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| Greetings NACHSA Members! |
NACHSA Dues are Due: Thanks to all of you who have submitted your 2014 dues. If you haven't, please click here and do so today. E-mail Tom Joseph at tj@wafed.com if you have questions. Thanks.
Federal Budget Process Begins: The House is expected to consider their fiscal year 2015 budget resolution this week. While the blueprint is expected to pass in the House, it will go no further than that. It revives proposals to eliminate the Social Services Block Grant and to convert Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) into state block grants. For their part, Democratic leaders in the Senate have announced that they will not mark up a budget counterpart, citing the fact that the January budget agreement already set overall spending caps for FY 2015. Given the lack of a Senate budget resolution, there is no likelihood of any broad-based tax or entitlement reforms this year. Without a House-Senate budget resolution, the 'budget reconciliation' vehicle used to craft such reforms is not available.
Medicaid Provisions in Medicare Bill: Last week, Congress adopted and the president signed a bill (P.L. 113-93; H.R. 4302) extending the current payment system for doctors accepting Medicare patients. The bill contained a number of unrelated provisions, including an extension of the transitional Medicaid assistance program through March 31, 2015 and express lane eligibility for Medicaid and CHIP through September 30, 2015. Also in the so-called 'doc-fix' bill was a short term extension of the home visiting program, though March 31, 2015, with $400 million to remain available through the end of FY 2015.
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| Human Services Resources |
USDA SNAP Implementation Memo: Late last month, USDA sent a memorandum to states on implementing the SNAP provisions of the 2014 Farm Bill. It describes which provisions must be implemented immediately and which ones require rulemaking.
USDA Farm Bill Websites: USDA has launched a website that provides details on Farm Bill implementation in one convenient location and the Economic Research Service launched a website highlighting some of the economic implications of the new programs and provisions. Follow these links to the USDA Press Release and Farm Bill USDA site and ERS site.
Federal Summer Youth Jobs Memo: The Departments of Labor (DOL), Health and Human Services (DHHS), and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have issued this letter encouraging partnerships among the network of state and local youth service and workforce development providers, human service agencies, and Public Housing Agencies to develop summer jobs programs for needy and at-risk youth that provide employment, educational experiences, and essential skills such as financial literacy and time management.
Child Welfare Costs: The Annie E. Casey Foundation and Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative continue to advocate for reforming federal financing for child welfare to support best practices. To that end, they have posted a new infographic called The Cost of Doing Nothing highlighting the need for reform.
Sex Trafficking of Youth: Georgetown Law's Center for Poverty and Inequality has published a report entitled, Blueprint --A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Domestic Sex Trafficking of Girls. It analyzes the ways in which girls are at the intersection of child welfare, juvenile justice, and sex trafficking and highlights the innovative programs that are serving them in an effective, multidisciplinary manner.
Protective Factors Approaches in Child Welfare: This HHS brief provides an overview of protective factors and approaches to the prevention and treatment of child abuse and neglect for policymakers, administrators, child welfare and other interested individuals.
The EITC in Your County: The Brookings Institution prepared an interactive map to show Earned Income Tax Credit take-up rates at the county-level. Darker colors indicate higher value, while grey shading indicates unavailable data. According to this tool, the southeast part of the country provides the highest EITC take-up rates.
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Tom Joseph
National Association of County Human Services Administrators
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