CAFCA
Public Policy Committee Minutes
May 2, 2006
Members present: Arnie Goldstein (Excelsior Youth Centers),
Skip Barber (CAA), Catherine Hoich (Arapahoe House), Cyndi Dodds (Namaqua
Center), Ruth Ann Russell (Family Tree), Tami Lack (Third Way Center), and Katie
Mason (CAFCA).
The meeting was called to order at 12:00 pm by Cyndi Dodds.
2006 Legislative
session
- HB-06-1395-
Residential Child Health Care Bill: This bill has passed the House and is
moving to the Senate. Skip is testifying before the Senate on Wednesday May
3rd. Agencies were worried about the financial gap transitioning
from the current system. CDHS representatives decided that all the financial
gap issues would be dealt with through rule. Skip and Susannah polled the
CAFCA membership about the financial gap issues and found that agencies are
not panicked if the system works according to plan. Many agencies are
prepared to operate for a couple of weeks without reimbursements. CMS also
responded to Skip about allowing provisional licensure. The provisionally
licensed staff will be able to bill for Medicaid using the licensed
professional’s number.
- SB-06-175-
Juvenile Sex Offender ISP: This billed failed.
- SB-06-219-
HCPF Reorganization: The bill has been amended to protect HB1084.
- Adoption
Committee Late Bill: No sponsors were available to bring this bill to the
legislature.
SFY 2006-07
Budget/Long Bill
- The
Governor signed the Long Bill last night. A couple of sections were vetoed;
however, the sections do not directly affect child welfare.
Rules Update
The State sent letters to agencies about moving forward
with child care services. The letter addressed a couple of criteria that may
prove difficult to meet. State law requires that agencies seeking a license
would be required to produce a letter from their municipality approving zoning.
Most agencies will not have enough time to get the letter.
Additionally, the agencies will have to pay the $720.00 application fee
and pass new inspections. Some agencies have not received the letter yet.
Skip was able to find the Volume VII Rules posted on the
Board of Human Services website. No one has been able to read through them in
their entirety yet. Skip glanced through them the absence of CCAR caught his
attention. He questioned if CCAR information would be moved to the Volume VIII
rules. Volume VIII rules seem to be scheduled for the June meeting.
Strategic Plan
Review
Goal #4 of the
CAFCA 2010 Public Policy Strategic Plan is: To develop on-going relationships
with current and emerging political and policy leaders [that transcend term
limits]. Group followed up with strategies to get children’s issues on
the platforms for the Governors, Legislative and Congressional races. These include:
- Hosting
a gubernatorial candidate forum posing questions: This would be scheduled
for August or early September and could be a collaborative effort among
several organizations (United Way—Sister Lavonne, League of Women Voters,
Every Child Matters, etc.). Skip
reported that several of the CAFCA EDs have contact with the
gubernatorial candidates/campaign staff. CAFCA will take advantage of these
contacts in outing together this forum. Additionally, Peg and Skip spoke to
Becky Updike about collaborating with Every Child Matters. Becky was very
positive about moving forward with this. Skip also noted that the campaign
staff of these candidates may attend a Child Welfare Roundtable in June to
discuss the forum and topics.
- Workshop
in August or early September on acceptable political activities for 501(c)
(3) organizations and a packet of information/guidelines for these
nonprofits. Skip reported that Becky Updike also does a training that would
suit this need as well.
- Develop
a one-page fact sheet with statistics regarding child abuse, children in
out-of-home care, etc. and talking points. This would be distributed to
CAFCA members as well as workshop participants so we are all speaking from
the same data and are consistent. Skip suggested using the fact sheet
developed by the Coalition for Child Abuse Prevention Month.
- The
committee also discussed potential candidates for the Director of Human
Services appointment.
Committee members not in attendance are encouraged to
volunteer for one of these projects/committees.
Rates
The RTC Redesign
meeting took an interesting turn when the CDHS facilitators asked about the
philosophy of future rate setting. Skip reported that the conversation turned
chaotic and that providers are more concerned with making it to July 1st
than philosophizing about the future.
Tami asked about a
list of billable services/codes. The list was sent from Bev Dahan and no
explanation was given as to the reasons why some services were missing from the
list. Arnie is worried that agencies may have to appeal the methodology again.
Next scheduled meeting is Tuesday, June 6, 2006 at 1120
Lincoln St., law library conference room, noon – 2:00 p.m.
Old Business
None.
New Business
None.
Adjourn
Meeting adjourned at 1:00 pm