I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 702
To modify the measure and use of the poverty line issued by the Secretary
of Health and Human Services to more accurately account for the basic
needs of families and regional costs of living.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY23, 2025
Ms. S
HERRILLintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Oversight and Government Reform, and in addition to the
Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To modify the measure and use of the poverty line issued
by the Secretary of Health and Human Services to more
accurately account for the basic needs of families and
regional costs of living.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Improving Federal As-4
sistance to Families Act’’. 5
VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:29 Feb 24, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H702.IH H702
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2
•HR 702 IH
SEC. 2. NEW POVERTY LINE INDEX. 1
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Bureau of the Census shall 2
develop and publish a new poverty line index to be meas-3
ured separately for each State on an annual basis and to 4
be known as the ‘‘Regionally Adjusted Poverty Line’’. 5
(b) R
EVISIONS.—The Regionally Adjusted Poverty 6
Line shall be a revised version of the most recent poverty 7
line that, for each State— 8
(1) uses new poverty thresholds created by mul-9
tiplying the State’s most recent poverty thresholds 10
by its most recent Regional Price Parity, divided by 11
100; and 12
(2) uses new poverty rates created by using the 13
poverty thresholds determined in paragraph (1) 14
rather than each State’s current poverty thresholds 15
to determine the percentage of households that are 16
below each State’s poverty line. 17
SEC. 3. USE OF THE REGIONALLY ADJUSTED POVERTY 18
LINE IN LIEU OF THE POVERTY LINE. 19
The Secretary of Health and Human Services, in con-20
sultation with the Secretary of Housing and Urban Devel-21
opment, shall— 22
(1) determine, for each State annually, which 23
poverty line index between the Regionally Adjusted 24
Poverty Line as specified in section 2 and the cur-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:29 Feb 24, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H702.IH H702
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3
•HR 702 IH
rent poverty line has a higher poverty rate for such 1
State; 2
(2) issue, and publish in the Federal Register, 3
for each State, the poverty line index that has a 4
higher poverty rate for such State as specified in 5
paragraph (1) in lieu of the poverty line; and 6
(3) for each State— 7
(A) except as provided in subparagraph 8
(B), use the poverty line index that has a high-9
er poverty rate for such State as specified in 10
paragraph (1) for administrative purposes, in-11
cluding for determining financial eligibility for 12
certain Federal programs, in lieu of the poverty 13
line, and 14
(B) for the purpose of determining finan-15
cial eligibility for Premium Tax Credits under 16
the Affordable Care Act, have flexibility to use 17
either the Regionally Adjusted Poverty Line or 18
the current poverty line to ensure low-income 19
households in States not expanding Medicaid do 20
not lose access to Premium Tax Credits. 21
SEC. 4. GAO STUDY ON ALICE POVERTY MEASURE. 22
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 23
enactment of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 24
General of the United States shall submit to the Com-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:29 Feb 24, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H702.IH H702
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4
•HR 702 IH
mittee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs of 1
the Senate and the Committee on Oversight and Account-2
ability of the House of Representatives, a report con-3
taining the results of a study on— 4
(1) the advantages and disadvantages of the 5
ALICE threshold as a measure of poverty and 6
household material need relative to the current pov-7
erty line, including any additional information that 8
the ALICE threshold provides to policymakers that 9
is not available from the current poverty line; 10
(2) any areas in which the ALICE threshold 11
can be improved to better measure household mate-12
rial need or improve upon the current poverty line; 13
(3) how the Government can assist in the devel-14
opment and publication of the ALICE threshold; 15
and 16
(4) how, if at all, the ALICE threshold could be 17
incorporated into the financial eligibility criteria, 18
both that maintained by the Secretary of Health and 19
Human Services and that legislated by Congress, for 20
certain Federal programs to better meet the mate-21
rial need of households and improve access to cer-22
tain Federal programs. 23
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 24
In this Act: 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:29 Feb 24, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H702.IH H702
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5
•HR 702 IH
(1) ALICE THRESHOLD .—The term ‘‘ALICE 1
threshold’’ means the Asset Limited, Income Con-2
strained, Employed measure developed by the United 3
Way of Northern New Jersey as an alternative to 4
the poverty line that includes the regional minimum 5
cost of necessities including housing, child care, 6
food, transportation, healthcare, and taxes. 7
(2) P
OVERTY LINE.—The term ‘‘poverty line’’ 8
has the same definition as under section 673 of the 9
Community Services Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 10
9902). 11
(3) P
OVERTY THRESHOLD .—The term ‘‘poverty 12
threshold’’ means the dollar amounts used by the 13
Bureau of the Census to determine a household’s 14
poverty line status. 15
(4) R
EGIONAL PRICE PARITY.—The term ‘‘Re-16
gional Price Parity’’ means the difference in price 17
levels between a State and the national average, ex-18
pressed as a percentage of the overall national price 19
level, as published by the Bureau of Economic Anal-20
ysis. 21
(5) S
TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any 22
State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 23
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Is-24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:29 Feb 24, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H702.IH H702
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 6
•HR 702 IH
lands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Common-1
wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. 2
SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATES. 3
Section 2 shall take effect 1 year after the date of 4
the enactment of this Act and section 3 shall take effect 5
3 years after the date of the enactment of this Act. 6
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:29 Feb 24, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H702.IH H702
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS