Committee reviews DE1 amendment to HF 2436, highlights $40 million for child-welfare IT and other program changes

The Children and Families Finance and Policy Committee on April 2 reviewed the DE1 amendment to House File 2,436, the committee's children and families budget bill, in a staff-led walkthrough that outlined changes across child-welfare IT, early learning scholarships, child-care assistance and food-security programs.

Nonpartisan fiscal staff and House research analysts led the session and emphasized the committee’s plan to take no formal action on the DE1 until a markup scheduled the next day. Mr. Berg, the House fiscal analyst, told members the DE1 balances to the committee’s target and highlighted a $40,000,000 House appropriation for the Statewide Social Services Information System (SSIS) modernization, bringing total project funding to approximately $50,000,000 when combined with prior appropriations.

The nut graf: the walkthrough covered dozens of line items that change program funding or policy for the new Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF). Several witnesses — including Commissioner Tiki Brown and county leaders — urged the committee to preserve or restore ongoing operating funding and transition dollars the agency says it needs to implement new systems and services.

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