By: Perry S.B. No. 2124
(In the Senate - Filed March 10, 2017; March 28, 2017, read
first time and referred to Committee on Finance; April 27, 2017,
reported adversely, with favorable Committee Substitute by the
following vote: Yeas 11, Nays 2; April 27, 2017, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 2124 By: Hancock
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a pilot program for assisting certain recipients of
public benefits to gain permanent self-sufficiency.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 531, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 531.02241 to read as follows:
Sec. 531.02241. PILOT PROGRAM FOR SELF-SUFFICIENCY OF
CERTAIN PERSONS RECEIVING TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE FOR NEEDY FAMILIES
BENEFITS OR OTHER SERVICES. (a) In this section:
(1) "Financial assistance benefits" means money
payments under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
program authorized by Chapter 31, Human Resources Code.
(2) "Living wage" means an amount of money, determined
by a market-based calculation that uses geographically specific
expenditure data, that is sufficient to meet a family's minimum
necessary spending on basic needs, including food, child care,
health insurance, housing, and transportation.
(3) "Self-sufficiency" means being employed in a
position that pays a living wage, having financial savings in an
amount that is equal to at least three months of living wage income,
and owing only a reasonable amount of debt.
(b) The commission shall develop and implement a pilot
program for assisting up to 100 eligible participants under this
section to gain permanent self-sufficiency and no longer require
financial assistance or other public benefits.
(c) The pilot program will test waiving, for at least 24
months but not more than 60 months, income and asset limit
eligibility requirements for financial assistance benefits. The
waiver of any income limit requirement must be in an amount that
does not exceed the amount, based on a participant's family makeup
and the living wage in the participant's geographical area of
residence, determined to be necessary for the purposes of the
program. The waiver of any asset limit requirement must be in an
amount that is equal to or less than three months of the
participant's income.
(d) The pilot program must be designed to allow social
services providers, public benefit offices, and other community
partners to refer potential participants to the program. A person
is eligible to participate in the program established under this
section if the person:
(1) is a recipient of financial assistance benefits;
(2) has a total household income that is less than a
living wage based on the recipient's family makeup and geographical
area of residence;
(3) is at least 18 but not more than 62 years of age;
and
(4) is willing and legally able to be employed.
(e) The pilot program must be designed to assist eligible
participants in attaining self-sufficiency by:
(1) identifying eligibility requirements for the
benefits described by Subsection (d)(1) that may be waived for a
limited period of time and that, if applied, would impede
self-sufficiency;
(2) implementing strategies, including waiving the
eligibility requirements identified in Subdivision (1), to remove
barriers to self-sufficiency; and
(3) moving eligible participants through progressive
stages toward self-sufficiency that include the following phases:
(A) an initial phase in which a participant moves
out of an emergent crisis by securing housing, medical care, and
financial assistance benefits;
(B) a second phase in which the participant moves
toward stability by securing employment and, if necessary, child
care and by participating in services that build the financial
management skills necessary to meet financial goals;
(C) a third phase in which the participant
transitions to self-sufficiency by securing employment that pays a
living wage, reducing debt, and building savings; and
(D) a final phase in which the participant
attains self-sufficiency by retaining employment that pays a living
wage, amassing at least three months of living wage savings, and
eliminating debt so that the participant will no longer be
dependent on financial assistance or other public benefits.
(f) A person who wishes to participate in the pilot program
must attend an in-person intake meeting with a program case
manager. During the intake meeting the case manager shall:
(1) determine whether:
(A) the person meets the eligibility
requirements under Subsection (d); and
(B) the income or asset limit eligibility
requirements may be waived under the program;
(2) review the person's demographic information and
household financial budget;
(3) assess the person's current financial and career
situations;
(4) collaborate with the person to develop and
implement strategies for removing barriers to attaining
self-sufficiency, including waiving income and asset limit
eligibility requirements for financial assistance benefits; and
(5) if the person is determined to be eligible for and
chooses to participate in the program, schedule a follow-up meeting
to further assess the person's crisis, review available referral
services, and create a service plan.
(g) The pilot program must provide each participant with
holistic, wraparound case management services to ensure that goals
included in a participant's service plan are achieved. A
participant must be assigned a program case manager who shall:
(1) if the participant is determined to be eligible,
provide the participant with a waiver described by Subsection (c),
allowing the participant to continue receiving financial
assistance benefits;
(2) assess, at the follow-up meeting scheduled under
Subsection (f)(5), the participant's crisis, review available
referral services, and create a service plan; and
(3) during the initial phase of the program, create
medium- and long-term goals consistent with the strategies
developed under Subsection (f)(4).
(h) The pilot program established under this section must
operate for at least 24 months. The program shall also include 16
additional months for:
(1) planning and designing the program before the
program begins operation; and
(2) data collection and program evaluation after the
program begins operation.
(i) The commission shall develop and implement the pilot
program established under this section with the assistance of the
Texas Workforce Commission, local workforce development boards,
faith-based and other relevant public or private organizations, and
any other entity or person the commission determines appropriate.
(j) The commission shall monitor and evaluate the pilot
program in a manner that allows for promoting research-informed
results of the program.
(k) On the conclusion of the pilot program but not later
than 24 months following the date on which the program begins
operation, the commission shall report to the legislature on the
results of the program. The report must include:
(1) an evaluation of the program's effect on eligible
participants in achieving self-sufficiency and no longer requiring
public benefits;
(2) the impact to this state on the costs of the
financial assistance benefits program and the child care management
services program operated by the Texas Workforce Commission; and
(3) recommendations on the feasibility and
continuation of the program.
(l) During the operation of the pilot program, the
commission shall provide to the legislature additional reports
concerning the program that the commission determines to be
appropriate.
(m) The executive commissioner and the Texas Workforce
Commission may adopt rules to implement this section.
(n) This section expires September 1, 2022.
SECTION 2. If before implementing any provision of this Act
a state agency determines that a waiver or authorization from a
federal agency is necessary for implementation of that provision,
the agency affected by the provision shall request the waiver or
authorization and may delay implementing that provision until the
waiver or authorization is granted.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect only if a specific
appropriation for the implementation of the Act is provided in a
general appropriations act of the 85th Legislature.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2017.
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