HBA-CDB S.B. 1095 76(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisS.B. 1095 By: Zaffirini Human Services 4-30-1999 Engrossed BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Federal legislation passed in 1996 denied food stamp benefits to most legal permanent residents. This legislation also made most of the elderly, children, and disabled legal immigrants who arrived in this county after August 22, 1996 ineligible for food stamp benefits. Despite the recent partial restoration of federal food stamps to selected legal immigrants, 92,600 legal immigrants in Texas, more than 75 percent of those legal immigrants receiving food stamps prior to welfare reform, lost their benefits. A profile of legal permanent residents developed by the Texas Department of Human Services (department) shows that almost 50 percent of legal permanent resident immigrant households contain a family member who works. National data further demonstrates that food stamps can account for as much as 20 percent of a household's income and that these benefits play an important role in lifting people out of poverty. S.B. 1095 allows the department to establish a state immigrant food assistance program to meet these needs. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking authority is expressly delegated to the Texas Department of Human Services in SECTION 1 (Section 33.0024, Human Resources Code) of this bill. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Chapter 33, Human Resources Code, by adding Section 33.0024, as follows: Sec. 33.0024. STATE IMMIGRANT FOOD ASSISTANCE PROGRAM. Requires the department by rule to develop and implement a state immigrant food assistance program to provide nutritional assistance to a lawfully present immigrant who meets specified criteria. Requires the state immigrant food assistance program to be administered using the same rules with respect to eligibility procedures and benefit levels that are used in administering the food stamp program under this chapter. SECTION 2. Provides that the state immigrant food assistance program required by Section 33.0024, Human Resources Code, as added by this Act, is intended to replace a similar food program providing assistance to certain immigrants ineligible for the federal food stamp program that was authorized by the Texas Board of Human Services, implemented under rules of the Texas Department of Human Services, and in effect immediately before the effective date of this Act. SECTION 3. Effective date: September 1, 1999. SECTION 4. Emergency clause.