Covenant Membership News

Originally Submitted by Rob Thompson, Executive Director of the Covenant with North Carolina's Children

Dear Members,

The Legislature adjourned for the year on Saturday morning sometime around 5:42 AM. Below is a summary of how our 2010 legislative agenda fared. You can also follow this link to see a word version. Many thanks to Covenant Intern, Elizabeth Ireland, for putting this document together.

Best, Rob

Covenant with North Carolina's Children
2010 Legislative Agenda Wrap-up
CHILD WELFARE PRIORITIES

1. Assure the safety and health of NC's most vulnerable children by protecting existing child welfare services from further cuts.
Result? Child welfare services were significantly cut in this year's budget. State funding to counties, which enables county-level Divisions of Social Services to provide services and financial assistance to ensure the safety, self-sufficiency, and permanency for children and families, was reduced by $2.4 million dollars. NC REACH scholarships for foster children were also reduced by $1.7 million dollars, and 15 state-level positions were eliminated. Child advocacy centers also suffered a $375,000 cut, which eliminates state funding for the organizations.

2. Appropriate $2.8 million to the NC Division of Social Services for family preservation services and $6.6 million for facilitators of child and family teams.
Result? No additional funding was granted for family preservation services or child and family team facilitation.
EARLY CHILDHOOD PRIORITIES
1. Sustain funding for all early childhood programs including More at Four, Smart Start, subsidy and TEACH.

Result? Smart Start funding was cut by $5 million, which equates to a 2.5% reduction. Child care subsidies were reduced by $6 million in anticipation of savings from a new Electronic Payment System. The Electronic Payment System is not yet in place, so it is difficult to know how much, if at all, child care subsidies will save with the new system. The TEACHÒ program was not affected by this budget.

2. Support the bills developed by the Joint Legislative Task Force on Consolidation of Early Childhood Education and include expanded membership of the study committee.
Result? As recommended by the Joint Legislative Task Force on Consolidation of Early Childhood Education, special provisions of the budget create a new More at Four funding model for FY 2010-11 and move regulatory functions for More at Four private sector classrooms from the Office of Early Learning to The Division of Child Development. The legislature approved the electronic payment system, but the savings from the system were budgeted before a complete study of cost-savings could be completed. The General Assembly will also continue the work of the Task Force through the creation of a joint legislative committee that will continue to look at ways to consolidate the delivery and administration of early childhood services through the end of 2010. The new committee will include five members of the House, five members of the Senate, seven ex-officio members from the child care community, and one non-voting pediatrician. The Senate passed S 1119, which will consolidate the transcript evaluation of early childhood educators, on July 7, 2010.

ECONOMIC SECURITY PRIORITIES

1. Maintain funding for the state refundable Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).

Result? Funding levels for the EITC remained the same.

2. Sustain and, if possible, increase funding for the NC Housing Trust Fund, Home Protection Program, and State Home Foreclosure Prevention Project.

Result? This year's budget reduces the Home Protection Program by $2.5 million, but it is anticipated that federal funding will help with this program. The State Home Foreclosure Prevention Project and NC Housing Trust Fund were not reduced or expanded in this year's budget.

EDUCATION PRIORITIES

1. Ban the use of corporal punishment on children with disabilities.

Result? Passed! H 1682 was signed by the Governor on July 6, 2010. The bill allows parents of students with disabilities to opt out of corporal punishment when it is used in their child's school.

2. Preserve the integrity of the public school classroom and the supports and services that students need to be successful.

Result? Overall, the legislature did a very good job of preserving classroom supports and services by leaving untouched funding for the Disadvantaged Supplemental Student Fund, the Low Wealth Supplemental Funding, At-Risk Allotment, and instructional and non-instructional support personnel. However, the budget reduces instructional supplies by about $ 3.3 million, or 3.5% of the allocation. The budget also eliminates all state funding for mentoring services, which is about a $9.2 million cut.

HEALTH PRIORITIES

1. Ensure that all foods sold in NC public schools meet minimum, science-based nutrition standards.

Result? H 900, which would direct the Department of Public Instruction to review the nutritional standards for food and beverages and require food sold in schools to meet certain nutritional requirements, passed the House in 2009. The Senate Committee on Education discussed the bill on July 7, 2010, but the bill failed to move. New legislation will need to be introduced next session.

2. Protect Medicaid/Health Choice funding and raise the Health Choice enrollment cap so that all eligible children can access affordable, quality healthcare.

Result? An additional $6.5 million was allocated for NC Health Choice. This funding will allow an additional 2,750 children to enroll in Health Choice. However, we still remain far short of covering every child in the state.

JUVENILE JUSTICE PRIORITIES
1. Preserve the current $23 million allocation to county Juvenile Crime Prevention Councils (JCPCs).
Result? The legislature will continue to allocate $23 million for county JCPCs.

2. Avoid additional cuts/reductions to DJJDP facilities and personnel, which were subjected to disproportionate cuts in the 2009-10 budget.
Result? The budget removes an additional 31.5 positions throughout DJJDP. Although these positions are currently vacant, some are vacant due to previous hiring freezes mandated by the General Assembly. The budget also enacted a management flexibility cut of approximately $2.7 million. While DJJDP may decide from where to cut these funds, they still represent a loss to DJJDP.

MH/DD/SA PRIORITIES
1. Continue and expand funding for early screening and intervention for mental illness and developmental disabilities.
Result? No direct funding was eliminated for early screening and intervention for mental illness and developmental disabilities. Moreover, last year's $40 million cut for community services was restored in this year's budget. Special provisions from this budget did, however, mandate an independent assessment prior to the authorization of any enhanced mental health services. These assessments must be performed by an "independent assessment entity," yet these entities do not exist. Thus, many patients may be unable to access services because they are unable to obtain assessments. Children's outpatient mental health services were also negatively impacted in this budget, as services now require prior authorization after 16 visits instead of 26 to qualify.

2. Develop and fund a continuum of research supported, community-based services for children and adolescents to prevent harmful confinement in hospitals and detention centers.
Result? No legislative action was taken to address this agenda item.

SAFETY PRIORITIES1. Preserve current funding for proven Infant Mortality Prevention Programs.
Result? The package of infant mortality funding that advocates hoped for was funded in its entirety. The budget includes $247,000 for the Safe Sleep campaign and 17-p Progesterone education and distribution. The budget also allocates $350,000 for the NC Folic Acid Campaign, managed by the March of Dimes. The aforementioned items were all funded with money from the Health and Wellness Trust Fund. The budget also includes $325,000 for the high-risk pregnancy program at East Carolina School of Medicine. Although all the programs were funded, the infant mortality prevention funding is non-recurring, so no infant mortality prevention program funding will be automatically included in the FY 2011-12 budget.

2. Promote policies that mitigate the impact of gun violence on children and the people who serve children and families.
Result? No policies related to gun violence were addressed during the short session.

Other Covenant-related bills:

The Responsible Individuals List (S 567): passed the Senate on July 7, 2010. This bill adds additional due process protections to the Responsible Individuals List, which is a list of individuals responsible for the abuse or serious neglect of children. With the passage of this bill, the list will go back online and can be used by DHHS to inform child care institutions, child placing agencies, group home providers, and other providers of foster care, child care, or adoption services that need to determine the fitness of individuals to care for or adopt children.

Child Care Nutrition Standards (H 1726): passed the Senate on July 7, 2010. This bill requires the Child Care Commission, DHS and DCD to develop improved nutrition standards for child care facilities and recommend guidelines pertaining to physical activity for children in the facilities by December 1, 2010.

Non-profit Oversight (H 1852): Originally, this bill was intended to take 2% from state funding for non-profits and use the funding for program evaluation. An amended version of this bill authorizes the Legislative Research Commission to study how to evaluate non-profit grants most effectively and present findings during the 2011 session of the General Assembly.