State Fiscal Highlights
· Minimal costs to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) to include fields for employer information on application forms, establish a protocol for entering employer information, and reprogram the centralized statewide automated system used by county departments of job and family services to accept applications, determine eligibility, and issue benefits for various assistance programs.
· Minimal costs to ODJFS for preparing and distributing the quarterly report on employers of participants in certain public assistance programs and for posting the reports and other required information on a searchable Internet web site.
Local Fiscal Highlights
· Minimal costs to county departments of job and family services for training caseworkers on new protocol for entering employer information.
Detailed Fiscal Analysis
Collection of employer data and quarterly report
The bill requires that applications for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Medicaid, Ohio Works First, and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (called the Food Assistance Program in Ohio) include the name and address of each employer of (1) the applicant and (2) each individual whose income is counted in determining the applicant's eligibility.
The bill requires the Director of Job and Family Services to quarterly complete a report specifying (1) the name and address of each employer that employed 50 or more individuals who, during the previous quarter, were recipients of, or individuals whose incomes were counted in determining eligibility for, CHIP, Medicaid, Ohio Works First, or the Food Assistance Program, (2) the number of such individuals employed in the previous quarter by each employee, and (3) the total cost to the state for the previous quarter of providing benefits to such individuals under any of those programs. The Director is to provide a copy of the report to each member of the General Assembly, the directors of Development and Budget and Management (or the Director's designee who serves on the Controlling Board), and each member of the Tax Credit Authority.
Fiscal effect
Currently, during the applicant's interview, caseworkers obtain employer names and addresses and enter that information into a "free-format" text field in the Client Registry Information System Enhanced (CRIS-E), the centralized statewide automated system used by county departments of job and family services to accept applications, determine eligibility, and issue benefits for various assistance programs. The current method often results in multiple entries for the same employer. For example, according to a recent Ohio Department of Job and Family Services' (ODJFS) report on employers, there were 2,400 different entries for McDonald's. ODJFS must use algorithms and visual inspection in order to aggregate employer data. ODJFS will likely experience a minimal increase in costs to include fields for employer information on application forms. There would also be costs to establish a protocol for entering employer information and perhaps some minor reprogramming of CRIS-E. There would be some minor costs to ODJFS and the county departments for training caseworkers on the new protocols for entering employer information into CRIS-E. ODJFS will also experience a minimal increase in costs from preparing and distributing the quarterly report.
Consideration of the quarterly report
The bill requires the Director of Development and members of the Controlling Board and Tax Credit Authority to consider the information included in the quarterly report when deciding whether to grant an employer a contract, award, subsidy, or incentive or to approve such a contract, award, subsidy, or incentive and to notify the Director of Job and Family Services of the impact the report has on their decisions. The Director of Job and Family Services must make the quarterly report and information regarding the impact the employer information has on decisions regarding contracts, awards, subsidies, and incentives available on a searchable Internet web site.
Fiscal effect
ODJFS will likely experience a minimal increase in costs to make the required information available and searchable on the Internet. In addition, the bill may indirectly affect the state's financial relationship to certain businesses based on the information contained in the reports and the effects that information has on the decisions made by the Director of Development and members of the Controlling Board and Tax Credit Authority.
