COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATIVE RESEARCH
OVERSIGHT DIVISION
FISCAL NOTE
L.R. No.: 3862-07
Bill No.: Perfected SS for SCS for SB's 923, 828, 876, 694 & 736
Subject: Children and Minors
Type: Original
Date: April 17, 2002
FISCAL SUMMARY
| FUND AFFECTED | FY 2003 | FY 2004 | FY 2005 |
| General Revenue | (over $735,213) | (over $812,351) | (over $828,079) |
| State School Money* | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Child Labor Enforcement* | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Criminal Record System | ($4,167) | ($5,000) | ($5,000) |
| Total Estimated
Net Effect on All State Funds |
(over $739,380) | (over $817,351) | (over $833,079) |
*Income and costs of about $85,000 net to zero
| FUND AFFECTED | FY 2003 | FY 2004 | FY 2005 |
| Federal** | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Total Estimated
Net Effect on All Federal Funds |
$0 | $0 | $0 |
**Income and Costs expected to exceed $100,000 per year net to zero.
| FUND AFFECTED | FY 2003 | FY 2004 | FY 2005 |
| Local Government | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Numbers within parentheses: ( ) indicate costs or losses.
This fiscal note contains 11 pages.
ASSUMPTION
Officials from the Office of the Secretary of State (SOS) state this bill would modify various provisions related to children and families. The Division of Family Services, Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Department of Public Safety and the Department of Health and Senior Services could promulgate rules pertaining to this proposal. Based on experience with other divisions, the rules, regulations and forms could require as many as 88 pages in the Code of State Regulations. For any given rule, roughly one-half again as many pages are published in the Missouri Register as are published in the Code because cost statements, fiscal notes and notices are not published in the Code. The estimated cost of a page in the Missouri Register is $23.00. The estimated cost of a page in the Code of State Regulations is $27.00. The actual costs could be more or less than the $5,412 estimated. The fiscal impact of this legislation in future years is unknown and depends upon the frequency and length of rules filed, amended, rescinded and withdrawn.
Oversight assumes the SOS could absorb the costs of printing and distributing regulations related to this proposal. If multiple bills pass which require the printing and distribution of regulations at substantial costs, the SOS could request funding through the appropriation process. Any decisions to raise fees to defray costs would likely be made in subsequent fiscal years.
SECTION 28.160 - Fees for processing records of children to be adopted
Officials of the Office of Secretary of State assume fiscal impact would depend upon the number of documents that a foreign government would require of adopting couples. The fiscal impact could be a positive or a negative Unknown, however, fiscal impact (either positive or negative) in a given year would not exceed $40,000.
Officials of the Department of Social Services assumes no fiscal impact.
SECTION 135.327 - Sales of Tax Credits for Adoption Expenses
Officials from the Department of Revenue (DOR) and the Department of Economic Development state this proposal would have no administrative impact on their agencies.
ASSUMPTION (continued)
Oversight assumes this proposal would not change the annual $2 million cap allowed for in Section 135.327.3 which states "The cumulative amount of tax credits which may be claimed by taxpayers for nonrecurring adoption expenses in any one fiscal year shall not exceed two million dollars." Oversight has no information regarding the number of tax credits that are either assigned, transferred or sold. Therefore, Oversight assumes this proposal would not fiscally impact the revenues of the state.
SECTION 193.125 - Adoption Records
Officials from the Office of State Courts Administrator assume the proposed legislation will not fiscally impact their organization.
Officials from the Department of Health and Senior Services (DOH) stated there is a significant difference between the eighteen-year olds who are adopted having a desire to get a birth record and the people over 50. The DOH believes that by the time an individual reaches the age of 50, they have either already found that information out, or no longer have the desire to do so. Therefore, they do not expect a significant number of requests due to this legislation and assumes no fiscal impact.
SECTION 210.001 - Camden County Child Assessment Center
Officials from the Department of Social Services (DOS) stated that an additional $250,000 would be required to bring the proposed Child Assessment Center (CAC) to the same level as the CAC's currently receiving funding through the DOS. They also note that this proposal would not add the Camden County Child Assessment Center to the DOS-supported centers unless it could be done without additional state funds, which would reduce funding for existing centers.
SECTION 210.145 - Exemption from listing in Child Abuse Central Registry
None of the agencies responding indicated that this part of the proposal would have significant fiscal impact.
SECTION 210.566 - Foster Parents Rights and Responsibilities
Officials of Department of Social Services' Division of Youth Services stated that the Division
uses services of foster parents for some hard to place youths. The Division provides support services but does not provide formal training. Officials estimate cost of training at $925 per family for twenty-seven (27) hours of training (Division of Family Services' cost for foster parent training). They note that the Division places twenty (20) or fewer persons in foster care each year. Assuming training would be provided by the Division of Family Services, there would be ASSUMPTION (continued)
no costs to the Division.
SECTION 210.906 - Family Care Safety Registry
Officials of Department of Social Services - Division of Family Services and the Department of Health and Senior Services noted that foster parents automatically registered for the Family Care Safety Registry would no longer pay to register. DOS forwards the five-dollar ($5.00) fee to the Highway Patrol for background screening.
SECTION 210.960 - Office of Child Protection Information
Officials of the State Courts Administrator indicated that they would not expect the proposal to significantly affect state courts.
Officials of the Department of Social Services - Division of Family Services stated that they could perform their duties under terms of this proposal with existing resources during the period covered by the fiscal note.
Officials of the Department of Public Safety (DPS) have not responded to this proposal. Oversight did receive a response to a similar proposal from the current session and, for fiscal note purposes will use that response. The Office of Child Information Protection would require two Investigators ($35,000 per year each), two Trainers ($25,000 per year), and two Clerical employees ($20,000 per year)to support the Ombudsman ($50,000 per year) and train regional ombudsmen. Expenses for the Child Protection Information Advisory Commission would be about $11,000 per year.
SECTION 210.1007 - List of Unsafe Children's Product
Officials from the Department of Health and Senior Services (DOH) stated the DOH must provide child care providers a comprehensive list of children's products that have been identified by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) as unsafe by July 1, 2003, and quarterly thereafter. As this information is available on the CPSC website, and existing staff can obtain this information, there will be no additional costs to the DOH for this requirement. The costs for copying and mailing this information to child care providers are as follows:
Copying costs: Based on a review of CPSC recall statements, the average number of recalls affecting children is estimated to be eleven (11) per month. Therefore, it would be necessary to mail an average of 28 pages to each child care provider for each month. The copies can be two-sided. Therefore, there would be an average of 14 pages that must be mailed to each child care provider per month. The cost for two-sided copying is $.045 per copy for a total of $0.63 ASSUMPTION (continued)
($.045 x 14) monthly copying costs for each child care provider. As the information must be provided quarterly, the copying costs for each child care provider quarterly would be $1.89.
There are 3,777 child care providers. Therefore, the total quarterly copying costs would be $7,139 ($1.89 x 3,777). The annual copying costs would be $28,556 (4 x $7,139).
Costs for Stuffing Envelopes: It would be necessary to contract with another agency to stuff the envelopes. The rate for stuffing envelopes is $.05 per envelope. There are 3,777 child care facilities. Therefore, the costs for stuffing the envelopes would be $189 quarterly ($.05 x 3,777) and $756 annually (4 x $189).
Mailing Costs: It would be necessary to mail 3,777 envelopes containing the CPSC recall statements to child care provides quarterly. The cost for mailing each envelope (bulk rate) is $0.4560 per envelope or $1,722 for each quarterly mailing ($0.4560 x 3,777). The annual mailing cost would be $6,889 (4 x $1,722).
Total costs: The total annual costs to copy the materials, stuff the envelopes, and mail the materials to child care providers would be $36,201 ($28,556+ $756 + $6,889 = $36,201).
Child care staff must document each facility's compliance with past signed and dated notification forms during regular inspections, and instruct child care providers to dispose of all unsafe children's products. As this can be accomplished during regular inspections, there are no additional costs to the DOH for this purpose.
Finally, this legislation would require one (1.00) clerk typist II to obtain information from the CPSC website; determine which recall statements pose a threat to children and eliminate those that don't; prepare copies and submit to child care staff and supervisors who will monitor them for compliance; manage the contract for stuffing the envelopes; assemble the materials for submission to the contractor who will stuff the envelopes; obtain the packet from the contractor and prepare for mailing; handle complaints and problems that arise from providing and mailing the information to child care providers; track the recall statements that have been submitted to child care providers in order to monitor them appropriately; and work closely with supervisors and staff to ensure efficient monitoring of the recall statements.
Oversight assumes the DOH could absorb the additional work with existing staff resources. However, if the number of quarterly mailings were to increase significantly, the DOH may need to request additional staff through the appropriations process.
SECTION 211.031 - Juvenile Court Jurisdiction
ASSUMPTION (continued)
Officials of the State Courts Administrator indicated that they would not expect the proposal to significantly affect state courts.
SECTION 211.181 - Treatment Services in Least Restrictive Setting
Officials of the Department of Social Services' divisions of Family Services (DFS) and Medical Services (DMS) stated that they would be affected by this part of the proposal. DFS officials cannot estimate the number of children who might be affected by this proposal (children whose parents would place them in DFS custody because they could neither care for mentally ill children nor afford the cost of treatment) but anticipate costs of more than $100,000 per year.
DMS officials note that some of the children would be Medicaid recipients and, to the extent that the Department of Mental Health lacks funds to provide treatments, DMS would be responsible for funding necessary care. DMS officials expect costs to Medicaid would be over $100,000 per year to general revenue.
SECTION 211.183 - "Reasonable Effort" to keep children in their homes
Officials from the Office of State Courts Administrator and Department of Social Services stated the proposed legislation would result in no fiscal impact to their organizations.
Department of Social Services officials did note that the proposal would help the state comply with federal regulations, effective 27 March 2000, which require a judicial determination regarding reasonable effort by the Department be made within sixty (60) days of a child's removal from his or her home. Children may not be eligible for federal benefits under title IV-E of the Social Security Act until a court makes the judicial determination.
SECTIONS 294.011 TO 294.141
Officials from the Office of the State Courts Administrator assume after a period of adjustment, they would expect substantial compliance, and would not anticipate a significant impact on the budget of the judiciary.
Officials from the Department of Agriculture assume the proposed legislation would have no fiscal impact on their agency.
Officials from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations stated that the provisions which require all fines and civil or administrative penalties collected pursuant to Chapter 294 be distributed to school districts would remove all equipment and expense funding for Child Labor Law enforcement programs. They would request funding from general revenue to the Child ASSUMPTION (continued)
Labor Enforcement Fund in order to continue enforcement programs. They estimate requesting $83,894 for FY 2003.
Oversight notes that fine and penalty income paid to the State School Money Fund would reduce the amount of general revenue needed to fully fund the Foundation Formula. Therefore, the greater fine income to school districts would cause a savings to the General Revenue Fund. However, Oversight assumes that the money saved would be sent to affected agencies to make up their loss of income from administrative penalties. Oversight is not certain how much money might be affected as Department of Labor and Industrial Relations officials are the only ones who have given an estimate.
SECTION 452.402 - Grandparent Visitation
Officials from the Department of Social Services and Office of State Courts Administrator stated the proposed legislation would have no fiscal impact on their organizations.
| FISCAL IMPACT - State Government | FY 2003
(10 Mo.) |
FY 2004 | FY 2005 |
| GENERAL REVENUE FUND | |||
| Savings - Reduced Appropriations to State School Money Fund | $69,912 | $85,572 | $87,283 |
| Cost - Appropriation to Child Labor Enforcement Fund | ($69,912) | ($85,572) | ($87,283) |
| Cost - Department of Social Services' Division of Family Services | |||
| Expense- Mental Health Treatment | (Unknown, expected to exceed $100,000) | (Unknown, expected to exceed $100,000) | (Unknown, expected to exceed $100,000) |
| Cost - Department of Social Services' Division of Medical Services | |||
| Expense- Medicaid costs for Mental Health Treatment of children | (Unknown, expected to exceed $100,000) | (Unknown, expected to exceed $100,000) | (Unknown, expected to exceed $100,000) |
| Costs - Department of Health and Senior Services | |||
| Printing and Mailing Costs | ($30,168) | ($37,288) | ($38,406) |
| Total Cost - Department of Health and Senior Services |
($30,168) |
($37,288) |
($38,406) |
| Cost - Department of Public Safety (DPS) | |||
| Personal Service (7 FTE) | ($316,042) | ($388,731) | ($398,450) |
| Fringe Benefits | ($113,807) | ($139,982) | ($143,482) |
| Expense and Equipment | ($75,196) | ($46,350) | ($47,741) |
| Total Administrative Cost DPS | ($505,045) | ($575,063) | ($589,673) |
| Secretary of State | |||
| Adoption fees* | Unknown to (Unknown) | Unknown to (Unknown) | Unknown to (Unknown) |
| * Loss of Income or Income from the adoption fee is not expected to exceed $40,000 in a given year. | |||
| ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ON GENERAL REVENUE FUND | (Unknown, over $735,213) | (Unknown, over $812,351) | (Unknown, over $828,079) |
| CRIMINAL RECORD SYSTEM FUND | |||
| Loss - Fees from Family Safety Care Registry | ($4,167) | ($5,000) | ($5,000) |
| ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ON CRIMINAL RECORD SYSTEM FUND | ($4,167) | ($5,000) | ($5,000) |
| STATE SCHOOL MONEY FUND | |||
| Savings - Distribution to School Districts | $69,912 | $85,572 | $87,283 |
| Loss - Transfer from General Revenue | ($69,912) | ($85,572) | ($87,283) |
| ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ON STATE SCHOOL MONEY FUND | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| CHILD LABOR ENFORCEMENT FUND | |||
| Income - Transfer from General Revenue | $69,912 | $85,572 | $87,283 |
| Loss - Administrative Sanctions | ($69,912) | ($85,572) | ($87,283) |
| ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ON CHILD LABOR ENFORCEMENT FUND | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| FEDERAL FUNDS | |||
| Income - Department of Social Services' Division of Medical Services | |||
| Federal Medicaid Matching Funds | Unknown, expected to exceed $100,000 | Unknown, expected to exceed $100,000 | Unknown, expected to exceed $100,000 |
| Cost - Department of Social Services' Division of Medical Services | |||
| Expense- Medicaid costs for Mental Health Treatment of children | (Unknown, expected to exceed $100,000) | (Unknown, expected to exceed $100,000) | (Unknown, expected to exceed $100,000) |
| ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ON FEDERAL FUNDS | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| FISCAL IMPACT - Local Government | FY 2003
(10 Mo.) |
FY 2004 | FY 2005 |
| $0 | $0 | $0 |
FISCAL IMPACT - Small Business
Small business could be affected by this proposal.
DESCRIPTION
This proposal would set out the rights and responsibilities of the state, its contractors and foster parents with regard to foster care services.
This proposal would automatically register any person licensed under terms of sections 210.481 to 210.565 (Homes for Children - Foster Homes - Child Placing Agencies - Licensing) in the DESCRIPTION (continued)
Family Care Safety Registry.
This act would allow the Division of Family Services to make reasonable efforts when a child is abused by a person other than the parent and circumstances indicate the parent knew or should have known about it. Section 211.183, RSMo, currently defines "reasonable efforts" as reasonable diligence and care by the Division of Family Services to utilize all available resources to meet the needs of the juvenile and the family.
This proposal would require the Department of Health and Senior Services (DOH) to provide child care facilities with a comprehensive list of unsafe children's products, as identified by the Children's Product Safety Commission. DOH would provide initial notification on or before July 1, 2003, and quarterly thereafter. Child care facilities would, upon notification, their premises and immediately dispose of any unsafe products. DOH inspections would check for unsafe products during inspections of facilities. If a facility failed to dispose of a product after notice is given, it would be a violation under the inspection. The Department may promulgate rules for the implementation of this section.
The proposal would allow the Division of Family Services to make reasonable efforts when a child is abused by a person other than the parent and circumstances indicate the parent knew or should have known about it. Section 211.183, RSMo, currently defines "reasonable efforts" as reasonable diligence and care by the Division of Family Services to utilize all available resources to meet the needs of the juvenile and the family.
This proposal would modify certain provisions of the child labor laws and would specify that all civil or administrative penalties collected by the state or any state agency under terms of chapter 294 be distributed to county school funds as provided in article IX, section 7 of the Missouri Constitution.
This proposal would modify visitation provisions related to grandparents. However, if the natural parents of the child are legally married and living together with the child, a grandparent may not file for visitation because it is presumed that the parents know what is in the best interest of the child.
This act would an adopted person over the age of 50 to obtain a copy of his or her original birth certificate; however, adoptive or biological parents could file a written statement forbidding the release of records.
This proposal would create the Office of Child Protection Information in the Office of the Department of Public Safety. It would also establish a Child Protection Information Advisory Commission. The proposal would specify the appointment of commission members, terms of DESCRIPTION (continued)
appointment, and duties of the commission.
The proposal would specify that sale of adoption tax credits to any entity (current law says to for profit entities) be at a discount rate of seventy-five percent or greater of the amount sold.
This proposal would limit the amount of fee the Secretary of State could collect for processing apostilles, certifications, and authentications prior to the placement of a child for adoption to $100 per child, per adoption, or per multiple children to be adopted at the same time.
This legislation is not federally mandated, would not duplicate any other program and would not require additional capital improvements or rental space. This legislation would affect Total State Revenue.
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
Department of Agriculture
Department of Economic Development
Department of Mental Health
Department of Revenue
Department of Social Services
Division of Family Services
Division of Medical Services
Division of Youth Services
State Courts Administrator
Secretary of State
Not Responding: Department of Public Safety
Mickey Wilson, CPA
Acting Director
April 17, 2002