BILL REQ. #:  H-4708.2 

Read first time 01/27/10.   Referred to Committee on Early Learning & Children's Services.

     AN ACT Relating to redesigning the delivery of temporary assistance for needy families; amending RCW 74.08A.010, 74.08A.340, and 74.08A.285; adding a new section to chapter 43.215 RCW; adding new sections to chapter 74.08A RCW; creating a new section; and repealing RCW 74.08A.200.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 74.08A RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The legislature finds that promoting meaningful change in the lives of needy families requires a thoughtful and creative approach to matching available resources with families' needs and developing a comprehensive plan to assist the family in attaining lasting self-sufficiency.
     (2) The legislature further finds that policies to encourage the completion of appropriate educational and training programs result in more parents attaining living wage jobs, and more families becoming economically self-sufficient so that they may leave public financial assistance programs permanently.
     (3) The legislature also finds that ample research demonstrates that the completion of at least forty-five college credits, resulting in a credential or certificate, is often critical to achieving self-sufficiency.
     (4) Research also demonstrates that without adequate levels of education or training, job search activities alone have no measurable impact on a family's ability to become and remain economically self-sufficient.
     (5) The legislature also finds that while many families have been successful in permanently leaving the program of temporary assistance for needy families, statistics indicate that families continue to return to the program in the absence of adequate education and training.
     (6) The legislature also finds that a primary purpose of the temporary assistance for needy families program is to enable parents to work, and therefore, the legislature intends to assure that subsidized employment in the community jobs program will be available to parents who are unable to find employment after earnest efforts at job search or education and training activities.
     (7) The legislature recognizes that federal law exempts certain parents from training or work requirements due to a disability, including caring for a disabled child. The legislature intends that these parents and children also must be supported with appropriate services.
     (8) In order to provide work opportunities for parents with significant barriers to employment, the legislature also intends to build upon the successes of the community jobs program.
     (9) The legislature recognizes the vital importance of early childhood development and the significant developmental risks presented for children living in low-income households, particularly during critical developmental stages. Therefore, the legislature intends to reform components of Washington's subsidized childcare program by redesigning the eligibility determination process to promote: (a) Stability for children and (b) predictability for parents who are either working or preparing and searching for work and the childcare providers who are serving low-income families.
     (10) The legislature intends, through the implementation of this act, to: (a) Infuse new energy into efforts to improve the well-being of low-income families through education and training opportunities that will lead to sustainable economic self-sufficiency for families and (b) help alleviate the effects of poverty on Washington's children, particularly those experiencing significant poverty during critical stages of their development.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 43.215 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The department shall establish and implement policies in the working connections child care program to promote stability and quality of care for children from low-income households. Policies for the expenditure of funds constituting the working connections child care program must be consistent with the outcome measures defined in RCW 74.08A.410 and the standards established in this section intended to promote continuity of care for children.
     (2) Eligibility determinations and authorizations for working connections subsidies must be effective for twelve months unless a parent or child care provider reports a change in circumstances necessitating reauthorization prior to the end of the twelve-month period. This requirement must be introduced gradually, as follows:
     (a) Beginning in fiscal year 2011, a twelve-month authorization takes effect for parents with children enrolled in an early childhood education and assistance program, a head start program, or an early head start program; and
     (b) Beginning in fiscal year 2013, a twelve-month authorization takes effect for all other parents receiving a working connections subsidy.

Sec. 3   RCW 74.08A.010 and 2004 c 54 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) A family that includes an adult who has received temporary assistance for needy families for sixty months after July 27, 1997, shall be ineligible for further temporary assistance for needy families assistance.
     (2) For the purposes of applying the rules of this section, the department shall count any month in which an adult family member received a temporary assistance for needy families cash assistance grant unless the assistance was provided when the family member was a minor child and not the head of the household or married to the head of the household.
     (3) The department shall refer recipients who require specialized assistance to appropriate department programs, crime victims' programs through the department of ((community, trade, and economic development)) commerce, or the crime victims' compensation program of the department of labor and industries.
     (4)(a) The department may exempt a recipient and the recipient's family from the application of subsection (1) of this section by reason of hardship or if the recipient meets the family violence options of section 402(A)(7) of Title IVA of the federal social security act as amended by P.L. 104-193. The number of recipients and their families exempted from subsection (1) of this section for a fiscal year shall not exceed twenty percent of the average monthly number of recipients and their families to which assistance is provided under the temporary assistance for needy families program.
     (b) For purposes of this section, "hardship" includes: (i) Relative caregivers over the age of fifty-five; (ii) relative caregivers who are caring for a child or adult with a disability, or who are incapacitated and unable to work; (iii) recipients addressing family violence issues; (iv) recipients parenting a child under the age of one year; (v) recipients who are in compliance with their individual responsibility plan as required under RCW 74.08A.260; and (vi) other circumstances of hardship deemed by the department to be appropriate.
     (5) The department shall not exempt a recipient and his or her family from the application of subsection (1) of this section until after the recipient has received fifty-two months of assistance under this chapter.
     (6) ((Beginning on October 31, 2005,)) (a) The department shall provide transitional food stamp assistance for a period of five months to a household that ceases to receive temporary assistance for needy families assistance and is not in sanction status. If necessary, the department shall extend the household's food stamp certification until the end of the transition period.
     (b) At least three months before a family leaves the temporary assistance for needy families program under subsection (1) of this section, the department shall, in collaboration with the family, develop a transition plan that includes a description of the resources, services, and programs the family may access in order to assure the children in the family are provided adequate shelter, food, and care.
     (c) An adult scheduled to leave the program under subsection (1) of this section who has been unable to find stable employment after receiving services for sixty months must be offered subsidized employment in the community jobs program. If the adult accepts the offer of subsidized employment, the adult's individual responsibility plan must be revised, and as long as the adult remains in compliance with the individual responsibility plan, the adult is exempt on the basis of hardship under subsection (4)(b) of this section. If the adult refuses the offer of subsidized employment or fails to comply with the individual responsibility plan as revised under this subsection, the adult is ineligible for further services from the temporary assistance for needy families program.

Sec. 4   RCW 74.08A.340 and 2009 c 564 s 953 are each amended to read as follows:
     The department of social and health services shall operate the Washington ((WorkFirst)) family lifeline program authorized under RCW 74.08A.200 through 74.08A.330, 43.330.145, 43.215.545, and 74.25.040, and chapter 74.12 RCW within the following constraints:
     (1) The ((full amount of)) legislature shall appropriate the temporary assistance for needy families block grant, plus qualifying state expenditures ((as appropriated)) in the biennial operating budget((, shall be appropriated)) to the department each year in the biennial appropriations act to carry out the provisions of the program authorized in RCW 74.08A.200 through 74.08A.330, 43.330.145, 43.215.545, and 74.25.040, and chapter 74.12 RCW. Expenditures of amounts under this subsection are subject to appropriation and subject to any conditions contained in the omnibus operating appropriations act.
     (2)(a) The legislature shall appropriate and the department ((may)) shall expend funds defined in subsection (1) of this section in any manner that will effectively accomplish the outcome measures defined in RCW 74.08A.410 ((with the following exception: Beginning with the 2007-2009 biennium, funds that constitute the working connections child care program, child care quality programs, and child care licensing functions)).
     (b) ((Beginning in the 2007-2009 fiscal biennium,)) The legislature shall appropriate and the departments of early learning and social and health services shall expend funds defined in subsection (1) of this section that constitute the working connections child care program, child care quality programs, and child care licensing functions in a manner that is consistent with the outcome measures defined in RCW 74.08A.410.
     (c) No more than fifteen percent of the amount provided in subsection (1) of this section may be spent for administrative purposes. For the purpose of this subsection, "administrative purposes" does not include expenditures for information technology and computerization needed for tracking and monitoring required by P.L. 104-193. The department shall not increase grant levels to recipients of the program authorized in RCW 74.08A.200 through 74.08A.330 and 43.330.145 and chapter 74.12 RCW, except as authorized in the omnibus appropriations act for the 2009-2011 biennium.
     (3) The department shall implement strategies that accomplish the outcome measures identified in RCW 74.08A.410 that are within the funding constraints in this section. ((Specifically, the department shall implement strategies that will cause the number of cases in the program authorized in RCW 74.08A.200 through 74.08A.330 and 43.330.145 and chapter 74.12 RCW to decrease by at least fifteen percent during the 1997-99 biennium and by at least five percent in the subsequent biennium.)) The department may transfer appropriation authority between funding categories within the economic services program in order to carry out the requirements of this subsection.
     (4) The department shall monitor expenditures against the appropriation levels provided for in subsection (1) of this section. The department shall quarterly make a determination as to whether expenditure levels will exceed available funding and communicate its finding to the legislature. If the determination indicates that expenditures will exceed funding at the end of the fiscal year, the department shall take all necessary actions to ensure that all services provided under this chapter shall be made available only to the extent of the availability and level of appropriation made by the legislature.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 5   A new section is added to chapter 74.08A RCW to read as follows:
     The temporary assistance for needy families program must be administered to implement three pathways to family self-sufficiency. Pathways are intended to guide case management and to engage parents in developing a comprehensive plan to achieve self-sufficiency while addressing families' current basic needs. Pathways must be implemented as follows:
     (1) The employment pathway is the presumptive referral for persons who:
     (a) Have marketable job skills, adequate education, or experience and attachment to the job force;
     (b) Do not have unaddressed barriers to employment; and
     (c) Have transportation and safe child care arrangements in place; or
     (d) Select the employment pathway even though eligible for another pathway.
     (2) Persons entering the employment pathway must engage in job search activities for six weeks. If unsuccessful in obtaining employment, the education and training pathway is the next presumptive referral.
     (3) The career development pathway is the presumptive pathway for persons who:
     (a) Have few or no marketable job skills and little experience or attachment to the job force;
     (b) Do not have a high school diploma or equivalent; or
     (c) Require adult basic education or barrier removal activities.
     (4) Persons entering the career development pathway must be referred to programs delivered or coordinated by the community and technical colleges and to other activities to remove barriers to employment, as appropriate. The community and technical colleges must coordinate all available resources to serve persons referred under this section, including but not limited to opportunity grants; AmeriCorps programs; postsecondary technical education programs; apprenticeships; customized job training programs; and adult basic education and basic skills programs.
     (5) Persons completing activities to remove barriers to employment may be referred to the employment pathway, if appropriate.
     (6) Persons primarily needing entry level work experience to progress in a career pathway leading to self-sufficiency may be referred to the community jobs program.
     (7) The disability support pathway is the presumptive pathway for persons who:
     (a) Are incapacitated and unemployable;
     (b) Are caring for a child with a disability; or
     (c) Are the primary caregiver for a family member with a disability.
     (8) Persons entering the disability support pathway who are exempted from active job search activities due to incapacity or disability are eligible to receive benefits provided in Washington to persons with disabilities including, but not limited to:
     (a) Assistance applying for the federal social security disability and supplemental income programs;
     (b) Referral and access to chemical dependency treatment or mental health treatment, if appropriate; and
     (c) Referral to vocational rehabilitation, and other services needed to assist the recipient in becoming employable, if appropriate.
     (9) Disability benefits under this section do not supplant cash assistance and other services provided through the temporary assistance for needy families program. To the greatest extent possible, state-provided services must be funded through the temporary assistance for needy families block grant.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 6   A new section is added to chapter 74.08A RCW to read as follows:
     Beginning December 1, 2010, and annually thereafter, the department shall report to the legislature and the governor regarding the families who have left and who are about to leave the program under RCW 74.08A.010(1) due to ineligibility.
     (1) For families who left the program under RCW 74.08A.010(1) in the previous twelve months, the report must describe:
     (a) The median age and range of the adults, by one-adult and two-adult families;
     (b) The gender of the adults in the one-adult families;
     (c) The percent of one-adult families receiving regular child support payments, and the median amount and range of support payments received;
     (d) The median age and range of children, by one-adult and two-adult families;
     (e) The median number of returns to the program and the length of stay upon return;
     (f) The educational level of the adults, by one-adult and two-adult families; and
     (g) The scope and type of resources, services, and programs identified in the transition plan required under RCW 74.08A.010(6)(b).
     (2) For families who are within six months of leaving the program under RCW 74.08A.010(1), the report must describe:
     (a) The same elements described in subsection (1) of this section; and
     (b) The scope and type of resources, services, and programs anticipated to be available to the families leaving the program.

Sec. 7   RCW 74.08A.285 and 2003 c 383 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
     The ((WorkFirst)) family lifeline program operated by the department to meet the federal work requirements specified in P.L. 104-193 shall contain a job search component. The component shall consist of instruction on how to secure a job and assisted job search activities to locate and retain employment. Nonexempt recipients of temporary assistance for needy families who are referred to the employment pathway shall participate in an initial job search for ((no more than twelve)) six consecutive weeks. Each recipient shall receive a work skills assessment upon referral to the job search program. The work skills assessment shall include but not be limited to education, employment history, employment strengths, and marketable job skills. The recipient's ability to obtain employment will be reviewed periodically thereafter and, if it is clear at any time that further participation in a job search will not be productive, the department shall assess the recipient pursuant to RCW 74.08A.260 and section 5 of this act. The department shall refer recipients unable to find employment through the initial job search period to ((work)) an alternative pathway or other activities that will develop their educational attainment, skills, or knowledge to make them more employable, including additional job search and job readiness assistance, unless the recipient is referred to the career development pathway.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 8   RCW 74.08A.200 (Intent -- Washington WorkFirst) and 1997 c 58 s 301 are each repealed.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 9    This act may be known and cited as the family lifeline act of 2010.