Policy Update
National Association of Counsel for Children (NACC)
To search for past policy updates in The Guardian, click here.
NACC FEDERAL POLICY UPDATE
Winter 2008 Edition (Tuesday, February 19, 2008)
By Miriam A. Rollin, Esq.
NACC Policy Representative
Since the previous Guardian update, Congress failed to override Presidential vetoes of both FY08 appropriations bills and a children’s health insurance bill, all of which have a significant impact on children around the country, including court-affected children. As a result of the failure to override the vetoes, Congress had to reduce funding levels in the appropriations bills to fit within the President’s proposed budget levels, and settle for a State Children’s Health Insurance Program bill that merely extended the program to maintain current caseloads through March 2009 (rather than the expansion to cover millions more children, as was passed with strong bipartisan votes in both the House and the Senate).
In happier news, Congress completed action on – and the President signed into law – a strong Head Start Reauthorization bill. The House and Senate draft bills to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind elementary and secondary education law, however, have not been able to move forward, even in Committee.
Federal Budget/Appropriations for FY 2008, 2009
The post-veto final FY08 Appropriations bill for Labor/Health and Human Services/Education (enacted as part of an omnibus appropriations bill in late December 2007) rejected the President’s proposed cut in SSBG, and included a $10 million increase in the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act discretionary grants funding, to support new funding for evidence-based home visitation, shown by research to be effective at cutting child abuse and neglect among at risk families, and reducing later crime. For most other child welfare programs, the bill largely keeps FY08 funding close to the FY07 levels, except for a $26 million cut in Promoting Safe and Stable Families. One bright spot in the bill for investments in kids: the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (after-school) program got a $100 million increase. The final FY08 appropriations bill held most juvenile justice programs at or a few million below FY07 levels, with one significant exception: the juvenile mentoring program was increased from $10 million in FY07 to $70 million in FY08.
On February 4, 2008, President Bush submitted his proposed FY 2009 Budget to Congress. It included another proposal for a “state option” block grant for foster care that would result in a foster care funding cap for states (similar to prior years’ budget proposals). The budget included stagnant or slightly declining funding for most programs relevant to court-involved children and families, except for a deep cut in the Social Services Block Grant (cutting $500 million, to take the program from $1.7 billion to $1.2 billion). The proposed budget did maintain the $10 million (first proposed in the FY08 budget, and passed in the FY08 appropriations bill) for CAPTA discretionary grants for quality home visiting.
Once again, this year, the Administration proposed the elimination of all of the current juvenile justice and delinquency prevention and juvenile accountability program funding, and replacement of those programs with a proposed new “Child Safety and Juvenile Justice” block grant, although the cut this year was more than twice the cut from last year – for FY09, funding is proposed to be cut by 57% from last year’s juvenile justice funding levels.
State Child Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Legislation
Legislation to reauthorize, expand and improve the State Child Health Insurance Program (to cover children from families who cannot afford health insurance coverage on their own, but whose incomes are just over the Medicaid eligibility limit) passed the House on 8/1/07 and passed the Senate on 8/2/07. A compromise that was very similar to the bi-partisan Senate bill, which included $35 billion in additional funding over the next five years for SCHIP (paid for by a tobacco tax), was passed by the House on 9/25/07 and by the Senate on 9/27/07, but vetoed by the President. A House attempt to override the veto on 10/18/07 fell 13 votes short of the 2/3 vote required. Further negotiations to make modifications to the legislation to garner the additional House support needed for veto override were unsuccessful (resulting in further unsuccessful House veto override efforts). An extension of SCHIP through March 2009 (with funding to cover current caseloads) was enacted in late December 2007.
Head Start Reauthorization
On June 19, 2007, the Senate passed S. 556, the “Head Start for School Readiness Act”, a bill to reauthorize the Head Start early education program for disadvantaged kids. The House passed their Head Start reauthorization bill – H.R. 1429 – by a vote of 365-48 on May 2nd. The House- and Senate-passed legislation includes a variety of program improvements, including some language to improve Head Start access for foster children. Thankfully, the bill does not include state block grants with inadequate quality standards, which had been in a previous House-passed bill (that bill never got enacted). The final House/Senate Conference Report version of H.R. 1429 was passed by the House and Senate in November, and signed into law by the President in December 2007.
Offender Reentry Legislation
On March 28, 2007, the House Judiciary Committee marked up the bi-partisan Second Chance Act of 2007, H.R. 1593, a bill to provide comprehensive reentry services for youth and adults returning to their communities after placement in lock-up. S. 1060, the bi-partisan Senate version of the Second Chance Act of 2007, was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on 8/2/07. On 11/13/07, H.R. 1593 was agreed to in the House “under suspension of the rules” (2/3 vote was required), with a final vote of 347-62. The bill is expected to be considered on the floor of the Senate in the near future.
Mentally Ill Offender Legislation
H.R. 3992, a bill to reauthorize grants for the improved mental health treatment and services provided to adult and juvenile offenders with mental illnesses, was introduced by Rep. Bobby Scott on 10/30/07. The bill was marked up in the House Judiciary Committee in November, and passed by voice vote on the floor of the House on January 23, 2008. The Senate companion bill, S. 2304, is scheduled for Senate Judiciary Committee markup on February 14, 2008.
Gangs Legislation
On June 14, 2007, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved Senators Feinstein and Hatch’s S. 456, the latest version of their “gangs bill”. This bill includes mandatory minimums and other enhanced penalties, and increased federalization of gang crime, although the bill now also includes some prevention resources, and no longer has the previously-included section providing for expanded prosecution of juveniles as adults in federal court. S. 456 passed on the Senate floor by unanimous consent on 9/21/07. Companion legislation in the House, H.R. 3547, was introduced on 9/17/07 by Rep. Schiff et al. On 10/16/07, the Chairman of the House Judiciary Chairman, Rep. Bobby Scott, introduced the Youth PROMISE Act, H.R. 3846. The bill would support a variety of proven-effective prevention and intervention approaches to reduce youth involvement in gangs and violent crime. No House Judiciary Committee markup of the Schiff or Scott bill is scheduled at this time.
Indian Child Protection and Tribal Foster Care
On January 25, 2007, S. 398, a bill to amend the Indian Child Protection and Family Violence Prevention Act, was introduced. Among other things, this legislation requires that reports on tribal-related child abuse allegations include information on any federal, state or tribal final conviction, and that these reports be transmitted to and kept by the FBI. The full Senate passed this bill on May 25, 2007. No House action has occurred yet.
Further, on August 2, 2007, Sen. Baucus introduced S. 1956, the Tribal Foster Care and Adoption Access Act of 2007, a bill to amend Soc. Sec. Act Title IV-E (relating to foster care and adoption assistance) to enable tribes to receive IV-E payments. A House companion bill (H.R. 4688) was introduced in mid-December. There has been no action on this legislation yet.
Safe Babies Act
On March 15, 2007, the Senate Judiciary Committee marked up S. 627, the Safe Babies Act. The bill would amend the federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act to create a National Court Teams Resource Center and to assist local court teams to more effectively address the needs of maltreated infants and toddlers. No Senate floor action has occurred yet. H.R. 1082, the House version, was introduced 2/15/07, but no action on the bill has been scheduled.
Public Service Student Loan Forgiveness
Provisions for public service student loan forgiveness were enacted on 9/27/07 as part of P.L. 110-84, the College Cost Reduction and Access Act. Under Title IV of that Act, a person employed in public safety, law enforcement, public health, public education (including early childhood education), social work in a public child or family service agency, public interest law services (including prosecution or public defense or legal advocacy in low-income communities at a nonprofit organization), or public child care may be eligible for forgiveness of any remaining interest and principle payments owed after 120 monthly payments made while so employed with regard to federal student loans, such as a Federal Direct Stafford Loan, a Federal Direct PLUS Loan, a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loan, or a Federal Direct Consolidation Loan.
Perkins loan forgiveness provisions were also included in the Higher Education Act reauthorization legislation (H.R. 4137), passed by the House on 2/7/08, by a vote of 354-58. The bill includes loan forgiveness for, inter alia: (1) CHILD WELFARE WORKERS- An individual who--(A) has obtained a degree in social work or a related field with a focus on serving children and families; and (B) is employed in public or private child welfare services. (2) PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYEES- An individual who is employed in public safety (including as a first responder, firefighter, police officer, or other law enforcement or public safety officer), emergency management (including as an emergency medical technician), public health (including full-time professionals engaged in health care practitioner occupations and health care support occupations, as such terms are defined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics), or public interest legal services (including prosecution or public defense or legal advocacy in low-income communities at a nonprofit organization). (3) MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS- Individuals who have at least a master's degree in social work, psychology, or psychiatry and who are providing mental health services to children, adolescents, or veterans. The Senate legislation to reauthorize the Higher Education Act (S. 1642) passed the Senate with a vote of 95-0 on 7/24/07. House/Senate conference to resolve the differences between the bills has not yet been scheduled.
Other Relevant Bills Introduced, But No Further Action Yet
- On 1/24/07, H.R. 687 (Rep. Ramstad) and S. 382 (Sen. Collins) were introduced as the Keeping Families Together Act – legislation to provide modest funding to support efforts to end the practice of parents giving legal custody of their seriously emotionally disturbed children to state agencies (child welfare or juvenile justice), for the purposes of obtaining mental health services for those children. No further action has been scheduled.
- On 2/16/07, Sen. Clinton and Sen. Snowe introduced the Kinship Caregiver Support Act (S. 661), which provides funding for kinship navigator programs, provides a IV-E support option for kinship care, and provides notice to relatives of children entering foster care. No Finance Committee action has yet been scheduled. On 5/7/07, Rep. Danny Davis introduced H.R. 2188, the House version of the legislation, but no further action has occurred.
- On 2/16/07, Sen. Bond and Sen. Clinton introduced S. 667, the Education Begins at Home Act, which would authorize $500 million in new federal funding for early childhood home visiting (some models of such parent coaching have demonstrated significant impact on the prevention of child abuse and neglect, and later delinquency). The House Education Reform Subcommittee held an excellent hearing on this legislation in the last Congress (on 9/27/06). On 5/16/07, Rep. Danny Davis and Rep. Todd Platts introduced the House version of the legislation, H.R. 2343. No action on this legislation has yet been scheduled in this Congress.
For further information on any federal legislation (including copies of bills, copies of committee reports, floor votes, etc.), visit Thomas.loc.gov