SF 2239 – Elder Abuse
SF 2276 – Adoption Requirements
SF 2285 – Healthiest Children Initiative
SF 2320 – Medicaid Consumer Directed Care Provider Eligibility
SF 2322 – State Training School for Female Juvenile Delinquents
FLOOR ACTION:
SF 2239, as amended on the floor, creates a comprehensive system to address elder abuse in Iowa and is the product of the Elder Abuse Task Force that has explored this issue for the past two years. The bill defines elder abuse for the first time in Iowa Code. The bill establishes penalties for elder abuse assault and financial exploitation of an older individual. “Older individual” is defined as a person 60 years of age or older, consistent with the federal Older Americans Act. The Elder Abuse Resource & Referral Program located within the Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) is established. This system will focus on prevention of and response to elder abuse through services and supports; collaborate with investigation and protection services provided through other agencies; use “elder rights specialists” within each AAA to link older Iowans to services to prevent elder abuse and assist in navigating existing response systems; work closely with local networks of providers and stakeholders to connect older Iowans with local resources and services; and create a primary point of entry for consumers through LifeLongLinks (statewide hotline) administered by the Aging & Disability Resource Centers. The bill establishes protective orders for relief from elder abuse modeled on domestic abuse protective orders. The bill also mandates the collection and maintenance of elder abuse information to determine elder abuse trends, demographics and statistics, and to publish that information online. Mandatory reporter curriculum responsibilities related to dependent adult abuse is transferred from the Department of Public Health to the Department on Aging and the required hours of mandatory reporter training for child abuse and dependent adult abuse is increased from two to four hours. Finally, the bill removes confidentiality restrictions to allow the Attorney General’s office access to dependent adult and elder abuse information. [3/4: 49-0 (Ernst excused)]
SF 2276 makes changes to adoption processes to improve the chances of safe, appropriate and successful adoptions. The bill requires an adoption preplacement investigation and report include examination of the criminal and child abuse records of the prospective adoption petitioner. The bill also requires a postplacement investigation and report to consist of no less than three face-to-face visits with the minor to be adopted and the adoption petitioner to be conducted within 30, 90 and 180 days following the placement. Verification is required to document that any unique needs of the minor are appropriately met. A report is to be filed with the court and provided to the adoption petitioner regarding the medical and social history of the minor’s parents. The bill also extends from one year to two years the time during which an approved adoption petitioner may receive a placement. The bill codifies similar processes for postplacement investigations for international adoptions. [3/4: 49-0 (Ernst excused)]
SF 2285, as amended on the floor, establishes the Iowa Healthiest Children Initiative within the Department of Public Health. The purpose of the initiative is to develop and implement a plan for Iowa children to become the healthiest in the country by January 1, 2020. The bill outlines the areas of focus. A task force is created to develop the plan, which is due to the Governor and Legislature by December 15, 2014. [3/3: 48-0 (Ernst, Feenstra excused)]
SF 2320 ensures greater accessibility of home-based Medicaid services that are less costly than facility services and eliminates a hardship placed on families by the Department of Human Services as a result of rules the Department promulgated during the 2013 interim. The bill allows individuals who serve as a Medicaid member’s legal representative and provide services under a consumer directed attendant care (CDAC) agreement or consumer choices option (CCO) employment agreement on or after December 31, 2013, to continue providing Medicaid services via CDAC or CCO. This provision overrides rules promulgated by the Department on Human Services (DHS) during the 2013 interim. Beginning July 1, 2016, DHS may end the individual CDAC program and require new self-directed services to be provided through CDAC agency or CCO. However, providers with existing CDAC agreements in effect as of June 30, 2016, may continue to provide services under the contract (they would be “grandfathered in”). The bill is effective upon enactment and retroactive to December 31, 2013. [3/4: 49-0 (Ernst excused)]
SF 2322, as amended on the floor, establishes a publicly administered State Training School for female juvenile delinquents, requires that the facility be accredited by the American Correctional Association and be subject to regular assessments by the Department of Inspections & Appeals, and use gender-responsive and evidence-based services by appropriately trained staff. Both the State Training Schools for delinquent boys and girls are required to develop service plans that recognize the individual treatment and educational needs of youth and consider options to best assist those youth as they transition into adulthood, including ensuring eligibility for wraparound services and access to educational and vocational opportunities. The bill directs local Area Education Agencies to ensure the provision of accredited educational programming at the two State Training Schools and the two Mental Health Institutes that currently provide educational programming to youth, and ensure that necessary funding is provided by the state to support year-round educational programming. Guardians ad litem assigned to youth adjudicated child in need of assistance and attorneys representing juvenile delinquents are required to physically visit children under their watch at least quarterly. The bill is effective upon enactment. [2/27: 26-22, party line (Ernst, Houser excused)]