Bill Text: IA SF144 | 2015-2016 | 86th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: A bill for an act establishing a refugee family support services pilot program, making appropriations, and including effective date provisions. (See SF 369.)

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-02-04 - Subcommittee, Dotzler, Johnson, and Taylor. S.J. 214. [SF144 Detail]

Download: Iowa-2015-SF144-Introduced.html

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Senate File 144 - Introduced




                                 SENATE FILE       
                                 BY  PETERSEN

                                      A BILL FOR

  1 An Act establishing a refugee family support services pilot
  2    program, making appropriations, and including effective date
  3    provisions.
  4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
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PAG LIN



  1  1    Section 1.  NEW SECTION.  217.41A  Refugee family support
  1  2 services pilot program.
  1  3    1.  The bureau of refugee services shall establish, promote,
  1  4 and administer a refugee family support services pilot program
  1  5 for purposes of providing grants to state, local, or community
  1  6 organizations working with refugee populations to contract
  1  7 with and train multiple refugees to act as refugee community
  1  8 navigators.  Financial assistance under the program shall be
  1  9 provided from moneys allocated to the refugee family support
  1 10 services fund created in section 217.41B.
  1 11    2.  The organizations awarded a grant pursuant to this
  1 12 section shall recruit and train multiple refugee community
  1 13 navigators to educate and provide direct assistance to their
  1 14 respective refugee communities so the refugee communities can
  1 15 successfully access and utilize existing community resources
  1 16 and services.
  1 17    3.  The refugee community navigators shall train other
  1 18 refugee community members and shall offer home=based,
  1 19 peer=group learning sessions about resources in the community.
  1 20    4.  The grants awarded pursuant to this section shall be
  1 21 used for employment costs of a program manager and community
  1 22 navigator coordinator, and contract and stipend costs for
  1 23 multiple refugee community navigators for each organization.
  1 24    5.  The bureau of refugee services shall award four grants to
  1 25 state, local, or community organizations through a competitive
  1 26 application process.  The bureau shall provide moneys over a
  1 27 three=year period to the organizations awarded a grant.
  1 28    6.  A state, local, or community organization awarded a grant
  1 29 pursuant to this section shall provide the state board with
  1 30 annual progress reports.  The bureau of refugee services shall
  1 31 present a report of the program goals and outcomes of each
  1 32 awarded grant to the general assembly.
  1 33    7.  The bureau of refugee services shall conduct a
  1 34 comprehensive review of the refugee family support services
  1 35 pilot program and shall, by December 31, 2017, submit a
  2  1 report of its review, as well as any recommendations and cost
  2  2 projections of its recommendations to the governor and the
  2  3 general assembly.
  2  4    8.  The bureau of refugee services may expend program moneys
  2  5 for administrative expenses as provided by law.
  2  6    Sec. 2.  NEW SECTION.  217.41B  Refugee family support
  2  7 services fund.
  2  8    1.  A refugee family support services fund is created in
  2  9 the state treasury under the control of the department. The
  2 10 fund includes but is not limited to amounts appropriated by
  2 11 the general assembly, and other moneys available from federal
  2 12 or private sources which are to be used for purposes of the
  2 13 refugee family support services pilot program established in
  2 14 section 217.41A.
  2 15    2.  Moneys remaining in the fund at the end of each fiscal
  2 16 year shall not revert to the general fund of the state but
  2 17 shall remain in the refugee family support services fund,
  2 18 notwithstanding section 8.33.
  2 19    Sec. 3.  REFUGEE FAMILY SUPPORT SERVICES PILOT PROGRAM
  2 20 APPROPRIATION.  There is appropriated from the general fund of
  2 21 the state to the department of human services for the following
  2 22 fiscal years, the following amounts, or so much thereof as is
  2 23 necessary, to be used for the purposes designated:
  2 24    For deposit in the refugee family support services fund
  2 25 created in section 217.41B to be used for the purposes of the
  2 26 refugee family support services pilot program established in
  2 27 section 217.41A:
  2 28 FY 2015=2016 ..................................... $    746,400
  2 29 FY 2016=2017 ..................................... $    746,400
  2 30 FY 2017=2018 ..................................... $    746,400
  2 31    Of the moneys appropriated for each fiscal year, $40,000 may
  2 32 be used for bureau of refugee services' administration costs
  2 33 for establishing, promoting, and administering the program.
  2 34    Sec. 4.  2013 Iowa Acts, chapter 141, section 54, subsection
  2 35 1, paragraph b, subparagraph (4), as amended by 2014 Iowa Acts,
  3  1 chapter 1135, section 29, is amended to read as follows:
  3  2    (4)  From the moneys appropriated in this paragraph,
  3  3 $210,000 $500,000 shall be transferred to the department of
  3  4 human services for purposes of administering a pilot project
  3  5  projects to provide access to international resources to Iowans
  3  6 and new Iowans to provide economic and leadership development
  3  7 resulting in Iowa being a more inclusive and welcoming place
  3  8 to live, work, and raise a family. The pilot project projects
  3  9  shall provide supplemental support services for international
  3 10 refugees to improve learning, literacy, cultural competencies,
  3 11 and assimilation integration in 10 4 locations within a county
  3 12 with a population over 350,000 as determined by the 2010
  3 13 federal decennial census. The department of human services
  3 14 shall utilize a request for proposals process to identify the
  3 15 entity entities best qualified to implement the pilot project
  3 16  projects.
  3 17    Sec. 5.  EFFECTIVE UPON ENACTMENT.  The section of this Act
  3 18 amending 2013 Iowa Acts, chapter 141, section 54, being deemed
  3 19 of immediate importance, takes effect upon enactment.
  3 20                           EXPLANATION
  3 21 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
  3 22 the explanation's substance by the members of the general assembly.
  3 23    This bill establishes a refugee family support services
  3 24 pilot program and makes appropriations.  The bill directs the
  3 25 bureau of refugee services within the department of human
  3 26 services to establish and administer the refugee family support
  3 27 services pilot program to provide grants to state, local, or
  3 28 community organizations working with refugee populations for
  3 29 contracting with and training multiple refugees to act as
  3 30 refugee community navigators.  The bill requires the grants
  3 31 to be used for employment costs of a program manager and a
  3 32 community navigator coordinator, and the contract and stipend
  3 33 costs for multiple refugee community navigators.  The bill
  3 34 directs the bureau of refugee services to award four grants
  3 35 through a competitive application process and to provide
  4  1 funding for those organizations over a three=year period.  The
  4  2 bill requires the organizations selected to provide the bureau
  4  3 with annual progress reports and requires the bureau to present
  4  4 an outcomes report to the general assembly.
  4  5    The bill appropriates $746,400 from the general fund of
  4  6 the state to the department of human services in fiscal years
  4  7 2015=2016, 2016=2017, and 2017=2018, for deposit in the refugee
  4  8 family support services fund created in the bill to be used for
  4  9 purposes of the program established in the bill.
  4 10    The bill increases the amount of moneys transferred to the
  4 11 department of human services from an appropriation from the
  4 12 Iowa skilled worker and job creation fund created in Code
  4 13 section 9.75 to the department of education for an organization
  4 14 to provide resources and support services for international
  4 15 refugees for FY 2014=2015.  The bill increases the number of
  4 16 projects and decreases the number of locations that may provide
  4 17 such supplemental support services for international refugees.
  4 18 These provisions are made immediately effective.
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