BUDGET HEARINGS HIGHLIGHT COUNTY ISSUES

Department of Human Services Acting Secretary Ted Dallas appeared before the House and Senate Appropriations committees in the last week of March to outline Gov. Wolf's budget proposal for the department.

A key issue raised by members of both committees was the Human Services Block Grant, including both support for and concerns with the program. House committee chair Bill Adolph (R-Delaware) noted the Block Grant is one of the ways the commonwealth has been able to operate more efficiently by allowing counties greater flexibility in spending limited dollars. Sen. Pat Vance (R-Cumberland), who has introduced SB 613 to expand the Block Grant to any willing county, also raised the issue and asked the department to explain its position. Secretary Dallas expressed support for flexibility, but also indicated the administration feels the program needs more rigorous and statistics-driven accountability to better determine where the program should go in the future. Although Sec. Dallas explained that the 30 counties in the pilot program must submit a plan for approval by the Department, he believes more accountability is necessary to ensure that there is a basic level of service in each program area. In terms of funding, Dallas explained that Gov. Wolf has proposed to restore the ten percent cut to the line items within the Block Grant from FY 2012-2013 over a three-year period, starting with a $27 million increase for FY 2015-2016.  

Additional areas of interest for committee members included the proposed increase in funding to combat opioid abuse and addiction, intellectual disability waivers, and how county children and youth agencies are handling the increased volume of reported child abuse due to the implementation of the new child protection laws.

CCAP MEMBER TESTIFIES BEFORE CONGRESS ON WATERS OF THE U.S.

Clinton County Commissioner Pete Smeltz provided testimony on behalf of the National Association of Counties (NACo) before the U.S. House Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation and Forestry in Washington D.C. on March 17, on the proposed definition of "Waters of the U.S." The hearing was led by Pennsylvania Congressman Glenn Thompson, who serves as chair of the subcommittee.

The proposed definition was published by the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in spring 2014, with a comment period that ended in November. CCAP and NACo submitted comments expressing counties' concerns with the proposed definition of "Waters of the U.S" and asking that the proposal be withdrawn and modified after careful consideration of all comments submitted.

At the hearing, Smeltz discussed the main factors that contributed to NACo's decision to call for a withdrawal of the proposed rule, including the proposal's vast impact on counties nationwide, an inadequate consultation process with state and local governments, ambiguous and inconsistent terminology, and ongoing delays with the current permitting process. He noted that the concerns stem from the proposal's unclear language and failure to consider real-world, on-the-ground impacts. Further, he explained that the proposed definition would amount to extended federal oversight, greater delays in critical work, public safety risks, and additional financial costs without benefitting the environment. In addition, Smeltz emphasized the importance of the local, state and federal partnership in crafting practical rules and implementing Clean Water Act programs.

COUNTY PENSION COLA BILL MOVES FORWARD  

On Apr. 1, the House Local Government Committee unanimously reported HB 239, sponsored by Rep. Keith Greiner (R-Lancaster), clarifying language in the County Pension Law to allow counties to grant a limited cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), keyed to just the most recent year. The vague language of current law, which obligates counties at least once every three years to examine whether to grant a COLA, has led to interpretation that any COLA must be retroactive to the last time a COLA was granted. For most counties, the COLA is infrequently granted, and so going back to the last COLA and compounding forward can yield an unsupportable increase in the benefit. The limited COLA under HB 239 would instead allow a county that has fund capacity to grant much-needed adjustments to monthly benefits without the adjustments being excessive and without the adjustments imperiling the solvency of the fund. 

HOUSE PANEL ADVANCES TAX COLLECTOR LEGISLATION 

The House Local Government Committee recently reported House Bill 160, introduced by Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R-Lehigh), which amends the Local Tax Collection Law to require any property tax payments collected be deposited in an account that includes the name of an office, title or position, but not the name of an individual. An amendment adopted by the committee clarified that a county treasurer who collects on behalf of municipalities due to vacancies would be permitted to have a single account to which payment of all taxes being collected could be made, provided that account does not include the name of an individual. In addition, the committee adopted an amendment addressing overpayment of taxes, requiring that tax collectors annually assure that overpayments be refunded and provide a report to each taxing district served detailing all overpayments that have not been able to be refunded. All amendments were approved unanimously, and House Bill 160 as amended was reported unanimously.

ADMINISTRATION REQUESTS INFORMATION ON "PAY FOR SUCCESS" OPPORTUNITIES 

On March 25, Gov. Wolf announced that the state has released a Request for Information to obtain feedback to assist in developing its proposal for Pay for Success financing. In the Pay for Success model, governments partner with private investors who provide up-front funding to service providers, and receive a repayment from the government only if benchmarks for savings and benefits are achieved. The Governor's FY 2015-2016 budget proposal includes a recommendation that the commonwealth be enabled to enter into Pay for Success contracts, identifying high-priority areas in early childhood care and education; education, workforce preparedness and employment; public safety, including programs that reduce recidivism; health and human services, including addiction treatment, chronic homelessness, supportive housing and child welfare; and long-term living and home- and community-based services.