THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

HOUSE BILL

INTRODUCED BY PRESTON, BRENNAN, BUXTON, CALTAGIRONE, DONATUCCI, HENNESSEY, JOSEPHS, KORTZ, MILLARD, SAINATO AND VULAKOVICH, MARCH 7, 2011

REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON CONSUMER AFFAIRS, MARCH 7, 2011  

AN ACT

Providing funding for standards and for implementation of a 211

abbreviated dialing code for information and human services

referral telephone service; establishing the 211 Advisory

Board; and making an appropriation.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1.  Short title.

This act shall be known and may be cited as the Pennsylvania

211 Telephone Service Implementation Act.

Section 2.  Legislative findings.

The General Assembly finds and declares as follows:

(1)  The dialing code 211 is the national abbreviated

dialing code approved by the Federal Communications

Commission for access to health and human services

information and referral. The dialing code 211 is a

universally recognizable number that makes it easier to

connect individuals and families in need with the appropriate

professional providers, community-based organizations and

government agencies that provide health and human services.

(2)  The dialing code 211 proved its value in several

states during the recent disasters related to terrorist

attacks on September 11, 2001. In Atlanta, 211 handled over

14,000 calls in the week following the attacks. More than

5,000 people offered help and 9,000 people requested

assistance.

(3)  In Connecticut, various state agencies and nonprofit

groups used 211 to coordinate services during the attacks.

Connecticut calls to 211 involved families looking for

victims, frightened children and concerned parents,

individuals reliving other disasters, people who escaped the

World Trade Center and were experiencing guilt, information

on terrorist suspects, mentally ill persons feeling

overwhelmed with disaster, location of vigils and requests.

(4)  Recent hurricanes in Florida showed the strength of

211 when there was an increase in calls of over 100% during

and immediately after the hurricanes throughout that state.

Some 211 systems in affected areas were showing increases of

over 500%. The easy-to-remember number helped relieve the 911

burden in those areas.

(5)  The dialing code 211 helps to better address long-

term needs of victims and their families of the September 11,

2001, attacks and other types of disasters.

(6)  A study by the National Center on Addiction and

Substance Abuse at Columbia University and 13 states,

including Pennsylvania, have detected an increased demand for

alcohol and drug treatment since September 11, 2001.

(7)  Research demonstrates that exposure to trauma puts

an individual at four-to-five times greater risk of substance

abuse and stress is considered the most common cause of

relapse to addiction to or abuse of alcohol, drugs and

smoking.

(8)  Oklahoma experienced a dramatic increase in the need

for treatment services in the two years following the

domestic terrorist bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal

Building on April 19, 1995. One year after the bombing, three

times as many residents of Oklahoma City reported increased

drinking. Rescue workers in Oklahoma City experienced

elevated rates of substance abuse, depression and suicide.

(9)  The New York State Office of Alcoholism and

Substance Abuse Services reports that demand for alcohol and

drug treatment in New York City increased after the September

11, 2001, attacks.

(10)  Over 40 states in this nation and Canada have

implemented or are working to implement 211 in their

respective jurisdictions. While useful during times of

crisis, the importance of 211 is greatest for response to

everyday inquiries about needs such as unemployment

compensation, health care and its coverage, nursing homes,

Women's Infants and Children (WIC) program, prenatal care and

many beneficial services from government and nongovernmental

agencies.

(11)  Many community groups also are viewing 211 as a

powerful neutral connecting point and 211 has provided help

to diverse populations, such as runaway children, senior

citizens and parents looking for child care.

(12)  In Pennsylvania, the Health and Human Services Call

Center, a smaller scale, centralized pilot of the 211

concept, has provided a 45% reduction in costs with a 25%

increase in call productivity, serving more needs with one

call. Intangible benefits include those for callers who do

not know whom they should call.

Section 3.  Definitions.

The following words and phrases when used in this act shall

have the meanings given to them in this section unless the

context clearly indicates otherwise:

"211."  An abbreviated dialing code approved by the Federal

Communications Commission for access to health and human

services information and referral.

"Advisory board" or "board."  The 211 Advisory Board

established by this act.

"AIRS."  The Alliance of Information and Referral Systems.

"Applicant."  A vendor experienced in providing information

and referral services that assist individuals in need of health

and human services to obtain assistance from appropriate

providers and organizations.

"Governmental units."  The term shall include all cities,

regardless of their class, counties, municipalities, townships,

boroughs or other political subdivisions.

"Human Service Single Point of Contact."  The agency-approved

first point at which calls for health and human services

assistance from individuals are answered, operated 24 hours a

day on every day of the year.

"Public agency."  The Commonwealth or a political

subdivision, public authority, municipal authority or any

organization located in whole or in part within this

Commonwealth which provides or has the authority to provide

human services.

"Service level agreements."  Levels, such as average speed of

answer, at which services are provided through contract

agreement between the Department of General Services and the

vendor.

Section 4.  Duties of department.

The Department of General Services shall approve a single

performance-based contract with an applicant that meets the

eligibility requirements of this act. The contract shall be used

by the Department of Health to implement and administer 211

service to the citizens of this Commonwealth.

Section 5.  Eligibility requirements.

An applicant shall do all of the following:

(1)  Agree to follow any policies, procedures or

standards developed by the advisory board.

(2)  Provide a written plan that details procedures to

assure network security, security of archival information,

protection of health information and adherence to the Health

Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (Public

Law 104-191, 110 Stat. 1936), appropriate anonymity and

confidentiality for 211 callers and data.

(3)  Agree to establish a comprehensive and Statewide

system by the end of the third year of the contract and

ensure the provision of 24-hour, year-round telephone

information and referral services within one year of the

awarding of the contract.

(4)  Within one year of funding:

(i)  Demonstrate adherence to the AIRS or National

Standards for Information and Referral.

(ii)  Have software capable of tracking call volume,

number of abandoned calls, average speed of answering and

average call length.

(iii)  Demonstrate how the applicant will publicize

211 services and educate the public on an ongoing basis.

(iv)  Provide direct access for the deaf to the 211

number and multilingual accessibility either through

access to live translation or by using at least 10%

information and referral specialists who are fluent in a

language other than English, at least half of whom shall

be fluent in Spanish.

(v)  Have written policies and procedures in place as

well as necessary software to manage donations and

volunteers or written agreements with another agency that

provides these services for them.

(vi)  Establish an Internet website that provides

accessible information and referral resources in formats

that are easily used by persons with disabilities.

Section 6.  Subcontractors.

A 211 provider may subcontract for a specific service. It

shall be the 211 provider's responsibility to ensure through the

contract that the subcontractor follows all applicable

standards.

Section 7.  Request for proposal.

The department shall issue a request for proposal for

issuance of a single contract. The apportionment of funding

under subcontracts shall be subject to approval by the

Department of General Services.

Section 8.  211 Advisory Board.

(a)  Establishment.--The 211 Advisory Board is hereby

established.

(b)  Membership.--Members of the board shall be appointed by

the Secretary of Health. The board shall have at least 16

members and be composed of critical stakeholders, including

business, law enforcement, private sector benefactors, State and

local government, community and charitable organizations,

information and referral experts, State emergency management

offices and local telephone service providers. A minimum of two

members shall be citizen users of the 211 service and a minimum

of two members shall be providers who are users of the 211

service.

(c)  Duties.--The duties of the board are as follows:

(1)  Develop standards for service level agreements.

(2)  Develop database standards to include the annual

update of each active referral source.

(3)  Develop follow-up standards for the purpose of

evaluating the vendor's performance from the user's

perspective.

(4)  Develop uniform reporting standards.

(5)  Ensure that the contracting process covers the

entire State, so that every citizen can reach 211 through

their landline phone within the first year.

(6)  Work toward cell phone coverage so that every

citizen can reach 211 through their cell phone.

(7)  Require and approve appropriate call routing and

prioritization capacity to ensure calls are answered within

service level agreements established under the contract.

(8)  Approve a vendor-developed disaster recovery plan to

ensure that a seamless system will be in place to take calls,

regardless of the nature of the interruption.

(9)  Work in collaboration with the Department of

Community and Economic Development, the Pennsylvania

Emergency Management Agency, the Pennsylvania Public Utility

Commission, the Pennsylvania State Police and all State

agencies providing health and human services. As necessary,

this shall include the funding, through a memorandum of

understanding, of key positions in health and human services

agencies, including the Department of Health.

(10)  Adopt and oversee a plan to implement the standards

in section 5 and develop any standards, policies or

procedures necessary to run a Statewide networked 211 system.

(11)  Assure that funding is linked to standards through

performance-based contracting.

(12)  Provide necessary technical assistance.

(13)  Assist in the establishment of a long-range plan to

assure that every Pennsylvanian has access to 211 within the

first year of enactment of this act.

(d)  Staffing.--The Department of Health shall provide

adequate staff to assist the board with its duties.

Section 9.  Consolidation of existing information and referral

telephone lines.

Effective six months after the effective date of this

section, the Commonwealth shall consolidate all existing

information and referral toll-free telephone lines for the

purpose of implementing 211.

Section 10.  Public disclosure and confidentiality of

information.

(a)  Annual report of the board.--The annual report of the

board shall be a public document.

(b)  Prohibition against release of information.--Neither the

public agency, nor any employee, agent or representative of the

Human Service Single Point of Contact or public agency shall

divulge any information acquired with respect to any 211

service, its customers, revenues or expenses, trade secrets,

commercial information and such other proprietary information

while acting or claiming to act as such employee, agent or

representative, and all such information is hereby required to

be kept confidential except that aggregations of information

which do not identify or effectively identify numbers of

customers, revenues or expenses, trade secrets, commercial

information and such other proprietary information attributable

to any 211 services provider may be made public.

Section 11.  Immunity.

(a)  Generally.--No 211 services provider or its officers,

directors, employees, agents or vendors shall be liable to any

person for civil damages resulting from or caused by such

providers', its officers', directors', employees', agents' or

suppliers' participation in or acts, failures or omissions in

connection with that participation in the development, design,

installation, operation, maintenance, performance or provision

211 service, except for willful or wanton misconduct.

(b)  Release of information.--No 211 provider or its

employees or agents shall be liable to any person for releasing

customer information to the agency or to any 211 system, public

agency or Human Service Single Point of Contact as required by

this act.

(c)  Local governmental immunity.--Any part of the 211 system

that is a local agency shall enjoy local governmental immunity

as provided under 42 Pa.C.S. Ch. 85 Subch. C (relating to

actions against local parties).

Section 12.  Effective date.

This act shall take effect July 31, 2011.