Bill Text: VA SB40 | 2024 | Regular Session | Comm Sub

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Bill Title: Foster care; DSS to establish task force to assess use of benefits.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Engrossed) 2024-02-28 - Tabled in Appropriations (21-Y 1-N) [SB40 Detail]

Download: Virginia-2024-SB40-Comm_Sub.html

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24107476D
SENATE BILL NO. 40 AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE (Proposed by the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations on February 8, 2024) (Patron Prior to Substitute--Senator Favola) A BILL to direct the Department of Social Services to establish a task force to assess the application for and use of foster care benefits; report.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. §1. That the Department of Social Services shall establish a task force with relevant stakeholders to assess the feasibility of (i) requiring local departments of social services to apply for benefits administered by the Social Security Administration or the Department of Veterans Affairs on behalf of children in foster care that they may be eligible for, (ii) prohibiting the use of federal benefits to pay for the care and support of children in foster care that the Commonwealth is otherwise obligated to pay for, and (iii) requiring local departments of social services that are representative payees for children in foster care to conserve such federal benefits in an appropriate trust instrument or protected account that is exempt from federal asset and resource limits, such as an Achieving a Better Life Experience account. The Department shall report its findings to the Chairmen of the Senate Committees on Finance and Appropriations and Rehabilitation and Social Services and the Chairmen of the House Committees on Appropriations and Health and Human Services by November 1, 2024.