Ohio's least productive two-year session in decades?

Ohio lawmakers set record for legislative inaction

Cincinnati.com, Dec. 26, 2010. 

 The just concluded two-year session of the Ohio Legislature has set a modern record for legislative inaction.

One explanation may be the state's first experience with politically divided chambers since enacting term limits 10 years ago and reducing lawmakers' political experience.

The Columbus Dispatch reported Sunday that only 58 bills became law during the 128th General Assembly, compared to an average of 247 bills during the previous 20 years.

House lawmakers met only 52 times and Senate lawmakers only 58 times, compared to an average of about 83 times every session in previous years.

Sen. Bill Seitz, a Cincinnati Republican, said it was the least productive two-year session he's seen in his decade in Columbus.

What's the future for Medicaid in Ohio?

According to a 2010 report from the Buckeye Institute, Crushing Weight: National Health Care Law Threatens to Make Medicaid an Unsustainable Burden for Ohioans:

• National spending on Medicaid, America's largest health insurance program, has grown nearly 500 percent over the past two decades.

• Medicaid now represents one-quarter of Ohio state spending -- $14 billion annually -- which more than doubles its share over the past two decades.

•  A typical household of four in Ohio pays approximately $2,000 annually to finance the state Medicaid program. 

•  In many states, including Ohio, Medicaid pays providers a much lower amount compared to Medicare and commercial insurance rates. This causes many providers to refuse Medicaid patients, and leads to an unacceptably low quality of care for many beneficiaries and an overuse of emergency rooms.

• Medicaid is one of the last places states look to cut during economic recessions because each dollar a state cuts results in a loss of federal funds.

• The Heritage Foundation estimated that nearly 565,000 additional Ohioans will be enrolled in Medicaid at a seven-year (2014–2020) additional cost to the state of nearly $1 billion because of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ObamaCare”).

• The expansion to everyone below 138 percent of the federal poverty level will add about 20 million Americans and over half a million Ohioans into Medicaid.

• States will pick up a small portion of the cost of the expansion population, but they will have to pickup their usual portion of the cost for individuals who are eligible under the previous state eligibility guidelines.

• States are required to raise primary rate physician reimbursement rates in 2013 and 2014 with federal funding, but states will no longer receive these federal funds beginning in 2015.

570,000 Ohio children live in poverty - and the TANF Budget is insufficient to meet their needs

According to the State Budget Matters edition on The TANF Budget by the Center for Community Solutions:

• The federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program is the largest source of funding for states for programs that help low-income families.  Ohio uses TANF funds primarily for cash assistance, county allocations, and early child care and education.

• For many years, Ohio did not spend all of its federal TANF block grant. This created a surplus balance, but those funds were spent down in the last biennium. The federal TANF grant has been flat-funded for over a decade.

• The TANF program was created during an economic boom and did not anticipate the challenges caused by a long and deep recession. The number of families receiving cash assistance has increased sharply since the start of the recession, and TANF funding is stretched too thin to meet all of their basic needs.

• Due to the use of one-time funds in the current biennium, expected FY 2012-2013 funding is insufficient to support current spending. State policymakers not only face the challenge of closing a structural deficit of $8 billion in Ohio’s General Revenue Fund, but they must close a shortfall in Ohio’s largest discretionary social service program as well. 

• Their decisions will impact Ohio's children. The TANF program provides critical support for low-income families – and especially for children. 

• The 2009 American Community Survey shows that 21 percent of Ohio’s children live in poverty, compared with 18 percent in 2007. There are about 570,000 children in Ohio living below the federal poverty line, an increase of almost 75,000 children compared with just two years before.

Loss of Dayton Urban League, a critical part of Dayton's safety net for minorities

Saving Dayton non-profits on city leaders' minds
By Amelia Robinson, Staff Writer Updated 10:23 PM Sunday, December 5, 2010.

Leaders will meet this month to discuss ways to save area nonprofits from the fate suffered by the Dayton Urban League and other recently folded nonprofits.

“We really need to take a real look at the ways we provide service and make sure we aren’t duplicating any service to maximize our dollars,” said state Rep. Clayton Luckie, D-Dayton, noting that certain tasks could be consolidated. The daylong summit will include local business leaders, politicians and representatives from key nonprofits.

The closure of the Dayton Urban League is disastrous, Luckie said. The league’s board announced Friday that economic pressures meant it would temporarily cease operation after 63 years.

Dayton City Commissioner Dean Lovelace said it was time to get key community leaders, clergy and politicians together to brainstorm ways to save the Urban League.

“It’s going to be devastating given their mission was employment and training,” Lovelace said. “This is a serious blow to the minority community.”

Dayton Chamber of Commerce President Phil Parker hopes it is not too late to save the organization he called a critical part of Dayton’s nonprofit safety net.

Serving 5,000 people annually, the league’s long list of programs included education and job training for teens and adults as well as a homeless prevention program.

“I don’t believe it will an easy task for other organizations to quickly pick up the slack,” Parker said. “It might not happen and that scares me.”

Kasich's opinions about what could be cut in 2011

Kasich eyes cost cutting
Governor-elect aims to take on public employee unions, nonviolent criminals in state prisons
Smyth, Julie Carr. Ohio.com, Dec. 10, 2010.

Republican Governor-elect John Kasich said Thursday he's pursuing obvious but politically dicey ways to save Ohio money, including taking on public employee unions and diverting nonviolent criminals from state prisons.

Kasich made wide-ranging remarks on how he'll tackle a looming $8 billion budget gap at an event to announce his nominee for tax commissioner: former Franklin County Auditor Joe Testa.

Kasich said ''low-hanging fruit'' like union protections and prison reforms should have been plucked long ago to curb Ohio's tax burden.

He said he opposes paying union-scale prevailing wages on public job sites, doesn't think public employees should have the right to strike, and opposes using binding arbitration to resolve contract disputes involving police officers and firefighters.

''We'll come up with a series of changes, but binding arbitration is not acceptable,'' Kasich said. ''You are forcing increased taxes on taxpayers with them having no say by people who come from a faraway place and have no accountability to the taxpayers.''

Jay McDonald, president of the Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio, said Ohio's binding arbitration law took effect in 1984 as an alternative to settling police, fire and prison guard labor disputes through strikes. He said arbitrators side with employers ''on a very regular basis.''

''Certainly, arbitrators are very well aware of what today's economy is and they're not awarding benefits that are out of reach of employers,'' he said.

He acknowledged that public safety forces can be costly for taxpayers.

''It costs money to find somebody to face the threat of gunfire; it costs money to find somebody to run into a building that's on fire,'' he said. ''I don't think we want to contract out the rape investigation of our neighbor to the lowest bidder.''

Stephen Loomis, president of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association that represents 1,500 police officers, detectives and dispatchers, said binding arbitration allows police to air their grievances and still keep the public safe.

''We work now and grieve later. That's the motto. That's what I tell my guys,'' Loomis said.

Kasich said public employees should not be allowed to strike anyway — though he doesn't know how practical it would be to do away with the practice.

''My personal philosophy is I don't like public employees striking. OK?'' he said. ''They've got good jobs, they've got high pay, they've got good benefits, great retirement. What are they striking for?''

Kasich said he will also fight to chip away at Ohio's prevailing wage law, which he said adds to construction costs at universities and drives up their tuition costs. Although he said he would prefer to repeal it, ''if we can make progress in some areas, we can allow people to provide more services at a lower price.''

Kasich is a former congressman, Fox News commentator, and Lehman Brothers managing director who defeated Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland in last month's election. He takes office Jan. 10 and by mid-March must have a blueprint for balancing Ohio's $50 billion-plus budget for the upcoming two-year period.

He said prison costs could be drastically reduced by rethinking whether nonviolent offenders, including those who commit drug-related offenses, should be sent for short stays in state prison. Kasich said people who commit such crimes are not a public threat and shouldn't be imprisoned at high cost to taxpayers alongside murderers.

He also said state prison seems like the wrong place for child-support delinquents.

''Why do I want to put somebody that doesn't pay child support in a state prison . . . instead of putting them somewhere and forcing them on a work detail or home confinement or county jail, in a place where the public is safe and yet we can get our costs?'' he said. ''To me, that's low-hanging fruit.''

Just last week, state Sen. Bill Seitz failed to get the necessary support to bring an overhaul of Ohio's criminal sentencing laws up for a vote on the floor of the Republican-controlled Senate.

The measure proposed cost-reducing measures such as imposing the same sentences for crack and powder cocaine offenses, expanding inmates' ability to reduce their sentences through good behavior, and increasing use of halfway houses and GPS devices, as well as numerous other changes.

The State of the States isn't looking so good...

Agencies' budget outlook: Painful
Prisons would close, services would dry up under some scenarios
Niquette, Mark. Columbus Dispatch, Dec. 2, 2010.

Some state prisons would close and the rest would be dangerously overcrowded, college tuition could increase significantly and fewer Ohioans would get long-term health care from the state.

The dire warnings were among the initial budget estimates that state agencies were required to submit by yesterday to state legislative leaders and Republican Gov.-elect John Kasich.

Those requests, plus a national report issued yesterday outlining the difficult budget situation that all states face, underscore the challenge for Kasich and the legislature as they prepare a two-year spending plan with an expected $8billion shortfall that is due by June 30.

Earlier this year, Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland's administration instructed each state agency to prepare budget estimates using two scenarios: one based on receiving 100 percent of this year's funding, the other based on getting 90 percent.

The state budget office said it didn't have a summary of the agencies' proposals, and that the submissions could be obtained only from each individual agency. But an initial review of some of the larger agency proposals showed:

• The Board of Regents suggested a sharp reduction in financial aid would be required under the 90 percent funding scenario and warned that if state support were to decline, "Ohio's public campuses would need to significantly increase tuition to sustain balanced budgets" and meet enrollment goals.

• Budget cuts in the Department of Job and Family Services are likely to impact the state's neediest residents because 87 percent of the agency's budget goes to services. A 90 percent budget would result in fewer families receiving subsidized child care, reduced payments to child-care providers and higher co-pays for low-income families to access such services.

• Optional Medicaid services could be eliminated, including dental coverage, prescription drugs and hospice services. The agency also said the timeliness of child-protection investigations will be affected, "placing children at greater risk for maltreatment."

• The Department of Aging said more than 25,000 people would not receive long-term care services during the next two years with 100 percent funding, and that nearly 33,800 people would go without under the 90 percent scenario.

• The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction raised the possibility of inmates being released. Even at 100 percent of current funding, the agency said it would have to cut 339 corrections positions and close prisons because of the expected increase in payroll costs during the next two years.

That would increase prison overcrowding to 151.4 percent of capacity by 2013, the largest percentage in state history and "higher than at the time of the Lucasville riot" in 1993, Director Ernie L. Moore wrote in his summary.

At 90 percent of current funding, the department would lose 1,571 prison jobs through closing prisons and would take drastic steps such as "hot bunking," or having inmates sharing a bed based on shifts, Moore wrote. Overall department layoffs could reach 2,454, he said.

The cumulative effect of agency cuts would risk "threatening the safety of the public, staff and inmates," and the state would be "substantially more prone to litigation in multiple facets of operations," Moore wrote.

Prisons spokeswoman JoEllen Smith said there are no estimates on how many prisons would close under either scenario because those decisions would be made when final budget numbers are available.

Kasich hasn't provided details about how he plans to deal with prisons or other agencies in the executive budget he must introduce by March 15, other than promising not to raise taxes and saying "everything is on the table."

Spokesman Ron Nichols said Kasich's budget team started reviewing the budget documents yesterday.

Kasich, one of 29 new governors taking office next year, isn't alone in facing a budget crisis, according to a report issued yesterday by the National Governors Association and the National Association of State Budget Officers.

"We just hope they don't quit when they see how bad the budget is," NGA Executive Director Raymond C. Scheppach quipped during a conference call.

The report said Ohio and most states are expecting a slight increase in revenue and spending during the current fiscal year that ends June 30. But after two of the worst budget years since the Great Depression, spending and revenue nationwide are not likely to return to pre-recession levels until 2013 or 2014.

Making matters worse, states already have made significant cuts and face what the report calls the "cliff" in the 2012 fiscal year when federal stimulus money that helped balance current budgets ends.

"The low-hanging fruit has been picked; a lot of very difficult actions have been taken by states already," said Scott D. Pattison, executive director of the National Association of State Budget Officers.

Kasich says: If you're not on the bus, he will run over you with the bus

Budget tactic: Offer savings
Groups expecting state cuts are warned: Give ideas to work with less
Candisky, Catherine. Columbus Dispatch, Dec. 5, 2010

Many advocates and special-interest groups seeking pieces of Ohio’s dwindling budget pie say that with sweeping cuts unavoidable, they need to adjust their strategy for the coming budget debate.

Instead of lobbying Gov.-elect John Kasich and Republican legislative leaders for money, they hope to preserve the services they hold dear by pitching ideas for saving scarce tax dollars.

“You can’t sit around singing Kumbaya anymore. There’s an $8 billion deficit, so we need to see what we can do to help this governor,” said Terry Russell, interim director of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill.

“I want to be his poster child for ‘You can do things better with less money.’  ”

Kasich set the tone for his administration two days after the Nov. 2 election when he told Statehouse lobbyists, “If you’re not on the bus, we will run over you with the bus. And I’m not kidding.”

He and GOP legislative leaders have been insistent: no new taxes.

More recently, the governor-elect said: “In this state, we are all one Ohio. If the coal miners down there in Chile were trying to grab the last breath of air, they’d all (have) died. If in our state, all these individual interest groups are going to whine, complain … it’s OK to say, ‘Here’s a problem; here’s a danger area.’ I want to hear that, OK? But don’t become hysterical, and don’t just look out for yourself, or we’re going to lose. This state will lose, and I’m not going to put up with it, and neither is the legislature.”

The rhetoric and realities of the next budget are forcing groups to do things differently, and key lawmakers say it’s a refreshing change.

“This is not the standard procedure I’ve seen over the years,” said Rep. Ron Amstutz, R-Wooster, a 30-year veteran and incoming House Finance Committee chairman. “The standard procedure is more of a frontal attack — we’re doing this critical stuff, and this is how much more we need.

“I think they’re recognizing special carve-outs aren’t going to be happening because of a lack of funds. They are trying to be more creative.”

Senate President-elect Tom Niehaus, R-New Richmond, agreed. Two years ago, when the budget problem was less severe but still significant, he said, groups would say: “I know the budget is going to be difficult, but this is only $50 million.”

“I’m not hearing that now,” he said. “I’m hearing: ‘We know how tough it’s going to be ... so we want to be proactive and share some ideas on how we can continue to deliver services in this new environment.’ I think that’s very encouraging.”

Gayle Channing Tenenbaum, co-chairman of Advocates for Ohio’s Future, a coalition of health and human-services organizations, said she was told in a meeting with House leaders last week: “Don’t come in here and ask for anything; come in with ideas.”

She plans to oblige them.

“I would much rather that we come up with ideas and come to the table than sit around and whine that we don’t want to do anything different,” she said.

Kasich must submit his two-year budget proposal to the General Assembly by March 15. In the lull before public hearings and debate, advocates and interest groups are meeting with lawmakers, educating their constituents about what’s at stake, prioritizing goals and developing plans to stretch state funds.

School districts have been told by GOP leaders to brace for a possible 20 percent cut in state aid. In response, educators say they will ask for more flexibility with the dollars they will get.

“One of our strategies is to reduce unfunded mandates, so we have asked our members to help put together a list,” said Damon Asbury of the Ohio School Boards Association. “We also want to talk about collective bargaining. That’s another area that we’d like to see some changes so we can better control costs.”

Kasich’s staff is encouraging advocates to submit ideas in writing.

“We are meeting with just about everyone who asks. Some are coming in with ideas for potential efficiencies. A lot are just trying to get a sense of where John is,” said Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols. “He has not made any promises. Everything is on the table.”

Advocates for mental-health and addiction services, which took one of the largest hits in the current budget, have been working on a plan for preserving community-based services.

Cheri L. Walter, CEO of the Ohio Association of County Behavioral Health Authorities, has begun talking to legislators about restructuring how services are financed to ensure they are available to those in need.

“We think there are savings to be had,” Walter said.

For instance, thousands of mentally ill Ohioans wind up in prison. For the cost of one prison bed, three people with mental illness and 15 in need of addiction treatment could be treated in the community.

The group also suggests that the state stop using general-revenue funds to pay for alcohol- and drug-addiction treatment and instead use profits from state liquor sales.

Ohio’s strong nursing-home lobby also plans to be a player.

“We are very worried. It seems there is pain to go around,” said Pete Van Runkle, executive director of the Ohio Health Care Association. “We intend to bring ideas to the table that would hopefully address the direction the administration wants to go. We just don’t know which way that is yet.”

Van Runkle said the administration might try to save dollars in the current long-term care system, or move to managed care.

Some say that savings are difficult to come by, such as state aid to local governments. That pays primarily for police, fire and other protective services.

“Our fight is a tactical one,” said John K. Mahoney, deputy director of the Ohio Municipal League. “I can’t come up with a way to cut the local-government fund and save the state money. Other kinds of budget items can do that, but we can’t.”

Grants have expired for an Ohio drop-in center that served 20 to 30 homeless youth each day.

Sisters of charity: Siblings give help to homeless youths

Price, Rita. Columbus Dispatch, Dec. 19, 2010.

No matter how early Jeana Patterson arrived at work last week, her footprints weren't the first on the snowy porch. Cold and hungry and lonely young people were waiting to go inside. "They can eat, get warm, take a shower," Patterson said. And, this being the season, the homeless young people also like to look at the Christmas tree, which they somehow manage to appreciate without bitterness. "They're happy to be part of a tradition," Patterson said. "They want to belong."

But Patterson and her sister, Angela Lariviere, aren't sure how even the most resilient of Franklin County's homeless teens and young adults will fare if they lose - because of withering budgets - both the respite house and the advocacy organization that fights for them every day.

Patterson, 36, is the program coordinator at the Human Ecology House on N. 4th Street, the city's only drop-in center for homeless young people.

Lariviere, 38, runs the Youth Empowerment Program at the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio, the only statewide council of homeless young people.

Separate but united in their missions, the sister-led programs are devoted to a vulnerable and underserved population that - here and nationwide - rarely benefits from shelter systems designed for adults and families with young children.

"We're exactly the same, except we have totally different personalities," Lariviere said with a laugh about herself and her sister.

The two grew up poor, in and out of homelessness, just like the desperate kids they mentor and love.

"They come from a position of knowing," said Mary Jane Quick of Project Connect, the Columbus school district's program that focuses on homeless children.

"Quite frankly, Jeana knows how to get the youth to represent themselves in a way that the rest of us are just learning. She's gifted."

Patterson's job might end in June, however, when funding for the drop-in center runs out.

Natasha Slesnick, an associate professor at Ohio State University's Department of Human Development and Family Science, said the research grants that she used to start the drop-in center in 2006 have expired.

She has been unable to find enough money to cover the roughly $150,000 in annual operating costs for the center, known to young people as the Star House.

"We have people who are really, really caring and passionate," Slesnick said of Patterson and her staff, which includes OSU students. "I'm just sick about this. We don't want it to end."

Most large cities have drop-in centers, Slesnick said, because experts know they are an effective way to engage street youths.

An average of 20 to 30 go to the house each day to cook, rest and get help with clothing and resources.

Many of them also belong to Lariviere's group, which helps with basic needs but also encourages the youths to work together, participate in community service and advocate for policy change.

In the past two years, Lariviere's $200,000 budget has dropped by more than half. "I've cut everything," she said.

Danielle Jinks, an 18-year-old who counts on both the drop-in center and the Youth Empowerment Program, said they mean the world to struggling youths.

"Angela is their family; Jeana is their family," Jinks said. "If they were to disappear, then I think a lot of the youths would just give up. They might think there's nobody who cares."

Megan Thompson, youth and young-adult minister at St. Matthew the Apostle Church, said many young parishioners at her church and other Catholic churches are vowing not to let that happen.

The volunteers are trying to raise $20,000 to save the Youth Empowerment Program. They have interviewed homeless youths and posted a video on YouTube; one Bishop Hartley High School student says she won't accept Christmas gifts for herself this year - only donations.

"They're in such crisis," Thompson said. "But I really believe that our community could do something powerful."

D'Andre Sample, 19, often is one of the young people waiting for the drop-in center to open, and he might not leave until it closes around 5 or 6p.m.

He had been sleeping in an abandoned house but now has a bed at Faith Mission, he said. The men's shelter is a tough place for a kid. He feels safer at the drop-in center, where he can talk to other teens, play video games and get help with apartment searches.

"I'm trying to get off the streets," said Sample, who now has an overnight job at a warehouse. "I want off at all costs."

As he bundled up to leave the center, an employee stopped and looked at his hands. "I'm OK," Sample insisted.

She quietly handed him a new, thick pair of gloves.

A couple of years ago, Patterson said, someone gave her the talk about being too busy, about how you can't take care of others unless you first take care of yourself.

Nice idea, maybe, for another line of work. Lariviere spent an entire night last week on the street and in her car, trying to find shelter for frightened, freezing 18-year-olds.

"These kids don't get to turn off their lives," Patterson said, so the sisters won't, either.

For information about the drop-in center or to donate, go to the website or call 614-432-5406.

For Youth Empowerment Program information, please call 614-280-1984, Ext. 17.

With an $8 Billion Deficit, there will only be MORE CUTS in 2011

High jobless rate has led more Ohioans to request cash aid, putting state in bind
Candisky, Catherine. Columbus Dispatch, Dec. 19, 2010.

Ohio’s welfare rolls have climbed more than 30 percent in the past three years, reversing a decade-long trend as unemployment persists and incomes fall, forcing more families to turn to government assistance.

Ohio’s welfare rolls are the third-largest in the nation; its average monthly caseload in the past fiscal year was 102,446 families, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

As of October, 104,542 families were relying on monthly checks averaging $160 a person. Three years ago, 80,269 families were on welfare.

Before the recession hit, cases involving a child with no parent present — often youngsters living with a grandparent — made up more than half the caseload. Now, single-parent households make up the largest proportion.

“We are attributing that to the economy and double-digit unemployment,” said Michael McCreight, deputy chief of staff for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

The expansion of welfare rolls in hard times shows that the system is working, he said.


“We are at a time of recession, and the program is intended to be a safety net,” McCreight said. “We are meeting that need for people who are in temporary setbacks. It makes sense that people are coming onto the program.”

California led the nation with 572,521 families receiving assistance, followed by New York, which had a caseload of 121,289.

Ohio’s rolls hit a high of 163,079 families in 1992. They hit a record low of 77,061 in early 2007, as sweeping reforms limited assistance to three years and imposed strict work guidelines.

The caseload is expected to keep climbing through 2013 as Ohio recovers from the recession, according to a recent budget analysis prepared by the Department of Job and Family Services. On average, an individual receives $165 a month in cash assistance.

To meet welfare reform’s goal of ending dependency, recipients are required to work, train for a job or be in school to collect benefits. But that is a federal mandate that Ohio failed to meet in 2007 and 2008, and stiff penalties come as Ohio faces a projected $8 billion shortfall in the next two-year budget.

McCreight said the state has asked federal regulators to waive a $77.8 million fine for 2007 and 2008 because the lack of jobs has made it difficult for recipients to find work. The agency expects additional fines to be levied against the state after receiving official notice that Ohio also fell short in 2009 and 2010.

“We never recovered from the last recession, so we have been at a disadvantage,” McCreight said.

Joel Potts, director of the Ohio Job and Family Services Directors Association, said it’s hard to meet work requirements when there are not enough jobs.

Many cash-assistance recipients “are either underemployed or have lost their jobs,” he said. “Even those jobs that don’t require skills and are low-paying, people with college degrees are battling for them now.”

Ohio’s rising caseload means that more of the state’s $1.1 billion two-year welfare budget pays for cash assistance, making less available for other services such as subsidized child care and training programs.

Job and Family Services spokesman Benjamin Johnson said federal regulations require the state to pay cash assistance first.

The agency’s budget analysis, prepared at the request of outgoing Gov. Ted Strickland, recommended cutting $100 million a year from child care for low-income families by changing earnings requirements so that fewer qualify. The department also recommended slashing aid to county agencies; they use that money to administer programs and provide support services to recipients such as job training and emergency auto repairs.

Potts noted that counties’ funding already has been cut by $120 million a year, forcing thousands of layoffs and the elimination of programs such as one in Hamilton County that provided education, job training and family counseling. It had a 90 percent job-placement rate for welfare recipients.

“It’s a vicious Catch-22,” Potts said. “The higher our caseloads, the less money to support programs to get people off cash assistance.”

Montgomery County JFS facing budget cuts

Job and Family Services facing huge budget cuts

Reduced property values will likely force agency to dip into cash reserve.

Huist Smith, Joanne. Dayton Daily News, Dec. 9, 2010.

DAYTON — The Montgomery County Department of Job and Family Services will dip into a limited cash reserve to prevent a budget shortfall in 2011 for public assistance and children services programs.

Reductions in social service contracts, foster care, and staffing are also coming.

“The Job and Family Services budget is under tremendous pressure, because of its reliance on state funding,” Montgomery County Administrator Deborah Feldman said Thursday. “The agency is anticipating reductions in both Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Income Maintenance funding.”

The job and family services budget for 2011 is set at $145 million.

Reductions in TANF allocations to the county have been in steady decline dropping from $18.1 million in 2008 to a projected $8.2 million in 2012.

Bringing more uncertainty to the department, Ohio’s two-year budget cycle begins July 1 and Gov.-elect John Kasich says he will balance the budget, despite a looming multimillion deficit.

Gayle Bullard, director of Montgomery County Job and Family Services, said 14 social service providers have been told their contracts will end or be cut.

“We’ll continue funding some until June 2011 so they can make other plans,” Bullard said.
The department will spend $4.3 million on social services contracts in 2011, a decrease of $39.9 million or 90.2 percent from 2010.

“By the time we complete this process, we will only have a handful of contracts,” Feldman said.

Social services were prioritized by community need, before budget reductions were proposed. Examples of cuts include elimination of a tutoring program run by Miamisburg City Schools and loss of $200,000 for a prevention/intervention program through the Montgomery County Juvenile Court, Bullard said.

Making budget reductions in the county’s foster care program will be more challenging, because the service is mandated and Children Services has seen a rise in referrals from the courts.

Children in the most severe cases, who may be a danger to themselves or others, are placed in residential treatment facilities at a monthly cost of $8,545 per child.

Every month, Montgomery County has between 60 and 70 kids in group homes at a cost of $3,382 per child.
As its pool of available foster parents shrinks, the county has contracted with nonprofits to provide placement for about 300 children at a monthly cost of $2,855 per child. Traditional foster care is the least expensive with a monthly cost of $693 per child.

The department currently has a staff of 938, a number that will not grow due to budget constraints.

Feldman said staff reductions will hopefully be managed through attrition.

“If everything would be static, I think we would break even at the end of 2011, said Commissioner John “Bud” O’Brien. “If the state cuts the local government funding, we would probably have to make more cuts.”
The commissioners plan to vote on the 2011 budget Dec. 21.

After two rounds of cuts totaling 16 percent in 2010, budgets for Miami County departments will start 2011 at the final 2010 appropriation.

State Sen. Shannon Jones, R-Clearcreek Twp., who is co-chair of the special budget commission convened to address the budget deficit, said it is too soon to tell how local governments will be effected by the state’s budget deficit.

A Study of the Impact of the Ohio Benefit Bank

Ohio Benefit Bank programs include:

• Food and Nutrition Programs
• Healthcare Assistance
• Taxes and Student Aid Programs (including the FAFSA)
• Child Care Assistance
• Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP)
• Ohio Works First Cash Assistance (OWF)

A Study of the Impact of the Ohio Benefit Bank was recently released by the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs at Ohio University.

Funded by the Columbus Foundation, the survey looked at hardships experienced, whether OBB clients completed their applications at JFSs, and the short term impact for those individuals and families.

Ohio's 129th General Assembly

House Republicans

Speaker: Representative Bill Batchelder (Medina)
Speaker Pro Tempore: Representative Lou Blessing (Cincinnati)
Majority Floor Leader: Representative Matt Huffman (Lima)
Assistant Majority Floor Leader: Representative Barbara Sears (Western portion of Lucas County)
Majority Whip: Representative John Adams (Sidney)
Assistant Majority Whip: Representative Cheryl Grossman (Grove City)

House Democrats

Minority Leader: Representative Armond Budish (Cleveland)
Assistant Minority Leader: Representative Matt Szollosi (Toledo)
Minority Whip: Representative Tracy Heard (Columbus)
Assistant Minority Whip: Representative Debbie Phillips (Athens)

Senate Republicans

President: Senator Tom Niehaus (New Richmond)****
President Pro Tempore: Senator Keith Faber (Celina)
Majority Floor Leader: Senator Jimmy Stewart (Athens)
Majority Whip: Senator Shannon Jones (Springboro)

Senate Democrats

Minority Leader: Senator Capri Cafaro (Hubbard)*
Assistant Minority Leader: Sen. Shirley Smith (Cleveland)**
Minority Whip: Senator-elect Edna Brown (Toledo)***
Assistant Minority Whip: Senator Jason Wilson (Columbiana)

*Senator Capri Cafaro met with youth in 2009 as part of the Youth in Transition: Ready to Launch initiative.

**Senator Shirley Smith attended the 2010 FCAA Ohio NE Thanksgiving dinner.

***Senator Edna Brown responded favorably to Adrian McLemore's testimony regarding the previous biennual budget.
****Senator Tom Niehaus has been the primary sponsor of priority bills designed to reform the state’s foster care system.

Ohio's Child and Family Services Review Program Improvement Plan

Ohio's Child and Family Services Review Program Improvement Plan (PIP) was approved by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  

 

Due the level of non-conformity in Ohio’s most recent CFSR, HHS has designated a minimum penalty to Ohio of $3.4 million.  However, HHS is suspending the withholding of the IV-E funds associated with the penalty during Ohio’s PIP implementation period.  

If HHS determines that Ohio is successful in rectifying any of the areas for which we are out of compliance, it will rescind the withholding of the federal funds associated with each area.  If Ohio does not implement all required activities and attain all progress goals in the PIP, HHS may cease the suspension of penalties and begin withholding Federal funds.  The withholding will continue until Ohio either achieves substantial conformity in a subsequent CFSR, or completes a PIP designed to improve the areas subject to withholding.

• Download the PIP
• Download table of Ohio historic performance on the CFSR

Ohio Senate Unanimously Supports Human Trafficking Bill

Human trafficking bill passes, heads to Ohio's House

Provance, Jim. Columbus Blade Bureau Chief, Dec. 2, 2010. 

COLUMBUS -- The Ohio Senate Wednesday unanimously voted to crack down on one industry in which the state unfortunately has excelled in recent years, modern-day slavery.

"It is here . . .,'' Sen. Teresa Fedor (D., Toledo), told her colleagues. "Thank you for putting on your glasses.''

Senate Bill 235 would make Ohio the 45th state to have a stand-alone crime of "trafficking in persons.'' The bill heads to the Ohio House, which has just four days scheduled before session's end.

Rep. Kathleen Chandler (D., Kent), who has pushed a similar bill in the lower chamber, said she hopes to usher the bill through the Democratic-controlled House without amendment so it can reach Gov. Ted Strickland's desk without having to return to the Senate.

The bill defines human trafficking as the act or attempt to "recruit, lure, entice, isolate, harbor, transport, provide, obtain, or maintain'' another person, knowing that the victim will be subjected to forced labor or compelled into prostitution or pornography.

The second-degree felony would carry up to eight years in prison. - WISH IT WAS LONGER

The bill updates state law to incorporate the act of trafficking into related crimes such as kidnapping and abduction.

For example, compelling prostitution, usually a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in jail, would be elevated to a first-degree felony carrying up to 10 years in jail, if the victim is under the age of 16.

It would be a second-degree felony if the victim is older than 16 but younger than 18.

The bill makes it a crime to destroy or confiscate government identification documents to coerce a trafficking victim's cooperation, a nod to the use of noncitizens as part of trafficking schemes.

Ms. Fedor, the bill's sponsor, pointed to the 2005 federal sting in Harrisburg, Pa. involving 177 girls and women as the point when the issue was brought home to her.

Seventy-seven victims came from the Toledo area; one victim was 10 years old.

She noted the irony that Ohio is still fighting slavery 150 years after then presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln gave a speech on Statehouse grounds against what was then a legal industry.

"Sadly in Ohio, Toledo, my district, is fourth in the nation behind much bigger cities--Miami, Las Vegas, Portland--in numbers of human-trafficking arrests and rescues,'' Ms. Fedor said.

"In passing this bill, we will be one step closer to eradicating this atrocity.''

Two years ago, Ohio created a human-trafficking specification to increase punishment for offenders when attached to another crime. The specification applies only to crimes associated with the sex trade.

The specification never has been used. Meanwhile, an attorney general's task force proposed by the same law has painted only a more disturbing picture of the practice's extent in Ohio, particularly in the sex trade.

Sen. Tim Grendell (R., Chesterland) sponsored the bill with Ms. Fedor after a raid of a local massage parlor using human-trafficking victims brought the issue home to them.

"When you can see human trafficking in Chester Township in Geauga County, it's a sad statement . . .,'' he said.