Bill Text: FL S0508 | 2018 | Regular Session | Introduced


Bill Title: Public Assistance

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Failed) 2018-03-10 - Died in Commerce and Tourism [S0508 Detail]

Download: Florida-2018-S0508-Introduced.html
       Florida Senate - 2018                                     SB 508
       
       
        
       By Senator Rouson
       
       
       
       
       
       19-00402-18                                            2018508__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to public assistance; amending s.
    3         39.5085, F.S.; clarifying requirements related to the
    4         Relative Caregiver Program; amending s. 402.82, F.S.;
    5         requiring the Department of Children and Families to
    6         impose a replacement fee for electronic benefits
    7         transfer cards under certain circumstances; amending
    8         s. 445.004, F.S.; requiring CareerSource Florida,
    9         Inc., to submit in a detailed annual report certain
   10         information on individuals subject to mandatory work
   11         requirements who receive temporary cash or food
   12         assistance; amending s. 445.024, F.S.; requiring the
   13         Department of Economic Opportunity, in cooperation
   14         with CareerSource Florida, Inc., and the Department of
   15         Children and Families, to develop a work plan
   16         agreement for each individual participant in the
   17         temporary cash assistance program; requiring the plan
   18         to identify expectations, sanctions, and penalties for
   19         noncompliance with work requirements; requiring the
   20         Department of Economic Opportunity to work with
   21         program participants in developing strategies to
   22         overcome obstacles to compliance with work activity
   23         requirements; requiring the Office of Program Policy
   24         Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA) to
   25         conduct a study; providing study requirements;
   26         providing legislative intent; requiring OPPAGA to
   27         submit a report by a certain date to the Governor and
   28         the Legislature; providing legislative findings;
   29         creating the TANF Reemployment Pilot Program in
   30         Pinellas County; providing the administration of the
   31         program; providing the purpose of the program;
   32         providing an appropriation; providing an effective
   33         date.
   34          
   35  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   36  
   37         Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subsection (1) and paragraph
   38  (a) of subsection (2) of section 39.5085, Florida Statutes, are
   39  amended to read:
   40         39.5085 Relative Caregiver Program.—
   41         (1) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this
   42  section to:
   43         (a) Provide for the establishment of procedures and
   44  protocols that serve to advance the continued safety of children
   45  by acknowledging the valued resource uniquely available through
   46  grandparents, relatives of children, and specified nonrelatives
   47  of children pursuant to sub-subparagraph (2)(a)1.c. subparagraph
   48  (2)(a)3.
   49         (2)(a) The Department of Children and Families shall
   50  establish, operate, and implement the Relative Caregiver Program
   51  by rule of the department.
   52         1. The Relative Caregiver Program shall, within the limits
   53  of available funding, provide financial assistance to:
   54         a.1. Relatives who are within the fifth degree by blood or
   55  marriage to the parent or stepparent of a child and who are
   56  caring full-time for that dependent child in the role of
   57  substitute parent as a result of a court’s determination of
   58  child abuse, neglect, or abandonment and subsequent placement
   59  with the relative under this chapter.
   60         b.2. Relatives who are within the fifth degree by blood or
   61  marriage to the parent or stepparent of a child and who are
   62  caring full-time for that dependent child, and a dependent half
   63  brother or half-sister of that dependent child, in the role of
   64  substitute parent as a result of a court’s determination of
   65  child abuse, neglect, or abandonment and subsequent placement
   66  with the relative under this chapter.
   67         c.3. Nonrelatives who are willing to assume custody and
   68  care of a dependent child in the role of substitute parent as a
   69  result of a court’s determination of child abuse, neglect, or
   70  abandonment and subsequent placement with the nonrelative
   71  caregiver under this chapter. The court must find that a
   72  proposed placement under this subparagraph is in the best
   73  interest of the child.
   74         2.4. A relative or nonrelative caregiver, but the relative
   75  or nonrelative caregiver may not receive a Relative Caregiver
   76  Program payment if the parent or stepparent of the child resides
   77  in the home. However, a relative or nonrelative may receive the
   78  Relative Caregiver Program payment for a minor parent who is in
   79  his or her care and, as well as for the minor parent’s child, if
   80  both the minor parent and the child children have been
   81  adjudicated dependent and meet all other eligibility
   82  requirements. If the caregiver is currently receiving the
   83  payment, the Relative Caregiver Program payment must be
   84  terminated no later than the first of the following month after
   85  the parent or stepparent moves into the home. Before the
   86  Relative Caregiver Program payment is terminated, the caregiver
   87  must be given at least a, allowing for 10-day notice of adverse
   88  action.
   89  
   90  The placement may be court-ordered temporary legal custody to
   91  the relative or nonrelative under protective supervision of the
   92  department pursuant to s. 39.521(1)(c)3., or court-ordered
   93  placement in the home of a relative or nonrelative as a
   94  permanency option under s. 39.6221 or s. 39.6231 or under former
   95  s. 39.622 if the placement was made before July 1, 2006. The
   96  Relative Caregiver Program shall offer financial assistance to
   97  caregivers who would be unable to serve in that capacity without
   98  the caregiver payment because of financial burden, thus exposing
   99  the child to the trauma of placement in a shelter or in foster
  100  care.
  101         Section 2. Present subsection (4) of section 402.82,
  102  Florida Statutes, is renumbered as subsection (5), and a new
  103  subsection (4) is added to that section, to read:
  104         402.82 Electronic benefits transfer program.—
  105         (4)The department shall impose a fee for the fifth and
  106  each subsequent request for a replacement electronic benefits
  107  transfer card made by a participant within a 12-month period.
  108  The fee must be equal to the cost of replacing the electronic
  109  benefits transfer card. The fee may be deducted from the
  110  participant’s benefits. The department may waive the replacement
  111  fee upon a showing of good cause, such as the malfunction of the
  112  card or extreme financial hardship.
  113         Section 3. Paragraph (c) is added to subsection (7) of
  114  section 445.004, Florida Statutes, to read:
  115         445.004 CareerSource Florida, Inc.; creation; purpose;
  116  membership; duties and powers.—
  117         (7) By December 1 of each year, CareerSource Florida, Inc.,
  118  shall submit to the Governor, the President of the Senate, the
  119  Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Senate Minority
  120  Leader, and the House Minority Leader a complete and detailed
  121  annual report setting forth:
  122         (c) For each local workforce development board, the past 3
  123  years of participant statistics and employment outcomes, by
  124  program, for individuals subject to mandatory work requirements
  125  due to receipt of temporary cash assistance or food assistance
  126  under chapter 414, including:
  127         1. Individuals served.
  128         2. Services received.
  129         3. Activities in which individuals participated.
  130         4. Types of employment secured.
  131         5. Individuals securing employment but remaining in each
  132  program.
  133         6. Individuals exiting programs due to employment.
  134         7. Employment status at 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months
  135  after exiting the program.
  136         Section 4. Present subsections (3) through (7) of section
  137  445.024, Florida Statutes, are renumbered as subsections (4)
  138  through (8), respectively, and a new subsection (3) is added to
  139  that section, to read:
  140         445.024 Work requirements.—
  141         (3)WORK PLAN AGREEMENT.—For each individual who is not
  142  otherwise exempt from work activity requirements, before the
  143  program participant may receive temporary cash assistance, the
  144  department, in cooperation with CareerSource Florida, Inc., and
  145  the Department of Children and Families, shall:
  146         (a)Develop a work plan agreement that must inform the
  147  participant, in plain language, of, and require the participant
  148  to assent, in writing, to:
  149         1.The program’s expectations of the participant in order
  150  for the participant to continue to receive temporary cash
  151  assistance benefits.
  152         2.The circumstances under which the participant would be
  153  sanctioned for noncompliance.
  154         3.The potential penalties for noncompliance with the work
  155  requirements in s. 414.065, including the length of time during
  156  which benefits would not be available to the participant.
  157         (b)Work with the participant to develop strategies to
  158  assist the participant in overcoming obstacles to compliance
  159  with the work activity requirements.
  160         Section 5. (1)The Office of Program Policy Analysis and
  161  Government Accountability shall conduct a study of each local
  162  workforce development board to determine what obstacles prevent
  163  participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
  164  and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program from
  165  complying with the work requirements in the respective programs.
  166  The study must include detailed data and analysis of the reasons
  167  for which applicants and recipients do not comply with the work
  168  requirements, the reasons noncompliant applicants and recipients
  169  identify as obstacles to compliance, and the kind of assistance
  170  offered to noncompliant participants to come into compliance.
  171  The study must also include a listing of the specific reasons
  172  for the sanctions applied, separated into categories with the
  173  number of participants who received each sanction. The listing
  174  may be in the following form:
  175         (a)Failure to attend a scheduled meeting10 people
  176  sanctioned.
  177         (b) Failure to complete required documents5 people
  178  sanctioned.
  179         (c)Failure to comply with child support requirements, with
  180  specifics on what the requirement was.
  181         (2) The legislative intent for requesting this independent
  182  study is to gain an in-depth understanding of the obstacles that
  183  may exist for people trying to participate in the workforce,
  184  through reviewing the specific reasons participants are
  185  sanctioned on a region-by-region basis.
  186         (3) The Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government
  187  Accountability shall submit a report with its findings and
  188  recommendations to the Governor, the President of the Senate,
  189  the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the minority
  190  leaders of the Senate and the House of Representatives by
  191  November 1, 2018.
  192         Section 6. TANF Reemployment Pilot Program.—
  193         (1) The Legislature finds that there is an important state
  194  interest in assisting Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
  195  (TANF) recipients in finding and securing stable and productive
  196  employment and that reemployment programs have the potential to
  197  benefit such recipients and their families and to alleviate the
  198  financial strain on the state economy.
  199         (2) The TANF Reemployment Pilot Program is created in
  200  Pinellas County and shall be administered by the Pinellas
  201  Opportunity Council, Inc.
  202         (3) The purpose of the pilot program is to assist TANF
  203  recipients in developing return-to-work plans with the goal of
  204  reemployment.
  205         Section 7. For the 2018-2019 fiscal year, the sum of
  206  $150,000 in nonrecurring funds from the General Revenue Fund and
  207  $150,000 in nonrecurring funds from the Federal Grants Trust
  208  Fund are appropriated for the TANF Reemployment Pilot Program.
  209         Section 8. This act shall take effect July 1, 2018.

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