2006 Louisiana Laws - RS 46:2604 — Children\'s budget; preparation and submission

§2604.  Children's budget; preparation and submission

A.  In adopting the children's budget annually, the cabinet shall hold such hearings and solicit and review such information and recommendations from affected agencies and programs and other sources as it shall find necessary.  To the extent possible, the cabinet shall seek to establish agreement among and support by the affected agencies and programs with respect to the children's budget.

B.(1)  In reviewing the children's budget recommendations, the cabinet shall ensure that the following costs and cost estimates are included:

(a)  Estimates of all costs associated with the direct delivery of child and family welfare services and juvenile justice services by executive branch agencies, including planning and legal services.

(b)  Estimates of all costs of child and family welfare and juvenile justice services administered by courts and agencies of the judicial branch, including the estimated costs of adjudication, law enforcement by sheriffs, district legal representation, juvenile forensic activity, local juvenile probation, local juvenile detention, FINS, juvenile drug courts, truancy centers, CASA programs, child support adjudication and enforcement, improvements to foster care adjudication, and domestic violence programs.  The estimates shall include all costs, including state, local, self-generated, and federal or other grant funding, regardless of the source of the expenditures.

(c)  Estimate of the total expenditures of local government, exclusive of federal and state funds provided to the local government from the state, on children's services, including the costs of recreation, elementary and secondary education, juvenile law enforcement by municipal police departments, juvenile justice services, including local probation, local detentions, and treatment services directly administered by the local government.

(2)  The budget shall also include goals and benchmarks for measuring year-to-year progress and for comparing Louisiana's progress in putting children first with the efforts of other states.  The cabinet shall define a comprehensive continuum of services, including juvenile justice services, and shall estimate the total cost of funding the continuum.  The state's progress in funding the continuum of services shall be measured by comparing the costs of the total need of the continuum versus the estimated costs expended by state and local government each year in support of the continuum.

(3)  In reviewing the annual children's budget recommendations, the executive departments, agencies, and cabinet shall adhere, to the extent possible and reasonable, to the following policy priorities:

(a)  The highest funding priority should be given to prevention and early intervention services.

(b)  High funding priority should be given to the following programmatic areas:

(i)  Exemplary or promising mental health services.

(ii)  Exemplary or promising substance abuse treatment services.

(iii)  Exemplary or promising alternative sanctions.

(iv)  Nonsecure residential programs.

(v)  Exemplary or promising family strengthening programs.

(c)  Funded programs should, for the most part, be school-based or community-based, unless greater efficiency and effectiveness can be achieved through regionally-based programs.

(d)  All existing services, except existing services that are being extended to additional jurisdictions, should be funded at current levels until the effectiveness of the services are properly evaluated.  Programs shown through evaluation to not be cost-effective should be altered or eliminated.  Programs shown through evaluation to be effective should be funded at higher levels if there is sufficient need for such programs.

(e)  Special funding attention within these priority areas should also be directed to services for female youth offenders, juvenile sexual offenders, and juvenile victims of sexual abuse.

C.  In studying and recommending the children's budget, the cabinet shall determine the feasibility, advisability, and merit of:

(1)  Organizing and presenting the budget in terms of the continuum of services in addition to by department.

(2)  Directing funding to family preservation and nonresidential options directed toward long-range savings.

D.  The governor's executive budget shall include the governor's recommended children's budget which shall be a compilation and listing of the recommended budgets contained in the various schedules of the executive budget for all services and programs for children and their families.

E.  The General Appropriation Act enacted by the legislature shall include the children's budget.  This shall be a separate section of the Act which shall include a compilation and listing of all appropriations contained in the various schedules and appropriations in the Act which are for services and programs for children and their families as well as the cost estimates of all nonappropriated elements of the budget.

F.  The cabinet will coordinate with the office of planning and budget in the division of administration to track changes in the children's budget throughout the fiscal year. The office of planning and budget in the division of administration shall designate an analyst with the responsibility to the children's budget.

Acts 1992, No. 971, §2; Acts 1998, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 5, §§2, 3, eff. April 24, 1998; Acts 2003, No. 245, §1, eff. June 5, 2003; Acts 2003, No. 1225, §6.