BILL REQ. #:  H-3534.1 

Read first time 01/23/14.   Referred to Committee on Early Learning & Human Services.

     AN ACT Relating to establishing the WorkFirst reform program; amending RCW 74.08A.260; adding a new section to chapter 74.08A RCW; creating a new section; and making an appropriation.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature intends to create a WorkFirst reform program to allow investment in strategies that move families to self-sufficiency. The legislature finds that the WorkFirst temporary assistance for needy families program has been redesigned in response to legislative direction enacted in chapter 273, Laws of 2010 (Engrossed Second Substitute House Bill No. 3141) and chapter 42, Laws of 2011 (Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill No. 5921). A state program is needed to invest in these efforts to fully realize these reforms without interference from the federal government.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 74.08A RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The department of social and health services shall operate a WorkFirst reform program.
     (2) The WorkFirst reform program may provide assistance to individuals who meet the eligibility requirements of the temporary assistance for needy families program. Assistance provided through the WorkFirst reform program must reinforce a recipient's individual responsibility plan as provided in RCW 74.08A.260(2). This program must operate in addition to the WorkFirst temporary assistance for needy families program with the purpose of allowing the state to move families toward self-sufficiency.
     (3) The department of social and health services shall operate the program within amounts appropriated by the legislature and consistent with the redesign of the WorkFirst program, including the following goals:
     (a) Stable and successful employment;
     (b) Supporting activities that matter, not those that count;
     (c) Meaningful engagement of families;
     (d) Family centered case planning and engagement;
     (e) Parental responsibility in child development; and
     (f) Assisting families in transition on the pathway to self-sufficiency.
     (4) The department of social and health services shall partner with the department of commerce, the department of early learning, the employment security department, the office of financial management, and the state board for community and technical colleges to carry out the program.
     (5) The WorkFirst reform program may not provide assistance to individuals in a manner that favors federal participation over support for individual responsibility plans.
     (6) The department of social and health services must provide an annual report to the legislative-executive WorkFirst oversight task force established in RCW 74.08A.260(8) by December 1st, which must include:
     (a) A description of the number of recipients who have achieved self-sufficiency through assistance from the WorkFirst reform program;
     (b) A description of how assistance provided through the WorkFirst reform program has allowed recipients to meet the goals of their individual responsibility plans as provided in RCW 74.08A.260(2); and
     (c) A description of how assistance provided through the WorkFirst reform program has allowed recipients to meet the goals established in subsection (3) of this section.

Sec. 3   RCW 74.08A.260 and 2011 1st sp.s. c 42 s 2 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.
     (2) Based on the assessment, an individual responsibility plan shall be prepared that: (a) Sets forth an employment goal and a plan for maximizing the recipient's success at meeting the employment goal; (b) considers WorkFirst educational and training programs from which the recipient could benefit; (c) contains the obligation of the recipient to participate in the program by complying with the plan; (d) moves the recipient into full-time WorkFirst activities as quickly as possible; and (e) describes the services available to the recipient either during or after WorkFirst to enable the recipient to obtain and keep employment and to advance in the workplace and increase the recipient's wage earning potential over time.
     (3) 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.
     (4) 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.
     (5) The department may waive the penalties required under subsection (4) of this section, subject to a finding that the recipient refused to engage in work for good cause provided in RCW 74.08A.270.
     (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.
     (7) Assessments conducted under this section shall include a consideration of the potential benefit to the recipient of engaging in financial literacy activities. The department shall consider the options for financial literacy activities available in the community, including information and resources available through the financial education public-private partnership created under RCW 28A.300.450. The department may authorize up to ten hours of financial literacy activities as a core activity or an optional activity under WorkFirst.
     (8)(a) From July 1, 2011, through June 30, 2012, subsections (2) through (6) of this section are suspended for a recipient who is a parent or other relative personally providing care for one child under the age of two years, or two or more children under the age of six years. This suspension applies to both one and two parent families. However, both parents in a two-parent family cannot use the suspension during the same month. Beginning July 1, 2012, the department shall phase in the work activity requirements that were suspended, beginning with those recipients closest to reaching the sixty-month limit of receiving temporary assistance for needy families under RCW 74.08A.010(1). The phase in shall be accomplished so that a fairly equal number of recipients required to participate in work activities are returned to those activities each month until the total number required to participate is participating by June 30, 2013. Nothing in this subsection shall prevent a recipient from participating in the WorkFirst program on a voluntary basis. Recipients who participate in the WorkFirst program on a voluntary basis shall be provided an option to participate in the program on a part-time basis, consisting of sixteen or fewer hours of activities per week. Recipients also may participate voluntarily on a full-time basis.
     (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 (8)(b).
     (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) Oversee implementation of the WorkFirst reform as provided in section 2 of this act to ensure that the program is achieving its goals;
     (v) 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 (c) of this subsection;
     (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.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   The sum of twelve million dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2015, from the general fund to the WorkFirst reform program for the purposes of this act.