5921-S.E AMH KAGI PAME 162

ESSB 5921 - H AMD TO WAYS COMM AMD (H-2797.2/11) 778

By Representative Kagi

ADOPTED 05/13/2011

On page 4, beginning on line 1 of the striking amendment, strike all material through "time." on page 5, line 38 and insert the following:

    "(b)(i) The period of suspension of work activities under this subsection provides an opportunity for the legislative and executive branches to oversee redesign of the WorkFirst program.  To realize this opportunity, both during the period of suspension and following reinstatement of work activity requirements as redesign is being implemented, a legislative-executive WorkFirst oversight task force is established, with members as provided in this subsection.
(ii) The president of the senate shall appoint two members from each of the two largest caucuses of the senate.
(iii) The speaker of the house of representatives shall appoint two members from each of the two largest caucuses of the house of representatives.
(iv) The governor shall appoint members representing the department of social and health services, the department of early learning, the department of commerce, the employment security department, the office of financial management, and the state board for community and technical colleges.
(v) The task force shall choose cochairs, one from among the legislative members and one from among the executive branch members.  The legislative members shall convene the initial meeting of the task force.
(c) The task force shall:
(i) Oversee the partner agencies' implementation of the redesign of the WorkFirst program and operation of the temporary assistance for needy families program to ensure that the programs are achieving desired outcomes for their clients;
(ii) Determine evidence-based outcome measures for the WorkFirst program, including measures related to equitably serving the needs of historically underrepresented populations, such as English language learners, immigrants, refugees and other diverse communities;
(iii) Develop accountability measures for WorkFirst recipients and the state agencies responsible for their progress toward self- sufficiency;

(iv) Make recommendations to the governor and the legislature regarding:

(A) Policies to improve the effectiveness of the WorkFirst program over time;

(B) Early identification of those recipients most likely to experience long stays on the program and strategies to improve their ability to achieve progress toward self sufficiency; and

(C) Necessary changes to the program, including taking into account federal changes to the temporary assistance for needy families program.

(d) The partner agencies must provide the task force with regular reports on:

(i) The partner agencies' progress toward meeting the outcome and performance measures established under subsection (c) of this section; 

(ii) Caseload trends and program expenditures, and the impact of those trends and expenditures on client services, including services to historically underrepresented populations; and
(iii) The characteristics of families who have been unsuccessful on the program and have lost their benefits either through sanction or the sixty-month time limit.
(e) Staff support for the task force must be provided by senate committee services, the house of representatives office of program research, and the state agency members of the task force.
(f) The task force shall meet on a quarterly basis beginning September 2011, or as determined necessary by the task force cochairs. 
(g) During its tenure, the state agency members of the task force shall respond in a timely manner to data requests from the cochairs."

    On page 6, line 31, after "with the" strike "legislative WorkFirst" insert "legislative-executive WorkFirst oversight"

    On page 19, line 28 after "should be a" strike "top".

EFFECT:   Removes the provisions establishing a legislative task force, the task force role and responsibilities.

Establishes a legislative-executive WorkFirst oversight task force and provides that the legislative-executive task force is to oversee the WorkFirst redesign, determine evidence-based accountability measures, develop outcomes, and make recommendations to the Governor and Legislature.

Provides that the accountability measures should include provisions related to equitably serving underrepresented populations.

Directs WorkFirst partner agencies to provide regular reports to legislative-executive taskforce and specifies the content of the reports.

Clarifies that eliminating fraud, waste, and abuse should be a priority, rather than top priority, of the Department of Social and Health Services.

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