BP BHEAD INT S [atlas:bill]

AN ACT Relating to adult recipients of temporary assistance for needy families enrolled in education programs; amending RCW 74.08A.250 and 74.08A.260; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature intends that adult recipients of temporary assistance for needy families eventually attain unsubsidized employment. The ideal of welfare reform is to help those in poverty find, maintain, and advance in jobs that offer wage progression and benefits. Many of these jobs require education beyond high school. Although federal welfare reform restricts and limits higher education while receiving temporary assistance for needy families, it is the intent of the legislature, for the long-term benefit of both the recipient and society, to encourage and enable those on assistance to obtain as much useful, marketable education as they can. The legislature believes that it is short-sighted to sanction those on assistance who are nearing completion of training that will lead to employment.

In order to help enable recipients to obtain family wage jobs with benefits and wage progression in occupations with market demand, it is the intent of the legislature that the department of social and health services, the employment security department, and community and technical colleges work together more effectively to facilitate the successful completion of higher educational course work by recipients. Wherever the circumstances and educational progress of a recipient would reasonably lead to timely course completion and employment, the legislature intends that the recipient's grant be maintained without sanction.

Sec. 2. RCW 74.08A.250 and 1997 c 58 s 311 are each amended to read as follows:

Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, as used in this chapter, "work activity" means:

(1) Unsubsidized paid employment in the private or public sector;

(2) Subsidized paid employment in the private or public sector;

(3) Work experience, including work associated with the refurbishing of publicly assisted housing, if sufficient paid employment is not available;

(4) On-the-job training;

(5) Job search and job readiness assistance;

(6) Community service programs;

(7) Vocational educational training, not to exceed twelve months with respect to any individual, except those recipients being assisted in accordance with RCW 74.08A.260(7);

(8) Job skills training directly related to employment;

(9) Education directly related to employment, in the case of a recipient who has not received a high school diploma or a GED;

(10) Satisfactory attendance at secondary school or in a course of study leading to a GED, in the case of a recipient who has not completed secondary school or received such a certificate;

(11) The provision of child care services to an individual who is participating in a community service program; and

(12) Services required by the recipient under RCW 74.08.025(3) and 74.08A.010(3) to become employable.

Sec. 3. RCW 74.08A.260 and 1997 c 58 s 313 are each amended to read as follows:

((~~Recipients who have not obtained paid, unsubsidized employment by the end of the job search component authorized in section 312 of this act shall be referred to a work activity.~~))

(1) Each recipient shall be assessed immediately upon completion of the job search component. Assessments shall be based upon factors that are critical to obtaining employment, including but not limited to education, employment strengths, and employment history. 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. Based on the assessment, an individual responsibility plan shall be prepared that: (a) Sets forth an employment goal and a plan for moving the recipient immediately into employment; (b) contains the obligation of the recipient to become and remain employed; (c) moves the recipient into whatever employment the recipient is capable of handling as quickly as possible; and (d) describes the services available to the recipient to enable the recipient to obtain and keep employment.

(2) 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.

(3) 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.

(4) The department may waive the penalties required under subsection (3) of this section, subject to a finding that the recipient refused to engage in work for good cause provided in RCW 74.08A.270.

(5) In implementing this section, the department shall assign the highest priority to the most employable clients, including adults in two-parent families and parents in single-parent families that include older preschool or school-age children to be engaged in work activities.

(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) Upon request by an adult recipient of temporary assistance for needy families who is threatened with sanction or has been sanctioned by the department for insufficient countable work activity while enrolled and participating in credit classes at a community, technical, or trade college, and who has completed substantial coursework and can reasonably be expected to obtain a certification or diploma from a community, technical, or trade college within six months of the request in an occupation or profession likely to result in employment, the department shall evaluate and facilitate completion of school by maintaining the recipient's grant, with cooperation of the community, technical, or trade college, and the employment security department, as appropriate. In cases where the requesting recipient's twenty-hour temporary assistance for needy families' work activity requirement conflicts with the community, technical, or trade college's nineteen-hour work-study requirement, the department shall review the requesting recipient's training progress and make a good faith effort to accommodate the recipient through a deemed additional hour of community service work or other means of facilitation, in order to maintain the recipient's grant while the recipient completes his or her credit hours and obtains a certification or diploma. This subsection creates a rebuttable presumption in favor of an otherwise compliant recipient who is sanctioned or subject to sanction and is seeking relief under this subsection.