Arizona-2024-HB2905-Introduced

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Laws 2023, chapter 141, section 1 is amended to read:

Section 1. Extended foster care comprehensive service model fund; extended foster care success coaching program; quality review committee; reporting requirements; rules; delayed repeal; transfer of monies; definitions

A. The extended foster care comprehensive service model fund is established consisting of legislative appropriations. The department shall administer the fund. Monies in the fund are continuously appropriated and are exempt from the provisions of section 35-190, Arizona Revised Statutes, relating to lapsing of appropriations. In fiscal year 2023-2024, The department shall use monies in the fund for the purposes prescribed in this section.

B. Within ten days after the effective date of this act, for fiscal year 2023-2024 October 30, 2023, the department shall prepare a scope of work for an extended foster care comprehensive service model that includes supportive services and required case management provided by contracted community providers for young adults who participate in the extended foster care program. The extended foster care comprehensive service model scope of work shall include:

1. Weekly engagement with each young adult.

2. Life skills training.

3. Mental and physical health and well-being.

4. Relational permanency.

5. Education and enrollment assistance.

6. Assistance with accessing safe housing attainment and stability for young adults.

7. Career and employment planning and readiness.

8. Assistance with accessing transportation services for young adults.

C. The extended foster care comprehensive service model shall include extended foster care success coaches for young adults in the extended foster care program. Each extended foster care success coach shall have a caseload of not more than twenty young adults. The extended foster care success coaching program shall be based on a practice that is youth driven and shall do the following:

1. Promote permanent connections.

2. Support the development of an educational foundation and skill set that enables young adults to gain and maintain employment to support their financial needs.

3. Ensure that young adults reside in safe, stable and secure housing.

4. Link young adults to appropriate services that address physical and behavioral health needs.

5. Build skills for developing personal agency.

6. Ensure that young adults have the cognitive skills essential to survival.

D. The department shall supervise and monitor the success of the extended foster care success coaching program.

E. Each extended foster care success coach shall:

1. Successfully complete a department-administered foster care success coach training program.

2. Possess a bachelor's or associate's degree or have equivalent credits equal to an associate's degree. The degree or credits shall be in the fields of social work, psychology, counseling, marriage and family therapy, behavioral health or education. In lieu of a degree or credits, an extended foster care success coach may possess skills that the coach acquired through alternative routes such as relevant job training, community college attendance, military service or an apprenticeship.

3. Be at least twenty-six years of age.

4. Have experience working with youth or young adults who are fourteen through twenty-six years of age and who are involved in systems of care, which may include:

(a) Foster care.

(b) Juvenile justice.

5. Exhibit the belief that all young adults have the capacity to be successful in life.

F. The extended foster care success coaching program shall:

1. Operate from an evidence-based framework.

2. Ensure that the young adults served are aware of their rights to normalcy.

3. Assist young adults to advocate with caregivers to experience activities and opportunities that meet individual interests.

4. Support caregivers in identifying root causes of behaviors that present barriers to transition and provide opportunities that assist young adults in healing and addressing underlying trauma.

5. Develop feedback that allows young adults to communicate their needs and satisfaction with provided services and that allows a young adult to request a different extended foster care success coach.

6. Deliver interventions that are tailored to each young adult's strengths and experiences.

7. Contract with a public university to evaluate the effectiveness of the vendor's delivery of the extended foster care success coaching program.

G. The department shall solicit agencies to administer the extended foster care comprehensive service model within thirty days after the effective date of this act October 30, 2023 and select an agency or agencies within ninety days after the effective date of this act October 30, 2023. The department shall implement the extended foster care comprehensive service model within one hundred fifty days after the effective date of this act October 30, 2023.

H. The department shall adopt rules to implement this act.

I. The department shall establish an extended foster care quality review committee within the department. Members of the committee consist of department staff members. The committee shall confirm that a young adult who participates in extended foster care meets all of the following:

1. Eligibility criteria.

2. Has connections to a permanent family and supportive adults who are actively involved in the young adult's life.

3. Has a person-centered case and transition plan that supports the young adult's identified goals and future planning.

4. Is acquiring individualized skills to develop the tools that are needed to thrive outside of the foster care program.

J. Within one hundred fifty days after the effective date of this act October 30, 2023, the department shall submit to the joint legislative budget committee, the senate health and human services committee and the house of representatives health and human services committee a report on the extended foster care comprehensive service model developed pursuant to subsection B of this section. The report shall include data and statistics on:

1. The support and services to be offered by the extended foster care comprehensive service model.

2. The extended foster care program's eligibility requirements.

3. The young adult's program responsibilities.

4. Case and transition planning opportunities.

5. Health insurance coverage for young adults in the extended foster care program.

6. Educational opportunities for young adults in the extended foster care program.

7. Opportunities for mentors through the extended foster care program.

8. Transportation services for young adults in the extended foster care program, including obtaining a driver license.

9. Housing, including semi-supervised living arrangements if such arrangements best meet the young adult's needs.

K. The department shall provide to the joint legislative budget committee a quarterly report that includes all of the following:

1. The number of young adults served in the extended foster care comprehensive service model.

2. The young adult's participation in regular reviews with extended foster care staff.

3. Other performance measures as updated by the extended foster care quality review committee established pursuant to subsection I of this section and as determined by the chairperson of the joint legislative budget committee.

L. From and after June 30, 2025, this section is repealed and any unexpended and unencumbered monies remaining in the extended foster care comprehensive service model fund are transferred to the state general fund.

L. M. For the purposes of this section:

1. "Department" means the department of child safety.

2. "Young adult" means a person who is at least seventeen and one-half years of age and under twenty-one years of age and who participates or will participate in the extended foster care program established pursuant to section 8-521.02, Arizona Revised Statutes.

Sec. 2. Laws 2023, chapter 141, section 3 is amended to read:

Sec. 3. Homeless shelter and services fund; annual report; delayed repeal; transfer of monies

A. The homeless shelter and services fund is established consisting of legislative appropriations, other monies directed to be deposited in the fund and investment earnings on monies in the fund. The Arizona department of housing shall administer the fund. Monies in the fund are continuously appropriated.

B. In fiscal years 2023-2024, 2024-2025, 2025-2026 and 2026-2027, The Arizona department of housing shall use monies in the fund for the purposes prescribed in this section. Monies in the fund shall be used to award grants pursuant to title 41, chapter 23, Arizona Revised Statutes, to counties, cities, towns, Indian tribes and nonprofit organizations for programs that provide shelter and services to unsheltered persons who are experiencing homelessness.

C. Monies in the fund are exempt from the provisions of section 35-190, Arizona Revised Statutes, relating to lapsing of appropriations.

D. On or before December 31, of each fiscal year 2024, the Arizona department of housing shall submit a report to the governor, the president of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives describing all grants awarded in that year.

E. This section is repealed From and after September 30, 2027 June 30, 2025, this section is repealed and any unexpended and unencumbered monies remaining in the HOMELESS shelter and services fund established by this section are transferred to the state general fund.

Sec. 3. Department of economic security; drug testing; TANF cash benefits recipients

During fiscal year 2024-2025, the department of economic security shall screen and test each adult recipient who is otherwise eligible for temporary assistance for needy families cash benefits and who the department has reasonable cause to believe engages in the illegal use of controlled substances. Any recipient who tests positive for the use of a controlled substance that was not prescribed for the recipient by a licensed health care provider is ineligible to receive benefits for a period of one year.