AN ACT
Relating to public assistance; amending RCW 74.04.005; providing an effective
date; and declaring an emergency.
BE IT
ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec.
1. RCW
74.04.005 and 1991 c 126 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
For
the purposes of this title, unless the context indicates otherwise, the
following definitions shall apply:
(1)
"Public assistance" or "assistance"--Public aid to persons
in need thereof for any cause, including services, medical care, assistance
grants, disbursing orders, work relief, general assistance and federal-aid
assistance.
(2)
"Department"--The department of social and health services.
(3)
"County or local office"--The administrative office for one or more
counties or designated service areas.
(4)
"Director" or "secretary" means the secretary of social and
health services.
(5)
"Federal-aid assistance"--The specific categories of assistance for
which provision is made in any federal law existing or hereafter passed by
which payments are made from the federal government to the state in aid or in
respect to payment by the state for public assistance rendered to any category
of needy persons for which provision for federal funds or aid may from time to
time be made, or a federally administered needs-based program.
(6)(a)
"General assistance"--Aid to persons in need who:
(i)
Are not eligible to receive federal-aid assistance, other than food stamps and
medical assistance; however, an individual who refuses or fails to cooperate in
obtaining federal-aid assistance, without good cause, is not eligible for
general assistance;
(ii)
Are either:
(A)
Pregnant: PROVIDED, That need is based on the current income and resource
requirements of the federal aid to families with dependent children program:
PROVIDED FURTHER, That during any period in which an aid for dependent children
employable program is not in operation, only those pregnant women who are
categorically eligible for medicaid are eligible for general assistance; or
(B)
Incapacitated from gainful employment by reason of bodily or mental infirmity
that will likely continue for a minimum of ((sixty)) ninety days
as determined by the department. Persons who are unemployable due to alcohol
or drug addiction are not eligible for general assistance. Persons receiving
general assistance on July 26, 1987, or becoming eligible for such assistance
thereafter, due to an alcohol or drug-related incapacity, shall be referred to
appropriate assessment, treatment, shelter, or supplemental security income
referral services as authorized under chapter 74.50 RCW. Referrals shall be
made at the time of application or at the time of eligibility review.
Alcoholic and drug addicted clients who are receiving general assistance on
July 26, 1987, may remain on general assistance if they otherwise retain their
eligibility until they are assessed for services under chapter 74.50 RCW. This
subsection (6)(a)(ii)(B) shall not be construed to prohibit the department from
granting general assistance benefits to alcoholics and drug addicts who are
incapacitated due to other physical or mental conditions that meet the
eligibility criteria for the general assistance program;
(iii)
Are citizens or aliens lawfully admitted for permanent residence or otherwise
residing in the United States under color of law; and
(iv)
Have furnished the department their social security account number. If the
social security account number cannot be furnished because it has not been
issued or is not known, an application for a number shall be made prior to
authorization of assistance, and the social security number shall be provided
to the department upon receipt.
(b)
Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (6)(a)(i), (ii), and (c) of this
section, general assistance shall be provided to the following recipients of
federal-aid assistance:
(i)
Recipients of supplemental security income whose need, as defined in this
section, is not met by such supplemental security income grant because of
separation from a spouse; or
(ii)
To the extent authorized by the legislature in the biennial appropriations act,
to recipients of aid to families with dependent children whose needs are not
being met because of a temporary reduction in monthly income below the entitled
benefit payment level caused by loss or reduction of wages or unemployment
compensation benefits or some other unforeseen circumstances. The amount of
general assistance authorized shall not exceed the difference between the
entitled benefit payment level and the amount of income actually received.
(c)
General assistance shall be provided only to persons who are not members of
assistance units receiving federal aid assistance, except as provided in
subsection (6)(a)(ii)(A) and (b) of this section, and will accept available
services which can reasonably be expected to enable the person to work or
reduce the need for assistance unless there is good cause to refuse. Failure
to accept such services shall result in termination until the person agrees to
cooperate in accepting such services and subject to the following maximum
periods of ineligibility after reapplication:
(i)
First failure: One week;
(ii)
Second failure within six months: One month;
(iii)
Third and subsequent failure within one year: Two months.
(d)
The department shall adopt by rule medical criteria for general assistance
eligibility to ensure that eligibility decisions are consistent with statutory
requirements and are based on clear, objective medical information.
(e)
The process implementing the medical criteria shall involve consideration of
opinions of the treating or consulting physicians or health care professionals
regarding incapacity, and any eligibility decision which rejects uncontroverted
medical opinion must set forth clear and convincing reasons for doing so.
(f)
Recipients of general assistance based upon a finding of incapacity from gainful
employment who remain otherwise eligible shall not have their benefits
terminated absent a clear showing of material improvement in their medical or
mental condition or specific error in the prior determination that found the
recipient eligible by reason of incapacitation. Recipients of general
assistance based upon pregnancy who relinquish their child for adoption, remain
otherwise eligible, and are not eligible to receive benefits under the federal
aid to families with dependent children program shall not have their benefits
terminated until the end of the month in which the period of six weeks
following the birth of the recipient's child falls. Recipients of the federal
aid to families with dependent children program who lose their eligibility solely
because of the birth and relinquishment of the qualifying child may receive
general assistance through the end of the month in which the period of six
weeks following the birth of the child falls.
(7)
"Applicant"--Any person who has made a request, or on behalf of whom
a request has been made, to any county or local office for assistance.
(8)
"Recipient"--Any person receiving assistance and in addition those
dependents whose needs are included in the recipient's assistance.
(9)
"Standards of assistance"--The level of income required by an
applicant or recipient to maintain a level of living specified by the
department.
(10)
"Resource"--Any asset, tangible or intangible, owned by or available
to the applicant at the time of application, which can be applied toward
meeting the applicant's need, either directly or by conversion into money or
its equivalent: PROVIDED, That an applicant may retain the following described
resources and not be ineligible for public assistance because of such
resources.
(a) A
home, which is defined as real property owned and used by an applicant or
recipient as a place of residence, together with a reasonable amount of
property surrounding and contiguous thereto, which is used by and useful to the
applicant. Whenever a recipient shall cease to use such property for
residential purposes, either for himself or his dependents, the property shall
be considered as a resource which can be made available to meet need, and if
the recipient or his dependents absent themselves from the home for a period of
ninety consecutive days such absence, unless due to hospitalization or health
reasons or a natural disaster, shall raise a rebuttable presumption of
abandonment: PROVIDED, That if in the opinion of three physicians the
recipient will be unable to return to the home during his lifetime, and the
home is not occupied by a spouse or dependent children or disabled sons or
daughters, such property shall be considered as a resource which can be made
available to meet need.
(b)
Household furnishings and personal effects and other personal property having
great sentimental value to the applicant or recipient, as limited by the
department consistent with limitations on resources and exemptions for federal
aid assistance.
(c) A
motor vehicle, other than a motor home, used and useful having an equity value
not to exceed one thousand five hundred dollars.
(d)
All other resources, including any excess of values exempted, not to exceed one
thousand dollars or other limit as set by the department, to be consistent with
limitations on resources and exemptions necessary for federal aid assistance.
(e)
Applicants for or recipients of general assistance may retain the following
described resources in addition to exemption for a motor vehicle or home and
not be ineligible for public assistance because of such resources:
(i)
Household furnishings, personal effects, and other personal property having
great sentimental value to the applicant or recipient;
(ii)
Term and burial insurance for use of the applicant or recipient;
(iii)
Life insurance having a cash surrender value not exceeding one thousand five
hundred dollars; and
(iv)
Cash, marketable securities, and any excess of values above one thousand five
hundred dollars equity in a vehicle and above one thousand five hundred dollars
in cash surrender value of life insurance, not exceeding one thousand five
hundred dollars for a single person or two thousand two hundred fifty dollars
for a family unit of two or more. The one thousand dollar limit in subsection
(10)(d) of this section does not apply to recipients of or applicants for
general assistance.
(f) If
an applicant for or recipient of public assistance possesses property and
belongings in excess of the ceiling value, such value shall be used in determining
the need of the applicant or recipient, except that: (i) The department may
exempt resources or income when the income and resources are determined
necessary to the applicant's or recipient's restoration to independence, to
decrease the need for public assistance, or to aid in rehabilitating the
applicant or recipient or a dependent of the applicant or recipient; and (ii)
the department may provide grant assistance for a period not to exceed nine
months from the date the agreement is signed pursuant to this section to
persons who are otherwise ineligible because of excess real property owned by
such persons when they are making a good faith effort to dispose of that
property: PROVIDED, That:
(A)
The applicant or recipient signs an agreement to repay the lesser of the amount
of aid received or the net proceeds of such sale;
(B) If
the owner of the excess property ceases to make good faith efforts to sell the
property, the entire amount of assistance may become an overpayment and a debt
due the state and may be recovered pursuant to RCW 43.20B.630;
(C)
Applicants and recipients are advised of their right to a fair hearing and
afforded the opportunity to challenge a decision that good faith efforts to
sell have ceased, prior to assessment of an overpayment under this section; and
(D) At
the time assistance is authorized, the department files a lien without a sum
certain on the specific property.
(11)
"Income"--(a) All appreciable gains in real or personal property
(cash or kind) or other assets, which are received by or become available for
use and enjoyment by an applicant or recipient during the month of application
or after applying for or receiving public assistance. The department may by
rule and regulation exempt income received by an applicant for or recipient of
public assistance which can be used by him to decrease his need for public
assistance or to aid in rehabilitating him or his dependents, but such exemption
shall not, unless otherwise provided in this title, exceed the exemptions of
resources granted under this chapter to an applicant for public assistance. In
determining the amount of assistance to which an applicant or recipient of aid
to families with dependent children is entitled, the department is hereby
authorized to disregard as a resource or income the earned income exemptions
consistent with federal requirements. The department may permit the above
exemption of earnings of a child to be retained by such child to cover the cost
of special future identifiable needs even though the total exceeds the
exemptions or resources granted to applicants and recipients of public
assistance, but consistent with federal requirements. In formulating rules and
regulations pursuant to this chapter, the department shall define income and
resources and the availability thereof, consistent with federal requirements.
All resources and income not specifically exempted, and any income or other
economic benefit derived from the use of, or appreciation in value of, exempt
resources, shall be considered in determining the need of an applicant or
recipient of public assistance.
(b)
If, under applicable federal requirements, the state has the option of
considering property in the form of lump sum compensatory awards or related
settlements received by an applicant or
recipient
as income or as a resource, the department shall consider such property to be a
resource.
(12)
"Need"--The difference between the applicant's or recipient's
standards of assistance for himself and the dependent members of his family, as
measured by the standards of the department, and value of all nonexempt
resources and nonexempt income received by or available to the applicant or
recipient and the dependent members of his family.
(13)
For purposes of determining eligibility for public assistance and participation
levels in the cost of medical care, the department shall exempt restitution
payments made to people of Japanese and Aleut ancestry pursuant to the Civil
Liberties Act of 1988 and the Aleutian and Pribilof Island Restitution Act
passed by congress, P.L. 100-383, including all income and resources derived
therefrom.
(14)
In the construction of words and phrases used in this title, the singular
number shall include the plural, the masculine gender shall include both the
feminine and neuter genders and the present tense shall include the past and
future tenses, unless the context thereof shall clearly indicate to the
contrary.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 2. 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.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 3. This
act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or
safety, or support of the state government and its existing public
institutions, and shall take effect July 1, 1991.
