READ FIRST TIME 02/09/04.   

     AN ACT Relating to provision of cash grants, case staffing, and work requirements to families eligible for temporary assistance for needy families; amending RCW 74.08A.260; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   It remains the intent of the legislature that all applicants to the Washington WorkFirst program shall be focused on obtaining paid, unsubsidized employment. The focus of the Washington WorkFirst program continues to be work for all recipients. The key principles of the state temporary assistance for needy families program must be to help move people from welfare to work; to be a short-term transitional experience, not a way of life; and to assist families to receive the child care and health care they need to protect their children as they move from welfare to work. A statewide partnership of state agencies, public education, business, and nongovernmental providers are in place in Washington to provide families with services and opportunities to gain competitive employment. The legislature recognizes that there will always be families while working hard to find work, need assistance over a longer period. It is the intent of the legislature to ensure that these families have available to them continuing assistance and other services and resources that will assist in gaining competitive employment while those who are uncooperative and malingering no longer receive a cash grant.

Sec. 2   RCW 74.08A.260 and 2003 c 383 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Each recipient shall be assessed after determination of program eligibility and before referral to job search. Assessments shall be based upon factors that are critical to obtaining employment, including but not limited to education, availability of child care, history of family violence, history of substance abuse, and other factors that affect the ability to obtain employment. Assessments may be performed by the department or by a contracted entity. The assessment shall be based on a uniform, consistent, transferable format that will be accepted by all agencies and organizations serving the recipient. Based on the assessment, an individual responsibility plan shall be prepared that: (a) Sets forth an employment goal and a plan for moving the recipient immediately into employment; (b) contains the obligation of the recipient to become and remain employed; (c) moves the recipient into whatever employment the recipient is capable of handling as quickly as possible; and (d) describes the services available to the recipient to enable the recipient to obtain and keep employment. If the assessment in this subsection indicates the recipient is able to engage in job search, he or she shall participate in job search for thirty days before receiving the cash benefit portion of public assistance. If the recipient has been aggressively participating in a local job search prior to application by making at least three job contacts each day or fifteen job contacts each week and documented by providing copies of completed job applications or verification of job interviews, the thirty-day waiting period or a portion shall be waived.
     (2) Recipients who are not engaged in work and work activities, and do not qualify for a good cause exemption under RCW 74.08A.270, shall engage in self-directed service as provided in RCW 74.08A.330.
     (3) If a recipient ((refuses to engage in work and work activities required by the department, the family's grant shall be reduced by the recipient's share, and may, if the department determines it appropriate, be terminated)) has refused to engage in work and work activities as required by the department, without good cause, the sanction shall be a reduction of cash benefits by forty percent and mandatory designation of a protective payee. A protective payee is a person or an employee of an agency who manages client cash benefits to provide for basic needs such as housing, utilities, clothing, child care, and food. Before cash benefits are reduced by forty percent and sent to a protective payee, the department shall conduct a case staffing to determine whether the recipient has good cause for nonparticipation provided in RCW 74.08A.270. The recipient and his or her chosen representative shall be allowed to attend this case staffing. The cash benefit portion of the public assistance shall be restored and protective payee discontinued the first of the following month after the recipient resumes full and active participation as required for twelve, full, consecutive weeks.
     (4) ((The department may waive the penalties required under subsection (3) of this section, subject to a finding that the recipient refused to engage in work for good cause provided in RCW 74.08A.270)) The department shall sanction a recipient who has: (a) Received temporary assistance for needy families for sixty months, as provided under RCW 74.08A.010; and (b) refused to engage in work and work activities as required by the department, without good cause. The sanction for refusing to engage in work without good cause shall be a reduction of cash benefits by forty percent and mandatory designation of a protective payee. A protective payee is a person or an employee of an agency who manages client cash benefits to provide for basic needs such as housing, utilities, clothing, child care, and food. Before cash benefits are reduced by forty percent and sent to a protective payee, the department shall conduct a case staffing to determine whether the recipient has good cause for nonparticipation provided in RCW 74.08A.270. The recipient and his or her chosen representative shall be allowed to attend this case staffing. The cash benefit portion of the public assistance shall be restored and protective payee discontinued the first of the following month after the recipient resumes full and active participation as required for twelve, full, consecutive weeks.
     (5) In implementing this section, the department shall assign the highest priority to the most employable clients, including adults in two-parent families and parents in single-parent families that include older preschool or school-age children to be engaged in work activities.
     (6) In consultation with the recipient, the department or contractor shall place the recipient into a work activity that is available in the local area where the recipient resides.