AB 506

This bill requires the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to apply for

federal grant funding to support the resettlement of Syrian refugees in this state

and, if received, to contract with refugee service organizations to provide certain

services to those refugees.

Under current law, all moneys that DCF receives from the federal government

for refugee assistance and the administration of refugee assistance programs must

be expended for those purposes. Currently, DCF uses grant funds obtained from the

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Refugee Resettlement

(ORR) to contract with local refugee service provider agencies and consortia to

support refugees resettling in the state by assisting those refugees in gaining

employment and by providing other resettlement services (refugee services). This

bill requires DCF to apply for grant funding from ORR and, if obtained, to use the

funding to contract with local refugee service provider agencies and consortia to

provide refugee services for no fewer than 937 Syrian refugees resettling in the state.