BILL REQ. #:  S-1050.1 

Read first time 02/04/13.   Referred to Committee on Human Services & Corrections.

     AN ACT Relating to requiring drug testing for recipients of benefits under the temporary assistance for needy families program; amending RCW 74.08.025 and 74.08A.260; and adding a new section to chapter 74.08A RCW.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 74.08.025 and 2011 1st sp.s. c 42 s 7 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Public assistance may be awarded to any applicant:
     (a) Who is in need and otherwise meets the eligibility requirements of department assistance programs; and
     (b) Who has not made a voluntary assignment of property or cash for the purpose of qualifying for an assistance grant; and
     (c) Who is not an inmate of a public institution except as a patient in a medical institution or except as an inmate in a public institution who could qualify for federal aid assistance: PROVIDED, That the assistance paid by the department to recipients in nursing homes, or receiving nursing home care, may cover the cost of clothing and incidentals and general maintenance exclusive of medical care and health services. The department may pay a grant to cover the cost of clothing and personal incidentals in public or private medical institutions and institutions for tuberculosis. The department shall allow recipients in nursing homes to retain, in addition to the grant to cover the cost of clothing and incidentals, wages received for work as a part of a training or rehabilitative program designed to prepare the recipient for less restrictive placement to the extent permitted under Title XIX of the federal social security act.
     (2) Any person otherwise qualified for temporary assistance for needy families under this title who has resided in the state of Washington for fewer than twelve consecutive months immediately preceding application for assistance is limited to the benefit level in the state in which the person resided immediately before Washington, using the eligibility rules and other definitions established under this chapter, that was obtainable on the date of application in Washington state, if the benefit level of the prior state is lower than the level provided to similarly situated applicants in Washington state. The benefit level under this subsection shall be in effect for the first twelve months a recipient is on temporary assistance for needy families in Washington state.
     (3) Any person otherwise qualified for temporary assistance for needy families who is assessed through the state alcohol and substance abuse program as drug or alcohol-dependent and requiring treatment to become employable shall be required by the department to undergo drug testing pursuant to section 3 of this act and to participate in a drug or alcohol treatment program as a condition of benefit receipt.
     (4) The department may implement a permanent disqualification for adults who have been terminated due to WorkFirst noncompliance sanction three or more times since March 1, 2007. A household that includes an adult who has been permanently disqualified from receiving temporary assistance for needy families shall be ineligible for further temporary assistance for needy families assistance.
     (5) Pursuant to 21 U.S.C. 862a(d)(1), the department shall exempt individuals from the eligibility restrictions of 21 U.S.C. 862a(a)(1) and (2) to ensure eligibility for temporary assistance for needy families benefits and federal food assistance.

Sec. 2   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) If the assessment conducted under this section indicates a reasonable likelihood that the recipient has a substance use disorder involving the misuse of a controlled substance, the recipient may only continue to receive benefits under the temporary assistance for needy families program in accordance with the requirements of section 3 of this act.
     (4) 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))) (5) 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))) (6) The department may waive the penalties required under subsection (((4))) (5) 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))) (7) 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))) (8) 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))) (9)(a) From July 1, 2011, through June 30, 2012, subsections (2) and (4) through (((6))) (7) 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))) (9)(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) 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. 3   A new section is added to chapter 74.08A RCW to read as follows:
     (1) If the results of an assessment conducted under RCW 74.08A.260(1) indicate a reasonable likelihood that a recipient may have a substance use disorder involving the misuse of a controlled substance, the department must require the recipient to take a drug test at the department's expense.
     (2) If a recipient, without good cause, refuses to take a drug test as required under subsection (1) of this section, the department must place the recipient's case in sanction status for noncompliance with the individual responsibility plan and reduce the family's grant by the recipient's share or by forty percent of the grant amount, whichever is greater. If the recipient remains in noncompliance sanction status for more than four months for failure to take a drug test pursuant to subsection (1) of this section, the department must terminate the recipient's case. If the department terminates the recipient's case under this subsection, the recipient may not reapply to receive temporary assistance for needy families benefits until twenty-eight days after the date of termination.
     (3) A drug test given under this section must be administered with due regard to the privacy and dignity of the person being tested.
     (4) Before taking a drug test under this section, a recipient may advise the person administering the test regarding any prescription or over-the-counter medication the recipient is taking.
     (5) If a recipient tests negative for the unlawful use of a controlled substance after taking a drug test pursuant to subsection (1) of this section, the recipient remains in compliance with the temporary assistance for needy families program, subject to the other program requirements of this chapter.
     (6) If a recipient tests positive for the unlawful use of a controlled substance after taking a drug test pursuant to subsection (1) of this section:
     (a) The department must provide the recipient with a list of approved substance use disorder treatment providers that are available in the area in which the individual resides; and
     (b) The recipient may continue to receive benefits under the temporary assistance for needy families program if the recipient enters into and follows the requirements of an individual responsibility plan which may include any of the following:
     (i) Receiving treatment, at the department's expense, from an approved substance use disorder treatment provider for at least sixty days;
     (ii) Testing negative for the unlawful use of a controlled substance:
     (A) In each subsequent drug test required by the department during treatment; and
     (B) In an additional drug test given at the conclusion of treatment; and
     (iii) Meeting the other requirements for receiving benefits under the temporary assistance for needy families program under this chapter.
     (7) If a recipient fails to meet the requirements of subsection (6) of this section, the department must place the recipient's case in sanction status for noncompliance with the individual responsibility plan. If the recipient remains in noncompliance sanction status for more than four months, the department must terminate the recipient's case. Upon termination pursuant to this subsection, the recipient may not reapply to receive temporary assistance for needy families benefits until twenty-eight days after the date of termination.