FAMILY PLANNING FUNDING PRIORITY - H.B. 4655 (S-2): FLOOR ANALYSIS
House Bill 4655 (Substitute S-2 as reported)
Sponsor: Representative Mark Jansen
House Committee: Family and Children Services
Senate Committee: Families, Mental Health and Human Services
CONTENT
The bill would create a new act to specify that it would be State policy for the Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) to give priority in the allocation of funds through grants or contracts for educational and other programs and services administered by the MDCH and primarily pertaining to family planning, reproductive health services, or both.
The policy expressed in the bill would apply to grants or contracts awarded to a "qualified entity" that did not engage in one or more of the following activities: 1) performing elective abortions or allowing the performance of elective abortions within a facility owned or operated by a qualified entity; 2) referring a pregnant woman to an abortion provider for an elective abortion; or 3) adopting or maintaining a written policy that elective abortion was considered part of a continuum of family planning or reproductive health services, or both. If each entity applying for a grant or contract engaged in one or more of those activities, the MDCH would have to give priority to those entities that engaged in the least number of them. If the only entity applying for a grant or contract engaged in any of the activities, the bill's priority policy would not apply. The priority policy would apply only to grants or contracts for family planning and pregnancy prevention awards under Federal regulations or State appropriated funds. The MDCH could not consider an activity listed above if participating in that activity were required under Federal law as a qualification for receiving Federal funding.
If an entity applying for a contract or grant were affiliated with another entity that engaged in any of the activities listed above, the applicant would have to be considered independent of the affiliated entity, for purposes of awarding a grant or contract, if the physical properties and equipment of the applicant were not shared with the affiliated entity; the entities' financial records showed that the affiliated entity received no funds from the applicant; and the applicant's paid personnel did not perform any function or duty on behalf of the affiliated entity while on the applicant's property or during the hours they were being paid by the applicant.
The MDCH would have to award grants and contracts to ensure that services were adequately available and distributed in a manner reflective of the State's geographic and population diversity. A qualified entity awarded a grant or contract would have to be capable of serving the patient census reflected in the grant or contract.
- Legislative Analyst: Patrick Affholter
FISCAL IMPACT
The bill would have no fiscal impact on State or local units of government. The bill could potentially lead to a redistribution of grants and contracts for family planning and pregnancy prevention services. The MDCH will allocate $14.7 million for these types of services in FY 2001-02.
Date Completed: 4-25-02 - Fiscal Analyst: Dana Patterson
- John WalkerFloor\hb4655 - Bill Analysis @ http://www.senate.state.mi.us/sfa
This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.