BP BHEAD INT H

AN ACT Relating to community work experience for recipients of aid to families with dependent children; amending RCW 74.25.010 and 74.25.020; and adding a new section to chapter 74.25 RCW.

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

Sec. 1. RCW 74.25.010 and 1994 c 299 s 6 are each amended to read as follows:

The legislature establishes as state policy the goal of economic self-sufficiency for employable recipients of public assistance, through employment, training, and education. In furtherance of this policy, the legislature intends to comply with the requirements of the federal social security act, as amended, by creating a job opportunities and basic skills training program for applicants and recipients of aid to families with dependent children. The purpose of this program is to provide recipients of aid to families with dependent children the opportunity to obtain appropriate education, training, skills, and supportive services, including child care, consistent with their needs, that will help them enter or reenter gainful employment, thereby avoiding long-term welfare dependence and achieving economic self-sufficiency. The program shall be operated by the department of social and health services in conformance with federal law and consistent with the following legislative findings:

(1) The legislature finds that the well-being of children depends not only on meeting their material needs, but also on the ability of parents to become economically self-sufficient. The job opportunities and basic skills training program is specifically directed at increasing the labor force participation and household earnings of aid to families with dependent children recipients, through the removal of barriers preventing them from achieving self-sufficiency. These barriers include, but are not limited to, the lack of recent work experience, supportive services such as affordable and reliable child care, adequate transportation, appropriate counseling, and necessary job-related tools, equipment, books, clothing, and supplies, the absence of basic literacy skills, the lack of educational attainment sufficient to meet labor market demands for career employees, and the nonavailability of useful labor market assessments.

(2) The legislature also recognizes that aid to families with dependent children recipients must be acknowledged as active participants in self-sufficiency planning under the program. The legislature finds that the department of social and health services should communicate concepts of the importance of work and how performance and effort directly affect future career and educational opportunities and economic well-being, as well as personal empowerment, self-motivation, and self-esteem to program participants. The legislature further recognizes that informed choice is consistent with individual responsibility, and that parents should be given a range of options for available child care while participating in the program.

(3) The legislature finds that current work experience is one of the most important factors influencing an individual's ability to work toward financial stability and an adequate standard of living in the long term, and that work experience should be the most important component of the program.

(4) The legislature finds that education, including, but not limited to, literacy, high school equivalency, vocational, secondary, and postsecondary, is one of the most important tools an individual needs to achieve full independence, and that this should be an important component of the program.

(5) The legislature finds that participation in a program of community service and work experience provides recipients of aid to families with dependent children with valuable experience and training which can assist them in achieving employment and financial stability, and will also provide them with job-related behaviors and skills.

(6) The legislature further finds that the objectives of this program are to assure that aid to families with dependent children recipients gain experience in the labor force and thereby enhance their long-term ability to achieve financial stability and an adequate standard of living at wages that will meet family needs.

Sec. 2. RCW 74.25.020 and 1993 c 312 s 7 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) The department of social and health services is authorized to contract with public and private employment and training agencies and other public service entities to provide services prescribed or allowed under the federal social security act, as amended, to carry out the purposes of the jobs training program. The department of social and health services has sole authority and responsibility to carry out the job opportunities and basic skills training program. No contracting entity shall have the authority to review, change, or disapprove any administrative decision, or otherwise substitute its judgment for that of the department of social and health services as to the application of policies and rules adopted by the department of social and health services.

(2) To the extent feasible under federal law, the department of social and health services and all entities contracting with it shall give first priority of service to individuals volunteering for program participation.

(3) The department of social and health services shall adopt rules under chapter 34.05 RCW establishing criteria constituting circumstances of good cause for an individual failing or refusing to participate in an assigned program component, or failing or refusing to accept or retain employment. These criteria shall include, but not be limited to, the following circumstances: (a) If the individual is a parent or other relative personally providing care for a child under age six years, and the employment would require the individual to work more than twenty hours per week; (b) if child care, or day care for an incapacitated individual living in the same home as a dependent child, is necessary for an individual to participate or continue participation in the program or accept employment, and such care is not available, and the department of social and health services fails to provide such care; (c) the employment would result in the family of the participant experiencing a net loss of cash income; or (d) circumstances that are beyond the control of the individual's household, either on a short-term or on an ongoing basis.

(4) The department of social and health services shall provide or contract for a program of community work experience for recipients of aid to families with dependent children, to the extent permitted under federal law. The program shall actively involve recipients in activities designed to promote community participation and development. The department of social and health services shall establish criteria constituting circumstances of compelling cause for an individual failing or refusing to participate in the program of community work experience established in this subsection. These criteria include, but are not limited to, the following: (a) The individual is a parent or other relative personally providing care for a child under six years of age, and the employment would require the individual to participate more than ten hours per week; (b) child care is necessary for an individual to participate or continue participation in the program and such care is not available, and the department of social and health services fails to provide such care; or (c) extenuating circumstances that are beyond the control of the individual's household, either on a short-term or on an ongoing basis. The department of social and health services shall adopt rules under chapter 34.05 RCW as necessary to effectuate the intent and purpose of this chapter.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. A new section is added to chapter 74.25 RCW to read as follows:

The department of social and health services shall seek all necessary approvals from the federal government to permit recipients of aid to families with dependent children to participate in a program of community service and community involvement through the Washington service corps.