HOUSE BILL REPORT

HB 2910

BYRepresentatives Sayan, Moyer, Brekke, Leonard, Hine, Belcher, Brooks, Spanel, Wineberry, Valle, Van Luven, Anderson, Winsley, R. King, Jacobsen, Wang, Basich, Wolfe, Brumsickle, O'Brien, Ferguson, R. Meyers, Phillips, Grant, Heavey, Todd, Dellwo, P. King, Cole, Scott, Ebersole, Tate, Betrozoff, Walker, Bowman, Cooper, Raiter, Crane, Gallagher, Miller, Rayburn, Rasmussen, Vekich, Holland, Peery, Rust, Jones, Wood, Appelwick, Locke, Beck, Morris, Day, Padden, R. Fisher, Nutley, Fraser, Pruitt, Hargrove, Rector, Zellinsky, Smith, May, Hankins, D. Sommers, Fuhrman and Nelson

Providing guidelines for establishing grant standards for income assistance programs.

House Committe on Human Services

Majority Report:  The substitute bill be substituted therefor and the substitute bill do pass.  (11)

      Signed by Representatives Sayan, Chair; Scott, Vice Chair; Moyer, Ranking Republican Member; Tate, Assistant Ranking Republican Member; Anderson, Brekke, Hargrove, Leonard, Raiter, Padden and Winsley.

House Staff:Dave Knutson (786-7146)

Rereferred House Committee on Appropriations

Majority Report:  The second substitute bill be substituted therefor and the second substitute bill do pass.  (19)

      Signed by Representatives Locke, Chair; Grant, Vice Chair; Youngsman, Assistant Ranking Republican Member; Belcher, Bowman, Brekke, Ebersole, Ferguson, Hine, Holland, May, Padden, Peery, Rust, Sayan, Spanel, Valle, Wang and Wineberry.

Minority Report:  Do not pass.  (7)

      Signed by Representatives Silver, Ranking Republican Member; Dorn, Doty, Inslee, McLean, Nealey and Sprenkle.

House Staff:      John Woolley (786-7154)

AS REPORTED BY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS FEBRUARY 5, 1990

BACKGROUND:

The federal government requires every state which participates in the aid to families with dependent children program to establish a standard of need which must be updated annually.  Each state can then determine the amount of benefits eligible people will receive.  Over the past decade, aid payments to eligible people have declined as a percentage of the standard of need.

SUMMARY:

SUBSTITUTE BILL:  Grant payment will be set as a percentage of the standard of need.  The grant payment will be not less than 60 percent of the standard of need by June 30, 1991.  It will increase to not less than 65 percent of the standard of needs by June 30, 1993.

By June 30, 1995, it will increase to not less than 70 percent of the standard of need.  By June 30, 1999, the grant payment shall equal 100 percent of the standard of need.  After June 30, 1999, the maximum rateable reduction which may be imposed on all income assistance grant programs will be 15 percent.

SUBSTITUTE BILL COMPARED TO ORIGINAL:  The Legislative Budget Committee, rather than the Department of Social and Health Services, will contract with an independent research organization to establish the standard of need on July 1st of each year.

CHANGES PROPOSED BY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS (SECOND SUBSTITUTE BILL):  The time in which the grant standard must meet 100 percent of the standard of need is extended from 1999 to 2007, with the grant increasing at five percent increments each biennium.  All relevant dates are changed from 1999 to 2007 to reflect this change.  The bill requires the Department of Social and Health Services to report to the Legislature on changes in treatment of recipient earnings which would raise family income and provide incentives to go to work.  The Department of Social and Health Services shall consider making earnings deductions from the need standard rather than from the grant standard.  A mandatory review of clients who have been receiving income assistance grants for two consecutive years will be established to determine, in consultation with the client, if a training or employment plan can be developed for the client.

Fiscal Note:      Available.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:    (Human Services)  Cathy Jamison and Cheryl Sabin, Fair Budget Action; Steve Lansing, Lutheran Public Policy Office; Gladys Burns, League of Women Voters; John Morefield, Seattle School District; Laurie Lippold, National Association of Social Workers; Tony Lee, Washington Association of Churches; Mary Murphy, League of Women Voters; Lonnie Johns-Brown, National Organization of Women; and Liz Schott, Evergreen Legal Services.

(Appropriations)  Representative Doug Sayan, prime sponsor; Tony Lee, Washington Association of Churches; Steve Lansing, Lutheran Public Policy; and Margaret Casey, Alliance for Children.

House Committee - Testified Against:      (Human Services)  Bernice Morehead, Department of Social and Health Services.

(Appropriations)  Bernice Morehead, Department of Social and Health Services (in part).

House Committee - Testimony For:    (Human Services)  Aid payments to poor people have not kept up with inflation.  Children are particularly hard hit.  Extreme poverty for young children will cause a multitude of problems through their entire lives.  Poverty can be eliminated if the moral and political commitment exists.

(Appropriations)  It is the duty of the state to meet the needs of its citizens, especially the large amount of children in hunger.  Over the past years the relative decline in purchasing power of the grant has been extreme.  This bill addresses the root cause of many social needs.  The increase is supported since the current grant does not last the month.  It should not keep people on assistance longer or attract more people to assistance.

House Committee - Testimony Against:      (Human Services)  The funding for this proposal was not included in the governor's supplemental budget.

(Appropriations)  Supports the Legislative Budget Committee undertaking the development of a yearly needs study, since there are a variety of different ways to define need.