reduce the likelihood of crime, violence, substance abuse, illness, academic failure, and other socially destructive behaviors. Research-based programs are those vigorously evaluated and found to be effective or represent best practices.

The bill requires each biennial budget, beginning with FYs 2007-2008, to include a report that:

1. presents in detail, for each fiscal year, the governor's recommendations for appropriations for prevention services for children, broken down by agency;

2. indicates the governor's progress toward meeting the goal that at least 10% of total recommended appropriations for those agencies be allocated for prevention services;

3. lists agency programs and summarizes agency prevention programs, prevention expenditures for the preceding biennium, and estimated expenditures for the first fiscal year of the upcoming biennium; and

4. identifies the total for prevention services included in the budget.

With the exception of progress reports on prevention service allocations, the governor was required by law to include this information in her budget document for the 2003-05 biennium.

By November first of each year, the bill requires each budgeted state agency that provides prevention services to children (those the bill makes council members) to submit a report to the council. They must report on at least two prevention services in their 2006 report and add at least one more service in each succeeding annual report until 2010.

1. the number of children and families served;

2. a description of the preventive purposes of the service;

3. data showing its success or failure, measured by performance-based standards and outcomes;

4. performance-based standards and outcomes included in its contracts;

5. performance-based vendor accountability protocols;

6. other information the agency head deems relevant to demonstrate the preventive value of its services; and

7. information on the impact of the service in presenting and reducing the incidence of short-term and long-term poverty.

1. long-term goals, strategies, and outcomes to promote the health and wellbeing of children and families;

2. overall findings on the effectiveness of the agency's prevention programs, using performance-based standards or outcomes; and

3. methods the agency uses to reduce disparities in child performance and outcomes by race, income level, and gender;

Long-term Agency Goals. The bill specifies that health goals for prevention services may include increasing the number of (1) healthy pregnant women and newborns, (2) youth who adopt healthy behaviors and successfully obtain and maintain employment as adults, (3) and access to health care.

Goals for education include increasing the number of children who (1) are ready for school at an appropriate age, (2) learn to read by grade three, (3) succeed in school, or (4) graduate from high school.

Safety goals include decreasing (1) the rate of child neglect and abuse, (2) the number of children unsupervised after school; (3) the incidence of child and youth suicide, or (4) the incidence of juvenile crime.

The bill requires the council, by January 1 of each year, to report to the governor and Appropriations, Education, Human Services, Public Health, and Children's committees. The report must include:

1. a description of the state's progress toward realigning agency budgets to incorporate prevention services as budget and programmatic priorities in each member agency,

2. a summary of measurable gains made toward the child poverty and prevention goals,

3. each agency's annual report or prevention services, and

4. recommendations for prevention investments and budget realignments.

Public Hearings. The bill requires the council to hold public hearings at least once a year. It may modify its recommendations based on public hearing testimony.

Yea

Nay

(03/09/2006)

Yea

Nay

(03/21/2006)

Yea

Nay

(03/31/2006)