The proposed Substitute House Bill No. 5162 requires the Department of Social Services and the Department of Developmental Services to submit reports to the General Assembly by January 1, 2025. These reports must detail programs administered by the departments that serve children or families at no cost or on a sliding fee scale based on family income in relation to the federal poverty level. The bill includes new insertions that expand the scope of the report to consider the implications of extending program eligibility to families with annual incomes above the federal poverty level but below the ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) Threshold of Financial Survival as determined by the United Way of Connecticut. The reports must also discuss the feasibility of adopting the ALICE Threshold for eligibility determinations.
The bill specifies that the reports should list the total and anticipated costs associated with administering each program, including if eligibility were expanded. It also requires an estimate of how many additional children or families would become eligible under the expanded criteria. The fiscal impact statement indicates that the bill could result in a cost of up to $100,000 in FY 25 to the Departments of Social Services and Developmental Services for the preparation of these reports. The bill has no fiscal impact in the out years as the report is due by January 1, 2025. The bill's sections are marked as new insertions, and legislative commissioners have made changes for accuracy, such as changing "social services" to "human services" and "public health" in the respective sections.