AN ACT Relating to expanding job opportunities for aid to families with dependent children applicants and recipients; creating new sections; making an appropriation; providing an effective date; and providing an expiration date.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds and declares that:

(1) Individuals contributing to their community and providing for their dependents through regular unsubsidized employment create high self-esteem, foster independence and reduce poverty;

(2) Applicants for, and recipients of, aid under Title 74 RCW desire to work, and will do so if provided with the opportunity;

(3) Applicants for, and recipients of, aid under Title 74 RCW have available to them full or part-time employment as a resource, and the state shall provide them with the incentive to seek employment or lose their benefits under Title 74 RCW; and

(4) Aid to families with dependent children authorized under Title 74 RCW is temporary financial assistance to enable a family to survive until they become self-supporting.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. (1) The department of social and health services will provide applicants for, and recipients of, aid under Title 74 RCW with the opportunity to obtain employment by offering a full range of job search opportunities and, for selected individuals, short-term supportive services consistent with a mutually agreed upon employment plan. In the event that a participant is unable to secure day care, transportation and other authorized supportive services, these shall be reimbursed, or provided directly by, the department as appropriate.

(2) The development and implementation of a pilot program to be designated the greater avenues to independence (GAIN) program would best meet the needs referred to in this section.

(3) Programs operated through the jobs training partnership act shall make its full range of training and on-the-job training programs available to twenty-five percent of the GAIN client population.

(4) All recipients and applicants for aid to families with dependent children who are employable as determined by the department and are not caretakers for children less than three years of age are required to register for the GAIN program.

(5) The department shall request a waiver of federal regulations if necessary to implement this section.

(6) Persons not required to register may volunteer for the GAIN program.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. (1) The department of social and health services shall design and implement a GAIN pilot project for operation in Spokane county.

(2) The GAIN pilot project shall be administered by a single state agency, the department of social and health services. The department shall incorporate and use all work incentive program services, job training partnership act programs, and all other employment and training programs of the employment security department, and all existing employment and training programs of the department of social and health services along with the supportive services of both agencies. The GAIN pilot program shall access and maximize all federal and state moneys available to the department of social and health services and the employment security department to fund these programs.

(3) The department of social and health services shall seek necessary waivers from the regional coordination committee of the federal department of labor and from the federal department of health and human services to permit the required single state agency administration.

(4) It is the express intent of the legislature that the activities of the GAIN pilot project be sequenced in a manner that ensures job search and job placement take priority over all other activities.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. (1) The GAIN pilot project as it pertains to job services shall be administered by the department of social and health services and shall, following individualized client assessment, be sequenced in the following order:

(a) Structured group job search, which shall consist of either supervised job search or job search workshops or a combination thereof;

(b) Individualized job search;

(d) Job development; and

(e) Community work experience program or work supplementation, as appropriate.

(2) In the event an individual is unsuccessful in obtaining regular unsubsidized employment following completion of the activities in subsection (1) of this section, they may be placed in one or more of the following activities as the department deems appropriate:

(a) Job specific vocational training provided by the job training partnership act or the employment security department, which shall include, but is not limited to, training in employer-specific job skills in an on-site setting, including training provided by local private industry council programs;

(b) Adult basic education, which shall be preemployment basic education, including reading, writing, and arithmetic necessary for employment or job training, including high school proficiency; or

(c) Vocational English-as-a-second-language which shall be intensive instruction in English for non-English speaking participants, coordinated with specific job training.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. For the purposes of this act, the following terms shall have the following definitions:

(1) "Job search workshops" means job search workshops which shall be group training sessions where participants learn various job finding skills, including training in basic job seeking skills, job development skills, job interviewing skills, understanding employer requirements and expectations, and how to enhance self-esteem, self-image, and confidence.

(2) "Supervised job search" means access to phone banks in a clean and well-lighted place, job orders, direct referrals to employers, or other organized methods of seeking work which are overseen, reviewed, and criticized by a trained employment professional. The amount and type of activity required during this supervised job search period shall be determined by the department and the participant, based on the participant's employment history and need for supportive services, and shall be consistent with regulations developed by the department.

(3) "Individualized job search" means the individual making a specific number of job contacts with employers as specified by the department of social and health services, and make periodic progress reports no less frequently than every two weeks to the department or the agency contracting with that department.

(4) "Job placement" means, but is not limited to, referrals to jobs listed by employers with the employment security administration.

(5) "Job development" means active assistance in seeking employment provided to a participant by a trained employment professional on a one-to-one basis.

(6) "Community work experience" means a requirement for an applicant to work a number of hours in a public service job. The number of hours shall equal the recipient's welfare grant divided by the state or federal minimum wage, whichever is higher.

(7) "Work supplementation" means public or private sector subsidized employment at comparable wage rates, in which the recipient's cash grant, or a portion thereof, is diverted to the employer as a wage subsidy.

(8) "Job training partnership act" means the program operated by the employment security department pursuant to federal executive order.

Employees of the department of social and health services and the employment security department shall receive merit pay increases for superior job placement performance as determined by the two employing agencies. Job placement performance criteria must include, but shall not be limited to, placement of individuals in unsubsidized employment for twelve months or longer.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. Support services as provided by the GAIN pilot project may include, but are not limited to, all of the following:

(1) Child care. The client is responsible for securing child care, and if unable to do so will receive assistance from the department. If assistance in financing and securing child care is needed, the department of social and health services will provide what is minimally necessary to ensure that the client is able to participate in job search and the work experience and training components to which he or she is assigned. No participant in the GAIN pilot project may be required to expend his or her own funds to participate in the project.

(2) Transportation. The client is responsible for securing transportation, and if unable to do so will receive assistance from the department. If assistance in financing and securing transportation is needed the department of social and health services will provide what is minimally necessary to ensure that the client is able to participate in job search and the work experience and training components to which he or she is assigned. No participant in the GAIN pilot project may be required to expend his or her own funds to participate in the project; and

(3) Minor supportive services or supplies not covered by any other state or federal program necessary to enable the client to participate in community work experience program.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. If a GAIN participant fails to participate in any assignment of the GAIN project without good cause, the entire family becomes ineligible for aid to families with dependent children. The department of social and health services shall seek the necessary waiver from the federal department of health and human services to enable implementation of this section.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. There is appropriated from the general fund to the department of social and health services for the biennium ending June 30, 1989, the sum of .......... dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, to carry out the purposes of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 9. This act shall take effect on July 1, 1987.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 10. (1) An annual report to the legislature on the operation of the GAIN pilot program shall be made by the department of social and health services in January 1988 and January 1989. This report shall include but not be limited to: (a) Information on the number of placements in work experience sites, (b) the type of placements, (c) the number of individuals who have moved on to competitive unsubsidized employment from job search and after work supplementation and community work experience program placement, (d) acceptance by the client community, (e) reductions in aid to families with dependent children caseloads and size of grants, (f) examples of programs where state agencies have avoided costs they would most likely have incurred if it had not been for the GAIN program, and (g) examples of cost reductions and other information which will enable the legislature to measure its success.

(2) The GAIN pilot program shall terminate on July 1, 1990, but may be terminated earlier unless reapproved by the legislature on a yearly basis.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 11. If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.