On July 26, 2018, 11 states (led by the attorneys general of New York and Massachusetts) and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia challenging a Department of Labor final rule that would allow small businesses to offer health plans providing lesser benefits than those required under the ACA.

Momentum has been building for several years to reform the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, and many consider the recently proposed Jobs and Opportunity with Benefits and Services for Success (JOBS) Act to be an indicator of coming reforms. The House Ways and Means committee released the JOBS Act in May 2018 and the bill includes elements likely to be adopted as part of TANF’s Reauthorization. Given the significance of the reforms outlined in the Act, we encourage states to begin planning today.

A couple of opportunities are converging at the federal level that can collectively advance the sharing of data for better child welfare outcomes. First, the recent Comprehensive Child Welfare Information System (CCWIS) Final Rule provides funding for new child welfare systems that are more modular and focused on the data rather than the system itself.  Several states have already declared their intent to take advantage of the funding and build new systems.  

The Comprehensive Child Welfare Information System (CCWIS) Final Rule represents the evolution of the earlier Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System (SACWIS). It also represents a bit of a sea change. Moving the focus from monolithic automated information systems to shared data enables myriad ways for Title IV-E agencies to meet their automation needs, and at the same time, provide important data to the Child Welfare community.