HOUSE BILL REPORT
HB 1668
BYRepresentatives Anderson, Moyer, Locke, Bristow, Jacobsen and Wineberry; by request of Department of Social and Health Services
Providing for public assistance.
House Committe on Human Services
Majority Report: The substitute bill be substituted therefor and the substitute bill do pass. (10)
Signed by Representatives Bristow, Chair; Scott, Vice Chair; Moyer, Ranking Republican Member; Tate, Assistant Ranking Republican Member; Anderson, Hargrove, Leonard, Padden, Raiter and Winsley.
House Staff:Jean Wessman (786-7132)
AS REPORTED BY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES FEBRUARY 15, 1989
BACKGROUND:
State laws concerning public assistance reflect changes in federal law, court decisions, and ongoing state needs for clarification of policy.
State law describing the release of client addresses to parents who have been awarded visitation rights appears both in public assistance and child support enforcement chapters.
Certain property and forms of income such as household furnishings, personal effects, burial insurance, and cash and life insurance under specified limits are exempted from counting toward the resource and income limitations in the General Assistance-Unemployable program.
The Department is allowed to grant public assistance to persons with property in excess of the property limits when the person is making a good faith effort to dispose of the property, agrees in writing to dispose of the property and repay assistance received up to the time of the disposal of the property. If after nine months, the property has not been sold or the person terminates assistance for any other reason, the person is liable for the full amount of the assistance received.
Income that is received by an applicant or recipient, regardless of its actual availability, is countable as income to the client. Exemptions of specific types of income from public assistance limits are listed.
The Department is required to provide community work and training pilot programs for recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children and Food Stamps. They are also required to establish wage subsidy pilot programs.
The Department is required to inspect a home for suitability. They may pay assistance if that will make the home suitable. They may remove a child from an unsuitable home and place either with other family members or in foster care. If the court refuses to remove custody of the child from the parents, the Department is allowed to pay assistance regardless of the suitability of the home.
SUMMARY:
SUBSTITUTE BILL: The provisions regarding disclosure of a client's address to a parent with visitation rights are deleted from the public assistance chapter.
Restitution payments, and any income or resources derived from the payments, to people of Japanese or Aleut ancestry under the federal Civil Liberties Act of 1988 are exempted from counting as income or resources in all public assistance programs including determining eligibility for Medicaid.
The procedures for calculating an overpayment based on excess property are clarified to allow assistance for only nine months, requiring listing of the property for sale, specifying the penalty for ceasing to make a good faith effort to sell the property, advising the client of their rights to a fair hearing, and requiring a lien to be filed on the property.
Income received by an applicant or recipient that is not available for his or her own needs is exempt from counting against the client.
The Department is not required to establish community work and training programs or wage subsidy programs but may choose to have such programs.
Evaluating a home for suitability and the procedures for either paying assistance or removing the child from such home are deleted.
The cross-references in the Senior Citizens Act are corrected to reflect that income, resources, and need are to be defined by current public assistance law.
There is an emergency clause.
SUBSTITUTE BILL COMPARED TO ORIGINAL: The exemption of restitution payments to persons of Japanese and Aleut ancestry applies to all public assistance programs including the determination of eligibility for medical care. Cross-references to income, resources, and need as defined under public assistance are added to the Senior Citizens Act.
Fiscal Note: Requested February 8, 1989.
Effective Date:The bill contains an emergency clause and takes effect on July 1, 1989.
House Committee ‑ Testified For: Bernice Morehead, Department of Social and Health Services; Tom Ashton, with reservations, Evergreen Legal Services and Joyce Hobson, Children and Family Services, DSHS.
House Committee - Testified Against: None Presented.
House Committee - Testimony For: This bill is necessary to ensure that reparations payments to persons of Japanese and Aleut ancestry are not counted in determining eligibility for public assistance programs including determining the cost of medical care. Child support enforcement is better prepared to handle disclosure of information to noncustodial parents than public assistance. The court decision in Floyd v. Sugarman needs to be incorporated into state law clarifying the computation of overpayments due to excess property. Some clients handle money and resources for other persons, but do not have them available to meet their own needs. This should not count against their public assistance grant. In order to have flexibility in the Family Independence Program and Aid to Families with Dependent Children program, the Department should be allowed to design the most appropriate work and training programs for its clients. The laws regarding evaluating the suitability of a home before paying assistance are obsolete and are included in current practices of child welfare services.
House Committee - Testimony Against: None Presented.