STATE POLICY
Is THP-Plus Funding in Jeopardy?
re is no quick and solid answer to whether THP-Plus funding will be affected, however, the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) California’s Nonpartisan Fiscal and Policy Officer has proposed adding a 30% county share of cost to the program which according to experts could jeopardize the program since most counties would be unable to absorb the cost.
For this reason, the John Burton Foundation is urging agencies who receive THP-Plus funding and other supporters to contact your local representative who sits on the Budget Conference Committee. The Budget Conference Committee is a joint committee of both houses who reviews the Governor’s proposed budget and this year the committee is made up of five legislators from both the Assembly and Senate instead of the usual three. This year San Francisco’s Mark Leno is one of the committee members. The John Burton Foundation has a roster of the other committee members along with a sample THP-Plus support letter. Visit www.thpplus.org, under “What’s New.”
[from California Alliance of Child and Family Services Monday edition 6.1.09]
Federal Crisis Taking Toll on Policy Bills
The budget crisis is also impacting bills moving through the legislature. The Assembly Appropriations Committee announced last week that, in light of the state’s dire fiscal situation, it is rejecting 250 pieces of legislation potentially costing $3.1 billion.
Many authors chose to “hold” their bills until next year rather than see them killed in committee. Among those bills is the California Alliance co-sponsored AB 12 (Beall and Bass) that would have taken advantage of the federal Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 to extend foster care benefits for youth to age 21. A top priority for Speaker Bass, AB 12 will be taken up again in January 2010. Many major policy bills, including proposals by the Assembly and Senate leadership, are being made into two-year bills.
Update on AB 12, The California Fostering Connections to Success Act:
FYA’s new Interim Executive Director, Reed Connell, has written this update on AB12—California’s Fostering Connections to Success Act
With the deadline for bills to pass out of Assembly Appropriations to a floor vote recently passed with it 8 of the 9 bills introduced this year to implement various aspects of HR 6893, the federal Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act, including AB 12, were introduced in the Assembly. The Appropriations Committee held its hearing on the suspense file, choosing to pass only a handful of bills on to a floor vote, in light of the budget crisis. That said, some of the bills related to HR 6893 have been passed onto a floor vote and will be heard by the full Assembly next week.
AB 12 is estimated to have some associated cost, though it will also bring millions of federal dollars to California. The last week’s budget news has made clear that no bill with much cost at all is politically viable right now. In response, the authors of AB 12 decided to turn it into a two-year bill. That means that it will not have to be reintroduced next session, nor will it have to be heard again in policy committee. It is essentially “on hold” until next year. Assembly Appropriations will take it up again in January 2010. AB 12 is still very much “alive.” The implementation date for its provisions has always been October 2010, so there is still time for it to move through the legislature and for its major reforms of the foster care system to be implemented with minimal delay.
Click here for a document that notes the status of all 9 of the implementation bills, current as of this morning.
Related posts:
- State Policy – THP-Plus Alert: Budget Update, Majority Leader Bass
- STATE POLICY AB 12—California Fostering Connections to Success Act
- STATE POLICY – Update on AB 12, The California Fostering Connections to Success Act
- STATE POLICY – Governor’s Proposed Budget for FY 2009-10: THP-Plus Holds Steady
- State Budget and Policy
