hr1079.html

06 LC 36 0130S

The House Committee on Children and Youth offers the following substitute to

HR 1079:

A RESOLUTION

Creating the House Study Committee on the Creation of Focus on Our Future: A Childreńs Budget; and for other purposes.

WHEREAS, the safety, welfare, and education of our children are of paramount importance; and

WHEREAS, such safety, welfare, and education are dependent on appropriate and sufficient funding of critical social and educational programs and on the fundamental principles that drive state policy; and

WHEREAS, multiple agencies of state government support programs and interventions for children and youth, often serving the same populations; and

WHEREAS, the child-serving agencies of state government have responsibility for planning and budgets for their respective investments in defined services or outcomes related to children; and

WHEREAS, there is difficulty in identifying all of the various line items in the current format of the state budget which contribute wholly or partially to the conditions and status of children and youth; and

WHEREAS, a study of the issues surrounding the feasibility and usefulness of an easily accessed resource which would identify all programs, sources of funding in the state budget, and trends in childreńs outcomes related to their safety, welfare, and education would be beneficial to determine whether legislative action should be recommended.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES that there is created the House Study Committee on the Creation of Focus on Our Future: A Childreńs Budget to be composed of seven members. The Speaker of the House of Representatives shall appoint five members of the House of Representatives as members of the committee and shall designate one of such members as chairperson. The Speaker of the House of Representatives shall appoint two additional members of the committee who shall include representatives of child advocacy or policy organizations. The committee shall meet at the call of the chairperson. The committee shall utilize the expertise of agencies, departments, groups, and organizations specializing in childreńs services and child advocacy as it sees fit.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the committee shall undertake a study of the conditions, needs, issues, and problems mentioned above or related thereto and recommend any actions or legislation which the committee deems necessary or appropriate. The committee may conduct such meetings at such places and at such times as it may deem necessary or convenient to enable it to exercise fully and effectively its powers, perform its duties, and accomplish the objectives and purposes of this resolution. The legislative members of the committee shall receive the allowances provided for in Code Section 28-1-8 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated. Citizen members shall receive a daily expense allowance in the amount specified in subsection (b) of Code Section 45-7-21 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated as well as the mileage or transportation allowance authorized for state employees. All other funds necessary to carry out the provisions of this resolution shall come from funds appropriated to the House of Representatives. The expenses and allowances authorized by this resolution shall not be received by any member of the committee for more than five days unless additional days are authorized. In the event the committee makes a report of its findings and recommendations, with suggestions for proposed legislation, if any, such report shall be made on or before December 31, 2006. The committee shall stand abolished on December 31, 2006.