Senate committee approves Commission on Children and Youth budget, urges restoration of 1% CASA cut

The Senate Health & Welfare Committee approved the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth’s $7.8 million budget after a presentation from Executive Director Richard Kennedy and a brief question-and-answer session.

Kennedy told the committee the agency’s $7.8 million appropriation is primarily state-funded, with roughly 77% from state dollars, about 14% federal ("roughly $1.1 million") and roughly 9% from interdepartmental contracts. He described four core functions — data, collaboration, policy review and public awareness — and said the commission had no budget improvement requests this cycle.

Kylie Graves, the commission’s director of data, policy and communication, told senators that 2024 American Community Survey figures show 6.5% of Tennessee children are uninsured and described targeted regional outreach to identify and enroll eligible children. Graves added there is an ongoing CMS grant for enrolling eligible children but that, as of testimony, Tennessee did not have a current grant recipient for that federal funding stream.

Senators pressed the panel about Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) grants. Kennedy said 60 counties historically receive $40,000 apiece; last year the General Assembly added a one-time $5,000 supplement for each existing county and provided one-time $45,000 awards to stand up three to four new county programs. He said recurring baseline funding will revert to $40,000 per county and that the governor’s proposed 1% cut — a reduction of $58,400 statewide — would translate to roughly an $800 per-county reduction (to about $39,200), with smaller counties likely to feel the impact most.

Senator Hale moved that the committee send a recommendation to the Senate Finance Committee to restore the 1% reduction; the motion carried and the chair said members would send a letter. The committee then voted to approve the commission’s budget and forward it to the Finance Committee.

The committee took no further final action on programmatic changes; members requested follow-up materials, including grant-monitoring documentation and audit-related information for individual CASA programs.