Fiscal Highlights - June 2015

Social Services June 2015 Interim Meeting Overview - Stephen C. Jardine ( PDF)

The Social Services Appropriations Subcommittee held its first interim meeting for this year on Friday, June 12, 2015.  Below are some of the materials covered during the meeting.  The numbers in front of the document name refer to the order of items on the agendas.        
Morning Agenda:    
4. How are Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Funded: Addressed what funding sources are used for substance abuse and mental health services at both the state and local levels, and described the locations and government levels where public funding for substance abuse and mental health treatment is taking place.           
 4-Substance Abuse and Mental Health Major Funding Sources    
5. Department of Technology Services (DTS) Information Technology Services Provided to Social Services Agencies: Provided detailed information for the committee, showing what services are provided by DTS for the four social services agencies (the departments of Health, Human Services, Workforce Services and the Utah State Office of Rehabilitation); how much of the DTS' budget comes from Social Services agencies; and detail, by line item/appropriation unit, for what agencies spend and receive from DTS.  DTS addressed what it has done to respond to concerns raised in the 2013 report from the Legislative Fiscal Analyst.     
6.  Radon Awareness Issues and Funding Options:               
 7. Tour of the Utah State Hospital: The State Hospital received $39.5 million General Fund and $54.8 million total funds in FY 2014 from the state and had 768 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees with 46 authorized vehicles. 
8. SUCCESS - Examples and Progress: Agencies were asked to present their best examples of the Governor's SUCCESS initiatives. 
9.  Performance Measures for New Funding: Agencies responded to the following Legislative intent language: The Legislature intends that the Departments of Health, Human Services, Workforce Services, and the Utah State Office of Rehabilitation prepare proposed performance measures for all new state funding or TANF federal funds for building blocks and give this information to the Office of the Legislative Fiscal Analyst by June 30, 2015. At a minimum the proposed measures should include those presented to the Subcommittee during the requests for funding. If the same measures are not included, a detailed explanation as to why should be included. The Department of Workforce Services shall provide its first report on its performance measures to the Office of the Legislative Fiscal Analyst by October 31, 2015. The Office of the Legislative Fiscal Analyst shall give this information to the legislative staff of the Health and Human Services Interim Committee. (S.B. 2, Items 68, 76, 81, and 87 and H.B. 3, Items 75, 83, 88 and 94)
10.  Final Legislative Action vs. Social Services Recommendations: Staff provided a document summarizing how the final recommendations from Social Services compared to final Legislative action.  All fees were approved by the Legislature as recommended by the subcommittee so fees were excluded from this document. 
11. Medicaid Statewide Spending - Issue Brief: This issue brief summarizes FY 2014 statewide spending on Medicaid of $519,629,300 General Fund and $8,155,200 Education Fund ($2,378,203,000 total).  Totals represent 24% of all General Fund spending statewide.  Other entities provided $196,110,700 or 27% of the matching funds used to draw down $1,654,307,800 in federal funds in FY 2014.  
Afternoon Agenda:       
2. Subcommittee Questions from the 2015 General Session - Department of Workforce Services (DWS): DWS responded to the following two questions: 
1. Senator Christensen:
a. (1/29/15) For all reported performance measures included in the 2014 General Session base budget bill (S.B. 8), provide an explanation regarding the choice of the target and a response regarding increasing the target where actual experience was 10% or greater above the chosen target; Note: All four agencies responded to Senator Christensen's question regarding performance measures. 
2. Representative Ray:
a. (2/4/15) Provide two brief summaries regarding the Intergenerational Poverty (IGP) initiative to date including: (1) a one-page summary of the key findings resulting from the three IGP reports and (2) a listing with a brief description and associated costs of all efforts to date to address the IGP issue with additional information detailing where agency collaboration is taking place.  
2a-DWS Unanswered Questions Intergenerational Poverty - 2015 Interim (the departments of Workforce Services, Health, and Human Services and the Utah State Office of Education provided a combined presentation regarding the Intergenerational Poverty initiative)
3. Subcommittee Questions from the 2015 General Session - Department of Health: the Department of Health responded to the following questions: 
1. Senator Christensen:
a. (question shown above under DWS responses).
b. (2/9/15) How do Medicaid hospital inpatient and outpatient rates compare to private pay? 
2. Representative Ray:
a. (1/28/15) Did the Department of Health change/lower standards for a new air ambulance company trying to come into Utah? 
b. (1/30/15) Why not use more Preventive Health and Health Services block grant money in the Department of Health for rape prevention? 
3. Representative Redd:
a. (1/30/15) Is there any epidemiological data that shows that e-cigarettes are safer than traditional cigarettes?
4. Representative Chavez-Houck:
a. (1/30/15) Where are underage kids getting e-cigarettes from?
b. (1/30/15) Please provide more information about the effects to heart and heart rates of youth addicted to e-cigarettes.
5. Senator Madsen:
a. (1/27/15) For the Baby Watch/Early Intervention program, how do you separate out normal progress (just getting older vs what the program helped the child to progress with)?
6. Representative Tanner:
a. (2/9/15) Does the Department of Health monitor the amounts of profits returned to shareholders in for-profit operations for Medicaid providers and if so, what are the figures for recent years in Medicaid?
b. (2/9/15) Does it cost more to take care of Medicaid patients through for-profit operations than through non-profits?
c. (2/3/15) Would it be helpful to provide more bargaining power to Utah Medicaid to know what other states negotiated for their rebates and discounted prices?
7. Representative Ward:
a. (1/30/15) What is the cost to get an equal amount of nicotine in e-cigarettes as a regular cigarette?
b. (2/9/15) More information about the process to choose and approve a reportable disease as well as who has to report the disease. 
4.  Subcommittee Questions from the 2015 General Session - Department of Human Services (DHS): the Department of Human Services responded to the following questions: 
1. Representative Chavez-Houck: 
a. (2/4/15) please provide a comparison of cost per case for DCFS in-home vs. out of home placement so the subcommittee can see the trend line of making the shift.
2. Representative Redd:
a. (1/29/15) Provide readily available information regarding the cost for local mental health centers (LMHCs) of maintaining individuals waiting for civil beds at the Utah State Hospital while still in the community by: (1) providing by LMHC the number waiting for USH civil commitment as of a certain date, (2) the annualized cost of those waiting as of a certain date, (3) who bears the financing cost of those waiting (by funding source), and (4) any information regarding how the current situation compares to those waiting in previous years.
3. Senator Weiler:
a. (1/29/15) Federal funds in the Department of Human Services (DHS) went down from $119,361,500 in FY 2015 Appropriation to $118,501,500 in FY 2015 Authorized (see department-wide table in COBI).  Is this downward trend in federal funds something DHS plans on in the future and is there a reason for the decreasing trend?
4. Senator Jackson:
a. (1/29/15) Given that the DCFS long term goal is to reduce the use of foster care by reducing recurrences of child abuse and neglect and the need for DCFS intervention, please provide FY 2011 through FY 2015 comparison information for In-home Services and Out-of-Home Services both statewide and in particular for the Northern Region where increased in-home efforts have been fully implemented.  As part of answering this question, please show caseloads as well as average cost per case for both statewide and the Northern Region. 
5. Subcommittee Questions from the 2015 General Session - Utah State Office of Rehabilitation (USOR): the Utah State Office of Rehabilitation responded to the following questions: 
1. Representative Ray:
a. (2/4/15) Quantify for FY 2014 the amount of penalties and late fees assessed due to USOR paying client school tuition and enrollment late.  For example, if a USOR client's tuition was not paid on time and then was assessed a late fee and/or a penalty, what was that cumulative amount for FY 2014.
b. By practice, who is responsible for the late fee or penalty (the client/student or USOR)? 
6. Distribution of all General and Education Fund and Total Funds Among Programs by the Lowest Organizational Unit Possible:   
7. Report on Statewide Distribution of Services by Program: For the intent language report below, the chairs have directed agencies to limit the analysis to those programs with $1 million or more: The Legislature intends the departments of Health, Human Services, and Workforce Services and the Utah State Office of Rehabilitation provide to the Office of the Legislative Fiscal Analyst by June 1, 2015 a report outlining how funds are distributed within the state when passed through to local government entities or allocated to various regions and how often these distributions are reviewed and altered to reflect the relevant factors associated with the programs. 
(1) Is the program considered a statewide program (this would include something that serves all rural areas): 
a. Is the implementation of the program really statewide? If not, is there a compelling reason why? 
(2) Who gets the money (by county)?
(3) What is the methodology for distributing the money? 
a. How does the distribution compare to actual need as expressed by population? 
i. If distributions are not reflecting current need (as represented by population), please explain why not.  
b. If not done by population, what is the reason?
(4) Does statute say anything about distribution and equity for the program)?  (H.B. 3, Items 75, 83, 88, 94)    
8. Tour of the Utah State Developmental Center: The Utah State Developmental Center received $12.6 million General Fund and $36.1 million total funds in FY 2014 from the State and had 564 Full-time Equivalent employees with 42 authorized vehicles.   
9. Where Individuals with Disabilities Receive Services and the Standardization and Coordination of Eligibility and Delivery of Services: The Coordinating Council for People with Disabilities (CCPD) provided overview information regarding coordination of eligibility and delivery of services and offered some recommendations for improvement.      
10. Federal Grants Currently Excluded From Legislative Approval Process: UCA 63J-5-103 resulted in $1.9 billion or 78% of all federal funds in the Social Services Appropriations Subcommittee being statutorily excluded from the FY 2014 approval process.  Would the subcommittee like to propose changing, through a bill, any of the current grants excluded from the annual approval process?    
11. Report on TANF Reserve and Projected Uses: The Legislature intends the Department of Workforce Services provide to the Office of the Legislative Fiscal Analyst no later than September 1, 2015 a detailed report on its Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) reserve amount including the current balance and any uses of the reserve since the 2015 General Session or planned and projected uses of the reserve in the future (S.B. 7, Item 20). 
12. Division of Fleet Services Transportation Services Provided to Agencies: Fleet Operations in the Department of Administrative Services presented a report on its pilot program with the Department of Human Services and actions Fleet Operations is doing to improve utilization with the agencies reporting to the Social Services subcommittee. Information was also provided regarding state and total fund spending by agency on fleet services. 
13. Report on State Policy and Practice Regarding Drug Testing of State Job Applicants: The Legislature intends the Department of Human Services and the Department of Human Resource Management provide information to the Office of the Legislative Fiscal Analyst no later than June 1, 2015 regarding the following: 
(1) a listing of programs throughout the Department of Human Services by agency and by program documenting where drug testing of job applicants is taking place as well as where drug testing of job applicants is not currently taking place.
(2) any formal or informal state policies regarding the use or discouragement of drug testing of job applicants.        
June 2015 Content ( PDF)
Higher Education Enrollment Projections - Spencer C. Pratt
The Utah State Board of Regents recently adopted enrollment projections for the eight colleges and ...
Implementation Funding for S.B. 54 (2014 General Session) - Clare Tobin Lence
When S.B. 54, Elections Amendments, passed during the 2014 General Session, the fiscal note ...
It Looks Like the Gas Price Decrease is Boosting Consumption - Thomas E. Young
In June 2014, the price of oil started to drop.  The price continued to drop throughout the re...
Legislative Action May Reduce the Number of Statutorily Required Reports - Steven M. Allred
One of the directions given by legislative leadership to committee chairs this interim is to look a...
Public Lands Office Appropriations - Brian Wikle
The Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office (PLPCO) has historically received the largest proportio...
Reactive versus Proactive Maintenance - Angela J. Oh
During June's Executive Appropriations Committee meeting, Shane Marshall, Deputy Director for the U...
Rent or Own? - Andrea Wilko
Homeownership rates are at all time lows for a variety of reasons, including stagnant incomes pus...
Social Services June 2015 Interim Meeting Overview - Stephen C. Jardine
The Social Services Appropriations Subcommittee held its first interim meeting for this year on Fri...
Update on This Is The Place Heritage Park - Ivan D. Djambov
This Is The Place Heritage Park was established in 1957 and was managed by the Division of Parks ...

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