JBC approves phased cuts and rebalancing across child welfare: CMP reductions, hotline rebase, adoption funding and kinship options

The Joint Budget Committee adopted several staff recommendations that together reshape near‑term child welfare funding allocations and direct legislative follow‑up.

Collaborative Management Programs: Staff proposed a phased reduction that results in a $700,000 ongoing general fund decrease (year 1 net neutral because of available cash funds). Emily Pope presented mixed evaluation findings and said outcomes varied by county; the committee accepted staff rec R13. Members debated whether funding should be performance‑based (targeting programs that show positive outcomes) or cut broadly; Vice Chair Bridges moved staff rec R13 and the motion passed 5–0 with an expressed interest in future legislative changes to reinstate a results‑based funding formula.

Child abuse and neglect hotline and transfer authority: Staff recommended a $629,000 ongoing reduction to the hotline reflecting cloud migration savings, and a rebalancing of multiple line items that would increase the child welfare block by approximately $57.5 million in general fund while restricting DHS transfer authority between those lines to $1,000,000 annually (staff said the department had been using broad transfer authority to shift roughly $9,000,000). Members asked how the proposed restriction would affect county closeout practices and an unpublicized per‑call charge increase; staff said closeout dynamics informed the realignment and that further questions on TANF/other transfers would be addressed with other staff.

Adoption & relative guardianship assistance (BA4): The department asked for $8.8 million but staff recommended including $14.6 million in the long bill to reflect current‑law entitlements. Staff also presented options for cost control by legislation—capping monthly subsidy payments, requiring Medicaid participation in subsidy negotiation, removing some services from the entitlement, or changing county reimbursement from 90% to 80%. The committee approved the staff recommendation to fund the current law amount and authorized members to pursue legislation to control future costs.

Kinship foster care: Staff flagged implementation and fiscal uncertainties following Senate bill changes (kinship certification and phased non‑certified payments). The department's projections and the fiscal note did not align consistently; staff recommended the committee sponsor legislation to clarify state reimbursements and implementation timelines (including considering maintaining non‑certified payments at 30% rather than 50%). The committee voted to allow staff to work with stakeholders and pursue legislative options.

Across these items the committee sought to align appropriations with recent expenditures, increase transparency of transfers into the child welfare block, and direct staff to return with legislative options where statutory fixes are necessary. Several motions passed on recorded roll calls or voice votes; actions included staff rec R13 (CMP), staff rec R16 (hotline and rebalancing), BA4 adoption funding, and authorization to work on kinship legislation.