Senate Bill 1362
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Florida Senate - 2000 SB 1362
By Senator Diaz-Balart
37-871-00
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act providing for the Interstate Compact on
3 Adoptions and Medical Assistance; creating s.
4 409.4015, F.S.; providing authority for the
5 Department of Children and Family Services to
6 enter into interstate agreements with other
7 participating states for medical and other
8 necessary services for special needs children;
9 establishing procedures for interstate delivery
10 of adoption assistance and related services and
11 benefits; providing for the adoption of
12 administrative rules; providing an effective
13 date.
14
15 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
16
17 Section 1. Section 409.4015, Florida Statutes, is
18 created to read:
19 409.4015 Interstate Compact on Adoptions and Medical
20 Assistance.--The Interstate Compact on Adoptions and Medical
21 Assistance is enacted into law and entered into with all other
22 jurisdictions legally joining therein in form substantially as
23 follows:
24 INTERSTATE COMPACT ON ADOPTIONS AND MEDICAL ASSISTANCE
25 ARTICLE I. Findings
26 The Legislature finds that:
27 (a) Special measures are required to find adoptive
28 families for children for whom state assistance is desirable
29 pursuant to s. 409.166 and to assure the protection of the
30 interest of the children affected during the entire assistance
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1 period when the adoptive parents move to other states or are
2 residents of another state.
3 (b) The providers of medical and other necessary
4 services for children, with state assistance, encounter
5 special difficulties when the provision of services takes
6 place in other states.
7 ARTICLE II. Purposes
8 The purposes of the Act are to:
9 (a) Authorize the Department of Children and Family
10 Services to enter into interstate agreements with agencies of
11 other states to protect children for whom adoption assistance
12 is provided by the Department of Children and Family Services.
13 (b) Provide procedures for interstate children's
14 adoption assistance payments, including medical payments.
15 ARTICLE III. Definitions
16 As used in this compact, the term:
17 (a) "Agency" means the Agency for Health Care
18 Administration.
19 (b) "Department" means the Florida Department of
20 Children and Family Services.
21 (c) "State" means a state of the United States, the
22 District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the
23 United States Virgin Islands, Guam, the Commonwealth of the
24 Northern Mariana Islands, or a territory or possession of or
25 administered by the United States.
26 (d) "Adoption assistance state" means the state that
27 is signatory to an adoption assistance agreement in a
28 particular case.
29 (e) "Residence state" means the state where the child
30 resides.
31 ARTICLE IV. Compacts Authorized
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1 The Department of Children and Family Services, by and through
2 its secretary, may development participate in the development
3 of and negotiate and enter into interstate compacts on behalf
4 of this state with other states to implement the purposes of
5 this act. Such a compact has the force and effect of law.
6 ARTICLE V. Contents of Compacts
7 A compact entered into under this act must have the following
8 content:
9 (a) A provision making it available for joinder by all
10 states;
11 (b) A provision for withdrawal from the compact upon
12 written notice to the parties, but with a period of 1 year
13 between the date of the notice and the effective date of the
14 withdrawal;
15 (c) A requirement that the protections afforded under
16 the compact continue in force for the duration of the adoption
17 assistance and are applicable to all children and their
18 adoptive parents who, on the effective date of the withdrawal,
19 are receiving adoption assistance from a party state other
20 than the one in which they are residents and have their
21 principal place of abode;
22 (d) A requirement that each instance of adoption
23 assistance to which the compact applies be covered by an
24 adoption assistance agreement in writing between the adoptive
25 parents and the state child welfare agency of the state which
26 undertakes to provide the adoption assistance, and further,
27 that any such agreement be expressly for the benefit of the
28 adopted child and enforceable by the adoptive parents, and the
29 state agency providing the adoption assistance; and
30 (e) Such other provisions as are appropriate to the
31 proper administration of the compact.
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1 ARTICLE VI. Optional Contents of Compacts
2 A compact entered into under this section may contain
3 provisions in addition to those required pursuant to Article
4 V, as follows:
5 (a) Provisions establishing procedures and entitlement
6 to medical and other necessary social services for the child
7 in accordance with applicable laws, even though the child and
8 the adoptive parents are in a state other than the one
9 responsible for or providing the services or the funds to
10 defray part or all of the costs thereof; and
11 (b) Such other provisions as are appropriate or
12 incidental to the proper administration of the compact.
13 ARTICLE VII. Medical Assistance
14 (a) A child with special needs who is a resident of
15 this state and who is the subject of an adoption assistance
16 agreement with another state is entitled to receive a medical
17 assistance identification from this state upon the filing with
18 the agency of a certified copy of the adoption assistance
19 agreement obtained from the adoption assistance state.
20 Pursuant to rules of the agency, the adoptive parents shall at
21 least annually show that the agreement is still in force or
22 has been renewed.
23 (b) The terms of the compact entered into by the
24 department apply to children who are the subject of a federal
25 adoption assistance agreement. At the department's option and
26 in concurrence with the agency, the state may elect to provide
27 the benefits under this section to children who are the
28 subject of a state adoption assistance agreement.
29 (c) The agency shall consider the holder of a medical
30 assistance identification pursuant to this section as any
31 other holder of a medical assistance identification under the
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1 laws of this state and shall process and make payment on
2 claims of such holder in the same manner and under the same
3 conditions and procedures established for other recipients of
4 medical assistance.
5 (d) The agency shall provide coverage and benefits for
6 a child who is in another state and who is covered by an
7 adoption assistance agreement made by the department for the
8 coverage or benefits, if any, not provided by the residence
9 state. To this end, the adoptive parents, acting for the
10 child, may submit evidence of payment for services or benefit
11 amounts not payable in the residence state and must be
12 reimbursed therefor. However, there may be no reimbursement
13 for services or benefit amounts covered under any insurance or
14 other third-party medical contract or arrangement held by the
15 child or the adoptive parents. The department shall adopt
16 administrative rules for administering this paragraph. The
17 additional coverage and benefit amounts provided under this
18 paragraph must be for services to the cost of which there is
19 no federal contribution, or the cost of which, if federally
20 aided, are not provided by the residence state. Among these
21 things, such rules must include procedures to be followed in
22 obtaining prior approvals for services in those instances when
23 required for the assistance.
24 (e) The submission of any claim for payment or
25 reimbursement for services or benefits under this article or
26 the making of any statement in connection therewith, which
27 claim or statement the maker knows or should know to be false,
28 misleading, or fraudulent is punishable as perjury and the
29 maker is subject to a fine not to exceed $10,000 or
30 imprisonment for up to but not more than 2 years, or both.
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1 (f) The provisions of this article apply only to
2 medical assistance for children under adoption assistance
3 agreements from states that have entered into a compact with
4 this state under which the other state provided medical
5 assistance to children with special needs under adoption
6 assistance agreements made by this state. All other children
7 entitled to medical assistance pursuant to an adoption
8 assistance agreement entered into by this state are eligible
9 to receive such assistance under the laws and procedures
10 applicable thereto.
11 ARTICLE VIII. Federal Participation
12 Consistent with federal law, the department and the agency, in
13 administering the provisions of this act and any compact
14 pursuant hereto must include in any state plan made pursuant
15 to the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 (Pub.
16 L. No. 96-272), Titles IV(E) and XIX of the Social Security
17 Act and any other applicable federal laws, the provision of
18 adoption assistance and medical assistance for which the
19 Federal Government pays some or all of the cost. The
20 department and the agency shall apply for and administer all
21 relevant federal aid in accordance with law.
22 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2000.
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25 SENATE SUMMARY
26 Creates the Interstate Compact on Adoptions and Medical
Assistance. Authorizes the Department of Children and
27 Family Services to enter interstate agreements with
participating states to provide medical and other
28 necessary services for special needs children.
Establishes procedures for interstate delivery of
29 adoption assistance and related services and benefits.
Provides for adoption of rules.
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