Category: Legislation

State lawmakers should expand KidsCare eligibility ASAP

A year into a pandemic that has claimed the lives of more than 16,000 Arizonans, the state legislature has repeatedly declined the opportunity to provide low-cost, comprehensive health coverage to tens of thousands of children. CAA’s new fact sheet explores why this measure is so important – and how many children would benefit.

In 2019, Arizona ranked 48th in the US for the rate of children’s health coverage. Latinx, American Indian, and Asian/Pacific Islander children are more likely to be uninsured than their peers of other races and ethnicities, and coverage gains for children of color facilitated by the Affordable Care Act have been eroded significantly over the past four years.

Unsurprisingly, our state also has one of the lowest income eligibility thresholds for its Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP; known as KidsCare in Arizona). KidsCare covers children up to age 21 whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid. Currently, a family of four earning up to 205% FPL ($53,004 per year) may qualify for KidsCare. For comparison, the national median upper income threshold is 255% FPL, or about $67,575 per year.

In 2019 (the last year for which we have comprehensive data), over 16,000 uninsured Arizona children currently lived in households earning slightly too much to qualify for KidsCare. The COVID-19 pandemic has inevitably increased the number of uninsured Arizona children, and may have strained the finances of families with health coverage through their employers or the Health Care Marketplace.

At the same time, the state is receiving an influx of federal relief dollars. In state fiscal year 2020 alone, the state is anticipated to have saved $153 million in state funds earmarked for AHCCCS (which administers KidsCare).

HB2273 (Children’s health insurance program; eligibility), sponsored by Representative Kelli Butler (D-LD28) would have expanded income eligibility. This bill was never heard in committee. Subsequent attempts to insert this provision have failed to gain traction.

Lawmakers will have another opportunity to provide health coverage to thousands more Arizona children by including the expanded KidsCare eligibility in the state budget. We hope they do.

American Rescue Plan is a major victory for Arizona children and families

The American Rescue Plan passed by Congress and signed by President Biden this week is a major victory for Arizona children and families.  According to data released by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the expansion of the child tax credit alone will lift 112,000 Arizona children above the poverty line and will benefit more than 1.5 million Arizona children overall. This historic reduction in child poverty will particularly help children of color who have been disproportionately hard hit by the pandemic and its related economic and educational harms.

In addition to the expansion of the child tax credit, the relief package will provide Arizona with an estimated $780 million to expand child care assistance; $2.6 billion to help Arizona’s public schools reopen safely, and it extends increased food assistance benefits through September 30.

“This landmark legislation will greatly improve the well-being of Arizona’s children – through expanded child care assistance, resources so schools can reopen safely, more affordable health coverage, and aggressive measures to combat child poverty,” said David Lujan, interim President and CEO of Children’s Action Alliance.  “We applaud Arizona’s congressional delegation who took swift action and supported this impactful legislation for Arizona’s families.”

This long-term crisis has been exacerbated by the devastating, inequitable impacts of COVID-19. Now, thanks to the passage of the American Rescue Plan, Arizona children, and families who have been hit the hardest will have severely needed resources to enable them to emerge from these challenging times with a pathway to a stronger future.

Good ideas that didn't fit the bill

The Arizona legislature set a deadline that any bills that did not receive an initial committee hearing by the end of last week cannot advance this session. Committee chairs wield a lot of power in deciding which bills receive consideration or not and with 1,823 bills introduced this session, we understand there simply is not enough time to hear every bill. But there were several good ideas that would improve the lives of Arizona’s children and families introduced this year that never had the opportunity to be considered in committee. Even though time has run out this year for those bills, we want to take a moment to highlight a few of those good ideas that merit stronger consideration in the future:

  • HB 2416: Sponsored by Representative Pawlik to appropriate $13 million for child care to raise reimbursement rates. Arizona’s child care assistance program continues to reimburse providers for care at rates that are far below what it costs to actually provide that care. Parents often have to pay the difference between the reimbursement rate and the cost, making accessing child care too expensive even for many low-income families who are eligible for the program.
  • HB 2291: Sponsored by Representative Osborne to provide comprehensive dental care to eligible pregnant women. Pregnant women are especially vulnerable to developing oral health problems, which if left untreated are associated with adverse birth outcomes and increased risk of dental disease in early childhood.
  • HB 2273: Sponsored by Representative Butler to increase income eligibility for KidsCare, Arizona’s health insurance program for low-income children, from 200 percent of the federal poverty level to 300 percent of the federal poverty level. Arizona currently has one of the lowest income eligibility thresholds for its children’s health insurance program in the nation. After years of progress toward reducing the rate of uninsured children, Arizona has taken an unfortunate turn. Between 2016 and 2019, the number of uninsured children grew by roughly 22%. In 2019, 161,000 Arizona children were uninsured – the fourth highest rate of uninsured children in the United States.
  • HB 2659: Sponsored by Senator Marsh to establish an annual conference on children and youth to identify and recommend policy solutions to the legislature that will improve the lives of children in Arizona.
  • HB 2146, HB 2147, HB 2148, HB 2283, HB 2566, SB 1098, SB 1736, SB 1737: Sponsored by Representatives Friese, Lieberman, and Bolding; and Senators Alston and Bowie. Several bills were introduced this session to provide much-needed reform to the private school tuition tax credit program which diverts public tax dollars to private schools. These bills would restrict use of these tax credits to low-income families and would limit the amount which can be used for administrative costs. The expansion of private school tuition tax credits has had a significant impact on reducing state revenues growing from a cost of $14 million in 1999 to $177 million in 2019.
  • HB 2728: Sponsored by Representative Sierra to make participation in extended foster care until the age of 21 an opt-out rather than opt-in program for youth aging out of foster care when they turn 18. Extended foster care can provide a better bridge to adulthood especially during the current health and economic crisis.
  • SCR 1017: Sponsored by Senator Quezada. A legislative proclamation identifying racism as a public health crisis affecting our entire society and avowing to support policies that reduce racial and ethnic health inequities and promote social justice.

The list above is not an exhaustive list. We are glad to see so many lawmakers introducing bills this session that will benefit Arizona’s children, and we hope many of those bills become law in the future.

Image source: ABC's Schoolhouse Rock

Urge Senate Education Committee to support SB1376 for Youth Mental Health Programs

More and more states are requiring mental health education in schools as young people are increasingly vulnerable to depression, anxiety, and other forms of mental illness. Today, Arizona has an opportunity to join the movement with SB1376 and to help more students - students like Briana.

Briana always did well in school until around the 8th grade when things in life started to slip for her. She began grappling with depression. She eventually transferred to another school where her school administrator, Ms. Cyndi, took notice how she was struggling. Ms. Cyndi reached out to Briana to express concern and did research on limited mental health services available for youth as she had witnessed the disturbing trend in other students.  She worked with Briana to start a new after-school club at their school called Your Life Matters (YLM), a peer-to-peer support resource. Through YLM, students recognized they were not alone.  They received basic education on mental health in a safe place to share and to be accepted.  Briana credits YLM for saving her life.

Briana was inspired to get more involved in YLM.  Together they began attending community events and advocating that school mental health programs and clubs like YLM be started in other schools as well.

She also got connected with a local initiative called Help & Hope for YOUth and joined their youth task force. Help & Hope for YOUth, a member of Children’s Action Alliance’s Southern Arizona Advisory Committee, is a multi-sector initiative working to improve outcomes for young people (age 10 – 24) by reducing the stigma of living with and seeking services for mental health challenges.

Their Advocacy & Policy Task Force elevated the youth voice brought forward by members of the community such as Briana, and set out to find ways where schools could do better in supporting youth struggling with mental health challenges.

The first of which just became a bill at the Arizona Legislature!

SB 1376 Senator Bowie’s mental health curriculum bill has been scheduled for a hearing: TODAY, Tuesday February 2 at 2:00 PM. Please take a moment to show your support by taking action below in support of the bill.

Representative Hernandez has the mirror bill HB 2656 which he has introduced in the House.

Governor Ducey’s proposed budget - The good, the bad and more tax cuts

Last spring when the COVID pandemic began, the legislature passed a basic “skinny budget” so they could rapidly end the legislative session and return home. At that time, with large portions of the economy shutting down and thousands of Arizonans losing their jobs, state budget experts were predicting a $1.1 billion shortfall for the fiscal year and an even larger shortfall for the coming fiscal year. But, unexpectedly, instead of ending fiscal year 2020 with a shortfall, the state’s ending balance was more than $370 million. This was largely due to an infusion of federal dollars, including about $396 million in federal COVID relief dollars that Governor Ducey used to pay for state agency operations that normally would be paid with state general fund dollars. Increased federal unemployment payments and two rounds of stimulus checks also contributed to what the governor’s budget projects is a $1.1 billion ending cash balance for the current fiscal year and a projected $923 million revenue surplus, after the governor’s spending proposal, for the coming fiscal year.

Governor Ducey released his fiscal year 2022 budget proposal last week which centers around a phased-in tax cut that would grow to a cost of $600 million in three years. If passed, and combined with the $386 million in tax cuts enacted in 2019, would result in nearly $1 billion less in revenue each year.

Governor's proposed budget changes compared to previous year

 

What is missing from the Governor’s budget proposal are the investments needed to help Arizona’s children and families get through the health and economic crisis, like:

  • Increasing child care subsidy reimbursement rates to provide safe, quality child care options for working parents of young children;
  • Making up for the estimated $389 million in state funding that Arizona’s public schools will lose during the pandemic due to declining enrollments and reduced formula funding for virtual instruction than in-person instruction;
  • Expanding eligibility for food assistance resources;
  • Making health care more accessible for Arizona’s children by expanding eligibility for KidsCare, Arizona’s Children’s Health Insurance Program;
  • Doubling the kinship stipend from $75 to $150 per child per month for children the Department of Child Safety places with grandparents and other relatives.

The Governor’s budget does include some important investments, like:

  • $18 million to fund the continuation of the childcare waitlist and for a new pilot program that provides child care to children of parents pursuing education and nursing degrees;
  • $92.7 million in supplemental funding for the stabilization of child care centers and to further support providers during the pandemic;
  • $10 million to renew and bolster the Rural Broadband Grant Program.

In the coming weeks, Governor Ducey and lawmakers will begin to negotiate what the final budget will look like. With so much economic uncertainty still present, we will continue to urge them that now is not the time for more tax cuts and they should instead pass a budget that puts the needs of Arizona’s children and families first.