HomeMy WebLinkAbout981777.tiff WELD COUNTY
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COLORADO DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES
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1595 Sherman Street BOARD
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Phone (303)866-5981
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Roy Romer
Governor
Barbara McDonnell
Executive Director
Karen Beye
Managing Director
September 11, 1998
Commissioner Connie Harbert, Chair
Weld County Board of County Commissioners
Weld County Courthouse
PO Box 758
Greeley, CO 80632
Dear Commissioner Harbert,
Enclosed are responses to the latest set of questions received by the State Department through our
question and answer e-mail, fax and phone forums. We again would like to remind you to use these
forums to submit policy questions regarding the Colorado Works Program that may be of interest to all
county staff. We will continue to answer the questions as comprehensively as possible and distribute
them via hard copy and e-mail to those that wish to receive them.
You may e-mail your questions to coworks.issues@state.co.us, fax them locally to (303) 866-5488 or
toll-free to (800) 572-5488, or call locally(303) 866-5500 or toll-free to (800) 543-4995. Anyone not
already on the distribution list who would like to be should also use one of these forums to request to be
put on the list. When requesting to be placed on the list, please provide your name, agency, and
complete address(Internet e-mail and regular mail).
Sincerely,
Don Bishop, Acting Manager
Office of Self-Sufficiency
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, O* \ 55; ER • CAS Fl 981777
Colorado Works Program Question and Answer Forum
Regarding the rule at Volume 3.621.23, can a Colorado Works participant who is currently under a
sanction for non participation in a work activity also have their cash payment stopped for one
particular month during the sanction period?
Volume 3.621.23, states that "(r)efusal to participate in training, education, or work as evidenced
by an affirmative statement by the participant or demonstrable evidence, may result in denial or
termination of the basic cash assistance grant in its entirety as determined by the county for a
minimum of one month."
An individual cannot be penalized twice for the same infraction. Under this rule, counties may
close a case for refusal to participate, or they may sanction the case. If a county chooses to
sanction the case, the sanction process, as defined by county policy, must run its course. The
participant always has the option not to cure the sanction, in which case the sanction process
would continue from the first level to the second and, eventually, to closure of the case with the
third level.
Regarding the immunization of children, Volume 3.604.5 says that there is an exemption for religious
or medical reasons as stated in the Federal law. What does the federal law say those reason are?
Volume 3.604.5 states that"(a)ll children whose needs are included in the assistance unit
receiving Colorado Works benefits must be immunized, or an attempt must be made to bring the
children's immunizations up to date, unless exempt due to religious or medical reasons in
accordance with Federal law."
The phrase, "in accordance with Federal law,"refers to a provision in PRWORA which allows
States to impose individual obligations in an IRC;which could include a condition that children
in the home be immunized. PRWORA also gave States the authority to reduce the amount of
assistance an individual may receive for failing to comply with their IRC without good cause.
With the authority that PRWORA allows, Colorado law made it a requirement that a
participant's IRC include the requirement that children be immunized. However, failure to
immunize a child for religious or medical reasons are considered good cause reasons not to
comply with an IRC, and, therefore, the assistance unit would not be subject to a reduction in the
amount of assistance for these reasons only.
Counties are responsible for the determination of good cause. The specific religious or medical
reasons for which children might not be immunized are not defined by federal law, state law or
state rules.
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Colorado Works Program Question and Answer Forum
There are several issues specifically related to county savings under both SB 97-120 and SB 98-185.
Each of these issues is addressed below in terms of what happens when a county does not spend their
entire Colorado Works Program block grant and there are savings, and how the State Department is
actually going to remedy these situations.
• SB 97-120, COUNTY RESERVE ACCOUNT: Under SB 97-120, a county may maintain a
reserve account of county block grant funds[state and federal dollars block granted to counties]
under rules by the State Department, §26-2-714(5), Colorado Revised Statutes. To date, no rules
related to this provision have been adopted Since counties have now completed one fiscal year
under the Colorado Works Program and may wish to retain a reserve account, how and when
does the State Department intend to provide a process to implement the county reserve?
When a county does not spend their entire block grant by the end of the fiscal year, all or a
portion of the amount that is not spent is credited to a county "reserve." These funds, which are
federal funds, are available for a county to use for the Colorado Works program in the following
year. The Department will identify the amount of Colorado Works federal funds that are
available to each county as "reserve" funds. Preliminary reserve funds for each county are
ider ified in column 3 of the chart on pages 5 .nd 52 of Agency Letter ABA-98-13-I, dated
September 1, 1998. Final numbers will be available after the final closeout of SFY 97-98.
The Department will be reviewing the SFY 97-98 closeout process in order to determine what
rules are needed for SFY 98-99 in order to implement the provisions of SB 97-120, as well as the
additional provisions contained in SB 98-185.
• SB 97-120, SHORT-TERM WORKS EMERGENCY FUND: At the end of each SFY, the
county shall remit to the short-term works emergency fund 50% of the amount in the county
reserve account that exceeds 20% of the total county block grant for that fiscal year. How will
this be implemented and are there any funds now available in the short-term works emergency
fund?
The Department will identify the amount of Colorado Works federal funds that are to be credited
to the short-term works emergency fund. Our preliminary estimate is that approximately $9.5
million will be credited from county block grants to the short-term works emergency fund for
SFY 97-98.
In addition to these funds, $3 million was appropriated to the short-term works emergency fund
for SFY 98-99.
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Colorado Works Program Question and Answer Forum
• SB 97-120,ACCESSING SHORT-TERM WORKS EMERGENCY FUND: The short-term
works emergency fund created at the State level consists of moneys remitted to the emergency
fund from the county reserve account as specified above. How will those counties that qualify
apply for these funds as authorized beginning in SFY98-99? I) For those counties whose costs
for basic grants exceeding 5% of the costs for grants in the previous year;2) For counties that
negotiate a higher work participation rate than the federal requirement for the rate; and 3) For
counties for a correction of errors in the determination of the county block grant that exceeds 5%
of the total amount of the county block grant.
The Department is authorized to allocate supplemental funds to counties from the short-term
works emergency fund. For SFY 98-99, counties must meet one or more of the specific criteria
identified in statute at Section 26-2-720 (2) (c, e, and f)to receive a supplemental allocation from
the short-term works emergency fund. The criteria listed above are those conditions. Counties
may request funds from the short-term emergency reserve fund at any time during the year by
addressing their requests to the Manager of the Office of Self Sufficiency.
The Department will also identify counties that may qualify based on increased costs for basic
grants during the annual close out process.
• SB 97-120, REALLOCATION OF EXCESS SHORT-TERM WORKS EMERGENCY
FUNDS: When will the State Department reallocate to counties any funds in the emergency fund
that are in excess of 20% of the SFY97-98 federal block grant? How will this process be
undertaken and in what timeframe?
Twenty percent of the federal block grant for SFY 97-98 would equal approximately $27.7
million. It is unlikely that there will be funds in excess of 20% of the federal block grant in the
short-term works emergency fund during SFY 98-99. Should there be additional funds to
allocate, the Department will seek recommendations from the Works Allocation Committee
regarding the methodology for reallocation to the counties.
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Colorado Works Program Question and Answer Forum
• SB 98-185, POTENTIAL COUNTY SAVINGS REALIZED FROM REDUCED MOE: Under
SB 98-185, counties are required to appropriate 100% of what they spent in SFY95-96, but are
required to only spend 80% of what they spent in SFY93-94, which generally results in 9%
savings for each county. These savings must be kept in the county social services fund. Are all
counties aware of these potential funds and clear that these funds may be saved or spent for any
social services purpose-not just Colorado Works Program purposes- at the county option?
Counties may not be aware of all of the implications of SB 98-185. Will information explaining
this new provision that applies to SFY97-98 and subsequent fiscal years be provided to counties?
The Agency Letter ABA-98-13-I, dated September 1, 1998 provides some information
explaining the new provisions of SB 98-185 for fiscal year SFY 97-98 and subsequent fiscal
years. Additional information will be distributed as it becomes available. Counties should be
aware that at the county's option, any potential funds may be saved or spent for any social
services purpose, not just Colorado Works Program purposes.
There are also several issues specifically related to transfers within and related to the county
Colorado Works Program block grants. These issues are also addressed below in terms of the State
Department's remedy and the county's roles and responsibilities.
• SB 97-120 TANF TO CHILD CARE BLOCK GRANT: Counties may transfer any federal
funds within the county's block grant that the State Department specifies as being available for
transfer to the child care and development block grant if child care funds are not available. As
childcare expenditures increase and childcare funds are depleted in counties-how and what
information is being provided to counties to allow counties to make these transfers? What
timeframes will be incorporated so counties may develop and adjust county budgets accordingly?
Adequate child care funds were available for SFY 97-98 and there were not any transfers from
the Colorado Works Program to the Child Care and Development Block Grant. The Department
is currently developing options for coordinating future transfers of funds from Colorado Works
to child care.
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Colorado Works Program Question and Answer Forum
• TANF, CHILDCARE, CHILD WELFARE BLOCK GRANTS: How do transfers between lines
in these blocks work? Can administrative and program lines be transferred? Are the policies the
same for all the blocks?
Transfers from Colorado Works to Child Welfare were completed as part of the close out process
for SFY 97-98. The Department is currently considering options for coordinating future transfers
of funds from Colorado Works to child care and to child welfare.
Colorado Works does not have separate lines for administration and program. Counties may use
their Colorado Works funds for either administration or program expenditures.
Child care has separate lines for county administration and direct child care subsidy payments.
When counties exceed their county administration allocations, for staff, operating, and contracted
services, the overexpenditures are charged to the direct child care subsidy payment allocations.
• COUNTIES WISHING TO TRANSFER: What action does a county need to take in order to
make a transfer?
Any county wishing to make a transfer from Colorado Works should make a request in writing to
the Manager of the Office of Self Sufficiency and should copy the request to the Division of
Child Care, the Division of Child Welfare, and the Division of Accounting.
• 10% TANF TRANSFER TO CHILD WELFARE AUTHORIZED UNDER HB 98-1137: What
action does the county need to take in order to make the transfers authorized under HB 98-1137?
Can a county decide not to make a transfer? Will they have to wait until rules governing transfer
procedures are adopted? How will such a transfer affect the county's MOE for both the TANF
and child welfare blocks?
Any county wishing to make a transfer from Colorado Works to Child Welfare should make a
request in writing to the Manager of the Office of Self Sufficiency and should coordinate this
request with the Divisions of Child Welfare and the Division of Accounting.
HB 98-1137 allows county to make such a transfer, but does not require it. A transfer of
Colorado Works funds to Title XX will have no affect on the county's MOE for TANF or Child
Welfare as the funds that would be transferred are federal funds only.
11-Sep-98 Colorado Department of Human Services Page 5
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