Date: 04/09/2013

Final
BILL SUMMARY for HB13-1271

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC HEALTH CARE & HUMAN SERVICES

Votes: View--> Action Taken:
Adopt amendment L.001 (Attachment B). The motion p
Refer House Bill 13-1271, as amended, to the Commi		Pass Without Objection
PASS



02:36 PM -- House Bill 13-1271

Representative Singer and Representative May introduced House Bill 13-1271. The bill requires the Department of Human Services to establish a steering committee to develop an implementation plan for a statewide child abuse reporting hotline. The steering committee must include state, local, and stakeholder representatives, and is required to submit its recommendations to the Executive Director of the department and the State Board of Human Services by July 1, 2014. The hotline is required to be operational and publicized statewide no later than January 1, 2015. The bill specifies that the hotline is required to operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

02:43 PM

Representative May stated that the bill recognizes differences between county operations. She noted that very small counties can struggle to provide 24-hour services, and the bill allows counties to work with each other to provide response services. Representative Singer responded to questions from the committee regarding why the 911 system isn't the appropriate system to respond to reports of child abuse and neglect, and how people will become aware of the hotline number. The committee discussed the costs of marketing the hotline and whether there is an off-the-shelf system that could work in Colorado that would reduce the costs of the bill. Representative Singer responded to questions from the committee regarding false reports of child abuse and neglect and incidents that may be reported to the hotline that do not rise to the level of child abuse. The committee further discussed the bill's requirements regarding training and whether the training would be conducted through the Child Welfare Training Academy. Representative May addressed questions regarding the membership of the steering committee, and clarified that the bill creates another option for people to report child abuse and neglect. Representative Singer noted that the bill isn't prescriptive and creates a rule promulgation process to determine the parameters of the hotline. The committee discussed the relationship between the hotline and 911 and potential liability issues if reports made to the hotline aren't properly reported to counties for investigation.

03:16 PM

Committee discussion continued regarding the process of screening reports of child abuse and neglect and the bill's fiscal note. The committee discussed the steering committee's role in determining the structure of the hotline. Committee discussion continued on whether the existing 911 system should be utilized for purposes of the bill.

03:41 PM -- Reggie Bicha, Executive Director of the Department of Human Services, testified regarding Governor Hickenlooper's child welfare plan, which he noted included a proposal for a statewide child abuse and neglect reporting hotline. He stated that the bill authorizes the Department of Human Services to establish a statewide portal to allow members of the public to report child abuse and neglect and noted that the hotline will be supported with additional services for families and training for workers who take the hotline calls. He described the steering committee created by the bill. He responded to questions from the committee regarding whether the hotline created by the bill is duplicating the existing 911 system, the bill's fiscal note, the potential FTE impact of the bill, and the Department of Human Services' current year budget request.

04:00 PM

Bill Zepernick, Legislative Council Staff, came to the table to respond to the questions from the committee regarding the bill's fiscal note. He noted that the Joint Budget Committee had set aside $200,000 in FY 2013-14 for costs related to a consultant for the hotline and described the information technology costs of the bill in FY 2013-14. He further clarified the bill's estimated costs in FY 2014-15 and 2015-16.

04:04 PM

Mr. Bicha responded to questions from the committee regarding the possible structure of the hotline. He further responded to questions regarding the impetus for the bill.

04:11 PM -- Commissioner Cindy Domenico, Boulder County Commissioner and Chair of the Health and Human Services Steering Committee for Colorado Counties Inc. (CCI), stated that the bill is a result of collaboration between the counties and the bill sponsors. She stated that counties are doing a good job in child welfare, and the current system is not confusing; however, the bill creates another option for people to call to report abuse and neglect.

04:14 PM -- Commissioner Nancy Sharpe, Arapahoe County Commissioner and representing CCI, testified that counties support giving people another option to report abuse and stated that the bill may make it easier for people to report abuse and neglect. She stated that the counties are very interested in monitoring the outcomes for the hotline and assessing whether the hotline improves the system. Commissioner Domenico noted that the counties support a direct routing option and do not support a loss of county control over the assessment of hotline calls. Commissioner Domenico responded to questions from Representative Tyler regarding the support of counties for the bill, and she reiterated the counties' support for a routing system that appropriately routes calls in a timely manner.

04:23 PM -- Angela Lytle, Division Manager for Child Protection Services in Arapahoe County, came to the table to address committee questions regarding the differences between the proposed hotline and a 911 system. She noted that the hotline is meant to primarily address calls that are not immediate emergencies.

04:30 PM -- Sarah Ehrlich, Denver Human Services, testified in support of the bill. She stated the hotline would create awareness about child abuse and that April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. She responded to questions about the hotline system and the interplay between the 911 and 311 systems with child welfare reporting.

04:36 PM -- Roberta Long-Twyman, League of Women Voters, testified in support of the bill.

04:38 PM

Representative Primavera distributed amendment L.001 (Attachment B).

130409 AttachB.pdf130409 AttachB.pdf

BILL:HB13-1271
TIME: 04:39:15 PM
MOVED:Primavera
MOTION:Adopt amendment L.001 (Attachment B). The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:Young
VOTE
Conti
Everett
Joshi
Landgraf
May
McCann
Schafer
Singer
Stephens
Tyler
Wilson
Young
Primavera
YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection



04:39 PM

The committee discussed potential amendments to the bill. Representative Singer and Representative May gave concluding remarks regarding the bill and members of the committee discussed their positions on the bill.

BILL:HB13-1271
TIME: 04:52:45 PM
MOVED:Singer
MOTION:Refer House Bill 13-1271, as amended, to the Committee on Appropriations. The motion passed on a vote of 8-5.
SECONDED:May
VOTE
Conti
No
Everett
No
Joshi
No
Landgraf
Yes
May
Yes
McCann
Yes
Schafer
Yes
Singer
Yes
Stephens
No
Tyler
Yes
Wilson
No
Young
Yes
Primavera
Yes
Final YES: 8 NO: 5 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS