Senate Bill sb1556c2
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Florida Senate - 2003 CS for CS for SB 1556
By the Committees on Governmental Oversight and Productivity;
Children and Families; and Senator Lynn
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1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to independent living
3 transition services; amending s. 409.1451,
4 F.S.; abolishing the Independent Living
5 Services Transition Workgroup; deleting the
6 report required by the Independent Living
7 Services Transition Workgroup; establishing the
8 Independent Living Services Workgroup;
9 providing for the activities of the Independent
10 Living Services Workgroup; providing for the
11 Independent Living Services Workgroup to report
12 to the Senate and the House of Representatives;
13 providing that property acquired on behalf of a
14 client receiving independent living transition
15 services is the property of the client;
16 providing that the rules are to balance
17 normalcy and safety for the youth; providing an
18 effective date.
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20 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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22 Section 1. Subsection (7) of section 409.1451, Florida
23 Statutes, is amended, present subsection (8) of that section
24 is amended and redesignated as subsection (9), and a new
25 subsection (8) is added to that section, to read:
26 409.1451 Independent living transition services.--
27 (7) INDEPENDENT LIVING SERVICES INTEGRATION
28 WORKGROUP.--The Secretary of Children and Family Services
29 shall establish the independent living services integration
30 workgroup, which, at a minimum, shall include representatives
31 from the Department of Children and Family Services, the
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1 Agency for Workforce Innovation, the Department of Education,
2 the Agency for Health Care Administration, the State Youth
3 Advisory Board, Workforce Florida, Inc., and foster parents.
4 The workgroup shall assess the implementation and operation of
5 the system of independent living transition services and
6 advise the department on actions that would improve the
7 ability of the independent living transition services to meet
8 the established goals. The workgroup shall keep the department
9 informed of problems being experienced with the services,
10 barriers to the effective and efficient integration of
11 services and support across systems, and successes that the
12 system of independent living transition services has achieved.
13 The department shall consider, but is not required to
14 implement, the recommendations of the workgroup. For the
15 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 fiscal years, the workgroup shall
16 report to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the
17 House of Representatives on the status of the implementation
18 of the system of independent living transition services;
19 efforts to publicize the availability of aftercare support
20 services, the Road-to-Independence Scholarship Program, and
21 transitional support services; specific barriers to financial
22 aid created by the scholarship and possible solutions; the
23 success of the services; problems identified; recommendations
24 for department or legislative action; and the department's
25 implementation of the recommendations contained in the
26 Independent Living Services Integration Workgroup Report dated
27 December 31, 2002, and submitted to the committees of the
28 Senate and the House of Representatives. This workgroup report
29 shall be submitted by December 31, 2003, and December 31,
30 2004, and shall be accompanied by a report from the department
31 which identifies the recommendations of the workgroup and
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1 either describes the department's actions to implement these
2 recommendations or provides the department's rationale for not
3 implementing the recommendations. for the transition of older
4 children in foster care to independent living. The workgroup
5 shall recommend methods to overcome these barriers and shall
6 ensure that the state plan for federal funding for the
7 independent living transition services includes these
8 recommendations. The workgroup shall report to appropriate
9 legislative committees of the Senate and the House of
10 Representatives by December 31, 2002. Specific issues and
11 recommendations to be addressed by the workgroup include:
12 (a) Enacting the Medicaid provision of the federal
13 Foster Care Independence Act of 1999, Pub. L. No. 106-169,
14 which allows young adults formerly in foster care to receive
15 medical coverage up to 21 years of age.
16 (b) Extending the age of Medicaid coverage from 21 to
17 23 years of age for young adults formerly in foster care in
18 order to enable such youth to complete a postsecondary
19 education degree.
20 (c) Encouraging the regional workforce boards to
21 provide priority employment and support for eligible foster
22 care participants receiving independent living transition
23 services.
24 (d) Facilitating transfers between schools when
25 changes in foster care placements occur.
26 (e) Identifying mechanisms to increase the legal
27 authority of foster parents and staff of the department or its
28 agent to provide for the age-appropriate care of older
29 children in foster care, including enrolling a child in
30 school, signing for a practice driver's license for the child
31 under s. 322.09(4), cosigning loans and insurance for the
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1 child, signing for the child's medical treatment, and
2 authorizing other similar activities as appropriate.
3 (f) Transferring the allowance of spending money that
4 is provided by the department each month directly to an older
5 child in the program through an electronic benefit transfer
6 program. The purpose of the transfer is to allow these
7 children to access and manage the allowance they receive in
8 order to learn responsibility and participate in
9 age-appropriate life skills activities.
10 (g) Identifying other barriers to normalcy for a child
11 in foster care.
12 (8) PROPERTY ACQUIRED ON BEHALF OF CLIENTS.--Property
13 acquired on behalf of a client receiving services under this
14 section shall be the personal property of the client and is
15 not subject to the requirements of chapter 273 relating to
16 state-owned tangible personal property. Such property
17 continues to be subject to applicable federal laws.
18 (9)(8) RULEMAKING.--The department shall adopt by rule
19 procedures to administer this section, including provision for
20 the proportional reduction of scholarship awards when adequate
21 funds are not available for all applicants. These rules shall
22 balance the goals of normalcy and safety for the youth and
23 provide the caregivers with as much flexibility as possible to
24 enable the youth to participate in normal life experiences.
25 The department shall engage in appropriate planning to
26 prevent, to the extent possible, a reduction in scholarship
27 awards after issuance.
28 Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a
29 law.
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1 STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN
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and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, rather than
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