This Fiscal Note is not an official copy and should not be quoted or cited.
Fiscal Note - SB 0488 - Changes Adult Protec. Orders/Allows Child Dev. Trng. Centers
L.R. NO. 2063-08
BILL NO. HS for HCS for SS for SS for SB 488 w/ HA 1, HA 2, HA 3, HA 4, and
HA 5
SUBJECT: Criminal Background Checks
TYPE: Original
DATE: May 16, 1996
FISCAL SUMMARY
ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ON STATE FUNDS
FUND AFFECTED FY 1997 FY 1998 FY 1999
General Revenue ($167,530) to ($170,218) to
($87,411) ($367,428) ($370,116)
Criminal Records
System Fund * $454,852 $119,476 $115,419
Partial Estimated
Net Effect on All ($48,054 to ($54,799 to
State Funds * $367,441 $247,952) $254,697)
*Does not include income and costs to Highway Patrol for certain record
checks.
ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ON FEDERAL FUNDS
FUND AFFECTED FY 1997 FY 1998 FY 1999
Federal ($90,104) to ($90,104) to
$0 ($390,453) ($390,453)
Total Estimated
Net Effect on All ($90,104) to ($90,104 to
Federal Funds $0 ($390,453) ($390,453)
PARTIAL ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ON LOCAL FUNDS
FUND AFFECTED FY 1997 FY 1998 FY 1999
Local Government* (Unknown) (Unknown) (Unknown)
*Unknown costs to public hospitals and residential facilities and day
program. Potential Hancock implications.
FISCAL ANALYSIS
ASSUMPTION
The Department of Health, the Department of Corrections, the Office of
Administration - Administrative Hearing Commission, the Office of Attorney
General, the Department of Social Services, the Office of State Public
Defender, the Office of Prosecution Services, the Department of Revenue, the
Department of Elementary & Secondary Education, Truman State University,
Missouri Western State College, Moberly Area Community College, Central
Missouri State University, St. Charles County Community College, and the
University of Missouri did not expect to be fiscally impacted by similar
proposals.
The Department of Social Services (DOS), Division of Medical Services (DMS),
expects to incur costs as a result of criminal background checks being
required on all employees who have contact with residents. DMS provided an
estimate related to nursing facilities, hospitals, and in-home service
providers. Based on information provided by the Division of Aging (DA), it
is estimated that there are 49,333 nursing home employees who are currently
employed and would require a background check. The current Medicaid
utilization rate was estimated at 70%. The number of hospital employees
(101,818) was obtained from the Department of Health's Missouri Hospital
Profiles for 1994. Physicians and skilled nursing facilities' staff were
excluded from the list of employees. The average Medicaid utilization rate
was estimated at 15.215%. The cost of the background check for the two
categories was limited to $10 per check by the proposal; FY97 was prorated to
ten months; and a 60.04% federal financial participation was assumed. Total
costs would be $541,934 in FY97 and $150,074 in FY98 and FY99. DMS has shown
the costs as medical assistance payments.
Oversight assumes, based on the language of the proposal, that background
checks of current employees would not necessarily be required. Section
660.317 (5) provides that any applicant must consent to a background check
and disclose other information. The responsibility of disclosing the
required information would be placed on the employee. However, section
660.317 (6) contains language of "continues to employ" which could require a
background check of existing employees. For purposes of this fiscal note, a
range was used to reflect background checks on new employees to a combination
of new and current employees. Oversight assumes that the costs indicated by
DMS would not be a direct cost to the division, but could indirectly affect
the Medicaid reimbursement rate. DOS assumes that the facilities would be
responsible for payment of the background checks and the costs would become
part of the facilities' operating expenses. These expenses could be included
when a facility's reimbursement rate is rebased. According to DOS, rebasing
occurred during FY96 and generally occurs every two years, even though, there
is no set schedule for rebasing. If this pattern were to continue, the first
year to be impacted would be FY98. (NOTE: Since the proposal allows entities
requesting background checks to pass the cost on to applicants, costs could
be somewhat less than shown; however, Oversight is of the opinion that most
managers would not pass the cost of a criminal background check on to a
person the manager wants to hire.)
The Division of Aging (DA) does not expect the inclusion of additional names
on the Employee Disqualification List (EDL) to result in any significant
costs.
The Division of Legal Services (DLS) does not expect to be fiscally impacted.
The Department of Public Safety (DPS), Missouri Highway Patrol (MHP)
estimates that it would receive 190,911 requests for criminal background
checks per year from youth services, residential care providers, nursing
homes, nurses' aides, etc. Assuming the average employee could process 7.5
name checks per hour with 1856 working hours per year, MHP estimates that it
would need an additional 14 FTE (i.e., 8 Data Entry Operator I's, 3 Quality
Control Clerk I's, 2 Account Clerk I's, and 1 Clerk Typist I). The data
entry operators would perform the name checks and process requests; the
quality control clerks would verify criminal record information; the account
clerks would process the fees and handle correspondence; and the clerk typist
would prepare and process replies. Income would also be generated from the
additional background checks. At $5 per check, as provided in the proposal,
MHP assumes that $954,555 in income would be generated. In FY98 and FY99,
the income generated would be reduced to 40% of the total since it would
represent income generated as a result of attrition.
In addition to this new income, the proposal would change the existing fee
structure for name and fingerprint checks. Currently, name checks cost $5
each and fingerprint checks cost $14. A loss of $4 per fingerprint check
would be experienced. During February, 1996, MHP processed 442 fingerprint
checks, projecting to a yearly loss of income of $21,216. The estimated loss
levels could conceivable be inflated because MHP would not able to calculate
the amounts based on unduplicated counts.
Oversight decreased the number of FTE required from 14 to 7 based on the
number of employees that DOS provided which could be impacted by this
proposal. According to figures provided by DOS for a similar proposal, the
total number which could be impacted would 151,151 (i.e., from nursing
facilities, and hospital employees). Furthermore, it was assumed that MHP
could process more than 7.5 checks per hour. In a similar proposal, MHP
indicated that 15 non-fee checks could be conducted per hour and 7.5 fee
checks. An average of 11 checks per hour was used to determine the number of
FTE required. Expense & equipment costs were adjusted in accordance with the
Office of Administration's (OA) guidelines. The income generated was
adjusted accordingly.
In addition, MHP would have an unknown amount of income and related costs for
the additional criminal record reviews for staff in residential facility and
day programs who have unsupervised contact with clients.
The Office of State Courts Administrator (CTS) expects to be fiscally
impacted. The proposal would provide that a referee would become a
commissioner in the family court of St. Louis City. This means that the
individual would now be considered a state employee, and as such, costs would
be incurred by the CTS. Personal services for this individual were estimated
at $80,263 annually plus fringe benefits. Expense and equipment would be
incurred at the local level and have been indicated as unknown. It is
believed that additional costs could be incurred by local law enforcement and
prosecutors related to the creation of the new crimes, but the amount is
unknown as well.
In FY95, there were 8,279 contested dissolutions filed where potential
mediation could be ordered. The CTS has no way of determining the number of
cases in which children would have been involved, but for purposes of this
fiscal note, it assumed was that one- half of the dissolutions would involve
children and one-quarter of these persons would be unable to pay the costs
for mediation. The average mediation rate is $100 per hour with an average
of two hours spent on each case. This would result in mediation costs of
$206,975. The costs would be incurred at the local level and Oversight has
shown the costs annually, with FY97 costs being prorated.
Other costs incurred at the local level would be for mediation cases
involving modification orders. In FY95, there were 8,785 motions to modify
filed. It was assumed that 6,589 would involve children and that one-fourth
would be unable to pay for mediation. Assuming that 1,647 cases would be
unable to pay the estimated cost of $200, total costs for mediation for these
individuals would be $329,400. If the remaining 4,942 cases were able to pay
the additional $50 filing fee, the unfunded costs of mediation involving
modification orders would be $82,300. Oversight assumes that both the income
generated from the filing fee and the costs of mediation would be shown at
the local level.
FISCAL IMPACT - State Government FY 1997 FY 1998 FY 1999
(10 Mo.)
GENERAL REVENUE
Costs-Department of Social Services
Division of Medical Services (DMS)
Indirect Effect on Medicaid $0 ($59,970) ($59,970)
Reimbursement Rate to to
($259,868) ($259,868)
Costs-Office of State Courts Administrator (CTS)
Change from Referee to Commissioner
in St. Louis City
Personal Service (1 FTE) ($66,859) ($82,270) ($84,326)
Fringe Benefits ($20,552) ($25,290) ($25,922)
PARTIAL ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ($87,411) ($167,530) ($170,218)
ON GENERAL REVENUE FUND to to
($367,428) ($370,116)
CRIMINAL RECORDS SYSTEM FUND
Income-Department of Public Safety
Missouri Highway Patrol
Background Checks $629,544 $302,302 $302,302
Costs-Department of Public Safety
Missouri Highway Patrol (MHP)
Personal Service (7 FTE) ($89,016) ($109,534) ($112,272)
Fringe Benefits ($39,559) ($48,677) ($49,894)
Expense and Equipment ($28,444) ($3,399) ($3,501)
Total Costs-MHP ($157,019) ($161,610) ($165,667)
Loss-Department of Public Safety
Missouri Highway Patrol
Decrease in Fingerprint Check Fee
from $14 to $10 ($17,673) ($21,216) ($21,216)
PARTIAL ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ON
CRIMINAL RECORDS SYSTEM FUND * $454,852 $119,476 $115,419
*Does not include income and costs to Highway Patrol for certain record
checks.
FEDERAL
Costs-Department of Social Services
Division of Medical Services (DMS)
Indirect Effect on Medicaid $0 ($90,104) ($90,104)
Reimbursement Rate to to
($390,453) ($390,453)
ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ON $0 ($90,104) ($90,104)
FEDERAL FUND to to
($390,453) ($390,453)
FISCAL IMPACT - Local Government FY 1997 FY 1998 FY 1999
(10 Mo.)
LOCAL
Income-Circuit/Family Courts
$50 Filing Fee for Contested Motions $205,834 $247,100 $247,100
Costs-Public Hospitals, Residential Facilities*
Criminal Background Checks (Unknown) (Unknown) (Unknown)
Costs-Referee to Commissioner
Expense & Equipment (Unknown) (Unknown) (Unknown)
Mediation Ordered in Contested
Dissolutions ($172,410) ($206,975) ($206,975)
Mediation Ordered in Modifications ($274,390) ($329,400) ($329,400)
PARTIAL ESTIMATED NET EFFECT
ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT (Unknown) (Unknown) (Unknown)
*POTENTIAL HANCOCK IMPLICATIONS
DESCRIPTION
The proposal would decrease the fee for each classification and search of
fingerprints request received by the Highway Patrol's central repository from
$14 to $10.
In addition to youth service agencies or providers requesting a criminal
background check, the Highway Patrol would be required to conduct a criminal
record review an applicant for a paid position if the applicant would have
contact with minors, or patients or residents as defined in the proposal if a
written request is received from a private investigatory agency. Any
information received from the background check would be confidential and for
internal purposes only. It would be a class A misdemeanor if the information
were disclosed.
Beginning August 28, 1996, within forty-eight hours of hiring any person for
a full-time, part-time or temporary position having contact with any patient
or resident, the provider would be required to request a criminal background
check and make an inquiry of the Department of Social Services (DOS) as to
whether or not the individual is on the employee disqualification list (EDL)
for in-home service clients. In the case of temporary employees hired
through an employment agency, the agency would be responsible for the
background and EDL check. If a provider requests a fingerprint check, the
requesting party would pay a fee of not more than $10. The requesting party
may pass the cost on to the applicant. The applicant for a position must sign
a consent form, disclose any criminal history, and disclose whether the
person is on the EDL.
A provider would be guilty of a class A misdemeanor if the person knowingly
hires or continues to employ a person that has contact with patients or
residents and the person has been convicted, plead guilty or plead nolo
contendre in Missouri or any other state to any violent crime or any crime
which would be considered a felony pursuant to chapters 565 and 566, RSMo.
The parties involved in a dissolution with minor children would be required
to attend a mediation program regarding contested issues.
This legislation is not federally mandated, would not duplicate any other
program and would not require additional capital improvements or rental
space.
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
Department of Social Services
Department of Mental Health
Department of Health
Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
Department of Public Safety
Missouri Highway Patrol
Department of Corrections
Office of Administration - Administrative Hearing Commission
Office of Attorney General
Office of State Courts Administrator
Office of State Public Defender
Office of Prosecution Services
Department of Revenue
Truman State University
Missouri Western State College
Moberly Area Community College
Central Missouri State University
St. Charles County Community College
University of Missouri