To require the Director of Health with assistance from the Ohio State University Extension Program to establish and administer a pilot program for the purpose of reducing infant mortality in high-risk communities and to make an appropriation.

Section 1.  (A) Not later than one month after the effective date of this section, the Director of Health shall establish and administer a pilot program for the purpose of reducing infant mortality in high-risk communities. The pilot program shall be operated for two years. The Director shall select the participating communities, located in five counties, in accordance with the selection process specified in rules adopted under division (F) of this section.

(B) The Ohio State University Extension Program shall assist the Director with the pilot program's administration. To that end, Extension Program personnel shall do both of the following:

(1) Recruit volunteers in each participating community and train them to provide services, tailored to the community's needs, in a culturally sensitive manner;

(2) Seek assistance from other University staff with knowledge or expertise that the Director or Extension Program personnel believe could facilitate the program's success.

(C) The Director shall solicit and consider input regarding the pilot program from interested individuals and organizations in the participating communities.

(D) Volunteers providing services as described in division (B)(1) of this section may receive a stipend. If a stipend is paid, the stipend amount and payment process shall be determined in accordance with rules adopted under division (F) of this section.

(E) The Director shall develop a process to evaluate the program's success. Not later than two months after the program's conclusion, the Director shall prepare a written report that summarizes the Director's findings from the evaluation. On completion, the report shall be submitted to the Governor and, in accordance with section 101.68 of the Revised Code, the General Assembly.

(F) The Director shall adopt rules in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code to specify both of the following:

(1) The process to be used in selecting high-risk communities to participate in the pilot program, including standards that require the communities to be selected from the five counties with the highest infant mortality rate and permit the communities to be identified by zip code or portions of zip codes that are contiguous;

(2) If a stipend is paid to volunteers under division (D) of this section, the stipend amount to be paid and the process to be used in paying it.

Section 2. All items in this section are hereby appropriated as designated out of any moneys in the state treasury to the credit of the designated fund. For all appropriations made in this act, those in the first column are for fiscal year 2014 and those in the second column are for fiscal year 2015. The appropriations made in this act are in addition to any other appropriations made for the FY 2014-2015 biennium.

General Revenue Fund

INFANT MORTALITY PILOT PROGRAM

The foregoing appropriation item 440480, Infant Mortality Pilot Program, shall be used to implement and operate a two-year pilot program in high-risk communities to reduce infant mortality in accordance with Section 1 of this act. An amount equal to the unexpended, unencumbered portion of this appropriation item at the end of fiscal year 2015 is hereby reappropriated to the Department of Health for the same purpose for fiscal year 2016.

Section 3. Within the limits set forth in this act, the Director of Budget and Management shall establish accounts indicating the source and amount of funds for each appropriation made in this act, and shall determine the form and manner in which appropriation accounts shall be maintained. Expenditures from appropriations contained in this act shall be accounted for as though made in Am. Sub. H.B. 59 of the 130th General Assembly.

The appropriations made in this act are subject to all provisions of Am. Sub. H.B. 59 of the 130th General Assembly that are generally applicable to such appropriations.