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ENGROSSED SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1144
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Passed Legislature - 2002 Regular Session
State of Washington 57th Legislature 2002
Regular Session
By
Read first time 02/11/2002. Referred to
Committee on .
Modifying good cause
reasons for failure to participate in the WorkFirst program.
AN ACT Relating to the
WorkFirst program participation exemption; and amending RCW 74.08A.270.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF
WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1. RCW 74.08A.270 and 1997
c 58 s 314 are each amended to read as follows:
(1) Good cause
reasons for failure to participate in WorkFirst program components include: (((1)))
(a) Situations where the recipient is a parent or other relative
personally providing care for a child under the age of six years, and formal or
informal 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 fails to provide such care; or (((2) until
June 30, 1999, if)) (b) the recipient is a parent with a child under
the age of one year, except that at the time a child reaches the age of
three months, the recipient is required to participate in one of the following
for up to twenty hours per week:
(i) Instruction or
training which has the purpose of improving parenting skills or child
well-being;
(ii) Preemployment
or job readiness training;
(iii) Course study
leading to a high school diploma or GED; or
(iv) Volunteering in
a child care facility licensed under chapter 74.15 RCW so long as the child
care facility agrees to accept the recipient as a volunteer and the child
without compensation while the parent is volunteering at the facility. The
volunteer recipient and his or her child shall not be counted for the purposes
of determining licensed capacity or the staff to child ratio of the facility.
(2) Nothing in this
section shall prevent a recipient from participating fully in the WorkFirst
program on a voluntary basis. A recipient who chooses to participate fully in
the WorkFirst program shall be considered to be fulfilling the requirements of
this section.
(3) For any recipient
who claims a good cause reason for failure to participate in the WorkFirst
program based on the fact that the recipient has a child under the age of one
year, the department shall, within existing resources, conduct an assessment of
the recipient within ninety days and before a job search component is initiated
in order to determine if the recipient has any specific service needs or
employment barriers. The assessment may include identifying the need for
substance abuse treatment, mental health treatment, or domestic violence
services, and shall be used in developing the recipient's individual
responsibility plan.
(4)
A parent may only receive ((this)) the exemption ((for a total
of twelve months, which may be consecutive or nonconsecutive; or (3) after June
30, 1999, if the recipient is a parent with a child under three months of age))
under subsection (1)(b) of this section one time, for one child.
