SENATE BILL 68

51st legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2013

INTRODUCED BY

Gerald Ortiz y Pino

FOR THE LEGISLATIVE HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE

AN ACT

RELATING TO CHILD AND FAMILY WELFARE; DIRECTING THE CHILDREN, YOUTH AND FAMILIES DEPARTMENT TO ESTABLISH A STATEWIDE EARLY CHILDHOOD HOME VISITING PROGRAM FOR FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN UNDER FIVE YEARS OF AGE; MAKING AN APPROPRIATION.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     SECTION 1. EARLY CHILDHOOD HOME VISITING PROGRAM--REQUIREMENTS--REPORTING.--

          A. The department shall establish a statewide early childhood home visiting program for any eligible family that requests home visiting services.

          B. A home visiting program model established pursuant to this section shall include periodic home visits to improve the health, well-being and self-sufficiency of families. A home visiting program model shall provide linguistically and culturally appropriate, face-to-face visits by nurses, social workers and other early childhood and health professionals or trained and supervised lay workers.

          C. A home visiting program model established pursuant to this section shall provide two or more of the following services:

                (1) working to improve maternal, infant or child health outcomes, including reducing preterm births;

                (2) promoting positive parenting practices;

                (3) promoting healthy parent-child relationships;

                (4) enhancing a child's social-emotional development;

                (5) supporting a child's cognitive development;

                (6) improving the health of a family;

                (7) promoting the family's economic self-sufficiency;

                (8) preventing child neglect, maltreatment and injury;

                (9) supporting a child's readiness and capacity for success in school;

                (10) working to improve a child's chances for avoiding risky behaviors and crime;

                (11) assisting a family in avoiding domestic violence; or

                (12) coordinating and refering a family to other community resources and supports.

          D. The department shall establish the home visiting program model to conform to one of the following models:

                (1) an evidence-based program model that:

                     (a) is research-based and grounded in relevant, empirically based knowledge;

                     (b) is linked to outcomes that are associated with a national organization, institution of higher education or national or state public health institute;

                     (c) has comprehensive home visitation standards that ensure high-quality service delivery and continuous quality improvement, that have demonstrated significant, sustained positive outcomes, and that: 1) have been evaluated using rigorous randomized controlled research designs, and the evaluation results have been published in a peer-reviewed journal; or 2) are based on quasi-experimental research using two or more separate, comparable client samples;

                     (d) follows a program manual or design that specifies the purpose, outcomes, duration and frequency of service that constitute the model;

                     (e) employs well-trained and competent staff and provides continual professional development relevant to the home visiting program model being delivered;

                     (f) demonstrates strong links to other community-based services;

                     (g) operates within an entity that ensures compliance with home visitation standards established by law and by the entity; and

                     (h) operates with fidelity to the home visiting program model; or

                (2) a promising model that does not meet the criteria of an evidenced-based model set forth in Paragraph (1) of this subsection but that:

                     (a) demonstrates to the department through reliable data or other evidence that the model is effective in achieving positive outcomes for families;

                     (b) conforms to a home visiting program model that has been in existence for at least three years;

                     (c) is grounded in relevant empirically based knowledge;

                     (d) sets benchmarks for positive outcomes;

                     (e) employs well-trained and competent staff and provides continual professional development relevant to the home visiting program model being delivered;

                     (f) demonstrates strong links to other community-based services;

                     (g) operates within an entity that ensures compliance with home visitation standards established by law and by the entity;

                     (h) operates with fidelity to the home visiting program model;

                     (i) is either: 1) associated with a national or state organization that has comprehensive program standards that ensure high-quality service delivery and continuous program model quality improvement; or 2) has demonstrated through the model's outcomes that it has achieved significant positive outcomes equivalent to published program models that demonstrate significant and sustained results in a peer-reviewed journal; and

                     (j) has its effectiveness evaluated by the department every two years and for which the department establishes a time line for the model's transition in status to an evidence-based program as described in Paragraph (1) of this subsection.

          E. The home visiting program that the department provides pursuant to this section shall not be a family, infant and toddler program established pursuant to Section 28-18-1 NMSA 1978.

          F. The department may adopt and promulgate rules to establish and operate a home visiting program pursuant to the provisions of this section.

          G. The department shall collaborate with the public education department, the human services department, the department of health and other publicly funded services to ensure that the home visiting program it establishes pursuant to this section meets the requirements of this section and does not unnecessarily overlap with other programs and services.          H. By November 1, 2013, at least every two years by November 1 thereafter and upon legislative request, the department shall provide a written report to the legislative health and human services committee and to the legislative finance committee. The report shall include:

                (1) the goals and achieved outcomes of the home visiting program;

                (2) data on:

                     (a) the cost per family served and the number of families served;

                     (b) the demographics of the families served; and

                     (c) the geographic distribution of the families served;

                (3) the number of evidence-based program models and the percentage of overall funding for home visiting that evidence-based program models represent;

                (4) the number of promising program models and the percentage of overall funding for home visiting that promising program models represent; and

                (5) model descriptions and information on the home visiting program's effectiveness, including model-specific outcomes.

          I. To fund the home visiting program, the department shall seek sources of federal and other public and private revenue in addition to state revenues.

          J. As used in this section:

                (1) "department" means the children, youth and families department; and

                (2) "eligible family" means:

                     (a) the natural, adoptive or foster parents of a child under five years of age;

                     (b) the legal guardian of a child under five years of age;

                     (c) a person acting as a parent of a child under five years of age;

                     (d) a relative or stepparent with whom a child under five years of age lives;

                     (e) a pregnant woman;

                     (f) the spouse or life partner of a pregnant woman; or

                     (g) an expecting second parent.

     SECTION 2. APPROPRIATION.--Eighty-one million dollars ($81,000,000) is appropriated from the general fund to the children, youth and families department for expenditure in fiscal year 2014 to establish and operate an early childhood home visiting program pursuant to the provisions of Section 1 of this act. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2014 shall revert to the general fund.

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