HBA-MPM H.B. 1005 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1005 By: Naishtat Human Services 2/25/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Under current federal welfare law, states are required to achieve certain work participation rates for recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program (TANF). Beginning in 2002, the required rate for single-parent families will increase to 50 percent, and the required rate for two-parent families will increase to 90 percent. Because this population includes families living in areas where unemployment is high and is often composed of immigrant workers who are only able to work six months out of the year, local workforce development boards may have difficulty achieving the 90 percent work participation rate for two-parent families. Given that two-parent families only constitute a small percentage of TANF families, boards are providing more intensive and costly services to the smallest portion of their caseload. This creates inequity for all TANF recipients, and the failure to meet work participation rates, results in financial penalties to the state. When federal welfare reform legislation was passed in 1995, many areas of the state had not developed workforce services and currently some rural "minimum service counties"still have underdeveloped workforce services. Some TANF recipients are approaching their lifetime allotment of financial assistance under TANF without having received workforce services. House Bill 1005 provides for a state funding system that is separate from TANF to provide financial assistance and workforce services to two-parent families and individuals in areas defined by the Texas Workforce Commission as minimum service counties. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking authority is expressly delegated to the Health and Human Services Commission, the Texas Department of Human Services, and the Texas Workforce Commission in SECTION 1 (Section 34.003, Human Resources Code). ANALYSIS House Bill 1005 amends the Human Resources Code to require the Texas Department of Human Services (DHS), the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC), and the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC), with the participation of local workforce development boards, to jointly develop and implement a state program of temporary assistance and related support services (state program) that is distinct from the existing Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program (TANF). The bill provides that temporary assistance and related support services may be funded only with state money and provided to two-parent families or persons residing in minimum service counties, as defined by TWC. The bill requires HHSC, DHS, and TWC to adopt all rules necessary for the implementation of the state program. The bill requires HHSC, DHS, and TWC to form an interagency workgroup to develop the rules. The bill requires the interagency workgroup to allow representatives of local workforce development boards to participate in the development of the rules. The bill provides that the rules be designed to result in a state program that is substantively identical to TANF, except with respect to appropriate programmatic differences in terms of eligibility, work requirements and exemptions, time limits, and health-related services. The bill requires HHSC, DHS, and TWC to develop and implement procedures for minimum service counties to determine the date of a person's eligibility for temporary assistance and related support services and provide for the establishment of eligibility in a way that avoids disruption of benefits. The bill provides that a person receiving benefits from the state program is eligible for medical assistance under the state Medicaid program in the same manner as a person receiving financial benefits under TANF. The bill requires HHSC, DHS, and TWC to monitor implementation of the state program and to submit a joint report to the governor, legislature, and Legislative Budget Board on the status and use of the program no later than December 1 of each year. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.