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1995 SESSION

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SB 1034 Public assistance.

Introduced by: Stephen H. Martin | all patrons    ...    notes | add to my profiles

SUMMARY:

Public assistance. Establishes Welfare to Work which will require all able-bodied recipients of AFDC who do not meet an exemption to participate in a work activity or community work experience. Exempt persons include those under age 16 and over age 60, those incapacitated or with temporary medical conditions, certain caregivers, pregnant females (fourth through ninth month) and children receiving AFDC-foster care. 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 Welfare to Work, the receipt of AFDC financial assistance or the receipt of transitional assistance. Local departments of social services will provide services or contract with the private sector for delivery of services. Participants will be assigned to a self-reliance worker and will sign an agreement of personal responsibility. Support services may include day care, transportation, job counseling, education and training and job search assistance and medical assistance. Transitional benefits may include assistance with child care, transportation and medical assistance. For each participating family, one operable motor vehicle with a fair market value not to exceed $7,500 will not be counted as a resource.

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 180 days. This diversionary cash assistance may be received once in a 60-month period.

The Secretary of Health and Human Resources may temporarily suspend the 24-month time limitation in localities where the unemployment rate for the previous quarter exceeds the state average by more than two percentage points. In individual cases, a local social services director may petition the local board of social services for a one-time extension of participation in Welfare to Work of up to twelve months.

There are evaluation and reporting requirements and a provision that Welfare to Work will be implemented statewide within five years of the effective date of the act. The Advisory Commission on Welfare Reform is continued as the Advisory Commission on Welfare Replacement.

The bill includes amendments to Code sections applicable to all AFDC recipients, not just participants of Welfare to Work. In order to receive AFDC any child subject to the compulsory school attendance laws must be in compliance with such laws. The Board of Social Services will promulgate regulations to implement the requirements, including procedures for local social services departments to receive notification from local school divisions of students who are truant. The bill allows the local department to partially or fully suspend an AFDC grant if paternity of a child is not established after six months of receipt of AFDC. Unemancipated custodial parents and their children are eligible for AFDC only if they live with the minor's parent, grandparent or legal guardian, except if the whereabouts of such persons is unknown or there is a threat of abuse in the home. If the noncustodial parent is not in compliance with compulsory school attendance laws, he must pay child support as though he were an adult. 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 in the same amount, for the same duration and on the same terms and conditions that AFDC is provided to single-parent families of like size.

The Secretary of Health and Human Resources is directed to apply for the federal waivers necessary to implement the act. Except for provisions regarding grant suspension for lack of compliance with school attendance laws, the bill will be effective July 1, 1996, if the necessary federal waivers have been received. Provisions regarding school attendance will be effective July 1, 1995, or upon the receipt of any necessary federal waivers, whichever is later.


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