Latest news with #HB1127
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Florida Senate passes bill to fund foster-care pilot program
The Florida Senate on Wednesday unanimously passed a bill that includes providing $3.3 million to establish a foster-care pilot program and attract workers to investigate child-abuse reports. The bill (SB 7012) would require the Department of Children and Families to establish a four-year pilot program that would place children with behavioral problems in family-like settings rather than in group homes. It also would require the department to create a recruitment program for child protective investigators and case managers. The program would seek to hire people such as former law enforcement officers, first responders, military members, teachers and health-care providers to help investigate child-abuse reports. 'I know that I'll be following up with DCF regularly for updates to see what's working, what's not, and how we make sure that these services are available to the children in the system in hopes that they don't repeat the cycle that has placed them in the system,' bill sponsor Erin Grall, R-Vero Beach, said. Rep. Meg Weinberger, R-Palm Beach Gardens, has filed a similar House bill (HB 1127). Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Foster care pilot program for kids with behavioral problems makes it across the Senate
Florida Capitol in Tallahassee. (Photo by Jay Waagmeester/Florida Phoenix) The Florida Department of Children and Families is one step closer to getting $3.3 million for a four-year foster care pilot program and recruitment of child abuse investigators. State Senators unanimously approved SB 7012 on Wednesday, with few questions and little debate. DCF would get most of the money, $3 million, to develop a pilot program to place children with behavioral problems in a foster family setting rather than a group home. 'I'm excited for what this foster pilot program looks like in four years,' said Vero Beach Republican Sen. Erin Grall. 'I hope I'm here to see it, and I know I'll be following up with DCF regularly for updates and to see what's working, what's not, and how we can make sure that these services are available to the children in the system in hopes that they don't repeat the cycle that has placed them in the system.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The department would have the authority to pick two judicial circuits to decide where to run the pilot and to find families willing to care for the children. Children DCF has moved frequently because of their behavior; who have gone through the Department of Juvenile Justice; or who will need foster care after leaving inpatient residential treatment would be eligible to participate in the pilot. If the House passes the bill and Gov. Ron DeSantis signs it, DCF would have to start the pilot by Jan. 1. The remaining funds would go toward the department to help recruit employees tasked with investigating child abuse reports and case managers. Child protective investigators and case managers don't stick around in their jobs for long, with turnover rates of 64.3% and 48.15%, respectively, according to a legislative analysis of the bill. The bill instructs DCF to try to recruit former police officers, teachers, health care providers, and military members to fill those jobs. 'Data is clear that the faster we can get traumatized children into loving, permanent homes, the better off those children will be in the long run,' Senate President Ben Albritton wrote in a press release following the passage of the bill, which is one of his priorities. Under the proposal, DCF must also gather data about children victims of trafficking in a format that can maintain anonymity when the Legislature wants to analyze the data. The House companion, HB 1127, passed its second committee stop Wednesday with unanimous approval. Reps. Meg Weinberger, a Palm Beach Gardens Republican, and Daryl Campbell, a Fort Lauderdale Democrat, are co-sponsoring the bill, which doesn't have funds attached. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Restrictions on use of Arkansas State Library funds fail in budget subcommittee
Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Jonesboro, presents an amendment to the Arkansas State Library's fiscal year 2026 appropriation bill to the Joint Budget Committee's Special Language subcommittee on Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate) A subcommittee of Arkansas' Joint Budget Committee on Tuesday rejected a proposed ban on the Arkansas State Library funding local public libraries affiliated with the American Library Association. The State Library is responsible for disbursing funds to libraries statewide. Under the proposed amendment to House Bill 1127, the State Library would not have been allowed to 'budget, allocate, or expend any funding to any library' that is affiliated with the ALA, including as a member; refers to the ALA in any of its official documents; or 'makes payments or grants of any kind' to the national nonprofit during fiscal year 2026. Libraries that use state funds for ALA-related activities would have been required to return the funds to the State Library. Amendments to appropriations bills need eight affirmative votes to pass Joint Budget's Special Language subcommittee. Chairman Rep. Lee Johnson, R-Greenwood, said there were not enough votes for the HB 1127 amendment. Several subcommittee members voted against the proposal, and members of both political parties expressed their concerns to Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Jonesboro, who added the amendment to the bill last week. The ALA is a national nonprofit trade association that advocates for public libraries and helps them secure grant funding. It also accredits master's of library science degree programs. Sullivan repeated his criticism of the portion of the ALA's Library Bill of Rights that access to libraries should not be restricted based on a person's age. Far-right conservatives nationwide who object to the public availability of certain content have claimed this is proof that the ALA believes in forcing content about sexual activity and LGBTQ+ topics onto children. ALA's climate change resources and stated commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion are proof the organization has 'an agenda,' Sullivan said. He also said the State Library Board didn't seem to understand that the Legislature has power over its ability to distribute funds. Arkansas senator continues mission to eliminate State Library Board, cites unfulfilled bargain 'If we're going to distribute funds to libraries that have a policy that we will not withhold any information… from anyone regardless of their age, and if our State Library Board and our State Library, county libraries and regional libraries can't develop a policy that states that, we've got a big problem,' he said. Sullivan has vowed to eliminate the State Library Board, which refused both last month and last week to disavow the ALA. The board approved a motion to create 'non-binding policies to protect children' in libraries while honoring First Amendment freedoms and libraries' material selection policies, but Sullivan said Friday that this was not enough to ensure the board's survival. He introduced Senate Bill 184 in February to eliminate both the State Library Board and the Arkansas Education Television Commission, which oversees Arkansas PBS, and transfer their powers to the state Department of Education. The bill passed the Senate Feb. 17 and has yet to be heard by a House committee. Negotiations with the PBS commission chairman led Sullivan to decide not to dissolve it, and he said he has drafted an amendment to SB 184 removing the Arkansas Education Television Commission. As of Tuesday afternoon, the amendment had not been posted on the Legislature's bill monitoring website. Sullivan told the JBC subcommittee that he planned to file a new bill that would fulfill the purpose of the HB 1127 amendment if it did not pass. The bill had not been filed as of Tuesday afternoon. Sen. Jimmy Hickey, R-Texarkana, said he found it 'counterintuitive' that the proposed amendment banned funding libraries with any and all references to the ALA in measures passed by their governing boards. 'Let's just say that one of these boards, if this were to pass, were to go in and say, 'We cannot make a reference to the American Library Association'… then they've made a reference to the American Library Association in an official document,' Hickey said. Sullivan said he understood Hickey's point but would 'leave it at that.' He also said he had not heard from any librarians saying the amendment would put their funding at risk. However, librarians in Sen. Jonathan Dismang's district have contacted him with concerns that the fine points of the language of the appropriation amendment could jeopardize their funding, he told Sullivan. 'I don't think any member could read this language and understand what the outcome is all at once,' the Searcy Republican said. 'I may be wrong, but… I'm saying that gives me concern. You may have libraries, doing everything the way that you think they should be doing it, that could be tripped up by the way that this is written and lose their state funding.' Dismang said he agreed with Sullivan that 'sexually explicit materials' should not be within minors' reach, but Sullivan said he was skeptical of that statement based on Dismang's concerns. 'If libraries have in their policy that we adhere to the American Library Association policy, [that] policy disagrees with what we just said,' Sullivan said. Dismang also said he was concerned about the amendment's exception for libraries to pay for staff professional development from the ALA if the programming 'does not conflict with state law.' 'Obviously there are some good things [about the ALA] or we wouldn't have carved out an exception,' Dismang said. Act 242 of 2025 removes the state's requirement for public library directors in Arkansas to hold a master's degree 'from an accredited American Library Association program,' and allows someone with 'work experience in the field of library operations' but without a master's degree to run a library with approval from its local governing board. Sullivan sponsored Act 242, which became law March 4, and said it will give communities 'local control' over who runs their libraries. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lawmakers want to create a foster pilot program for kids with behavioral problems
Southwest Florida Republican state Sen. Erin Grall in front of the Florida Supreme Court on Sept. 8, 2023. (Photo by Mitch Perry/Florida Phoenix) Florida could spend $3.3 million on a foster care pilot program and to recruit more employees to investigate child abuse reports under a proposal moving with ease through the Legislature. The bulk of the funds, $3 million, would go toward a four-year foster care pilot program that would place children with behavioral problems in a family setting rather than a group home. The Senate Fiscal Policy committee unanimously approved on Thursday an amendment allocating the funds to Vero Beach Republican Erin Grall's proposal. Under SB 7012, the Florida Department of Children and Families would gain authority to set standards for the program, find people and families willing to care for the children, and identify which kids would be eligible. A legislative analysis states that the pilot is aimed at helping children the department has moved frequently because of their behavior; who have gone through the Department of Juvenile Justice; or who will need foster care after leaving inpatient residential treatment. 'We all see in our communities anytime we meet with our lead agencies, the cost for placing high-acuity children is so extensive, sometimes from $400 to $700 dollars a night,' Grall said during the committee meeting. 'To think about how we can do this differently, how the children who have those increased needs can be placed in family settings with foster parents that are trained to deal with their needs. It's just a better use of our dollars with potentially better outcomes.' The proposal calls for DCF to begin developing the pilot, including choosing where it will be administrated, by July 1, with implementation starting Jan. 1. Although the proposal has received unanimous support in two Senate hearings and its companion, HB 1127, before one committee in the House, Stuart Republican Sen. Gayle Harrell would like to see a plan before the pilot starts. 'I would like to see something, so we know where we're putting our money,' Harrell told the Phoenix last week, after the bill's first hearing. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE DCF would also get $300,000 to help recruit case managers and employees tasked with investigating reports of child abuse. The case managers look after a child's safety after the department confirms that the child needs services from the state. The turnover rate for child protective investigators was 64.3% and 48.15% for case managers during the past fiscal year, according to an analysis. On average, case managers handle 14 children. Under the bill, DCF would have to seek out people such as former law enforcement officers, first responders, military servicemembers, teachers, and health care providers to fill the investigator and case management positions. 'Our child welfare system is always something we have to work on. There's always room for improvement,' Senate President Ben Albritton wrote in a press release announcing the proposal on Feb. 27. 'As hard as we try, government can never replace the role of family. The faster we can get children into loving, permanent homes, the better off those children will be in the long run.' While the House version doesn't yet have money attached, co-sponsor Palm Beach Gardens Republican Rep. Meg Weinberger told lawmakers Tuesday that she and Grall have agreed on the $3 million price tag for the pilot. Fort Lauderdale Democratic Rep. Daryl Campbell is also sponsoring the bill. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
