Bill Text: TX SB643 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to a pilot program for assisting certain recipients of public benefits to gain permanent self-sufficiency.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-03-01 - Referred to Finance [SB643 Detail]

Download: Texas-2019-SB643-Introduced.html

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86R4582 KKR-D
By: Perry S.B. No. 643

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 FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE OR SUPPLEMENTAL
NUTRITION ASSISTANCE BENEFITS. (a) In this section:
(1) "Financial assistance benefits" means money
payments under the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
program operated under Chapter 31, Human Resources Code, or under
the state temporary assistance and support services program
operated under Chapter 34, 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 $1,000 per member of a family's
household, and owing only a reasonable amount of harmful or
unsecure debt.
(4) "Slow reduction scale" means a graduated plan for
reducing financial assistance or supplemental nutrition assistance
benefits that correlates with a phase of the pilot program's
progressive stages toward self-sufficiency.
(5) "Supplemental nutrition assistance benefits"
means money payments under the supplemental nutrition assistance
program operated under Chapter 33, Human Resources Code.
(b) The commission shall develop and implement a pilot
program for assisting not more than 500 eligible families to gain
permanent self-sufficiency and no longer require financial
assistance, supplemental nutrition assistance, or other
means-tested public benefits. If the number of families
participating in the program during a year reaches capacity for
that year as determined by the commission, the number of families
that may be served under the program in the following year may be
increased by 20 percent.
(c) The pilot program will test extending, for at least 24
months but not more than 60 months, financial assistance and
supplemental nutrition assistance benefits by deferring the
application of income and asset limit eligibility requirements for
continuation of the benefits and reducing the benefits using a slow
reduction scale. The amount of any income limit requirement that is
applied must be in an amount that does not exceed the amount, based
on a participating family's makeup and the living wage in the
family's geographical area of residence, determined to be necessary
for the purposes of the program. The deferral of the application of
any asset limit requirement must allow the family to have assets in
an amount that is equal to or less than $1,000 per member of the
family's household.
(d) The pilot program must be designed to allow social
services providers, public benefit offices, and other community
partners to refer potential participating families to the program.
(e) A family is eligible to participate in the pilot program
established under this section if the family:
(1) includes one or more members who are recipients of
financial assistance or supplemental nutrition assistance
benefits, at least one of whom is:
(A) at least 18 but not more than 62 years of age;
and
(B) willing, and physically and legally able, to
be employed; and
(2) has a total household income that is less than a
living wage based on the family's makeup and geographical area of
residence.
(f) The pilot program must be designed to assist eligible
participating families in attaining self-sufficiency by:
(1) identifying eligibility requirements for the
continuation of financial assistance or supplemental nutrition
assistance benefits, the application of which may be deferred for a
limited period and that, if applied, would impede self-sufficiency;
(2) implementing strategies, including deferring the
application of the eligibility requirements identified in
Subdivision (1), to remove barriers to self-sufficiency; and
(3) moving eligible participating families through
progressive stages toward self-sufficiency that include the
following phases:
(A) an initial phase in which a family moves out
of an emergent crisis by securing housing, medical care, and
financial assistance and supplemental nutrition assistance
benefits, as necessary;
(B) a second phase in which:
(i) the family 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; and
(ii) the family's financial assistance and
supplemental nutrition assistance benefits are reduced according
to the following scale:
(a) on reaching 25 percent of the
family's living wage, the amount of benefits is reduced by 10
percent;
(b) on reaching 50 percent of the
family's living wage, the amount of benefits is reduced by 25
percent; and
(c) on reaching 75 percent of the
family's living wage, the amount of benefits is reduced by 50
percent;
(C) a third phase in which the family:
(i) transitions to self-sufficiency by
securing employment that pays a living wage, reducing debt, and
building savings; and
(ii) becomes ineligible for financial
assistance and supplemental nutrition assistance benefits on
reaching 100 percent of the family's living wage; and
(D) a final phase in which the family attains
self-sufficiency by retaining employment that pays a living wage,
amassing at least $1,000 per member of the family's household, and
having manageable debt so that the family will no longer be
dependent on financial assistance, supplemental nutrition
assistance, or other means-tested public benefits for at least six
months following the date the family stops participating in the
program.
(g) A person from a family that 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's family meets the eligibility
requirements under Subsection (e); and
(B) the application of income or asset limit
eligibility requirements for continuation of financial assistance
and supplemental nutrition assistance benefits may be deferred
under the program;
(2) review the family's demographic information and
household financial budget;
(3) assess the family members' current financial and
career situations;
(4) collaborate with the person to develop and
implement strategies for removing barriers to the family attaining
self-sufficiency, including deferring the application of income
and asset limit eligibility requirements for continuation of
financial assistance and supplemental nutrition assistance
benefits; and
(5) if the person's family is determined to be eligible
for and chooses to participate in the program, schedule a follow-up
meeting to further assess the family's crisis, review available
referral services, and create a service plan.
(h) The pilot program must provide each participating
family with holistic, wraparound case management services,
including the strategic use of financial assistance and
supplemental nutrition assistance benefits, to ensure that goals
included in the family's service plan are achieved. A
participating family must be assigned a program case manager who
shall:
(1) if the family is determined to be eligible,
provide the family with a verification of the deferred application
of asset and income limits described by Subsection (c), allowing
the family to continue receiving financial assistance and
supplemental nutrition assistance benefits on a slow reduction
scale;
(2) assess, at the follow-up meeting scheduled under
Subsection (g)(5), the family'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 (g)(4).
(i) The pilot program 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;
(2) recruiting eligible families to participate in the
program;
(3) randomly placing each participating family in one
of at least three research groups, including:
(A) a control group;
(B) a group consisting of families for whom the
application of income and asset limits is deferred; and
(C) a group consisting of families for whom the
application of income and asset limits is deferred and who receive
wraparound case management services under the program; and
(4) after the program begins operation, collecting and
sharing data that allows for:
(A) obtaining participating families'
eligibility and identification data before a family is randomly
placed in a research group under Subdivision (3);
(B) conducting surveys or interviews of
participating families to obtain information that is not contained
in records related to a family's eligibility for financial
assistance, supplemental nutrition assistance, or other
means-tested public benefits;
(C) providing quarterly reports for not more than
60 months after a participating family is enrolled in the pilot
program regarding the program's effect on the family's labor market
participation and income and need for means-tested public benefits;
(D) assessing the interaction of the program's
components with the desired outcomes of the program using data
collected during the program and data obtained from state agencies
concerning means-tested public benefits; and
(E) a third party to conduct a rigorous
experimental impact evaluation of the pilot program.
(j) The commission shall develop and implement the pilot
program 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.
(k) The commission shall monitor and evaluate the pilot
program in a manner that allows for promoting research-informed
results of the program.
(l) On the conclusion of the pilot program but not later
than 48 months following the date the last participating family is
enrolled in the program, 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
participating families in achieving self-sufficiency and no longer
requiring means-tested public benefits;
(2) the impact to this state on the costs of the
financial assistance and supplemental nutrition assistance
programs and of the child care services program operated by the
Texas Workforce Commission;
(3) a cost-benefit analysis of the program; and
(4) recommendations on the feasibility and
continuation of the program.
(m) 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.
(n) The executive commissioner and the Texas Workforce
Commission may adopt rules to implement this section.
(o) This section expires September 1, 2026.
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 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, 2019.