1481-S2.E

AN ACT Relating to public assistance, including a requirement that caretakers under the aid to families with dependent children program enter into contracts with the state and including additional provisions governing public assistance eligibility and benefits; amending RCW 74.12.420, 74.25.020, AND 26.16.205; reenacting and amending RCW 74.04.005; adding new sections to chapter 74.12 RCW; creating new sections; and providing an effective date.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 74.12 RCW to read as follows:

The legislature finds that lengthy stays on welfare, the inadequate emphasis on employment by the social welfare system, and the lack of personal responsibility by some individuals receiving public assistance are obstacles to achieving economic independence. The legislature further finds that the number of minors having children has increased significantly in recent years and that this increase is in part attributable to the minors' knowing that the government will support them and their children. Therefore, the legislature intends that:

(1) Income and employment assistance programs emphasize the temporary nature of welfare and set goals of responsibility, work, and independence;

(2) Employment assistance resources focus on employable recipients who are most at risk of a long-term stay on welfare;

(3) Caretakers receiving public assistance sign a contract delineating their obligation and responsibility to comply with requirements for work, training, and personal responsibility;

(4) Specific time limits for the receipt of public assistance be set for all recipients of aid to families with dependent children; and

(5) Unmarried parents who are minors generally will be ineligible for assistance under the aid to families with dependent children program.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 74.12 RCW to read as follows:

(1) A family receiving or applying for assistance under the aid to families with dependent children program is ineligible for continued or new assistance if the caretaker and the department have not entered into a contract satisfying the requirements of this section. For purposes of this section, sections 1 through 5 of this act, and RCW 74.12.420, "caretaker" means the parent of the dependent child or children who is head of the household. However, in situations where there are two parents in the household, "caretaker" means that parent who, as a parent, has received assistance under the program for the longest period.

(2) The contract shall (a) be entered into by the department and caretaker on a form prescribed by the department; (b) contain a list of the available benefits to which the family is eligible, including referral to available community resources; (c) contain a summary of the responsibilities that the caretaker must exercise for receipt of such benefits, including high school completion or GED programs; (d) contain a statement of the rule in section 3 of this act prohibiting additional assistance for additional children; (e) contain a statement of the rules in section 4 of this act governing the duration of the contract; (f) contain a statement of the rules in section 5 of this act governing the number of monthly payments that may be made during a sixty-month period and authorizing increased earnings; (g) if the caretaker is a minor, contain a statement of the rule in section 6 of this act governing aid with respect to children of unmarried minors; and (h) if the caretaker has been a long-term recipient who might be affected by the rule in RCW 74.12.420 governing long-term recipients, contain a statement of such rule.

(3) Caretakers are not required to enter into a contract satisfying the requirements of this act if:

(a) The caretaker is incapacitated or needed in the home to care for a member of the household who is incapacitated. The caretaker shall submit documentation of the incapacity indicating the incapacity will last at least ninety days. Such documentation shall be obtained by the caretaker from a health care practitioner regulated under Title 18 RCW whose scope of practice includes diagnosis and treatment of the condition purported to cause the incapacity; or

(b) The caretaker is needed in the home to care for a child under three. This one-time exemption ends on the child's third birthday and does not apply to any subsequent children.

Caretakers under this subsection shall enter into a contract satisfying the requirements of this act if the conditions provided for in this subsection no longer apply. The provisions of section 3 of this act apply to caretakers under this subsection.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. A new section is added to chapter 74.12 RCW to read as follows:

The monthly benefit payment for a family shall not be increased as a result of the caretaker's becoming the biological parent of any additional child or children born more than ten months after the effective date of the caretaker's initial application or contract with the department under section 2 of this act. This rule applies regardless of whether the initial contract is no longer effective or whether there exists a new contract or a contract that has been renegotiated and extended under section 4 of this act. Also, it applies only for the sixty-month period beginning with the month in which the first payment was made or under the first contract entered into between the caretaker and the department.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. A new section is added to chapter 74.12 RCW to read as follows:

Unless renegotiated and extended, a contract entered into under section 2 of this act may not last beyond the end of the last day of the sixth calendar month following the month in which the contract was entered into. Such contract may be renegotiated and extended for additional periods of six months if, for each extension, the caretaker requests the extension and the caretaker has complied with the contract, and if all eligibility requirements are satisfied. The department shall notify the caretaker of the need to renegotiate the contract before its expiration. In addition, the department may provide for contract extension for up to a six-month period under limited emergency circumstances specified by the department by rule.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. A new section is added to chapter 74.12 RCW to read as follows:

(1) The number of monthly benefit payments made to a caretaker under contracts entered into under this act shall be limited to not more than twenty-four monthly payments in the sixty-month period beginning with the month in which the first payment was made under the first contract entered into between the caretaker and the department. Monthly benefit payments may be extended for a maximum of six months after such twenty-four monthly payments if:

(a) The caretaker is cooperating in the development and implementation of an employability plan while receiving aid to families with dependent children and no present full-time or part-time job is offered;

(b) The caretaker is participating in a high school or GED program; or

(2) During any of the last six months of eligibility for a monthly benefit payment, a caretaker may earn up to one hundred percent of the monthly benefit payment without such earnings resulting in any reduction in future monthly benefit payments and any loss of eligibility during any remaining months in the sixty-month period.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. A new section is added to chapter 74.12 RCW to read as follows:

A parent under eighteen years of age is ineligible for aid to families with dependent children if the aid would be for any dependent biological child of the parent and if the parent cannot prove that, on the approximate day of conception, the parent was married. This section does not apply with respect to any child born ten or fewer months before the effective date of this section.

Sec. 7. RCW 74.12.420 and 1994 c 299 s 9 are each amended to read as follows:

((The legislature recognizes that long-term recipients of aid to families with dependent children may require a period of several years to attain economic self-sufficiency. To provide incentives for long-term recipients to leave public assistance and accept paid employment, the legislature finds that less punitive and onerous sanctions than those required by the federal government are appropriate. The legislature finds that a ten percent reduction in grants for long-term recipients that may be replaced through earned income is a more positive approach than sanctions required by the federal government for long-term recipients who fail to comply with requirements of the job opportunities and basic skills program. A long-term recipient shall not be subject to two simultaneous sanctions for failure to comply with the participation requirements of the job opportunities and basic skills program and for exceeding the length of stay provisions of this section.)) In addition to the provisions of this section and sections 1 through 6 of this act, the following rules apply to caretakers who were recipients under the aid to families with dependent children program before the effective date of this section:

(1) After forty-eight monthly benefit payments in ((a)) the preceding sixty-month period, (including any months in such period falling before the effective date of this section) and after each additional twelve monthly benefit payments, the aid to families with dependent children monthly benefit payment shall be reduced by ten percent of the payment standard((~~, except that after forty-eight monthly payments in a sixty-month period, full monthly benefit payments may be made~~)). However, this rule does not apply after such forty-eight monthly benefit payments if:

(a) The ((~~person~~)) caretaker is incapacitated or is needed in the home to care for a member of the household who is incapacitated;

(b) The ((~~person~~)) caretaker is needed in the home to care for a child who is under three years of age;

(d) The ((~~person~~)) caretaker is cooperating in the development and implementation of an employability plan while receiving aid to families with dependent children and no present full-time, part-time, or unpaid work experience job is offered; or

(e) During a month in which a grant reduction would be imposed under this section, the ((~~person~~)) caretaker is participating in an unpaid work experience program.

(2) For purposes of determining the amount of the food stamp benefit for recipients subject to benefit reductions provided for in subsection (1) of this section, countable income from the aid to families with dependent children program shall be set at the payment standard.

(3) ((For purposes of determining monthly benefit payments for two-parent aid to families with dependent children households, the length of stay criterion will be applied to the parent with the longer history of public assistance receipt.)) The provisions of this section requiring reduction of benefits do not apply to reduce benefits for any month falling before July 1996.

(4) Section 9, chapter 299, Laws of 1994 is of no further effect except as amended by this section and, then, only when this section becomes effective.

(5) This section expires on the day when all of section 5 of this act becomes effective.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. A new section is added to chapter 74.12 RCW to read as follows:

(1) The department of social and health services shall adopt rules to carry out the provisions of sections 1 through 6 of this act and RCW 74.12.420 and to enforce contracts adopted under section 2 of this act. However, it may not adopt such rules unless it has complied with subsections (2) and (3) of this section.

(2) The joint legislative oversight committee, consisting of the house of representatives committee on children and family services and the senate committee on health and long-term care, is created. Within sixty days after the effective date of this section, the department shall submit copies of its proposed rules to the secretary of the senate and the chief clerk of the house of representatives for distribution to the joint committee. The committee shall review the proposed rules and shall provide the department with its objections, if any, to the proposed rules. The committee may not render a decision on a rule unless a quorum is present. A quorum shall consist of at least seventy percent of the members of the committee. Once a quorum is established, a majority of the quorum may render a decision. The committee shall make a decision on the rules within thirty days of the referral by the department.

(3) Whenever the committee objects to proposed rules, the committee shall give the department written notice of its findings and reasons therefor. No later than thirty days after receiving such notice, the department shall consider whether to change its proposed rules in accordance with the committee's findings. Any changes to the proposed rules may not be adopted until the proposed rules and the changes have been submitted to the committee and been submitted to the process established in this section.

Sec. 9. 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~~)) that conform to the criteria in federal law for mandatory program participation as well as establish 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~~)) The good cause 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)~~)) (3) 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. 10. All job search skills training and postsecondary education shall be oriented towards local labor force needs as determined by the department of social and health services in consultation with the local private industry council and the employment security department. Education and skills training shall emphasize basic, secondary, and vocational education. Aid to families with dependent children grants shall be provided to individuals attending a four-year college or university only if it can be demonstrated that it provides the fastest, most efficient, and cost-effective path to employment for a particular recipient.

Sec. 11. RCW 26.16.205 and 1990 1st ex.s. c 2 s 13 are each amended to read as follows:

The expenses of the family and the education of the children, including stepchildren and including any child of whom their minor child is a biological parent, are chargeable upon the property of both husband and wife, or either of them, and they may be sued jointly or separately. When a petition for dissolution of marriage or a petition for legal separation is filed, the court may, upon motion of the stepparent, terminate the obligation to support the stepchildren or children of the stepchildren. The obligation to support stepchildren and children of stepchildren shall cease upon the entry of a decree of dissolution, decree of legal separation, or death. The obligation of a husband and wife to support a child of their minor child terminates when their minor child reaches eighteen years of age. However, this termination rule does not apply in the case of a stepparent provided an earlier termination date under this section.

Sec. 12. RCW 74.04.005 and 1992 c 165 s 1 and 1992 c 136 s 1 are each reenacted and 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"CPublic 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"CThe department of social and health services.

(3) "County or local office"CThe 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"CThe 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"CAid 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) Meet one of the following conditions:

(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) Subject to chapter 165, Laws of 1992, incapacitated from gainful employment by reason of bodily or mental infirmity that will likely continue for a minimum of ninety days as determined by the department.

(C) 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. Subsection (6)(a)(ii)(B) of this section 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) Persons found eligible for general assistance based on incapacity from gainful employment may, if otherwise eligible, receive general assistance pending application for federal supplemental security income benefits. Any general assistance that is subsequently duplicated by the person's receipt of supplemental security income for the same period shall be considered a debt due the state and shall by operation of law be subject to recovery through all available legal remedies.

(e) 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.

(f) 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.

(g) 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"CAny 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"CAny person receiving assistance and in addition those dependents whose needs are included in the recipient's assistance.

(9) "Standards of assistance"CThe level of income required by an applicant or recipient to maintain a level of living specified by the department.

(10) "Resource"CAny 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~~)) three 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. The department shall also allow recipients of aid to families with dependent children to exempt savings accounts with combined balances of up to an additional two thousand five hundred dollars.

(e) Applicants for or recipients of general assistance shall have their eligibility based on resource limitations consistent with the aid to families with dependent children program rules adopted by the department.

(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"C(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"CThe 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. 13. Except as expressly provided to the contrary under chapter . . ., Laws of 1995 (this act), the provisions of chapter . . ., Laws of 1995 (this act) shall be prospective only.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 14. (1) This section shall become effective ninety consecutive days after adjournment of the session at which this act is enacted.

(2) Within one hundred twenty consecutive days after adjournment of the session at which this act is enacted, the governor, with the advice of the attorney general, shall determine which, if any, provisions of this act probably would be found to "conflict with federal requirements" under section 15 of this act. Within one hundred fifty consecutive days after adjournment of the session at which this act is enacted, the governor shall formally request the appropriate federal entities or officials to take whatever federal government action (such as an exemption, waiver, amendment, or other form of law or policy change) that is necessary for the provision or provisions not to conflict with such federal requirements.

(3) Any provision of this act that requires federal government action in order to avoid a "conflict with federal requirements" under section 15 of this act shall become effective on the thirtieth consecutive day following the effective date of the action. The rule in this subsection applies to any action eliminating the conflict, regardless of whether the action is requested under subsection (2) of this section.

(4) The provisions of this act that do not require federal action in order to avoid a "conflict with federal requirements" under section 15 of this act shall become effective on the one hundred fiftieth consecutive day after adjournment of the session at which this act is enacted.

(5) Those provisions of section 2 of this act not requiring federal action, and therefore effective on the one hundred fiftieth consecutive day following adjournment, shall be applied in the following manner to caretakers receiving assistance on such effective date: The department of social and health services shall provide such caretakers with the opportunity to contract under section 2 of this act. They shall not be considered ineligible as a result of section 2 of this act until they have had this opportunity. This subsection does not affect in any manner whatsoever any caretaker's eligibility, or ineligibility, for continued assistance under any other law or administrative rule.

(6) The governor may delegate any of the governor's duties under this section to the secretary of the department of social and health services.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 15. If any part of this act is found to be in conflict with federal requirements that are a prescribed condition to the allocation of federal funds to the state, the conflicting part of this act is inoperative solely to the extent of the conflict and with respect to the agencies directly affected, and this finding does not affect the operation of the remainder of this act in its application to the agencies concerned. The rules under this act shall meet federal requirements that are a necessary condition to the receipt of federal funds by the state. This term "allocation of federal funds to the state" means the allocation of federal funds that are appropriated by the legislature to the department of social and health services and on which the department depends for carrying out any provision of the operating budget applicable to it.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 16. The governor shall report quarterly to the appropriate committees in the house of representatives and senate on the efforts to secure the federal changes to permit full implementation of this act at the earliest possible date.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 17. (1) By January 1, 1996, the legislative budget committee shall submit to the legislature an evaluation plan satisfactory to the federal government, including a plan for analysis, within available funds, of:

(a) The costs and effectiveness of this act;

(b) The extent to which work and job training opportunities have led to employment and economic independence;

(d) The impact of employment and job training on the well-being of the children and families of caretakers.

(2) The legislative budget committee shall cause the evaluation plan to be implemented as approved by the legislative budget committee in a manner that will insure the independence of the evaluation through appropriate arrangements, which may include contracts, with objective evaluators. The evaluation plan and all evaluation products shall receive the review and comment of evaluation advisory groups to be convened by the Washington institute of public policy and which include representatives of the executive committee, appropriate legislative committee staffs, persons from the state's higher education institutions, staff members of the department and the employment security department, recipients, and former recipients. The reviews shall consider relevance to state policy and budget concerns, methodological procedure, implementation, and results.

(3) The first report of this evaluation shall be submitted to the legislature no later than December 1, 1997, and annually thereafter, with a final report due no later than November 15, 2001.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 18. 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.