Testimony presented to the

Assembly Budget Committee

By

Acting Commissioner Jennifer Velez

New Jersey Department of Human Services

April 17, 2007

Good morning, Chairman Greenwald, and members of the committee.

This morning I am here to talk with you about the Governor's Proposed Budget for the Department of Human Services for State Fiscal Year 2008 with regard to the Divisions of Developmental Disabilities, Family Development and Addiction Services and the Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

I would like to introduce once again Chief of Staff Diane Zompa , Deputy Commissioner Ann Kohler, Deputy Commissioner Jim Smith , Assistant Commissioner for Human Resources, Kim Rogers-McLean and Director of the Office of Budget Planning Joe Guider

Today, because of the divisions we will be discussing, I also would like to introduce: Assistant Commissioner, Division of Developmental Disabilities, Ken Ritchey , who recently joined the Department after working for more than 30 years in the developmental disabilities field in Ohio; Division of Family Development Director Jeanette Page Hawkins; Division of Addiction Services Director Raquel Jeffers; and Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired Executive Director Vito DeSantis .

By way of a quick overview, for SFY 2008, the Governor's proposed budget includes: $654 million for the Division of Developmental Disabilities; $584 million for the Division of Family Development; $61 million for the Division of Addiction Services and $14 million for the Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

Clearly, as these budget numbers indicate - and they represent only part of our Department - we bear a great responsibility to spend and invest state tax dollars wisely. As a general matter, this year our budget reflects savings we have achieved by reducing our fleet of state-owned vehicles, making better use of our office space, reducing the number of leases, and continuing to make careful decisions about staffing. The Department will continue to make spending and investment decisions wisely, both in operational and in program areas.

Moving on, I would like to begin with the Division of Family Development. Because this Division administers programs for people facing economic difficulties, it seems appropriate to note that the Governor's proposed budget illustrates his commitment to fighting poverty, which we welcome because the challenges of poverty are a daily reality for so many of our clients.

In line with this commitment, the Division of Family Development's budget includes an important child care reform. It is a first step toward creating a more equitable child care system throughout the state because it will reduce the financial burden that the cost of child care imposes on New Jersey 's lowest income families.

This reform is compatible with the Governor's decisions to increase the Earned Income Tax Credit and increase funding for Hunger Relief, and it is good news for all of New Jersey 's lowest-income and most vulnerable families with children, regardless of where they live.

I also want to highlight our concern about the federal legislation that reauthorizes the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program, which this Division administers, because it includes new requirements that could prove very costly to New Jersey . We look forward to working with you to help address this challenge and forestall the potential loss of significant federal funding.

Under the federal reauthorization of TANF, we are required to have a significantly higher percentage of TANF families participating in work activities by October 2007 or risk losing up to five percent of our TANF block grant funding, which for New Jersey totals approximately $20 million.

We are looking to the legislature for help with two urgently-needed legislative reforms in our WorkFirst New Jersey program. One of these would increase the earned income disregard. The benefit of this piece is that it would provide TANF recipients with a smoother and more successful transition from welfare to work. The other reform would streamline the sanctions process. Both would increase the work participation rates. These changes require legislative action by the end of the fiscal year, and we look forward to working with you so New Jersey can meet its federal mandate.

I want to add that we are continuing to work closely with the Department of Labor and Workforce Development on this issue and many initiatives are well underway. For example, our Departments meet weekly and are jointly monitoring the progress of some of our largest counties to assist them as they engage our clients in work activities.

Turning to the Division of Developmental Disabilities, we are gratified that the Governor's budget includes $10.1 million in new funding that will allow us to increase the number of people who will be able to benefit from Real Life Choices and allow others to receive family support services. It will also help us begin to move new people off our waiting list over the next four years and continue day programs for young people aging out of the educational system.

The Division's budget also includes $5 million to provide more services and support programs for people with autism. We appreciate the leadership role the Governor and Speaker Roberts have taken on this issue. The funding for this division truly reflects the Governor's commitment to people with developmental disabilities.

I also want to report that we continue our efforts to meet the mandates of the U. S. Supreme Court's Olmstead decision - and also address the current litigation by New Jersey Protection and Advocacy - which affirmed an individual's right to live outside an institution when they are deemed able and are willing to do so.

Additionally, we are on target to meet the statutory deadline of May 2 nd for reporting back to the Legislature and the Governor on our Olmstead plan. We look forward to engaging in a continuing dialogue about this important plan with you – and with our advocates - as the discussions and the plan continue to evolve.

I don't want to leave this Division without mentioning overtime, which I know was a concern when we were here before in regard to our psychiatric hospitals.

Overtime at our developmental centers has declined slightly. But it is important to understand that overtime goes hand-in-hand with a real success story at our institutions, which is the sharp decline in the use of restraints as part of our treatment program. Between 2000 and 2005, the use of restraints dropped by 76 percent in our developmental centers. This is a remarkable achievement that correlates both to significant improvement in the quality of life for residents and to fewer injuries sustained by residents and staff.

However, reducing restraints adds pressure to the use of overtime. The fact that overtime has decreased in the face of this pressure shows that we have been able to control and actively manage this issue, in part through increased staff training.

Next, I would like to talk about the Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired (CBVI), which serves more than 10,000 New Jersey residents. The Commission provides varied services ranging from independent life training at the Joseph Kohn Rehabilitation Center in New Brunswick to Braille instruction in our schools to free vision screenings around the state.

Today, we are increasingly involved in addressing the critical issue of employment among the people the Commission serves. National surveys have shown that more than 70 percent of people with disabilities are unemployed, and this is an area of critical importance to our Department.

In the context of CBVI, I'm happy to note that for many years, it has offered vocational rehabilitation training for unemployed people who are blind and visually impaired. It is increasingly assertive in approaching employers about finding ways to make more well-paying jobs accessible and available for people who are willing and able to work. Some of the employers CBVI has already worked with include Merrill Lynch, UPS, New York Life, Merck Pharmaceuticals and Prudential.

Finally, I want to turn to the Division of Addiction Services. As you may be aware, this Division has weathered a very difficult year that recently culminated in the release of two reports from the Office of the Inspector General. While the reports' conclusions were very critical, they have produced many positive results. Most particularly, we have gained the progressive leadership of Raquel Jeffers , the Division's new director, who is passionately dedicated to reform and to the concepts of transparency, accountability and quality in all that DAS does.

As the state's sole federally-designated authority on substance abuse, DAS also is sensitive to new scientific discoveries and public health trends around the issue of addiction and is refocusing its efforts to make sure this understanding is incorporated into all of its prevention, treatment and recovery efforts, and that the system is oriented toward helping individuals recover from their addictions.

In closing, I would like to once again thank you for your support of the people we serve and assure you that I look forward to working with you, as well as our stakeholders, to ensure that state government is making a positive difference in the lives of those we all serve.

I would now be happy to answer your questions.