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Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Ind. Gov't. - "Bill seeks audit of FSSA modernization" [Updated]

Jake Grovum reports today in the Indianapolis Star:

It's been two years since Indiana began an ambitious plan to modernize the Family and Social Services Administration, and a bill introduced in the legislative special session aims to tackle the many problems some say stem from the overhaul.

Critics of the $1.16 billion modernization drive say it has created a digital bureaucracy, filled with difficulty and frustration for some of the most vulnerable Hoosiers. These people have been stripped of personal caseworkers, been forced to deal with long response times and even seen benefits dropped amid increasing complications as a result of the shift, critics say.

Add the current financial crisis to the mix and it's a recipe for disaster, said Rep. Gail Riecken, D-Evansville. Riecken has authored a bill seeking an audit of the program in an attempt to fix the problems reported to her.

"When folks are asking for food stamps, they need them today, not three months from now," Riecken said. "You're seeing people's benefits stopped for a few months. * * *

A hearing on the bill is scheduled for this afternoon before the House Ways and Means Committee.

The bill is HB 1003, one of three bills intorduced in the special session.

See also this ILB entry from April 3rd.

[Updated 6/18/09] From today's Indianapolis Star:

A measure to audit the partial privatization of many data collection and management functions for state welfare programs likely won't become law during the legislature's special session.

The bill's author, Rep. Gail Riecken, D-Evansville, said Wednesday that she had withdrawn the bill because lawmakers were busy working to draft a state budget. She said she still would try to have its provisions included in the budget. But Riecken said that with Gov. Mitch Daniels' opposition to the bill, it's unlikely she would succeed.

In that light, Riecken said she will push to establish a legislative committee to look at what's happening in the Family and Social Services Administration.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 16, 2009 08:52 AM
Posted to Indiana Government