Immunization plan may benefit from $18 million surplus

CARSON CITY -- Part of a growing surplus in state welfare funds may be used to keep Nevada's child immunization program alive through June.

The Legislative Interim Finance Committee will be asked Wednesday to allow the transfer of $1.2 million in federal welfare money to the state Health Division for vaccine purchases.

The state is expected by June 30 to have a surplus of close to $18 million in federal funds for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Family program. Some representatives of welfare groups are suggesting the state raise its average grant for a family of three from $348 to $500.

Charlotte Crawford, director of the state Department of Human Resources, said Friday there are no plans to increase the grant. She said, however, a plan has been devised to cure the shortfall in the child immunization program.

Last month, state health officials revealed they needed an emergency appropriation to keep the program going through next June, when new funds will be available. Crawford noted the dwindling amount of money in the emergency fund handled by the finance committee.

So she came up with an alternative, using the extra welfare money. It will be transferred to a program called Title 20 and then into the health division. Crawford said the federal government has approved the procedure.

The 1999 Legislature told the health division to return to the Interim Finance Committee if it ran short of funds for child immunization. The state spends about $5 million a year to buy various vaccines for children.

Because of higher-than-expected growth in population, higher-than-budgeted drug prices and the uncertainty of federal funds, extra money is needed.

Jan Gilbert of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada is one who has advocated taking the savings in the welfare budget to raise the grant of needy families. She said she's "disturbed" by the way the state is planning to shift money away from welfare to child immunization.

The state, she said, should dip into its emergency fund to shore up the child immunization program rather than siphoning off welfare funds.

Welfare families, Gilbert said, need the money building up in the surplus. "I don't know how they make it ... how they buy diapers and pay the rent."

The state should provide "a decent amount" to these families, she said. Welfare grants have not been raised since 1991. The cost of living in the past eight years has risen nationally about 20 percent.

The state may violate federal guidelines by using Title 20 money for child immunization, Gilbert said. The recipients of Title 20 funds must be below a certain income level, but immunization money provides vaccines for children from all families, she said.

To immunize one child from birth until the child enters school costs the state $186.

The welfare surplus is increasing because fewer than expected are drawing aid. The Legislature wanted to keep a healthy reserve in order to meet any unexpected downturn in the economy that would drive up welfare numbers.

Lawmakers anticipated there would be a $24 million surplus by June 30, 2001. It could be higher because of the declining number of recipients.

Although there are no plans for a monthly grant increase, Crawford said benefits have been raised for welfare families. Parents are allowed to keep more of their grant if they go to work; child care, which was not provided in the past, is now being offered; and those who go off welfare remain for one year on Medicaid, the program for medical care for the needy.

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