DHHS fund transfer advanced

A bill intended to correct an error in appropriation for the Nebraska Children’s Commission was amended and advanced from select file Feb. 19.

LB430, sponsored by Omaha Sen. Heath Mello, was introduced to correct an error in funding for the Nebraska Children’s Commission.

In 2013, the Legislature moved the commission from the state Department of Health and Services (DHHS) to the Foster Care Review Office. However, $94,000 of the commission’s appropriation was inadvertently left in the DHHS budget and LB430 would move that amount to the Foster Care Review Office.

Mello brought an amendment, adopted 37-0, to address an issue discovered after LB430 was advanced to select file. The amendment would transfer $7 million of unexpended general funds from the DHHS public assistance program to the child welfare program.

Mello said the transfer was necessary to cover a funding shortfall in the state’s child welfare program and would be revenue neutral.

“The amendment is an emergency measure that was brought to the Legislature by the Department of Health and Human Services,” he said. “If we don’t pass this amendment today, child welfare will shut down April 15.”

Mello said the department indicated that a number of factors—including changes in foster care provider rates, funding for state wards who remain in the office of juvenile services and a federal penalty—had caused the child welfare budget shortfall.

Lincoln Sen. Kathy Campbell, chairperson of the Health and Human Services Committee, expressed frustration with DHHS and the previous administration’s handling of the department’s budget. She said DHHS told the Legislature last year that they did not require additional funds to address a $17 million penalty for mismanaging federal child welfare funds.

“This is unheralded in the time that I have been in the Legislature,” Campbell said. “We are paying for the problems that we had in the past.”

Following adoption of the amendment, LB430 was advanced to final reading by voice vote.