Amendment #677 to H4100

DCF - Fair Hearings

Representatives Khan of Newton, Collins of Boston, Farley-Bouvier of Pittsfield, Garballey of Arlington, Hecht of Watertown, Ferguson of Holden, Provost of Somerville, Ross of Attleboro, Sannicandro of Ashland, Sciortino of Medford, Swan of Springfield, Walsh of Framingham, Dwyer of Woburn, Lawn of Watertown, Fox of Boston and Andrews of Orange move to amend the bill in section 2, in item 4800-0015 in line 29 by inserting after the words “the state auditor;” the following: “provided further, that in departmental administrative hearings, the decision appealed shall be reversed if the department’s hearing is not scheduled within 90 days and is not decided within 150 days from the postmark date, fax receipt date, or hand delivery date of the hearing request; provided further, that upon the department’s written finding that the physical, mental or emotional safety of a child would be placed at risk by reversing the challenged decision, the department shall have an additional 14 days to render its decision, for a total of 164 from the date of the request; provided further that, in the event that the department grants an appellant’s request for a continuance of the hearing, the department’s deadline for scheduling the hearing shall be suspended and its time for rendering the decision shall be extended by the number of days that the hearing was continued or 30 days whichever is shorter; provided further that the department shall maintain and make available to the public during regular business hours all of its fair hearing decisions with identifying information removed, and a record of its fair hearings with identifying information removed, reflecting, for each hearing request, the date of the request, the date of the hearing, the length of any extensions granted to the party, the date of the hearing decision, the decision rendered by the hearing officer, and the final decision rendered upon the Commissioner’s review; provided further that, beginning on August 15, 2012,  the department shall submit quarterly reports to the chairs of the joint committee on children, families, and persons with disabilities setting forth (a) the number of pending administrative appeals in which a decision has not been issued within 150 days of the hearing request and the number of them in which a hearing decision has been written by the hearing officer but not yet issued to the appellant, and (b) for each hearing that was requested after October 3, 2011, the date the hearing was requested, whether the hearing was held within 90 days of the request,  whether the hearing officer rendered a decision within 150 days of the hearing request, and whether the decision was issued to the appellant within 150 days of the request, provided further that no later than October 31, 2012, the department shall promulgate and implement regulations which shall ensure that the department maintains an independent, timely and fair administrative hearing system  provided further, that nothing in the preceding provision eliminates the obligation imposed on the department in this item in chapter 68 of the acts of 2011  to promulgate regulations which shall ensure that the department maintains an independent, timely and fair administrative hearing system and implement regulations by December 1, 2011; and provided further, that no less than $152,000 shall be expended for two additional full-time Fair Hearing Officers”; and in said item in the last line by striking out the figures “65,651,557” and inserting in place thereof the figures “69,474,448".