SCS/SBs 202, 23 & 183 - This act adapts Missouri's public health and welfare statutes to comply with the mandates of the federal welfare reform act known as "The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996".
The act states that Missouri will: (1) continue to operate a child support enforcement program; (2) continue to operate a foster care and adoption assistance program; (3) establish and enforce standards and procedures to ensure against program fraud; and (4) continue to operate the Missouri Families Mutual Responsibility Plan and the 21st Century Communities Waiver Programs granted under Section 1115 of the Social Security Act.
This act would require that adults in families receiving assistance under the new Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) block grant program to participate in work activities; and ensure that TANF block grant moneys will not be used to provide assistance to a family that includes an adult who has received assistance for five years, whether the benefits were received consecutively.
The act authorizes the Department of Social Services to establish eligibility requirements for the programs funded by the federal TANF dollars including income and asset limits. All recipients must meet the eligibility requirements created by the federal program. The act also authorizes the Department to deny benefits through the TANF program to specific individuals.
The act provides that Missouri will meet the federal maintenance of effort requirements to have access to contingency funds in the case of an economic downturn. The maintenance of effort funds shall be used to provide services to eliminate barriers to employment and to increase personal self-sufficiency in the state.
The state will develop the "Families Work Program" which would be developed in two components, the "Work First Program" and the "Child Assurance Program". The goals of the Families Work Program are to: (1) move families from welfare to work and increase their opportunities to achieve self-sufficiency; (2) insure accountability on the part of persons who receive government assistance and the state agencies' administering programs that serve Missouri's low-income families; (3) create a program that is tailored to meet the individual needs of the adult diverse population as a transition to work; (4) provide assistance to Missouri's needy children and families while maintaining assistance on a fair and consistent basis through the state; (5) encourage and facilitate meaningful contact and relationships between children and non-custodial parents whenever it is in the best interest of the children; (6) maximize Missouri's receipt of federal funds; (7) simplify program rules by coordinating Missouri's programs that serve low income families; and (8) insure health care coverage to the maximum extent possible for needy children and families.
The Child Assurance Program shall provide benefits that will assure a reasonable standard of living to children who meet eligibility requirements. The Department of Social Services shall determine the amount necessary for a child age 1 through 5 and the ages 6 through 18 to meet 100% of the federal poverty level. The Department shall then subtract the child support payments and the custodial parent's earned income from the monetary value determined to meet 100% of the federal poverty level. The state will then make up any difference between these values.
The act provides for the following:
1. Deletes statutory reference to municipal and county welfare boards, except 2nd class boards that provide medical services;
2. Replaces the term "aids to families with dependent children" in Missouri statutes with the term "Work First Programs" to reflect the change from the AFDC Program to the TANF Funded Program;
3. Creates a tax credit for a business which develops on-site day care facilities;
4. Allows the Department of Social Services to sanction those recipients of public assistance who are denied employment for failure to pass drug-tests;
5. The Department of Social Services to develop an Individual Development Accounts program as described in federal language;
6. Department of Social Services may implement wage supplement programs, however, no funding shall be assigned to any employer who terminates or lays off a person from the same or substantially equivalent job to create a vacancy to obtain wage supplements. Department of Labor to provide grievance for procedures;
7. Department of Social Services to implement and enforce federal work requirements and mandated participation rates;
8. The Department of Social Services is given authority to collect child support;
9. The Department may sanction parents who receive benefits if minor dependent children do not attend school;
10. Department of Social Services to provide at least four times annually, and upon the request of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the name, address and other identifying information of any individual the Department knows to be unlawfully in the United States;
11. Department of Social Services to provide Medicaid benefits to those people who meet the AFDC eligibility requirements of July 16, 1996 or other requirements set by the department;
12. The state is to meet the federal government's conditional requirement on retaining a maintenance of effort fund in order to be eligible for contingency funds from the federal government in case of an economic downturn;
13. Department of Social Services and Department of Economic Development to prepare a state plan to provide for securement of coordinated public assistance, education, training and economic development services in defined geographical areas and for development of strategies for contracting at the community level for the delivery of services to eliminate barriers to employment and to promote self- sufficiency.
CHERYL GRAZIER