1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to local government aids; authorizing aid to 
  1.3             counties for the costs of court-ordered out-of-home 
  1.4             placement and for early intervention services; 
  1.5             appropriating money; proposing coding for new law in 
  1.6             Minnesota Statutes, chapter 477A. 
  1.7   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.8      Section 1.  [477A.0125] [OUT-OF-HOME PLACEMENT AID.] 
  1.9      Subdivision 1.  [EARLY INTERVENTION SERVICES.] "Early 
  1.10  intervention services" means the delivery of services under 
  1.11  alternative responses to children under section 626.5551. 
  1.12     Subd. 2.  [AID FORMULA.] (a) Beginning in calendar year 
  1.13  2002, aid must be paid to counties that meet the requirements in 
  1.14  subdivision 4 for the costs of children in out-of-home 
  1.15  placement.  The aid must be distributed annually to counties 
  1.16  based on the following formula: 
  1.17     (1) 25 percent of the total amount of the aid must be 
  1.18  distributed on the basis of each county's share of the total 
  1.19  statewide children in out-of-home placement costs for the 
  1.20  previous five calendar years; 
  1.21     (2) 50 percent of the total amount of the aid must be 
  1.22  distributed on the basis of each county's share of the total 
  1.23  statewide number of children living at or below the federal 
  1.24  poverty level based on the most recent county child poverty 
  1.25  estimate provided by the United States Census Bureau; and 
  1.26     (3) 25 percent of the total amount of the aid must be 
  2.1   distributed on the basis of each county's share of the total 
  2.2   statewide number of children under the age of 18 in the prior 
  2.3   calendar year.  
  2.4   The commissioner of revenue shall pay the aid amounts determined 
  2.5   under this section as provided in section 477A.015. 
  2.6      (b) By July 1 of 2001 and each year thereafter, the 
  2.7   commissioner of human services shall include in its filing under 
  2.8   section 477A.0122 the number of children in out-of-home 
  2.9   placement for each county for the previous five years. 
  2.10     Subd. 3.  [INFLATION ADJUSTMENT.] The amount of aid 
  2.11  provided in subdivision 2 must be adjusted each year by an 
  2.12  amount equal to: 
  2.13     (a) the amount certified to be paid under that section in 
  2.14  the previous year multiplied by 
  2.15     (b) one plus the percentage increases in the implicit price 
  2.16  deflator for government consumption expenditures and gross 
  2.17  investment for state and local governments prepared by the 
  2.18  Bureau of Economic Analysis of the United States Department of 
  2.19  Commerce for the 12-month period ending March 31 of the previous 
  2.20  year. 
  2.21     Subd. 4.  [REQUIRED COUNTY INVESTMENT IN EARLY INTERVENTION 
  2.22  SERVICES.] (a) In order to reduce out-of-home placement costs, a 
  2.23  county shall allocate a minimum of 25 percent of the funds 
  2.24  received under subdivision 2, paragraph (a), to provide local 
  2.25  funding for early intervention services as defined in 
  2.26  subdivision 1.  In the first calendar year in which aid is 
  2.27  received under this section, funds must be used to expand 
  2.28  existing services or to create new services.  In any subsequent 
  2.29  year in which aid is received under this section, at least 25 
  2.30  percent of the aid must be used to maintain early intervention 
  2.31  services, except under paragraph (b).  For each calendar year in 
  2.32  which funds are received, the county agency shall include in the 
  2.33  plan filed under section 256E.09 a detailed explanation of how 
  2.34  the aid will be used.  In the report filed by the county under 
  2.35  section 477A.0122, subdivision 6, the county shall include 
  2.36  detail on the use of aid received under this section. 
  3.1      (b) If the county aid under subdivision 2 decreases, the 
  3.2   county must continue to maintain early intervention funding in 
  3.3   an amount equal to the amount spent in the previous year. 
  3.4      Subd. 5.  [REPORTING.] The commissioner of human services 
  3.5   shall track expenditures under subdivision 4, and shall, in 
  3.6   consultation with county representatives, develop reporting 
  3.7   requirements related to expenditures, or use existing systems, 
  3.8   in order to determine county accountability.  The commissioner 
  3.9   of human services shall report to the chairs of the policy 
  3.10  committees in the house and senate that have jurisdiction over 
  3.11  out-of-home placement issues to ensure that expenditures for the 
  3.12  services under subdivision 1 have increased by at least 25 
  3.13  percent in each county. 
  3.14     Subd. 6.  [APPROPRIATION.] $....... is appropriated to the 
  3.15  commissioner of revenue to make the payments under this section.