Committee refers bill on Social Security payments for children in foster care to interim study after lengthy review

State Representative Maureen Mooney, chair of House Finance Division III, opened discussion of House Bill 661 on Sept. 29 by summarizing the committee's charge and the fiscal questions surrounding the bill: whether programmatic changes would be cost-effective and whether the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) could implement new account-management processes without an outsized cost per dollar conserved.

The bill would change how DHHS manages Social Security Title II (work-history) and Title XVI SSI benefits, and would create or require conservation of funds (including use of ABLE accounts in some cases) so that benefits follow the child rather than being used to offset state costs of care.

Consultant report and department testimony

Marie Noonan, director for the Division for Children, Youth and Families (DCYF), presented the final report from Public Consulting Group (PCG), an assessment of child-centered benefits management paid for by prior legislative action. The PCG report outlined four implementation models with varying scopes, estimated implementation costs and projected conserved federal benefits. Nathan White, DHHS chief financial officer, said PCG's full-in-house implementation estimate included up-front costs and several ongoing costs that together could reach into multiple millions across…