As Introduced
136th General Assembly
Regular Session S. B. No. 67
2025-2026
Senators Liston, Romanchuk
A B I L L
To amend sections 5107.05, 5107.10, and 5107.20 of
the Revised Code regarding the pass-through of
support payments under the Ohio Works First
program.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section 1. That sections 5107.05, 5107.10, and 5107.20 of
the Revised Code be amended to read as follows:
Sec. 5107.05. The director of job and family services
shall adopt rules to implement this chapter. The rules shall be
consistent with Title IV-A, Title IV-D, federal regulations,
state law, the Title IV-A state plan submitted to the United
States secretary of health and human services under section
5101.80 of the Revised Code, amendments to the plan, and waivers
granted by the United States secretary. Rules governing
eligibility, program participation, and other applicant and
participant requirements shall be adopted in accordance with
Chapter 119. of the Revised Code. Rules governing financial and
other administrative requirements applicable to the department
of job and family services and county departments of job and
family services shall be adopted in accordance with section
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111.15 of the Revised Code.
(A) The rules shall specify, establish, or govern all of
the following:
(1) A payment standard for Ohio works first based on
federal and state appropriations that is increased in accordance
with section 5107.04 of the Revised Code;
(2) For the purpose of section 5107.04 of the Revised
Code, the method of determining the amount of cash assistance an
assistance group receives under Ohio works first;
(3) Requirements for initial and continued eligibility for
Ohio works first, including requirements regarding income,
citizenship, age, residence, and assistance group composition;
(4) For the purpose of section 5107.12 of the Revised
Code, application and verification procedures, including the
minimum information an application must contain;
(5) The extent to which a participant of Ohio works first
must notify, pursuant to section 5107.12 of the Revised Code, a
county department of job and family services of additional
income not previously reported to the county department;
(6) For the purpose of section 5107.16 of the Revised
Code, both of the following:
(a) Standards for the determination of good cause for
failure or refusal to comply in full with a provision of a self-
sufficiency contract;
(b) The compliance activities a member of an assistance
group must complete for the member to be considered to have
ceased to fail or refuse to comply in full with a provision of a
self-sufficiency contract.
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(7) The department of job and family services providing
written notice of a sanction under section 5107.161 of the
Revised Code;
(8) For the purpose of division (B) of section 5107.17 of
the Revised Code, the circumstances under which the adult member
of an assistance group or an assistance group's minor head of
household whose failure or refusal, without good cause, to
comply in full with a provision of a self-sufficiency contract
causes a sanction under section 5107.16 of the Revised Code must
enter into a new, or amend an existing, self-sufficiency
contract before the assistance group may resume participation in
Ohio works first following the sanction;
(9) Requirements for the collection and distribution of
support payments owed participants of Ohio works first pursuant
to section 5107.20 of the Revised Code;
(10) For the purpose of section 5107.22 of the Revised
Code, what constitutes cooperating in establishing a minor
child's paternity or establishing, modifying, or enforcing a
child support order and good cause for failure or refusal to
cooperate;
(11) The requirements governing the LEAP program,
including the definitions of "equivalent of a high school
diploma" and "good cause," and the incentives provided under the
LEAP program;
(12) If the director implements section 5107.301 of the
Revised Code, the requirements governing the award provided
under that section, including the form that the award is to take
and requirements an individual must satisfy to receive the
award;
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(13) Circumstances under which a county department of job
and family services may exempt a minor head of household or
adult from participating in a work activity or developmental
activity for all or some of the weekly hours otherwise required
by section 5107.43 of the Revised Code.
(14) The maximum amount of time the department will
subsidize positions created by state agencies and political
subdivisions under division (C) of section 5107.52 of the
Revised Code;
(15) The implementation of sections 5107.71 to 5107.717 of
the Revised Code by county departments of job and family
services;
(16) A domestic violence screening process to be used for
the purpose of division (A) of section 5107.71 of the Revised
Code;
(17) The minimum frequency with which county departments
of job and family services must redetermine a member of an
assistance group's need for a waiver issued under section
5107.714 of the Revised Code;
(18) Requirements for work activities, developmental
activities, and alternative work activities for Ohio works first
participants.
(B) The rules adopted under division (A)(2) of this
section shall be consistent with section 5107.20 of the Revised
Code.
The rules adopted under division (A)(3) of this section
regarding income shall specify what is countable income, gross
earned income, and gross unearned income for the purpose of
section 5107.10 of the Revised Code. The rules also shall
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specify the amount of an assistance group's gross earned income
that is to be disregarded for the purpose of division (D)(3) of
section 5107.10 of the Revised Code. The rules shall be
consistent with section 5107.20 of the Revised Code.
The rules adopted under division (A)(10) of this section
shall be consistent with 42 U.S.C. 654(29).
The rules adopted under division (A)(13) of this section
shall specify that the circumstances include that a school or
place of work is closed due to a holiday or weather or other
emergency and that an employer grants the minor head of
household or adult leave for illness or earned vacation.
(C) The rules may provide that a county department of job
and family services is not required to take action under section
5107.76 of the Revised Code to recover an erroneous payment
under circumstances the rules specify.
Sec. 5107.10. (A) As used in this section:
(1) "Countable income," "gross earned income," and "gross
unearned income" have the meanings established in rules adopted
under section 5107.05 of the Revised Code.
(2) "Federal poverty guidelines" has the same meaning as
in section 5101.46 of the Revised Code, except that references
to a person's family in the definition shall be deemed to be
references to the person's assistance group.
(3) "Gross income" means gross earned income and gross
unearned income.
(4) "Strike" means continuous concerted action in failing
to report to duty; willful absence from one's position; or
stoppage of work in whole from the full, faithful, and proper
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performance of the duties of employment, for the purpose of
inducing, influencing, or coercing a change in wages, hours,
terms, and other conditions of employment. "Strike" does not
include a stoppage of work by employees in good faith because of
dangerous or unhealthful working conditions at the place of
employment that are abnormal to the place of employment.
(B) Under the Ohio works first program, an assistance
group shall receive, except as otherwise provided by this
chapter, time-limited cash assistance. In the case of an
assistance group that includes a minor head of household or
adult, assistance shall be provided in accordance with the self-
sufficiency contract entered into under section 5107.14 of the
Revised Code.
(C)(1) To be eligible to participate in Ohio works first,
an assistance group must meet all of the following requirements:
(a) The assistance group, except as provided in division
(E) of this section, must include at least one of the following:
(i) A minor child who, except as provided in section
5107.24 of the Revised Code, resides with a parent, or specified
relative caring for the child, or, to the extent permitted by
Title IV-A and federal regulations adopted until Title IV-A,
resides with a guardian or custodian caring for the child;
(ii) A parent residing with and caring for the parent's
minor child who receives supplemental security income under
Title XVI of the "Social Security Act," 86 Stat. 1475 (1972), 42
U.S.C.A. 1383, as amended, or federal, state, or local adoption
assistance;
(iii) A specified relative residing with and caring for a
minor child who is related to the specified relative in a manner
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that makes the specified relative a specified relative and
receives supplemental security income or federal, state, or
local foster care assistance, kinship guardianship assistance,
kinship support program payments, or adoption assistance;
(iv) A pregnant woman.
(b) The assistance group must meet the income requirements
established by division (D) of this section.
(c) No member of the assistance group may be involved in a
strike.
(d) The assistance group must satisfy the requirements for
Ohio works first established by this chapter and section 5101.83
of the Revised Code.
(e) The assistance group must meet requirements for Ohio
works first established by rules adopted under section 5107.05
of the Revised Code.
(2) In addition to meeting the requirements specified in
division (C)(1) of this section, a member of an assistance group
who is required by section 5116.10 of the Revised Code to
participate in the comprehensive case management and employment
program must participate in that program to be eligible to
participate in Ohio works first.
(D)(1) Except as provided in division (D)(4) of this
section, to determine whether an assistance group is initially
eligible to participate in Ohio works first, a county department
of job and family services shall do the following:
(a) Determine whether the assistance group's gross income
exceeds fifty per cent of the federal poverty guidelines. In
making this determination, the county department shall disregard
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amounts that federal statutes or regulations and sections
5101.17, 5107.20, and 5117.10 of the Revised Code require be
disregarded. The assistance group is ineligible to participate
in Ohio works first if the assistance group's gross income, less
the amounts disregarded, exceeds fifty per cent of the federal
poverty guidelines.
(b) If the assistance group's gross income, less the
amounts disregarded pursuant to division (D)(1)(a) of this
section, does not exceed fifty per cent of the federal poverty
guidelines, determine whether the assistance group's countable
income is less than the payment standard. The assistance group
is ineligible to participate in Ohio works first if the
assistance group's countable income equals or exceeds the
payment standard.
(2) For the purpose of determining whether an assistance
group meets the income requirement established by division (D)
(1)(a) of this section, the annual revision that the United
States department of health and human services makes to the
federal poverty guidelines shall go into effect on the first day
of July of the year for which the revision is made.
(3) To determine whether an assistance group participating
in Ohio works first continues to be eligible to participate, a
county department of job and family services shall determine
whether the assistance group's countable income continues to be
less than the payment standard. In making this determination,
the county department shall disregard an amount specified in
rules adopted under section 5107.05 of the Revised Code and
fifty per cent of the remainder of the assistance group's gross
earned income. No Except as provided in section 5107.20 of the
Revised Code, no amounts shall be disregarded from the
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assistance group's gross unearned income. The assistance group
ceases to be eligible to participate in Ohio works first if its
countable income, less the amounts disregarded, equals or
exceeds the payment standard.
(4) If an assistance group reapplies to participate in
Ohio works first not more than four months after ceasing to
participate, a county department of job and family services
shall use the income requirement established by division (D)(3)
of this section to determine eligibility for resumed
participation rather than the income requirement established by
division (D)(1) of this section.
(E)(1) An assistance group may continue to participate in
Ohio works first even though a public children services agency
removes the assistance group's minor children from the
assistance group's home due to abuse, neglect, or dependency if
the agency does both of the following:
(a) Notifies the county department of job and family
services at the time the agency removes the children that it
believes the children will be able to return to the assistance
group within six months;
(b) Informs the county department at the end of each of
the first five months after the agency removes the children that
the parent, guardian, custodian, or specified relative of the
children is cooperating with the case plans prepared for the
children under section 2151.412 of the Revised Code and that the
agency is making reasonable efforts to return the children to
the assistance group.
(2) An assistance group may continue to participate in
Ohio works first pursuant to division (E)(1) of this section for
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not more than six payment months. This division does not affect
the eligibility of an assistance group that includes a pregnant
woman.
Sec. 5107.20. (A) As used in this section, "support" means
child support, spousal support, and support for a spouse or a
former spouse.
(B) Participation in Ohio works first constitutes an
assignment to the department of job and family services of any
rights members of an assistance group have to support from any
other person. The rights to support assigned to the department
pursuant to this section constitute an obligation of the person
who is responsible for providing the support to the state for
the amount of cash assistance provided to the assistance group.
(C) The office of child support in the department of job
and family services shall collect and distribute support
payments owed to Ohio works first participants, whether assigned
to the department or unassigned, in accordance with 42 U.S.C.
654 B and 657 and regulations adopted under those statutes,
state statutes, and rules adopted under section 5107.05 of the
Revised Code.
(D) Upon implementation of centralized collection and
disbursement under Chapter 3121. of the Revised Code, in
accordance with 42 U.S.C. 654 B and 657 and regulations adopted
under those statutes, the department shall deposit support
payments it receives on behalf of Ohio works first participants
pursuant to this section into the state treasury to the credit
of the child support collections fund or the child support
administrative fund, both of which are hereby created. Money
credited to the funds shall be used as follows:
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(1) The following portion of the amount of support
collected on behalf of an assistance group during a month shall
be paid to the assistance group:
(a) If the assistance group includes one minor child, one
hundred dollars;
(b) If the assistance group includes two or more minor
children, two hundred dollars.
(2) All of the remaining amount shall be used to make cash
assistance payments under Ohio works first.
(E) The amount of support paid to an assistance group
pursuant to division (D)(1) of this section shall be disregarded
and not included as countable income when both of the following
are determined:
(1) The amount of cash assistance the assistance group is
to receive under Ohio works first;
(2) Whether the assistance group is initially eligible to
participate in Ohio works first and continues to be eligible to
participate.
Section 2. That existing sections 5107.05, 5107.10, and
5107.20 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.
Section 3. Sections 1 and 2 of this act take effect
eighteen months after the effective date of this section.
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