SS#2/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.
The Department of Social Services shall collect and record data describing the demographics of persons applying for and receiving or not receiving public assistance. The data, without personal identification, shall be available to higher educational institutions and state agencies doing research on public assistance programs. The Office of Administration shall contract with an independent agency to do an annual analysis of the data and report on the performance of the public assistance system.
The Department shall provide a post-termination hearing within 30 days of the termination of benefits.
The Department shall identify applicants and recipients who are victims of family violence and refer these individuals for supportive domestic violence services to increase self- sufficiency and to determine if hardship exemptions from work requirements should be granted.
The act creates the Joint Legislative Welfare Reform and TANF Block Grant Oversight Committee. The committee is to be comprised of 10 members of the Senate and 10 members of the House. The Committee shall: (1) monitor the design and implementation of the provisions of the Personal Responsibility And Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, as amended;
and (2) prepare an annual review of the implementation of the state waivers and make recommendations upon such review to the General Assembly.
The Missouri General Revenue Maintenance of Effort Fund is created. The fund shall equal 100% of state funds expended in fiscal year 1994 on the aids to families with dependent children program, aid to families with dependent children related child care programs, the job opportunities and basic skills training program and emergency assistance programs. Eighty percent of such fund shall be appropriated for qualified state expenditures and the remaining 20% shall be subject to appropriation at the sole discretion of the general assembly. The Maintenance of Effort Fund will expire on June 30, 2002.
The fund shall provide assistance to adults who are unable to meet the federal work requirements because of the incapacity of the adult caretaker to work or the incapacity of the caretaker's dependent. Beginning in 1999 the funding for this program shall be appropriated as a separate item.
This act requires that adults in families receiving assistance under the new Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) block grant program participate in work activities. 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 or not 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 income levels and resource limits which qualify a family for benefits shall not be more restrictive than those in place on August 22, 1996.
The state will develop the "Families Work Program" 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 diverse adult population; (4) provide assistance to Missouri's needy children and families in a fair and consistent manner; (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; (8) insure health care coverage to the maximum extent possible for needy children and families; and (9) reduce the number of out-of-wedlock births.
The Work First Program shall replace the Aid to Families with Dependent Children Program, the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) Program, and the Title IV-A Emergency Assistance Program. The Work First Program shall stress self-sufficiency through employment and shall require that adults be responsible for fulfilling their individual self-sufficiency plans.
The Child Assurance Program shall provide benefits to 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 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 Department of Social Services is authorized to propose rules and regulations to implement the various programs and sanctions provided under this act. The department's authority to propose rules and regulations, except for rules relating to internal management, shall be dependent upon the power of the General Assembly to review, delay the effective date, disapprove and suspend, or hold for naught such rules. No proposed order of rulemaking shall become effective until the expiration of thirty legislative days. The Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) may conduct hearings on proposed rules and may recommend to the General Assembly that a proposed rule be disapproved on any of the grounds set out in subsection 4 of Section 536.024, RSMo. The General Assembly may, with or without the committee's recommendation, adopt a concurrent resolution to disapprove and hold for naught any rule or portion of a rule. The General Assembly may also adopt any rules or portions thereof by bill so that only those rules adopted by bill become effective. If any of the General Assembly's powers are found unconstitutional, the authority of the Department to proposed rules shall be held invalid and void.
The Department's prior rulemaking authority is repealed and is reauthorized in Section 660.017.
The act also 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. Allows the Department of Social Services to sanction those recipients of public assistance who are denied employment for failure to pass drug-tests for a minimum of 30 days and not more than 60 days for a first denial of employment. For any subsequent denial of employment for failing a controlled substance screening and failure to become employed within 60 days of the screening shall result in a sanction for a minimum of 60 days but not more than 120 days.
4. Any individual who receives public assistance benefits shall be deemed to have consented to a drug test for use of controlled substances.
5. The Department of Social Services may implement various pilot projects including:
(a) Development of 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. The Department of Labor shall provide grievance procedures;
(b) Development of direct job placement programs;
(c) Creation a tax credit for businesses which develop on-site day care facilities or pay for child care services for the children of an employee, if such employee has an annual gross income of $21,000 or less;
(d) Development of Individual Development Accounts programs as described in federal law;
(e) Development of incentive program to move people from public assistance to self- sufficiency.
(f) Development of project in conjunction with Community Colleges and Vocational schools to develop a program to provide public assistance recipients education which will lead to full time employment with benefits.
6. Department of Social Services to implement and enforce federal work requirements and mandated participation rates;
7. The Department of Social Services is given authority to collect child support;
8. The Department may sanction parents who receive benefits if minor dependent children do not attend school. Prior to imposing a sanction the Department shall make a reasonable effort to resolve disputes;
9. The Department of Social Services shall 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;
10. The Department of Social Services shall provide Medicaid benefits to those people who meet the AFDC eligibility requirements of July 16, 1996 or other requirements set by the department.
CHERYL GRAZIER