H-2644.1

SECOND SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 2048

ByHouse Appropriations (originally sponsored by Representatives Peterson, Ortiz-Self, Senn, Santos, Ormsby, Bergquist, Macri, Ramel, Simmons, Pollet, and Harris-Talley)

AN ACT Relating to temporary assistance for needy families time limit extensions; amending RCW 74.08A.010; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1. RCW 74.08A.010 and 2021 c 239 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) A family that includes an adult who has received temporary assistance for needy families for ((sixty))60 months after July 27, 1997, shall be ineligible for further temporary assistance for needy families assistance.

(2) For the purposes of applying the rules of this section, the department shall count any month in which an adult family member received a temporary assistance for needy families cash assistance grant unless the assistance was provided when the adult family member was a minor child and not the head of the household or married to the head of the household.

(3) The department shall adopt regulations to apply the ((sixty-month))60-month time limit to households in which a parent is in the home and ineligible for temporary assistance for needy families due to application of program rules regarding fraud and disqualifying claims. Any regulations shall be consistent with federal funding requirements.

(4) The department shall refer recipients who require specialized assistance to appropriate department programs, crime victims' programs through the department of commerce, or the crime victims' compensation program of the department of labor and industries.

(5)(a) The department shall add to adopted rules related to temporary assistance for needy families time limit extensions, the following criteria by which the department shall exempt a recipient and the recipient's family from the application of subsection (1) of this section:

(i) By reason of hardship, including when:

(A) The recipient's family includes a child or youth who is without a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence as described in the federal McKinney-Vento homeless assistance act (Title 42 U.S.C., chapter 119, subchapter VI, part B) as it existed on January 1, 2020; ((or))

(B) The recipient received temporary assistance for needy families during a month on or after March 1, 2020, when Washington state's unemployment rate as published by the Washington employment security department was equal to or greater than seven percent, and the recipient is otherwise eligible for temporary assistance for needy families except that they have exceeded 60 months. The extension provided for under this subsection (5)(a)(i)(B) is equal to the number of months that the recipient received temporary assistance for needy families during a month after March 1, 2020, when the unemployment rate was equal to or greater than seven percent, and is applied sequentially to any other hardship extensions that may apply under this subsection (5) or in rule;

(F) The recipient demonstrates another basis by which the time limit pursuant to subsection (1) of this section would cause undue burden or hardship to the recipient or the recipient's family; or

(ii) If the family includes an individual who meets the family violence options of section 402(A)(7) of Title IVA of the federal social security act as amended by P.L. 104-193.

(b) Policies related to circumstances under which a recipient will be exempted from the application of subsection (1) or (3) of this section shall treat adults receiving benefits on their own behalf, and parents receiving benefits on behalf of their child similarly, unless required otherwise under federal law.

(6) The department shall not exempt a recipient and his or her family from the application of subsection (1) or (3) of this section until after the recipient has received ((fifty-two))52 months of assistance under this chapter.

(7) The department shall provide transitional food assistance for a period of five months to a household that ceases to receive temporary assistance for needy families assistance and is not in sanction status. If necessary, the department shall extend the household's basic food certification until the end of the transition period.

--- END ---