Bill Text: MI SB0650 | 2017-2018 | 99th Legislature | Engrossed

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Bill Title: Human services; services or financial assistance; recipient exemption from identifying child's father if child is product of criminal sexual conduct; provide for. Amends secs. 57e & 57g of 1939 PA 280 (MCL 400.57e & 400.57g).

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2018-06-12 - Referred To Committee On Families, Children, And Seniors [SB0650 Detail]

Download: Michigan-2017-SB0650-Engrossed.html

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SB-0650, As Passed Senate, June 12, 2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SUBSTITUTE FOR

 

SENATE BILL NO. 650

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     A bill to amend 1939 PA 280, entitled

 

"The social welfare act,"

 

by amending sections 57e and 57g (MCL 400.57e and 400.57g), section

 

57e as amended by 2011 PA 131 and section 57g as amended by 2014 PA

 

375.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 57e. (1) Each family receiving family independence

 

program assistance shall execute a family self-sufficiency plan

 

outlining the responsibilities of members of the family

 

independence program assistance group, the contractual nature of

 

family independence program assistance, and the focus on the goal

 

of attaining self-sufficiency. The family self-sufficiency plan

 

shall be developed by the department and the adult family members

 

of the family independence program assistance group with the

details of JET PATH program participation to be included in the

 

family self-sufficiency plan being developed by the department, the

 

Michigan economic development corporation workforce development

 

agency or a successor entity, and the adult family members of the

 

family independence program assistance group. Except as described

 

in section 57b, the department shall complete a thorough assessment

 

to facilitate development of the family self-sufficiency plan,

 

including consideration of referral to a life skills program, and

 

determination as to whether the family independence program

 

assistance group's adult members are eligible to participate in the

 

JET PATH program or are exempt from JET PATH program participation

 

under section 57f. The family self-sufficiency plan shall identify

 

compliance goals that are to be met by members of the family

 

independence program assistance group and goals and

 

responsibilities of the members of the family independence program

 

assistance group, the department, and the JET PATH program. The

 

family self-sufficiency plan shall reflect the individual needs and

 

abilities of the particular family, and shall include at least all

 

of the following:

 

     (a) The obligation of each adult and each child aged 16 or

 

older who is not attending elementary or secondary school full-time

 

to participate in the JET PATH program unless exempt under section

 

57f.

 

     (b) The obligation of each minor parent who has not completed

 

secondary school to attend school.

 

     (c) Except as provided in section 57f(3) and (4), the

 

obligation of each adult to engage in employment, JET PATH program

activities, education or training, community service activities, or

 

self-improvement activities, as determined appropriate by the

 

department.

 

     (d) The Except as provided in section 57g(5), the obligation

 

to cooperate in the establishment of paternity and to assign child

 

and spousal support to the department as required by federal law

 

and to cooperate in the procurement of child support, if

 

applicable.

 

     (e) The obligation of a recipient who fails to comply with

 

compliance goals due to substance abuse use disorder to participate

 

in substance abuse use disorder treatment and submit to any

 

periodic drug testing required by the treatment program.

 

     (f) If the recipient is determined to be eligible to

 

participate in the JET PATH program, the obligation that the

 

requirements of the family self-sufficiency plan must, at a

 

minimum, meet federal guidelines for work participation. Exceptions

 

may be granted if it is determined that the recipient or a family

 

member in the recipient's household has a disability that needs

 

reasonable accommodation as required by section 504 of title V of

 

the rehabilitation act of 1973, 29 USC 794, subtitle A of title II

 

of the Americans with disabilities act of 1990, 42 USC 12131 to

 

12134, or another identified barrier that interferes with the

 

recipient's ability to participate in required activities.

 

Reasonable accommodation must be made to adjust the number of

 

required hours or the types of activities required to take the

 

identified limitations into account.

 

     (g) The obligation that the recipient must enroll in a GED

preparation program, a high school completion program, or a

 

literacy training program, if the department determines the

 

resources are available and the assessment and plan demonstrate

 

that these issues present a barrier to the recipient meeting the

 

requirements in his or her family self-sufficiency plan. This basic

 

educational skills training shall be combined with other

 

occupational skills training, whenever possible, to assure ensure

 

that it can be counted toward federal work participation

 

requirements.

 

     (h) Notification to the recipient of the 48-month lifetime

 

cumulative total for collecting family independence program

 

assistance.

 

     (i) A prohibition on using family independence program

 

assistance to purchase lottery tickets, alcohol, or tobacco, for

 

gambling, or for illegal activities or any other nonessential

 

items.

 

     (j) Information regarding sanctions that shall be imposed

 

under section 57g for noncompliance.

 

     (k) Any other obligation the department determines is

 

necessary to enable the family to achieve independence.

 

     (2) The department shall monitor each family's compliance with

 

the family self-sufficiency plan.

 

     Sec. 57g. (1) Except as provided in subsection (5), if a

 

recipient does not meet his or her individual family self-

 

sufficiency plan requirements and is therefore noncompliant, the

 

department shall impose the penalties described under this section.

 

The department shall implement a schedule of penalties for

instances of noncompliance as described in this subsection. The

 

penalties shall be as follows:

 

     (a) For the first instance of noncompliance, the family is

 

ineligible to receive family independence program assistance for

 

not less than 3 calendar months.

 

     (b) For the second instance of noncompliance, the family is

 

ineligible to receive family independence program assistance for

 

not less than 6 calendar months.

 

     (c) For the third instance of noncompliance, the family is

 

permanently ineligible to receive family independence program

 

assistance.

 

     (2) For the purposes of subsections (1) to (4),

 

"noncompliance" means 1 or more of the following:

 

     (a) A recipient quits a job.

 

     (b) A recipient is fired for misconduct or absenteeism.

 

     (c) A recipient voluntarily reduces employment hours or

 

earnings.

 

     (d) A recipient refuses a bona fide offer of employment or

 

additional hours up to 40 hours per week.

 

     (e) A recipient does not participate in PATH program

 

activities.

 

     (f) A recipient is noncompliant with his or her family self-

 

sufficiency plan.

 

     (g) A recipient states orally or in writing his or her intent

 

not to comply with family independence program or PATH program

 

requirements.

 

     (h) A recipient refuses employment support services if the

refusal prevents participation in an employment or self-sufficiency

 

related activity.

 

     (3) For any an instance of noncompliance, the recipient shall

 

receive notice of the noncompliance. The recipient shall have not

 

less than a 12-day negative action period before the penalties

 

prescribed in this section are imposed. If the recipient

 

demonstrates good cause for the noncompliance during this period

 

and if the family independence specialist caseworker and the PATH

 

program caseworker agree that good cause exists for the recipient's

 

noncompliance, a penalty shall not be imposed. For the purpose of

 

this subsection, good cause is 1 or more of the following:

 

     (a) The recipient suffers from a temporary debilitating

 

illness or injury or an immediate family member has a debilitating

 

illness or injury and the recipient is needed in the home to care

 

for the family member.

 

     (b) The recipient lacks child care as described in section

 

407(e)(2) of the personal responsibility and work opportunity

 

reconciliation act of 1996, 42 USC 607.

 

     (c) Either employment or training commuting time is more than

 

2 hours per day or is more than 3 hours per day when there are

 

unique and compelling circumstances, such as a salary at least

 

twice the applicable minimum wage or the job is the only available

 

job placement within a 3-hour commute per day, not including the

 

time necessary to transport a child to child care facilities.

 

     (d) Transportation is not available to the recipient at a

 

reasonable cost.

 

     (e) The employment or participation involves illegal

activities.

 

     (f) The recipient is physically or mentally unfit to perform

 

the job, as documented by medical evidence or by reliable

 

information from other sources.

 

     (g) The recipient is illegally discriminated against on the

 

basis of age, race, disability, gender, color, national origin, or

 

religious beliefs.

 

     (h) Credible information or evidence establishes 1 or more

 

unplanned or unexpected events or factors that reasonably could be

 

expected to prevent, or significantly interfere with, the

 

recipient's compliance with employment and training requirements.

 

     (i) The recipient quit employment to obtain comparable

 

employment.

 

     (4) For all instances of noncompliance resulting in

 

termination of family independence program assistance for any a

 

period of time described in subsection (1), the period of time the

 

recipient is ineligible to receive family independence program

 

assistance applies toward the recipient's 48-month cumulative

 

lifetime total.

 

     (5) Family independence program assistance benefits shall be

 

denied or terminated if a recipient fails, without good cause, to

 

comply with applicable child support requirements including efforts

 

to establish paternity, and assign or obtain child support. The

 

family independence program assistance group is ineligible for

 

family independence program assistance for not less than 1 calendar

 

month. After family independence program assistance has been

 

terminated for not less than 1 calendar month, family independence

program assistance may be restored if the noncompliant recipient

 

complies with child support requirements including the action to

 

establish paternity and obtain child support. As used in this

 

subsection, "good cause" includes an instance in which efforts to

 

establish paternity or assign or obtain child support would harm

 

the child or in which there is danger of physical or emotional harm

 

to the child or the recipient. Good cause includes, but is not

 

limited to, an instance in which the mother is a victim of domestic

 

violence, the child is a victim of abuse, the child was conceived

 

as the result of nonconsensual sexual penetration, or the child was

 

conceived as a result of acts for which the child's biological

 

father was convicted of criminal sexual conduct as provided in

 

sections 520a to 520e and 520g of the Michigan penal code, 1931 PA

 

328, MCL 750.520a to 750.520e and 750.520g, or a substantially

 

similar statute of another state or the federal government.

 

     (6) The department must include in the assistance application

 

information booklet information explaining that the applicant is

 

excused from providing information to establish paternity and

 

obtain child support if there is good cause as described in

 

subsection (5).

 

     Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect 90 days

 

after the date it is enacted into law.