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News from Every Child Counts
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02/01/13
The disagreement over doing education reform before education funding continues at the State Capitol. The Senate Democrats moved forward with funding by passing a package of bills on Wednesday. The Senate approved a 4% increase in Allowable Growth and Categorical Growth. The bills passed on party lines. Republicans state that education reform needs to pass before any Allowable Growth.
Speaking of education reform, the House continued their path towards debate on a bill. House leaders state that subcommittee work on the bill could be concluded next week, putting it on track for discussion by the full Education Committee in the second week of February and debate on the House floor in the third week.
The Senate also took up education reform (SSB 1058 - Gov's Bill) in a Subcommittee meeting on 1/31.
On January 28th, the Senate Human Resources Committee heard a presentation on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) by Kent Jackson, Kirsten Heine and Robert Sheeha.
On January 30th, the House Human Resources Committee heard
a presentation on Children's Mental Health by Dr. Debra Waldron, Vice Chair for Child Health Policy at U of I and Jennifer Vermeer, Director Iowa Medicaid Enterprise and Chair of Children's workgroup.
On February 5th, Children's Mental Health is also on the agenda for discussion at the Health and Human Services Budget Subcommittee.
Another hot topic at the Capitol is Medicaid Expansion. On Tuesday, the Iowa Hospital Association and AARP teamed up with over 45 other organizations (including ECC) and held a press conference calling on the Governor and House Republicans to expand Medicaid to nearly 150,000 low income Iowans. The Governor has repeatedly stated that he opposes such an expansion and just yesterday the House Republicans printed 7 Reasons to Re-Think Medicaid Expansion in their newsletter (see page 6 and 1). Just to be clear - Every Child Counts supports expansion of Medicaid as a top priority for ensuring the well-being of families and their children. Also, on Tuesday, Sen Jack Hatch and Rep. Lisa Heddens introduced bills in their respective chambers allowing for medicaid expansion - SF 71 and HF 83.
As you can see, things are definitely in full swing at the Capitol. There is a lot of work to be done - it is going to be another interesting year!!
We will do our best to keep you up to date on what is happening during this legislative session. Feel free to contact us with any questions or suggestions you might have. Don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
And finally, don't forget to communicate with your legislators and weigh in on important children and family issues!
Have a nice weekend!
Sincerely,
Sheila Hansen & Danielle Oswald-Thole
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Quality Early Learning and Development:
HSB 4 - Governor's Education Reform Bill - Subcommittee of Jorgensen, Dolecheck, Hanusa, Stanerson, Steckman, Winckler and Cohoon. Read the summary here. SSB 1058 - Governor's Education Reform Bill - Subcommittee of Quirmbach, Schoenjohn and Ernst. SF 48 - An Act requiring background checks for school employees.Child Health and Well-Being:
SSB 1001 - An act requiring pulse oximetry screening for newborns in a birthing hospital. SF 71- Medicaid expansion - The bill requires DHS to amend the medical assistance state plan to implement the bill with respect to the provision of medical homes and the coverage of certain low-income adults. (Companion bill is HF 83)
HSB 95 - Relating to the use of restraints against a pregnant 1 inmate or detainee.
HF 97 - This bill provides eligibility for mental health services through the regional mental health and disability service system for certain children. The regions, consisting of counties, are being formed and phased in during FY 2013-2014.
HF 98 - This bill relates to the mental health and disability services (MH/DS) fund levy for FY 2013-2014 and FY
2014-2015
SF 101 - An Act relating to coverage for foster children under the Medicaid program
HSB 32 - An Act relating to the penalties for the criminal offense of sexual exploitation of a minor by the purchase or possession of child pornography
Family Economic Success:HF 80 - Mandates drug testing of applicants for and certain recipients of assistance under the family investment program.HF 1 - This bill relates to the taxpayers trust fund by modifying 28 the transfer of moneys from the Iowa economic emergency fund to 29 the taxpayers trust fund. SF 88 - This bill increases the amount of the state earned income tax credit. Currently, the credit is equal to 7 percent of the amount of a taxpayer's federal earned income tax credit. The bill increases the amount of the credit to 20 percent *bills listed by ECC legislative priority area. Bill listed might be helpful or harmful to the priority area. |
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2013 FORUM ON THIRD GRADE LITERACY
Ensuring World Class ReadersFebruary 8th
9:00 - 3:00
Botanical Gardens, Des Moines
Please join us for a free forum focused on third grade literacy.
Barbara O'Brien, policy advisor for the national Grade-Level Reading
Campaign and former Colorado Lieutenant Governor, will keynote the second Iowa Third Grade Literacy Forum - Ensuring World Class Readers.
Ms. O'Brien has led efforts at the Grade-Level Reading Campaign to support states and communities in improving third grade literacy through comprehensive, birth-to-eight policies.
The forum will showcase the work of six Iowa charter communities in the Grade-Level Reading Campaign: Ames, Council Bluffs, Des Moines, Dubuque, Marshalltown, and the Quad Cities. A legislative panel is also planned.
The 2011 forum was instrumental in establishing state policies to create an Iowa Reading Research Center and offered new direction to schools to improve third grade literacy and respond to the needs of struggling readers. This year's forum will offer a progress report on that legislation and enable participants to offer recommendations for future policy actions to improve third grade literacy.
The forum is being co-sponsored by the Grade-Level Reading Campaign, the Child and Family Policy Center, and the Iowa Afterschool Alliance.
We hope you can join us for this very important discussion! Please RSVP using the link provided below.
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Get timely updates from the Child and Family Policy Center:
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How is state policy affecting the families around you?
Tell us about it! Sheila Hansen
Every Child Counts
Director
Danielle Oswald-Thole
Every Child Counts Outreach Coordinator and Policy Advocate
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Every Child Counts helps us do what's good for Iowa kids
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Children's Health Update 
Treasury Rule Denies Children, Makes Action on CHIP Critical
From our friends at First Focus.
The Obama Administration announced a final decision on key health reform implementation issue that will leave hundreds of thousands of children without affordable health coverage. The Treasury Department's final rule, which will be published in the Federal Register on Thursday, says if an employee is offered an affordable health insurance option by her employer, any family coverage option offered by the employer is also considered to be affordable, no matter its actual cost. Specifically, the rule says that if the cost of self-only coverage for an employee does not exceed 9.5 percent of the taxpayer's household income then the coverage is considered affordable for the entire family. This is particularly problematic given that employee-only insurance premiums average about $5,400 per year, while family premiums are nearly triple the cost, at $15,000. (e.g. more than 9.5 percent of household income). Read the rest of the article here. |
Some Articles of Interest
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"Safety and security don't just happen, they are the result of collective consensus and public investment. We owe our children, the most vulnerable citizens in our society, a life free of violence and fear."
Nelson Mandela
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