SB 312 – HB 1235
FISCAL NOTE
Fiscal Review Committee
Tennessee General Assembly
March 7, 2025
Fiscal Analyst: Christine Drescher | Email: christine.drescher@capitol.tn.gov | Phone: 615-741-2564
SB 312 – HB 1235
SUMMARY OF BILL: Requires the Department of Children’s Services (DCS), when
serving as the representative payee on behalf of a child for any federal funds received while in DCS
care, to conserve those federal funds for the child’s reasonable, foreseeable future needs or to use
the funds for special needs services not otherwise provided by DCS. Authorizes DCS to conserve
the federal funds in a trust or an account for the child.
Requires DCS to maintain records related to the conversation and use of the federal funds in the
child’s file that is available to the child’s attorney, to the child once they are 18 years of age, and to
the child’s guardian if they are no longer in DCS custody.
Authorizes DCS to use a reasonable portion of interest earnings from the federal funds to offset
reasonable expenses incurred by meeting the obligations of this act. Prohibits the use of federal
funds received by DCS as a representative payee to be used to reimburse DCS for the costs of
caring for the child.
FISCAL IMPACT:
STATE GOVERNMENT
EXPENDITURES General Fund
FY25-26 & Subsequent Years $7,637,200
Assumptions:
• The phrase “reasonable, foreseeable future needs” is not specifically defined in the
proposed legislation nor in current statute.
• Therefore, it is assumed that “reasonable, foreseeable future needs” are wholly separate and
different from what is considered the costs of caring for a child.
• Pursuant to the proposed legislation, DCS may establish a Plan for Achieving Self-Support
account, an individual development account, a special needs trust, or other types of
accounts, to conserve federal funds received on behalf of children in DCS custody.
• These types of accounts allow individuals to set aside income so that their savings will not
affect the social security income (SSI) eligibility of that person.
• Therefore, children under DCS care with these types of accounts will continue to receive
SSI, TennCare, IV-E funding, and extended foster care services without having a resource
limit of over $2,000 impact their eligibility.
SB 312 – HB 1235 2
• Maintaining records related to the conservation and use of the federal funds within a child’s
file can be accomplished within existing DCS resources and without any increase in
expenditures.
• Any increase in DCS expenditures associated with administration of the provisions of this
legislation is assumed to be minimal and offset by revenue generated from a reasonable
portion of interest earnings from federal funds authorized to be used to offset reasonable
expenses.
• In FY23-24, DCS expended $7,637,200 in SSI funding received on behalf of children in its
care that it used to cover the costs of caring for children, such as room and board, foster
care payments, and food costs.
• Therefore, in order to cover the costs of caring for child in DCS custody without utilizing
this SSI funding, DCS would require an increase in state expenditures of $7,637,200 in
FY25-26 and subsequent years.
CERTIFICATION:
The information contained herein is true and correct to the best of my knowledge.
Bojan Savic, Executive Director