CPS Legislative Liaison

TX-HHSC-DSHS-DFPS • Austin, TX

1d • $5,099 - $8,305 • Onsite

About The Position

The Child Protective Services (CPS) Legislative Liaison (Program Specialist VI) performs complex management, technical assistance, and oversight of legislative activities for the CPS division. Under the guidance of the CPS Director of Outreach & Engagement, the Liaison manages timely and accurate completion of assignments, utilizing project management practices to organize and complete projects. Broad areas of responsibility include: Oversees and performs analyses of legislation. Responds to legislative requests. Implements CPS guidelines and procedures on legislative assignments. Coordinates program inquiries and tracks the development of performance, administrative, legislative reports, implementation plans, exceptional items, and legislative initiative documents, as well as open records requests. Serves as CPS Business Continuity and Legislative Coordination lead, providing program and policy development associated with federal and state mandates or initiatives and responding to executive assignments and other special projects on an ad hoc basis. Prepares executive documents, papers, and briefings. Provides oral and written policy analyses/reports. Prepares leadership for speaking engagements, developing talking points, including presentations and informational materials for legislative testimony. May serve as the primary contact on governmental affairs, legislative matters, policy inquiries, and DFPS leadership and inter-departmental inquiries. Routinely interacts with all internal and external stakeholders involved in each of the assignments, including DFPS state office staff from all divisions, field staff at all levels, and stakeholders. Responds to short term or emergency requests with little turnaround time for completion.

Requirements

• Graduation from an accredited four-year college or university with major course work in public policy, governmental relations, journalism, communications, or a related field.
• Relevant experience may be substituted for each year of required education.
• At least two years of experience in monitoring, and/or coordinating legislative assignments preferred.
• At least two years working for a health and human services agency preferred.
• Knowledge of program and policy planning, development, implementation, and evaluation.
• Knowledge of editorial and information dissemination concepts and practices, and basic informational research techniques and applications.
• Knowledge of Texas legislative and appropriations process.
• Knowledge of federal and state health and human services legislation and the organization of federal, state, and local health programs.
• Knowledge of major functions of child protective services initiatives and policy development.
• Ability to assemble and analyze facts and data and devise solutions to operations problems and translate the impact on operations.
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships.
• Ability to prioritize and organize work assignments.
• Ability to analyze and develop child protective services policy issues and products.
• Ability to handle a wide range of tasks with multiple deadlines in an effective manner without jeopardizing deadlines and desired outcomes or milestones.
• Ability to translate complex programmatic information into a form comprehensible to the general public.
• Ability to develop and evaluate policies and procedures.
• Ability to work in high profile and fast-paced environment.
• Ability to analyze proposed legislation and its policy and fiscal impact on programs.
• Ability to plan, prioritize, schedule, assign and monitor completion of assignments.
• Ability to communicate complex information clearly, concisely, and effectively in writing or verbally to a variety of audiences.
• Ability to collaborate with all levels of management and staff.
• Ability to devise solutions to administrative problems.
• Skill in reviewing and preparing a variety of written documents with attention to detail and to make recommendations.
• Skill in organizing and presenting complex information.
• Skill in strategic planning and goal-setting.
• Skill in use of computer for word processing and spreadsheet applications.
• Skill in conducting and facilitating meetings.
• Skill in project management.
• Must pass a background check and if applicable a driver’s record check.
• Must comply with Texas Business and Commerce Code Section 117.001(2) by completing related training and abiding by agency cybersecurity and communications system usage policies.
• Must be familiar with WCAG 2.1 AA and Section 508 to create accessible content including but not limited to; Microsoft Office documents, Adobe PDFs, webpages, software, training guides, video, and audio files.
• Must provide documentation to DFPS to show identity and authorization to work in the US.

Responsibilities

• Responds to or facilitates the response to inquiries and requests for information regarding CPS issues from legislators, public officials, and DFPS stakeholders, working closely with CPS leadership and DFPS Government Relations.
• Coordinates legislative assignments between CPS and DFPS Government Relations staff to develop accurate, concise, consistent, cogent, and timely responses to requests for information.
• Develops relationships with CPS leadership and program staff to effectively respond to questions, assess impact on programs, and complete assignments.
• Manages time effectively to ensure work is prioritized and time sensitive assignments are handled accordingly.
• Responsible for making assignments to CPS programs and managing responses, utilizing project management practices to organize assignments and meet due dates.
• Conducts thorough review of documents ensuring quality, consistency, accuracy, timeliness, and compliance with CPS internal procedures.
• Provides substantive analysis and recommendations on a variety of issues, including legislative initiatives and federal and state legislative and regulatory proposals.
• Works with CPS programs to develop and establish communication protocols related to legislative matters and ensures they are followed.
• Suggests best practices for process improvement regarding CPS legislative matters.
• Uses critical thinking to solve problems and makes recommendations.
• Seeks consultation and technical assistance from the Director as appropriate.
• Escalates issues to the Director.
• Monitors select CPS-related meetings and legislative hearings continuously throughout the legislative cycle.
• Provides meeting outcome reports to CPS leadership and staff and coordinates meeting tasks or assignments with affected parties, as required.
• Supports CPS initiatives related to the legislative session, including review of proposed legislation for potential impact to CPS; detailed analyses of bills with major impact to the CPS; prioritization and assignment of bills to other CPS program specialists for analysis or fiscal note completion; and monitoring of tracked CPS bills for technical review and evaluation, review, and approval of bill and fiscal analyses prior to submission to DFPS Government Relations through the Legislative Tracking System.
• Tracks program areas progress on legislative mandates to ensure effective implementation.
• Leads other legislative activities as assigned.
• Plans, develops, and provides direction, guidance, and assistance on the development of CPS policy issue papers and reports, including legislative and special reports, legislative initiatives, and interim studies submitted to the Legislature, as well as communications materials such as executive documents, briefing materials, meetings, and correspondence.
• Coordinates or prepares speaking materials, talking points, presentations, and specialized research for CPS leadership.
• Prepares CPS executive level summary documents and detailed research as requested by CPS leadership or other DFPS staff.
• Reviews all work for accuracy before routing for further approval or submittal.
• Coordinates development of routine and non-routine progress reporting to include high priority program and legislative projects, management action items, legislative implementation, operational plans and business reports, progress updates, and ad-hoc assignments.
• Maintains information related to reporting items, utilizes knowledge of CPS programs, and harnesses staff expertise to streamline expedient and accurate development of reporting documents, as well as open records requests.
• Develops processes to report information consistently and accurately.
• Represents CPS leadership as CPS subject matter expert and provides technical assistance, training, written guidelines, and interpretation of policies and procedures to both internal and external stakeholders.
• Reviews and evaluates CPS service delivery through input from direct delivery staff, review of management reports and special studies, and participation on CPS or cross agency workgroups and committees.
• Provides consultation to CPS in analyzing programs, identifying gaps in services, and developing and implementing plans to improve agency functioning.
• Keeps leadership informed on questions of policy and internal and external communications.
• Develops working relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Evaluates national trends and stays abreast of current research.
• Networks with state and national governments, associations, advocates, and academia to improve program operations.
• Makes presentations at professional conferences.
• Plans, organizes, and conducts or facilitates internal and external meetings and workgroups for ongoing program operations, including assisting with coordination and preparation of conferences or statewide meetings.
• Performs other duties as assigned and required to maintain unit operations.

Benefits

• 100% paid health insurance for you, and 50% paid for eligible family members
• Retirement plans with lifetime monthly payments after five years of state service
• Options to save even more with 401(k) and 457 plans
• Paid vacation, holidays, and sick leave
• Optional dental, vision, and life insurance
• Flexible spending accounts for added tax savings on health and dependent care
• Employee discounts on things like gym memberships, electronics, and entertainment
• Public Service Loan Forgiveness

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior