2001 REGULAR SESSION (71st)                                                                              A AB343 89

Amendment No. 89

 

 

 

     Amend sec. 66, page 29, line 47, by deleting “division” and inserting “[division]”.

     Amend sec. 68, page 30, after line 23, by inserting:

     “6.  Except as otherwise provided in regulations adopted by the division, care is voluntarily provided to a minor child who is:

     (a) Related to the caretaker by blood, adoption or marriage; and

     (b) Not in the custody of an agency which provides child welfare services.”.

     Amend sec. 69, page 30, by deleting lines 31 and 32 and inserting:

“the amount to be paid to each of them from the money distributed to the agency which provides child welfare services pursuant to NRS 432.040, certified”.

     Amend the bill as a whole by adding a new section designated sec. 74.5, following sec. 74, to read as follows:

     “Sec. 74.5. NRS 432.031 is hereby amended to read as follows:

     432.031  1.  The department of human resources, through the division, shall act as the single state agency of the State of Nevada and its political subdivisions in the administration of any federal money granted to the state to aid in the furtherance of any services and activities for child welfare.

     2.  If the Congress of the United States passes any law increasing the participation of the Federal Government in a Nevada program for child welfare, either as relates to eligibility for assistance or otherwise, the director of the department of human resources is authorized to accept, with the approval of the governor, the increased benefits of that legislation. The division may adopt such standards as are required by the Congress of the United States as a condition to the acceptance of those benefits.

     3.  An agency which provides child welfare services in a county whose population is 100,000 or more shall enter into such agreements with the division as are necessary to maximize the amount of money that this state may obtain from the Federal Government for the provision of child welfare services throughout this state.”.

     Amend sec. 81, page 34, line 36, by inserting “1.” before “The”.

     Amend sec. 81, page 34, line 45, by deleting “1.” and inserting “(a)”.

     Amend sec. 81, page 34, line 47, by deleting “2.” and inserting “(b)”.

     Amend sec. 81, page 35, line 1, by deleting “3.” and inserting “(c)”.

     Amend sec. 81, page 35, after line 2, by inserting:

     “2.  An agency which provides child welfare services in a county whose population is 100,000 or more shall account separately for the money that is distributed to that agency pursuant to this section.”.

     Amend sec. 82, page 35, lines 4 and 5, by deleting:

“pursuant to the provisions of NRS 432.040” and inserting:

“[pursuant to the provisions of NRS 432.040] for the expenses of providing special services and maintenance pursuant to NRS 432.010 to 432.085, inclusive,”.

     Amend sec. 82, page 35, line 13, by deleting “88” and inserting “81”.

     Amend sec. 85, page 36, lines 21 and 22, by deleting:

“in the county treasury.” and inserting:

“by the board of county commissioners.”.

     Amend sec. 86, page 37, lines 4 and 5, by deleting:

“in the county treasury”.

     Amend sec. 130, page 58, line 7, after “employed” by inserting:

“by an agency which provides child welfare services in a county whose population is 100,000 or more”.

     Amend sec. 130, page 58, line 17, by deleting:

“[July 1, 1988,] September 1, 2002,” and inserting:

“July 1, 1988,”.

     Amend sec. 130, page 58, after line 20, by inserting:

     “5.  As used in this section, “agency which provides child welfare services” has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS 432B.030.”.

     Amend the bill as a whole by adding a new section designated sec. 131.5, following sec. 131, to read as follows:

     “Sec. 131.5. Section 3 of chapter 508, Statutes of Nevada 1999, at page 2612, is hereby amended to read as follows:

     Sec. 3.  This act becomes effective on July 1, 1999, and expires by limitation on June 30, [2001.] 2003.”.

     Amend sec. 134, page 60, line 2, by deleting “thereto:” and inserting:

“thereto to the contrary:”.

     Amend sec. 134, page 60, by deleting lines 11 through 14.

     Amend sec. 134, page 60, line 15, by deleting “3.” and inserting “2.”.

     Amend sec. 134, page 60, line 18, after “employment” by inserting:

“in a comparable position”.

     Amend sec. 134, page 60, line 20, by deleting “4.” and inserting “3.”.

     Amend sec. 134, page 60, line 22, by deleting “3” and inserting “2”.

     Amend sec. 134, page 60, line 26, by deleting “3.” and inserting “2.”.

     Amend sec. 134, page 60, by deleting lines 31 through 44 and inserting:

“paragraph; or

     (b) Receive payment for his unused sick leave, exclusive of any unused sick leave accrued but not carried forward, as of the effective date of the abolishment of his position, according to his number of years of public service, except service with a political subdivision of the state, as follows:

          (1) For less than 10 years of service, not more than $1,500.

          (2) For 10 years of service or more but less than 15 years, not more than $2,500.

          (3) For 15 years of service or more but less than 20 years, not more than $4,000.

          (4) For 20 years of service or more but less than 25 years, not more than $6,000.

          (5) For 25 years of service or more, not more than $8,000.

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If the payment provided pursuant to this paragraph does not compensate the employee fully for the unused sick leave that the employee has accrued and carried forward, the remaining balance of the employee’s unused sick leave must be transferred to his sick leave account with the agency with which he accepted employment pursuant to subsection 2. If sick leave is transferred to the employee’s sick leave account with the county agency pursuant to this paragraph, the employee may only use that sick leave after he has exhausted the sick leave that he accrues at the county agency. The employee may not receive any payment for sick leave that is transferred pursuant to this paragraph.”.

     Amend sec. 134, page 60, line 45, by deleting “5.” and inserting “4.”.

     Amend sec. 134, page 60, line 47, by deleting “3” and inserting “2”.

     Amend sec. 134, page 61, line 5, by deleting “6.” and inserting “5.”.

     Amend sec. 134, page 61, line 7, after “classified” by inserting “and continued”.

     Amend sec. 134, page 61, by deleting line 9 and inserting:

“subsection 2. Persons hired by the county agency on or after October 1, 2001, in the capacity of social worker, supervisor of social work or administrator of social work must be licensed pursuant to chapter 641B of NRS.”.

     Amend sec. 134, page 61, line 10, by deleting “7.” and inserting “6.”.

     Amend sec. 134, page 61, line 13, by deleting “3” and inserting “2”.

     Amend sec. 134, page 61, line 20, by deleting “3” and inserting “2”.

     Amend sec. 134, page 61, line 25, by deleting “8.” and inserting “7.”.

     Amend sec. 134, page 61, line 27, by deleting “3” and inserting “2”.

     Amend sec. 134, page 61, by deleting lines 30 through 32 and inserting:

     “(a) Must be in a range of salary such that the employee will not experience any reduction in his annual net salary.

     (b) Must be adjusted to include any merit increase that the employee would have been eligible to receive within the 1-year period after his acceptance of an offer pursuant to subsection 2 if the employee had remained employed by the division of child and family services of the department of human resources. Such an increase must not commence until the date on which the employee would have received the merit increase if the employee had remained employed by the division of child and family services.”.

     Amend sec. 134, page 61, line 33, by deleting “(b)” and inserting “(c)”.

     Amend sec. 134, page 61, line 35, by deleting “3” and inserting “2”.

     Amend sec. 134, page 61, line 39, by deleting “(c)” and inserting “(d)”.

     Amend sec. 134, page 61, by deleting lines 43 through 49 and inserting:

     “8.  Notwithstanding any provision of the law, county ordinance or collective bargaining agreement entered into pursuant to chapter 288 of NRS to the contrary, an agency which provides child welfare services in a county whose population is 100,000 or more shall pay to the public employees’ benefits program the premiums or contributions for each employee of the division of child and family services of the department of human resources who:

     (a) Accepts an offer of employment made pursuant to subsection 2 by the agency; and

     (b) Participated in the public employees’ benefits program,

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from the date on which the position of the employee was abolished until the employee is eligible for coverage for health benefits by the county agency. The coverage of the employee under the public employees’ benefits program must be continuous until his coverage for health benefits commences with the county agency.”.

     Amend sec. 134, page 62, line 1, by deleting “10.” and inserting “9.”.

     Amend sec. 134, page 62, line 6, by deleting “3” and inserting “2”.

     Amend sec. 134, page 62, after line 6, by inserting:

     “10.  Notwithstanding any provision of the law, county ordinance or collective bargaining agreement entered into pursuant to chapter 288 of NRS to the contrary, an employee of the division of child and family services of the department of human resources who accepts an offer of employment made pursuant to subsection 2 is entitled to the same rights as a county employee in the case of a layoff at the county agency. For the purposes of a layoff at the county agency, the number of years of state service of such an employee of the division of child and family services must be considered in addition to his years of service with the county agency.”.

     Amend the bill as a whole by adding a new section designated sec. 134.5, following sec. 134, to read as follows:

     “Sec. 134.5.  Notwithstanding any provision of chapter 284 of NRS or any regulations adopted pursuant thereto to the contrary, an employee of the division of child and family services of the department of human resources whose position is or will be abolished may request that his name be placed on the appropriate reemployment list before or after his position is abolished and is entitled to all related rights and privileges as if he had been laid off on the date on which his position was abolished.”.

     Amend sec. 135, page 62, line 10, by deleting “400,000” and inserting “100,000”.

     Amend sec. 136, page 62, by deleting lines 17 through 24 and inserting:

     “Sec. 136. 1.  This section and sections 131.5, 134.5 and 137 of this act become effective upon passage and approval.

     2.  Sections 35 to 41, inclusive, of this act become effective on July 1, 2001.

     3.  Sections 1 to 34, inclusive, 42 to 130, inclusive, 132, 133, 134 and 135 of this act become effective on October 1, 2001.

     4.  Sections 35 to 41, inclusive, and 126 of this act expire by limitation on June 30, 2005.

     5.  Section 130 of this act expires by limitation on January 1, 2005.

     6.  Section 131 of this act becomes effective on July 1, 2005.”.

     Amend the preamble of the bill, pages 1 and 2, by deleting lines 1 through 21 on page 1 and lines 1 through 11 on page 2, and inserting:

     “Whereas, Under the current child welfare system in this state, a child residing in a county whose population is 100,000 or more who is in need of protective custody services is initially under the supervision of the county; and

     Whereas, If such a child is unable to return safely to the home of his parents and will remain in out-of-home care for more than 6 months, custody of the child is typically transferred to the Division of Child and Family Services of the Department of Human Resources; and

     Whereas, After being transferred from to the Division of Child and Family Services, a child and his parents are typically assigned a new case manager, the child is placed in a new foster home that is willing to accept the foster care rates paid by the Division and the child is transferred to a new therapist who is a Medicaid provider; and

     Whereas, Under this bifurcated system, the transfer of custody to the Division of Child and Family Services may result in a delay of up to 6 months in the commencement of a permanent plan for the care and treatment of a child and may cause the child to remain in the system for a longer period; and

     Whereas, The Federal Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 requires the agency which provides child welfare services to pursue termination of parental rights for any child who remains in out-of-home care for 15 months out of the immediately preceding 22 months; and

     Whereas, The interruption of services to children and families caused by the bifurcated system places parents at risk of having their parental rights terminated unjustly; and

     Whereas, The bifurcated system also creates disparities in the rates of reimbursement for providers of foster care and the compensation paid to employees of the county and the state; and

     Whereas, The duplication of efforts inherent in a bifurcated system is inefficient; and

     Whereas, Integration of the child welfare system in this state will begin to eliminate the inefficiencies of the current system by reducing the number of placements of children in foster homes, decreasing the length of time that children remain in out-of-home care and ensuring that children are placed in permanent homes as soon as possible; and

     Whereas, Caseload standards must be established by regulation to ensure that agencies which provide child welfare services have sufficient staff to provide best practices for the provision of child welfare services in this state; and

     Whereas, The rates for foster care reimbursement should be established at a level that enables a provider of foster care to care for a child adequately and the rates should be standardized within each county and structured in a manner that avoids any unnecessary interruptions in foster home placements because of changing levels of reimbursements; and

     Whereas, Fairness to employees affected by the integration of the child welfare system is a priority; and

     Whereas, The Division of Child and Family Services and counties whose population is 100,000 or more have a shared fiscal responsibility for the costs of providing child welfare services and must be committed to ensuring future maintenance of their efforts in providing those services and to equitably sharing future costs for providing those services; and

     Whereas, Integration of the child welfare system in this state will allow the placement of children in a child welfare system that is adequately funded and structured to avoid unnecessary interruptions in placement and will ensure that permanency is achieved for children in accordance with federal and state laws; now, therefore,”.