Dolores Heredia, Gary Kriss, Aldo Vitagliano.

The meeting commenced at 1:05 PM.

Leg. Stewart-Cousins opened the meeting and welcomed back Mr. Meehan to continue discussions on the PBC. Leg. Stewart-Cousins mentioned an interim meeting with some of the members with the PBC Board where the resolution and public hearing were discussed. The aim of the meeting was to see that all parties were moving along in order to meet the sixty-day criteria. Mr. Meehan stated that he had talked with Mr. Leeds, as requested by Leg. Stewart-Cousins. Leg. Stewart-Cousins informed Mr. Meehan that there were additional questions from Consultant Mr. Leeds. Mr. Meehan stated that the PBC Board decided not to consider the new questions due to time constraints, and he proceeded to distribute the updated version of the Operating Agreement with both his changes and changes from the PBC Board. Due to the volume of this document, Leg. Stewart-Cousins requested an outline of all substantive changes. The Committee recessed and agreed to reconvene on Wednesday, September 10, 1997, at 1:45 PM.

Also present at this meeting were R.L. Davis and Robert M. Maccarone of The Department of Corrections. Leg. Stewart-Cousins inquired why the IPRO report, which the Committee had recently requested, was not on proper letterhead and whether this report was a synopsis of another report. Mr. Maccarone stated that this was the original report and it was in its totality. Leg. Stewart-Cousins also stated that she was under the impression that the Board’s decision would be taken into account before any final decision was made and that the County Attorney was negotiating in order to make this a much more viable deal for the County. Hence, she would like to know what positive results or meetings occurred which influenced the decision of maintaining EMSA.

Next the Committee discussed Welfare Reform. Commissioner Mary Glass was the invited guest. Commissioner Glass explained that the Federal Guarantee to welfare ended with the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation ACT (PRWORA) of 1996. There is now a five year limit on entitlement to federally aided public assistance. States are provided with the funding through block grants rather than via reimbursement for program expenditures. States are required to submit plans to the federal government governing their operation as to how they plan to approach welfare reform. These block grants give the States more latitude in the manner and process by which benefits are distributed. The only Federal Government requirement is "prescribed" rates at which fixed percentages of the caseload must be engaged in employment or employment related activities. Also, the federal government will penalize a state for failing to meet the participation rate. The initial loss is 5% of the State’s block grant. Repeated failure can lead to a maximum penalty of 21%. The Federal Government has established the activities in which clients may be engaged in order to meet the participation rate and eligibility requirements. The number of clients

who may participate in vocational education activities is limited to 30% of all participants engaged in activities. The minimum number of hours an individual should work is 20 hours. Teen parents or pregnant teens under 18 that do not have a H.S. diploma or equivalent must attend school as a condition of receiving PA. These teen parents or pregnant teens under 18 must reside in an adult supervised setting in order to receive public assistance. Future legal immigrants are barred from SSI and Food Stamps until they become citizens. New legal immigrants are ineligible from receiving TANF assistance for 5 years from the date of entry. Screening of alien sponsors’ income continues until the alien becomes a citizen. Able bodied food stamp recipients are required to provide community service in exchange for their food stamps. Finally, States must impose fiscal penalties on clients failing to cooperate with child support. States are subject to a fiscal penalty if they do not enforce this non-cooperation sanction.

New York State has incorporated all of the federal issues. Persons coming from other states will receive assistance at a rate not to exceed the higher of 50% of NYS level or the level of assistance in the State from which they came. New York state created the optional Food Assistance Program to meet the nutrition needs of certain lawfully admitted aliens scheduled to lose their F.S. benefits (Westchester has opted to participate). Current earned income disregards changed to 45% of the gross. This was 33% + $30 and was time-limited. State has increased the resources which may be exempt when calculating eligibility for assistance. Drug screening was also created. The screening documents will be developed by OASAS. Indications of possible drug or alcohol abuse will require

assessment and if indicated treatment. Also, the State has created a mandate to perform domestic violence screening. A safety net non-cash program will provide home relief for single individuals. Leg. Stewart-Cousins and Leg. La Motte were concerned with the families of those parents who do not pass the alcohol screening. Mary Glass stated that family members will also move to the safety net program.

Mary Glass had concern that much of this law assumes that all ABC recipients are all the same. She noted that a percentage are tested at 10th grade level. Those who test at the 10th grade level are eligible to go to the Community Colleges. The arrangement with Pace and the Community Colleges is now limited to 1 year rather than 2. When looking at the demographics of Westchester County it is clear that there are more that could benefit from this than those who will be allowed. An RFP will be placed for job finding agencies. Leg. La Motte suggested writing the opposite of a want add for the County’s Web page and thus having the employer see the persons’ qualifications rather than a person seeking employer information. The Committee agreed to continue discussion of the matter. Leg. Stewart-Cousins suggested the possibility of a Committee of the Whole meeting since this matter is important.

The meeting adjourned at 2:45 PM.

On Wednesday, September 10, 1997, the Health and the Medical Center Committee reconvened for the purpose of signing out the resolution authorizing a Public Hearing to be held on September 22, 1997, regarding the amendment of the lease to allow the County to enter into a sixty-year lease agreement with the Public Benefit Corporation. All in favor [2-0] (Leg. La Motte and Leg. Swanson out for vote).

(A tape of this meeting is on file)