Sec. 8. Biennial reporting requirement. Beginning in January 2001 and biennially thereafter, the Department of Human Services shall report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over human services regarding the ombudsman programs and advocacy services offered to clients of the department and the utilization and effectiveness of these programs and services.

Sec. 9. Adoption of rules. The Department of Human Services, Bureau of Child and Family Services shall adopt rules for the operation of the child protective system by December 31, 1999. Rules adopted pursuant to this section are routine technical rules as defined in the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter II-A.

Sec. 10. Investigation of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program. The Department of Human Services shall examine whether sanctions in the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program are fairly and uniformly administered throughout the State and implement a corrective action plan to remedy any problems that are found. In its examination, the department shall calculate the percentage of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program recipients sanctioned in each county and determine a statewide average, excluding those counties that are found to have very high or very low rates of sanctions compared with the total numbers of participants in the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program in that county. Any county that exceeds the State sanction average by more than 5 percentage points is subject to further review. The review process must include a review of the case file of each sanctioned family to determine whether the caseworker followed state policy by contacting the family to hear the family's side of the story and evaluating whether the family had "good cause" for failing to comply. If the reviewer determines that the sanction was incorrectly applied, the family must be reinstated and any benefits improperly withheld must be restored.

SUMMARY

This bill implements the recommendations of the Task Force to Study the Need for an Ombudsman for the Department of Human Services and the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services relating to the Department of Human Services.