Bill would expand youth transitional services

The Health and Human Services Committee heard testimony Feb. 12 on a bill that seeks to expand transitional services to young adults regardless of immigration status who are involved in the state’s foster care and juvenile justice systems.

The Bridge to Independence program provides a monthly stipend, health care coverage through Medicaid and case management services to wards and certain other system-involved youth from age 19 to 21 as they transition out of state care.

LB181, introduced by Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha, would extend eligibility for the existing program to include all otherwise qualified immigrant youth. The bill would apply to young adults with an immigration status other than legal, including those with pending asylum applications and Special Immigrant Juvenile or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status.

The bill also would require the state Department of Health and Human Services to submit a state plan amendment to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services by Oct. 1, 2025, to allow Medicaid coverage for immigrants who are enrolled in the program who are otherwise eligible under the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Cavanaugh said the existing transitional program has been “enormously successful” in helping system-involved youth obtain postsecondary education, affordable housing and community support.

“Youth aging out of juvenile justice systems often lack adequate support to address the underlying factors leading to delinquency … or homelessness,” she said. “It is especially crucial to reach these at-risk kids so that we can ensure they have proper support to guide them to productivity.”

Allison Derr of Nebraska Appleseed testified in support of the proposal. The Nebraska Supreme Court has ruled that public benefits — such as those outlined in LB181 — could be provided to Nebraska immigrants, she said, but doing so would require explicit approval from the Legislature.

“Federal law allows this,” Derr said. “[But] these are choices that Nebraska has to make explicitly … for it to happen in practice.”

Natasha Naseem, attorney for the Center for Immigrant and Refugee Advancement, also spoke in support of the measure. Individuals impacted by LB181 already are under the jurisdiction of a Nebraska court due to their system involvement, she said, but the vital services and support they receive as a result end abruptly when they turn 19 — Nebraska’s age of majority.

The bill would broaden program eligibility explicitly to include otherwise qualified immigrant youth with the goal of preventing homelessness, criminal justice system involvement and revictimization, Naseem said.

“Our state has a public system in place designed to prevent these negative outcomes, but we’ve been choosing to allow immigrant youth to remain vulnerable to them,” she said.

Also testifying in support of the measure was executive director of the Nebraska Catholic Conference, Tom Venzor.

Young adults who are undocumented through no fault of their own live in vulnerable and “legally precarious” situations, he said, which are exacerbated by system involvement. Expansion of the existing transition program would provide community support to individuals who are navigating the difficulties of early adulthood largely on their own, Venzor said.

“Bridge to Independence provides important continued support to those who have been in our foster care system and have been previously cared for by the state, regardless of their immigration status,” he said.

DHHS CEO Steve Corsi, testified in opposition to the bill. Corsi indicated that Medicaid would not be available to the bill’s target population and that general funds would be required instead. Public benefits funded by state taxpayer dollars should be used only for the purpose of benefiting Nebraska citizens, he said.

“Nebraska citizens should not be forced to subsidize those not lawfully present in the United States, nor should they be forced to incent the continued unlawful presence of individuals, regardless of age, in our state or nation,” Corsi said.

The committee took no immediate action on LB181.