ARTICLE
18
RELATING TO
HUMAN SERVICES -- TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE FOR NEEDY
FAMILIES AND
CHILD CARE
SECTION 1. Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families Pilot Initiative.
WHEREAS,
The state is focused on providing opportunities to low
income people to
increase their skills and training, find employment and
support their families; and
WHEREAS, The Department
of Human Services (the "Department") provides numerous
programs to assist low income families to not only find
employment but also retain employment
and increase career path opportunities; and
WHEREAS, the Rhode
Island Works and Child Care Assistance Programs administered
by the Department offer the assistance necessary to
ensure low income Rhode Islanders have
every chance to succeed in the workplace; and
WHEREAS, The
participants including, but not limited to, on the job training,
subsidized employment, unpaid
work experiences, community service, job readiness
training and vocational education training;
and
WHEREAS, the FY 2014
budget provides $3,000,000 in temporary assistance for needy
families ("TANF") surplus funds to establish a pilot
initiative that promotes innovation in TANF
supported programs and tests new ways of delivering services to
low income individuals and
families; and
WHEREAS, There are a number of challenges that need to be addressed
in these
programs to increase the success rate of participants
including, but not limited to, the work
participation rates in Rhode Island Works and the ability of
parents to increase their work hours
and/or salaries without immediately losing access to
important child care assistance; and
WHEREAS, Opportunities exist
as part of the pilot initiative to identify innovations for
how the Rhode Island Works and Child Care Assistance
Programs deliver services to those
families and individuals that benefit from the programs; now
therefore be it
RESOLVED,
That the Department shall draft an innovative proposal
to test new
approaches and shall award a contract on a competitive basis
with a job development vendor(s) to
increase the work participation rates of the Rhode Island
Works Program; and be it further
RESOLVED,
That the Department may increase its case management
of
Works participants in order
to ensure greater levels of success, quality employment and training
opportunities for participants; and be it further
RESOLVED,
That the statutory limitations for income levels
eligible for the Child Care
Assistance Program will be
temporarily adjusted to provide that parents whose income increases
from a level at or below one hundred eighty percent (180%)
of the federal poverty level to a level
between one hundred eighty percent (180%) and two hundred
twenty-five percent (225%) will
not lose access to the program because of the increase in
income; and be it further
RESOLVED,
That the Department shall provide the Governor with
monthly written
reports regarding the implementation of the pilot initiative
including, but not limited to,
performance measures and progress made to increase work
participation rates for
Works programs; and be it
further
RESOLVED,
That the Department shall report to the Governor and
the General
Assembly no later than
April 1, 2014 regarding the findings of the pilot initiative including
program changes that were tested, vendor performance and
benchmarks achieved,
recommendations for statutory amendments to continue the successes of
the pilot, and the number
of individuals and families that participated in the
pilot and their successes; and be it further
RESOLVED,
That any and all information in the Department's
report regarding
participants shall be in the aggregate and shall not include
personally identifying information that
may be highlighted as models for the pilot initiative's
success without prior consent of any
participants.
SECTION 2. Section 40-5.2-20 of the General Laws in Chapter
40-5.2 entitled "The
Rhode Island Works
Program" is hereby amended to read as follows:
40-5.2-20. Child
care assistance. -- Families or assistance units eligible for childcare
assistance.
(a) The department
shall provide appropriate child care to every participant who is
eligible for cash assistance and who requires child care in
order to meet the work requirements in
accordance with this chapter.
(b) Low-Income child
care. - The department shall provide child care to all other
working families with incomes at or below one hundred eighty
percent (180%) of the federal
poverty level, if and to the extent such other families
require child care in order to work at paid
employment as defined in the department's rules and regulations.
(c) No
family/assistance unit shall be eligible for child care assistance under this
chapter
if the combined value of its liquid resources exceeds
ten thousand dollars ($10,000). Liquid
resources are defined as any interest(s) in property in the
form of cash or other financial
instruments or accounts which are readily convertible to cash or
cash equivalents. These include,
but are not limited to, cash, bank, credit union, or
other financial institution savings, checking and
money market accounts, certificates of deposit or other
time deposits, stocks, bonds, mutual
funds, and other similar financial instruments or accounts.
These do not include educational
savings accounts, plans, or programs; retirement accounts,
plans, or programs; or accounts held
jointly with another adult, not including a spouse. The
department is authorized to promulgate
rules and regulations to determine the ownership and source
of the funds in the joint account.
(d) As a condition of
eligibility for child care assistance under this chapter, the parent or
caretaker relative of the family must consent to and must
cooperate with the department in
establishing paternity, and in establishing and/or enforcing child
support and medical support
orders for all children in the family in accordance with
title 15 of the general laws, as amended,
unless the parent or caretaker relative is found to have
good cause for refusing to comply with the
requirements of this subsection.
(e) For purposes of
this section "appropriate child care" means child care, including
infant oddler toddler,
pre-school, nursery school, school-age, which is provided by a person or
organization qualified, approved, and authorized to provide such
care by the department of
children, youth, and families, or by the department of
elementary and secondary education, or
such other lawful providers as determined by the
department of human services, in cooperation
with the department of children, youth and families and
the department of elementary and
secondary education.
(f)(1) Families
with incomes below one hundred percent (100%) of the applicable
federal poverty level guidelines shall be provided with free
childcare. Families with incomes
greater than one hundred percent (100%) and less than one
hundred eighty (180%) of the
applicable federal poverty guideline shall be required to pay
for some portion of the childcare
they receive, according to a sliding fee scale adopted by
the department in the department's rules.
(2) For a twelve (12)
month period beginning October 1, 2013, the Child Care Subsidy
Transition Program shall function within the
department of human services. Under this program,
families who are already receiving childcare assistance and
who become ineligible for childcare
assistance as a result of their incomes exceeding one hundred
eighty percent (180%) of the
applicable federal poverty guidelines shall continue to be
eligible for childcare assistance from
October 1, 2013 to September 30, 2014 or until their
incomes exceed two hundred twenty-five
percent (225%) of the applicable federal poverty guidelines,
whichever occurs first. To be
eligible, such families must continue to pay for some portion
of the childcare they receive, as
indicated in a sliding fee scale adopted in the department's
rules and in accordance with all other
eligibility standards.
(g) In determining the
type of childcare to be provided to a family, the department shall
take into account the cost of available childcare options,
the suitability of the type of care
available for the child, and the parent's preference as to the
type of child care.
(h) For purposes of
this section "income" for families receiving cash assistance under
section 40-5.2-11 means gross earned income and unearned
income, subject to the income
exclusions in subdivisions 40-5.2-10(g)(2) and 40-5.2-10(g)(3)
and income for other families
shall mean gross earned and unearned income as determined
by departmental regulations.
(i)
The caseload estimating conference established by chapter 17 of title 35 shall
forecast
the expenditures for childcare in accordance with the
provisions of section 35-17-1.
(j) In determining eligibility
for child care assistance for children of members of reserve
components called to active duty during a time of conflict, the
department shall freeze the family
composition and the family income of the reserve component member
as it was in the month prior
to the month of leaving for active duty. This shall
continue until the individual is officially
discharged from active duty.
SECTION 3. This article shall take effect upon passage.