PRINTER'S NO. 291
No. 274 Session of 1985
INTRODUCED BY VAN HORNE, OLASZ, CESSAR, ITKIN, COWELL, DUFFY,
PISTELLA, PRESTON, MARKOSEK, DAWIDA, MICHLOVIC, SEVENTY,
PETRONE, GAMBLE, TRELLO, IRVIS AND BOOK, FEBRUARY 11, 1985
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON HEALTH AND WELFARE, FEBRUARY 11, 1985
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of June 13, 1967 (P.L.31, No.21), entitled "An
2 act to consolidate, editorially revise, and codify the public
3 welfare laws of the Commonwealth," further providing for
4 payments to counties for services to children; and making
5 editorial changes.
6 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
7 hereby enacts as follows:
8 Section 1. Section 704.1 of the act of June 13, 1967
9 (P.L.31, No.21), known as the Public Welfare Code, added July 9,
10 1976 (P.L.846, No.148), is amended to read:
11 Section 704.1. Payments to Counties for Services to
12 Children.--(a) The department shall reimburse county
13 institution districts or their successors for expenditures
14 incurred by them in the performance of their obligation pursuant
15 to this act and [the act of December 6, 1972 (P.L.1464, No.333),
16 known as the "Juvenile Act,"] 42 Pa.C.S. Ch. 63 (relating to
17 juvenile matters) in the following percentages:
18 (1) [Eighty] No less than ninety percent of the cost of an
19 adoption subsidy paid pursuant to subdivision (e) of Article VII
1 of this act.
2 (2) No less than [seventy-five percent and no more than]
3 ninety percent of the reasonable cost including staff costs of
4 child welfare services, informal adjustment services provided
5 pursuant to [section 8 of the act of December 6, 1972 (P.L.1464,
6 No.333), known as the "Juvenile Act,"] 42 Pa.C.S. Ch. 63 and
7 such services approved by the department, including but not
8 limited to, foster home care, group home care, shelter care,
9 community residential care, youth service bureaus, day treatment
10 centers and service to children in their own home and any other
11 alternative treatment programs approved by the department.
12 (3) [Sixty] No less than ninety percent of the reasonable
13 administrative costs approved by the department except for those
14 staff costs included in clause (2) of this section as necessary
15 for the provision of child welfare services.
16 (4) One hundred percent of the actual cost of care and
17 support of a child committed by a court pursuant to 42 Pa.C.S.
18 Ch. 63 to the legal custody of any State-operated facility for
19 delinquent children.
20 [(4) Fifty] (5) Seventy-five percent of the actual cost of
21 care and support of a child placed by a county child welfare
22 agency or a child committed by a court pursuant to [the act of
23 December 6, 1972 (P.L.1464, No.333), known as the "Juvenile
24 Act,"] 42 Pa.C.S. Ch. 63 to the legal custody of a public or
25 private agency approved or operated by the department other than
26 those services described in clause (2). The Auditor General
27 shall ascertain the actual expense for fiscal year 1974-1975 and
28 each year thereafter by the Department of Public Welfare for
29 each of the several counties and each city of the first class
30 whose children resident within the county or city of the first
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1 class directly received the benefit of the Commonwealth's
2 expenditure. The Auditor General shall also ascertain for each
3 Commonwealth institution or facility rendering services to
4 delinquent or deprived children the actual average daily cost of
5 providing said services. The Auditor General shall certify to
6 each county and city of the first class the allocated
7 Commonwealth expenditures incurred on behalf of its children and
8 notify the Secretary of Public Welfare and each county and city
9 of the first class of same.
10 [(5)] (6) Fifty percent of the reasonable cost of medical
11 and other examinations and treatment of a child ordered by the
12 court pursuant to [the act of December 6, 1972 (P.L.1464,
13 No.333), known as the "Juvenile Act,"] 42 Pa.C.S. Ch. 63 and the
14 expenses of the appointment of a guardian pendente lite,
15 summons, warrants, notices, subpoenas, travel expenses of
16 witnesses, transportation of the child, and other like expenses
17 incurred in proceedings under [the act of December 6, 1972
18 (P.L.1464, No.333), known as the "Juvenile Act."] 42 Pa.C.S. Ch.
19 63.
20 (b) The department shall make additional grants to any
21 county institution district or its successor to assist in
22 establishing new services to children in accordance with a plan
23 approved by the department for up to the first three years of
24 operation of those services. In order to provide necessary
25 information to the General Assembly relative to the grants
26 provided under this subsection, a report will be developed by
27 the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee and provided to the
28 members of the General Assembly no later than July 1, 1980,
29 concerning all grants made and expenditures accomplished under
30 the provisions of this subsection for the period up to and
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1 including December 31, 1979. This report shall include
2 information on the amount of moneys that went to individual
3 counties and a description of activities and services financed
4 with these moneys including the number and types of clients
5 served under each of the grant programs and any other
6 information necessary in order to fully inform the General
7 Assembly on such programs. All officials of the Department of
8 Public Welfare, grant recipient county organizations, and other
9 agencies which receive State moneys under the provisions of this
10 subsection shall cooperate with the committee and its staff in
11 carrying out this reporting requirement, including making
12 available all necessary fiscal and programmatic data.
13 (c) No payment pursuant to subsection (a)(2), (3) [or], (4)
14 or (5) or of subsection (b) shall be made for any period in
15 which the county institution district or its successor fails to
16 substantially comply with the regulations of the department
17 promulgated pursuant to section 703 including but not limited to
18 those regulations relating to minimum child welfare services,
19 minimum standards of child welfare services and minimum
20 standards of child welfare administration on a merit basis.
21 [(d) Amounts due from county institution districts or their
22 successors for children committed to facilities operated by the
23 department shall be paid by the counties to the Department of
24 Revenue by orders to be drawn by the duly authorized agent of
25 the Department of Revenue at each youth development center or
26 forestry camp on the treasurers of such counties, who shall
27 accept and pay the same to the Department of Revenue. Promptly
28 after the last calendar day of each month the agent of the
29 Department of Revenue shall mail accounts to the commissioners
30 of such counties as may have become liable to the Commonwealth
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1 during the month under the provisions of this section. These
2 accounts shall be duly sworn or affirmed to, and it shall be the
3 duty of said commissioners, immediately upon receipt of such
4 accounts, to notify the treasurers of their respective counties
5 of the amounts of said accounts, with instructions to pay
6 promptly to the Department of Revenue the amounts of said orders
7 when presented. It shall then be the duty of such county
8 treasurers to make such payments as instructed by their
9 respective county commissioners. In lieu of payments by the
10 county to the Commonwealth, the department may deduct the amount
11 due the Commonwealth from the reimbursement payments by the
12 department to the county institution districts or their
13 successors.]
14 (e) If, after due notice to the parents or other persons
15 legally obligated to care for and support the child, and after
16 affording them an opportunity to be heard, the court finds that
17 they are financially able to pay all or part of the costs and
18 expenses stated in subsection (a), the court may order them to
19 pay the same and prescribe the manner of payment. Unless
20 otherwise ordered, payment shall be made to the clerk of the
21 court for remittance to the person to whom compensation is due,
22 or if the costs and expenses have been paid by the county, to
23 the appropriate officer of the county.
24 (f) The department shall prescribe the time at, and the form
25 on which county institution districts or their successors shall
26 submit to the department annual estimates of who will be served
27 and the cost of such service under each category of service set
28 forth in subsection (a).
29 (g) The department shall, within forty-five days of each
30 calendar quarter, pay fifty percent of the department's share of
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1 the county institution district's or its successor's estimated
2 expenditures for that quarter.
3 (h) At the end of each of calendar years 1978 and 1979,
4 every county shall compare the amount received in child welfare
5 reimbursements for calendar year 1976 pursuant to section 704 of
6 this act and [section 36 of the act of December 6, 1972
7 (P.L.1464, No.333), known as the "Juvenile Act"] 42 Pa.C.S. Ch.
8 63 with child welfare reimbursements received for each of
9 calendar years 1978 and 1979 pursuant to this section. The
10 resulting difference in reimbursements for child welfare
11 services received between calendar year 1976 and each of
12 calendar years 1978 and 1979 shall then be compared with the
13 amount the county paid in each of calendar years 1978 and 1979
14 for youth development center or forestry camp commitments
15 pursuant to subsection (a)(4). If there is an increase in
16 reimbursements for child welfare services and that increase is
17 less in either or both of calendar years 1978 and 1979 than the
18 amount expended by the county for its share of the cost of youth
19 development center and forestry camp commitments, then any such
20 county shall be entitled to receive additional block grants as
21 provided in subsection (b) equal to the amount of such
22 difference.
23 Section 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
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