General Assembly Raised Bill No. 774
January Session, 2017 LCO No. 3456
*03456_______HS_*
Referred to Committee on HUMAN SERVICES
Introduced by:
(HS)
General Assembly
Raised Bill No. 774
January Session, 2017
LCO No. 3456
*03456_______HS_*
Referred to Committee on HUMAN SERVICES
Introduced by:
(HS)
AN ACT EXTENDING TEMPORARY FAMILY ASSISTANCE BENEFITS TO ENCOURAGE EMPLOYMENT.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. Subsection (c) of section 17b-112 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2017):
(c) A family who is subject to time-limited benefits may petition the Commissioner of Social Services for six-month extensions of such benefits. The commissioner shall grant not more than two extensions to such family who has made a good faith effort to comply with the requirements of the program and despite such effort has a total family income at a level below the payment standard, or has encountered circumstances preventing employment including, but not limited to: (1) Domestic violence or physical harm to such family's children; or (2) other circumstances beyond such family's control. The commissioner shall disregard ninety dollars of earned income in determining applicable family income. The commissioner may grant a subsequent six-month extension if each adult in the family meets one or more of the following criteria: (A) The adult is precluded from engaging in employment activities due to domestic violence or another reason beyond the adult's control; (B) the adult has two or more substantiated barriers to employment including, but not limited to, the lack of available child care, substance abuse or addiction, severe mental or physical health problems, one or more severe learning disabilities, domestic violence or a child who has a serious physical or behavioral health problem; (C) the adult is working thirty-five or more hours per week, is earning at least the minimum wage and continues to earn less than the family's temporary family assistance payment standard; [or] (D) the adult is working and his or her income exceeds ninety per cent of the payment standard; or (E) the adult is employed and works less than thirty-five hours per week due to (i) a documented medical impairment that limits the adult's hours of employment, provided the adult works the maximum number of hours that the medical condition permits, or (ii) the need to care for a disabled member of the adult's household, provided the adult works the maximum number of hours the adult's caregiving responsibilities permit. Families receiving temporary family assistance shall be notified by the department of the right to petition for such extensions. Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, the commissioner shall not provide benefits under the state's temporary family assistance program to a family that is subject to the twenty-one month benefit limit and has received benefits beginning on or after October 1, 1996, if such benefits result in that family's receiving more than sixty months of time-limited benefits unless that family experiences domestic violence, as defined in Section 402(a)(7)(B), P.L. 104-193. For the purpose of calculating said sixty-month limit: (I) A month shall count toward the limit if the family receives assistance for any day of the month, and (II) a month in which a family receives temporary assistance for needy families benefits that are issued from a jurisdiction other than Connecticut shall count toward the limit.
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2017 17b-112(c)
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1
July 1, 2017
17b-112(c)
Statement of Purpose:
To encourage recipients of temporary family assistance to find employment by allowing them to retain benefits for not more than twelve months if they find a job that exceeds ninety per cent of the temporary family assistance payment standard.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]