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1996 SESSION

966535661
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 123
Senate Amendments in [ ] -- February 9, 1996
Requesting the Joint Legislative and Audit Review Commission to study the administration of the Comprehensive Services Act.
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Patrons-- Gartlan, Houck, Howell, Ticer, Waddell, Whipple and Woods; Delegates: Albo, Connally, Darner, Hall, Keating, Moran, Scott and Watts
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Referred to the Committee on Rules
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WHEREAS, responding to an identified need to recommend changes to the service delivery system for severely emotionally and/or behaviorally disturbed children, the Secretaries of Health and Human Resources, Public Safety, and Education formed an interagency council in 1990 which concluded that state and local expenditures on residential care would continue to increase significantly unless major policy and program changes were instituted; and

WHEREAS, over the next two years a study was conducted and preliminary findings from five demonstration projects as well as recommendations for the restructuring of the service delivery system were submitted to the Governor and General Assembly; and

WHEREAS, representatives of the council included state and local staff in the various child-serving agencies, state and local government officials, parents, judges, public and private providers, and advocates covering the spectrum of entities which would feel the impact of such a new system; and

WHEREAS, the intent of the resulting legislation is "to create a collaborative system of services and funding that is child-centered, family-focused and community-based when addressing the strengths and needs of troubled and at-risk youths and their families" through early, least-restrictive, individually-designed, and family-oriented services that cut across all service agencies; and

WHEREAS, to accomplish this, various types of assistance were created to enable localities to develop such a program, including (i) creation of interagency teams at the local and state levels, (ii) development of a state trust fund to provide venture capital for localities to create and expand community-based services, (iii) consolidation of eight categorical funding streams into a pool which is distributed to localities based on a formula, and (iv) provision of technical assistance and training to localities; and

WHEREAS, localities received various assurances with regard to maintenance of state funding, payment for unanticipated costs, and a process was developed for localities to transition into the system; and

WHEREAS, in 1994 because the Comprehensive Services Act was still a relatively new approach and the State and localities were continuing to experience increased costs, the General Assembly approved HJR 56, directing the Secretaries of Health and Human Resources, Public Safety and Education to study and evaluate the effectiveness, efficiency and adequacy of state funding; and

WHEREAS, the HJR 56 study made nineteen recommendations that identified where to invest additional resources and efforts to improve both the effectiveness and efficiency of the Act; and

WHEREAS, statewide, many localities are still experiencing cost and service delivery difficulties, while some local programs have been very successful at controlling costs and achieving improved service levels, now therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission is requested to conduct a study of the administration of the Comprehensive Services Act by the State and local governments, including but not limited to examining the information; administrative, financial, and accounting requirements; forecasting of utilization; and delivery of services and to make recommendations for improvement of program services and strategies for cost containment. [ The commission shall work in cooperation with the joint subcommittee studying the Comprehensive Services Act pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution No. 93 (1996). ]

All agencies of the Commonwealth shall provide assistance to the Joint Legislative and Audit Review Commission, upon request.

The Joint Legislative and Audit Review Commission shall complete its work in time to submit its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the [ 1997 1998 ] Session of the General Assembly as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems for processing legislative documents.

Implementation of this resolution is subject to subsequent approval and certification by the Joint Rules Committee. The Committee may withhold expenditures or delay the period for the conduct of the study.