Vocational Rehabilitation Services for the Blind (09/16/2015)

Final
STAFF SUMMARY OF MEETING

VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION SERVICES FOR THE BLIND

Date:	09/16/2015	ATTENDANCE

Time:	01:04 PM to 04:01 PM	Aguilar	*
		Lundberg	X
Place:	HCR 0112	Primavera	X
		Windholz	E
This Meeting was called to order by		Balmer	X
	Representative Danielson	Danielson	X

This Report was prepared by
	Luisa Altmann
		X = Present, E = Excused, A = Absent, * = Present after roll call

Bills Addressed:		Action Taken:
Opening Remarks Vocational Rehabilitation Audit Results Public Comment Overview of Interim Committee Bill Drafting Process Committee Discussion to Request Bill Drafts		Witness Testimony and/or Committee Discussion Only Witness Testimony and/or Committee Discussion Only Witness Testimony and/or Committee Discussion Only Witness Testimony and/or Committee Discussion Only Votes taken to draft requested bills

01:04 PM -- Opening Remarks

Representative Danielson provided opening remarks, including a review of the meeting's agenda and a review of the committee charge.

01:08 PM -- Vocational Rehabilitation Audit Results

Marisa Neff, Legislative Audit Manager, Office of the State Auditor (OSA), spoke to the committee about her role as one of the co-managers on the performance audit of the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR). Ms. Neff spoke about how OSA does a federal compliance audit of the Colorado Department of Human Services (DHS) as part of its annual financial and compliance audit, which includes testing related to federal grant programs. Ms. Neff continued to discuss how OSA's 2012 statewide audit found significant problems with DVR. Ms. Neff continued to discuss the problems found by the 2012 audit, including problems related to missing eligibility documentation, untimely eligibility determination, and individuals' individualized plans for employment (IPE). Ms. Neff explained that following the 2012 audit, DHS requested a review of DVR by OSA, which lead to the OSA conducting a broad performance audit of DVR in 2013 that examined DVR's operations, financials, and information technology (IT) systems.

Ms. Neff continued with a discussion of the main objectives of the 2013 DVR performance audit, which included:

assessing whether people who got services were eligible, and whether their services were reasonable and appropriate;
looking at whether DVR was meeting its purpose to help participants reach their employment goals; and
looking at whether DVR was being run in a fiscally responsible manner.

Ms. Neff described the contents of the 2013 DVR performance audit report (Attachment A), and spoke about how the audit identified pervasive problems in all aspects of the program. Ms. Neff spoke about the 20 findings identified by OSA following the audit, with an in-depth discussion of OSA's first finding, about whether DVR was meeting its purpose. Ms. Neff highlighted the summary of problems uncovered during the audit and audit findings in the report. Ms. Neff also spoke about the reasons why many of the problems identified by the audit occurred. Ms. Neff also spoke briefly about findings nine and ten, which identified several issues with DVR's wait list and fiscal management process. Ms. Neff discussed OSA's recommendation that DHS improve its oversight of DVR's management and administrative by establishing ongoing monitoring of DVR.

Attachment A - Audit.pdf

Ms. Neff also discussed OSA's procedure to follow up on all recommendations made in the audit until OSA determines that all recommendations have been fully implemented and DVR is in compliance with all federal and state laws. A summary of all of OSA's recommendations and DHS's anticipated implementation date can be found on pages 3 through 11 in the report. Ms. Neff provided the committee with a section of OSA's 2014 statewide audit report (Attachment B), which includes a summary of the implementation status of OSA's recommendations to DVR as of June 30, 2014. Ms. Neff explained that the remainder of the follow up work by OSA is currently ongoing, and the results will be included in the statewide audit report, which will be released next year.

15VocRehab0916AttachB.pdf

Ms. Neff responded to committee questions regarding DVR's use of corporate credit accounts, which is discussed in recommendation eleven; OSA's findings related to DVR's release of individuals from the wait list; how OSA will handle audit follow up work based on DVR's move from DHS to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE); DVR's work to help set individual employment goals; whether a lot of the problems found were due to DVR not following current law, regulations, or policies; and what DVR does with any money leftover from caseload expenditure budgets.

01:37 PM -- Public Comment

01:38 PM -- Scott LaBarre, President of the National Federation of the Blind of Colorado (NFBCO), spoke about the audit results that were previously discussed and how the transfer of DVR to CDLE provides an opportunity to look at how vocational rehabilitation services are delivered within the state. Mr. LaBarre reviewed NFBCO's legislative recommendations that are outlined in a memo provided to the committee (Attachment C). Mr. LaBarre responded to questions from the committee regarding the recommendations outlined in the memo, the various options for creating a separate agency or unit for the blind in the state, and how a separate agency for the blind would provide services for individuals with multiple disabilities. In addition, he responded to questions about what will be moved to CDLE under DVR's transition, how to provide greater power for a new state advisory council specifically for the blind, the expected fiscal impact of creating a separate agency for the blind, and the use of federal funds and taxes.

Attachment C - NFBCO Memo.pdf

02:10 PM -- Mark Lasser, representing himself, thanked the committee for their work and also spoke about the impact of the DVR audit and his experience with DVR and the Business Enterprise Program (BEP).

02:14 PM -- Barbara Boyer, Executive Director of A3 Colorado, spoke about the history, mission, and work of A3. Ms. Boyer spoke about the importance of outside organizations in the provision of services for the blind, the work of A3 as a DVR vendor, and A3's desire to focus on improving DVR services overall instead of creating a separate agency or unit dedicated to the blind. Ms. Boyer responded to questions from the committee regarding A3's opposition to creating a separate agency for the blind and the work A3 does.

02:26 PM

The committee took a brief recess.

02:34 PM

The committee reconvened.

02:35 PM -- Overview of Interim Committee Bill Drafting Process

Christy Chase and Jane Ritter, Office of Legislative Legal Services, provided the committee with an overview of the interim committee bill drafting process. Ms. Chase provided the committee with the following deadlines:

committee members must provide the bill drafters with more detailed information related to requested bills by September 21;
all bill drafts must be finalized by October 13, after which, the fiscal analysts will begin preparing the fiscal notes; and
all bill drafts and fiscal notes will be sent to the committee members by October 23.

Final bill drafts will be voted on by the committee during their final meeting on October 28. Ms. Chase explained that the committee may only refer three final bills to the Legislative Council Committee for their consideration.

02:39 PM -- Committee Discussion to Request Bill Drafts

Ms. Chase and Ms. Ritter remained at the table during the committee bill request discussion.

Representative Danielson provided an overview of some of the legislative ideas the committee had heard about during the previous committee meetings, with themes involving agency structure, BEP, tax credits and business incentives, youth transition services, and best practices and guidelines.

Agency structure. Representative Danielson discussed two legislative options regarding agency structure:

creating a separate and independent agency to provide services for the blind, that would be housed within CDLE, and would include a separate state advisory council and seek federal funds separately from DVR; or
creating a separate administrative unit dedicated to serving the blind within the existing DVR structure.

Representative Primavera also spoke about the need to develop a technical resource center in the new agency or unit to help blind individuals learn how to use adaptive technologies, and also the need to focus on blind veterans.

Business Enterprise Program. Representative Danielson spoke about the following improvements that could be made to the BEP:

expand the BEP to include other types of businesses besides food service and vending;
expand the locations BEP vendors are allowed to operate; and
create partnerships with companies and BEP vendors through franchising opportunities.

The committee continued to discuss the topic of franchising opportunities, including the role of the state in this, the involvement of OEDIT, and possible grant opportunities. Representative Primavera also brought up the difficulty blind entrepreneurs have getting small business loans.

Tax credits and business incentives. Representative Danielson continued with a discussion of potential tax credits and business incentives, including:

creating a tax credit that provides an incentive for hiring people who are blind and/or who are receiving services from DVR;
creating a tax credit for blind-owned businesses; and
creating a tax credit to help businesses with the cost of accommodating blind employees.

The committee continued to discuss the issue of creating new tax credits.

Youth transition services. Representative Danielson spoke about several ideas related to youth transition, including:

stating that services are available through DVR beginning at age 16; and
defining best practices or providing recommendations that CDLE work to clearly define DVR's responsibilities for youth transition, or make adjustments to the requirements for participation in the Colorado Department of Education's School to Work Alliance Program (SWAP).

Senator Aguilar spoke about the federal requirement that 15 percent of DVR funding go towards providing youth transition services.

Best practices and guidelines. Finally, Representative Danielson discussed several other ideas related to best practices and guidelines, including:

changing or strengthening the current state law requiring state technology purchases to be compatible with blind assistive technology;
changing the fee and incentive structure for DVR vendors to encourage job placement and outcomes;
placing statutory guidelines for waitlist management;
establishing training guidelines or recommendations for DVR counselors who have blind individuals on their caseload; and
creating greater program accountability for DVR.

Representative Primavera questioned Ms. Chase about the inclusion of other vocational rehabilitation programs other than DVR, and how to ensure anyone with a disability may be eligible for any tax credits proposed by the committee. Ms. Chase spoke to the committee of the risk that the Legislative Council Committee may not approve proposed legislation that it deems to be outside the scope of the original charge of the committee.

The committee also discussed the interim committee process and the inclusion of a fiscal note for proposed legislation. The committee also discussed the number of draft bills the committee can request. Ms. Chase also responded to committee questions related to how tax credit programs are administered. Representative Primavera also asked Ms. Chase to look into the Targeted Jobs Tax Credit that formerly existed in Colorado.

03:05 PM -- Patrick Teegarden, CDLE, responded to some of the committee's previous concerns regarding the committee's previous requests to hear from OEDIT. Mr. Teegarden also spoke about CDLE's work during the DVR transition process, including the department's stakeholder outreach.

03:08 PM

Representative Primavera requested that legislation be drafted to create a separate administrative unit within the existing DVR structure that is dedicated to serving the blind. The unit would include personal adjustment training, orientation and mobility, and a well-developed technical resource center. Senator Aguilar voiced her support for this proposal, and also noted the request for a separate budget and management for this unit. Representative Primavera also requested to include a separate counseling staff for this unit with dedicated blind caseloads. Senator Balmer voiced his concern over this proposal, including the concern about providing separate services for the blind and not those with other disabilities, and also voiced concern over the potential cost of this proposal. The committee continued with a discussion of the potential cost impact of creating a separate unit.


BILL:	Committee Discussion to Request Bill Drafts
TIME:	03:18:08 PM
MOVED:	Primavera
MOTION:	Move to proceed with drafting a bill to create an administrative unit within the existing Division of Vocational Rehabilitation structure that is dedicated to serving the blind, to include personal adjustment training staff, orientation and mobility, and a well-developed technical resource center. The motion passed on a vote of 3-2.
SECONDED:	Aguilar
		VOTE
	Aguilar	Yes
	Lundberg	No
	Primavera	Yes
	Windholz	Excused
	Balmer	No
	Danielson	Yes

Final YES: 3 NO: 2 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

03:19 PM

Representative Danielson discussed the proposed ideas discussed previously concerning the BEP. The committee continued with a discussion about the proposed ideas related to the BEP.

Representative Primavera requested that legislation be drafted to expand what types of businesses BEP vendors can operate and remove statutory restrictions currently in place regarding state owned locations where BEP vendors can operate. The committee discussed federal and state law regarding BEP restrictions, including federal funding implications.


BILL:	Committee Discussion to Request Bill Drafts
TIME:	03:30:08 PM
MOVED:	Primavera
MOTION:	Move to proceed with drafting a bill to remove barriers regarding the types of businesses that Business Enterprise Program vendors can operate and to remove barriers regarding what state locations Business Enterprise Program vendors can operate in. The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:	Balmer
		VOTE
	Aguilar
	Lundberg
	Primavera
	Windholz	Excused
	Balmer
	Danielson

Final YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection

03:31 PM

The committee continued with a discussion of the proposed ideas related to tax credits. Representative Primavera discussed the Targeted Jobs Tax Credit that previously existed, which encouraged employers to hire employees with disabilities. The committee continued discussing the proposed tax credit ideas, including the various types of tax credits that can be created and the need to limit the tax credit to new hires.


BILL:	Committee Discussion to Request Bill Drafts
TIME:	03:38:30 PM
MOVED:	Primavera
MOTION:	Move to proceed with drafting a bill to create a state tax credit for employers who hire new blind employees, with certain parameters regarding length of employment and tax credit percentage. The motion passed on a vote of 4-1.
SECONDED:	Aguilar
		VOTE
	Aguilar	Yes
	Lundberg	No
	Primavera	Yes
	Windholz	Excused
	Balmer	Yes
	Danielson	Yes

Final YES: 4 NO: 1 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

03:40 PM

Representative Danielson reminded the committee of the ideas previously discussed regarding youth transition services, and the committee discussed these ideas further. Representative Danielson moved to draft a bill to ensure DVR services beginning at the age of 16.

Senator Aguilar discussed how many of the ideas previously discussed are already required by federal or state law, but are just not being done by DVR. Ms. Chase responded to committee questions related to SWAP and requirements already in statute.

Representative Danielson withdrew her motion following the committee's discussion.


BILL:	Committee Discussion to Request Bill Drafts
TIME:	03:43:33 PM
MOVED:	Danielson
MOTION:	Move to proceed with drafting a bill to ensure youth beginning at the age of 16 are able to receive services through the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. The motion was withdrawn.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Aguilar
	Lundberg
	Primavera
	Windholz	Excused
	Balmer
	Danielson

YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Withdrawn

03:48 PM

Representative Danielson reviewed the ideas previously discussed related to best practices or guidelines. Senator Aguilar suggested requiring CDLE to provide a report back based on some of the committee's concerns following the transition. The committee also discussed in further detail the DVR vendor fees. Ms. Chase responded to several committee questions on the topic of DVR vendor fees and CDLE reporting requirements during the DVR transition. Senator Aguilar suggested sending a letter to the committees of reference that will be receiving the reports from CDLE on the DVR transition, bringing to their attention the issues raised by the committee.

03:55 PM -- Mr. Teegarden, CDLE, returned to the table to respond to questions from the committee and spoke about CDLE's reporting requirements. The committee requested that CDLE examine the current structure of DVR vendor fees.

03:59 PM

The committee requested that a letter be drafted on behalf of the committee for the relevant committees of reference to have during the SMART Act hearings. The committee discussed potential items to cover in the letter.

04:01 PM

The committee adjourned.