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1995 SESSION

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HB 2001 From Welfare to Work: Independence Program.

Introduced by: David G. Brickley | all patrons    ...    notes | add to my profiles

SUMMARY:

Public assistance. Amends the Virginia Independence Program (VIP) which was established by the 1994 General Assembly. All able-bodied recipients of AFDC who do not meet an exemption and who are not employed within ninety days of receipt of AFDC will be required to participate in the Virginia Initiative for Employment Not Welfare (VIEW). After ninety days individuals are to be assigned to one of the following employment categories in priority order: unsubsidized private-sector employment, subsidized employment, part-time or temporary employment or community work experience.

Individuals must sign an agreement of personal responsibility and will receive intensive case management. Local departments of social services will provide services or contract with the private sector for delivery of services. Local departments of social services are authorized to provide the following services to VIEW participants, subject to State Board regulations: day care, transportation, job counseling, education and training, job search assistance and medical assistance. Once a VIEW participant's AFDC is terminated he shall receive assistance with child care and transportation and medical assistance if needed.

Persons exempt from employment requirements include those under age 16 and over age 60, full-time students under age 20, those with temporary medical conditions or incapacitated as determined by the receipt of Social Security Disability Benefits or Supplemental Security Income, sole caregivers of incapacitated persons, a parent or caretaker-relative of a child under 18 months of age (if no AFDC is received for the child because the mother was on AFDC when the child was born the exemption is for six weeks), pregnant females (fourth through ninth month), children receiving AFDC-foster care, and caregivers who are not the adoptive or biological parents of the child.

Unless exempt, a family may receive AFDC financial assistance for a maximum of 24 months, but will be eligible again after 24 months without participation in VIP, the receipt of AFDC financial assistance or the receipt of transitional assistance.

The State Board is required to promulgate regulations providing hardship exemptions to the 24 month time-limit. The regulations are required to address circumstances where a participant actively seeking employment has been unable to find employment, where factors relating to job availability are unfavorable, where a participant looses his job as a result of factors not related to job performance and where extension of benefits for up to one year will enable completion of employment-related education or training.

During the first year of implementation of VIP the Department of Social Services must seek to have a statewide intensive case management ratio not higher than the prevailing statewide average ratio in the Virginia JOBS Program in effect on the date this bill is signed by the Governor. Starting December 1, 1996, the Commissioner of Social Services must report to the Governor and General Assembly on the implementation of VIP annually, including an evaluation of case management services.

The bill will become effective upon the receipt of the necessary federal waivers, or on July 1, 1995, whichever is later. The Governor is directed to forthwith apply for the federal waivers necessary to implement the act. The Virginia Independence Program is to be implemented statewide within four years of the effective date of the bill. The Department of Social Services is to establish guidelines for the statewide implementation of VIP.

The bill includes amendments to Code sections applicable to all AFDC recipients, not just VIP participants. The bill allows a local department to partially or fully suspend an AFDC grant if paternity of a child is not established six months after receipt of AFDC and the recipient is not cooperating in the establishment of paternity. Under criteria to be established by the State Board of Social Services, AFDC-eligible applicants will be able to receive at one time the maximum AFDC cash assistance which the applicant would otherwise receive for a period up to 120 days. The recipient would then waive his AFDC eligibility for up to 160 days. This diversionary cash assistance is available once in a 60-month period and is designed to divert the family from receiving ongoing AFDC by providing assistance for one-time emergencies. Persons who have been found guilty by a court of noncompliance with compulsory school attendance laws are not eligible for AFDC until in compliance. If the noncustodial parent of a child receiving AFDC is not in compliance with school attendance laws, he must pay child support as though he were an adult. Unemancipated custodial parents and their children are eligible for AFDC only if they live with the minor's parent or person standing in loco parentis, except if the whereabouts of such persons is unknown or if living in the home would jeopardize the physical or emotional health or safety of the minor parent or child. There will be no incremental increase in AFDC for children born while their families are receiving AFDC. The custodial parent is permitted to receive all child support payments collected for such a child and the value of the child support payments will not be counted as income for the purposes of AFDC eligibility and grant determination. The bill also provides that AFDC will be provided to two-parent families on the same terms and conditions that AFDC is provided to single-parent families. These provisions will apply to all AFDC recipients on July 1, 1995, or as soon as the waivers are received if they have not been received by July 1.


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