Authority: Title 63.1, Chapters 6.2, 6.3, and 6.5, Code of Virginia; P.L. 104-193, Federal Code, as amended; Title IV, Part A, of the federal Social Security Act; § 5001, federal Balanced Budget Act of 1997.

A. Included in the amount for Financial Assistance for Employment Services is $1,098,403 from the general fund and $2,164,708 from nongeneral funds the first year and $1,098,403 from the general fund and $2,164,708 from nongeneral funds the second year for services provided under the Food Stamp Employment Training Program.

B. The Department of Social Services, in collaboration with local departments of social services, shall maintain minimum performance standards for all local departments of social services participating in the Virginia Initiative for Employment, Not Welfare (VIEW) program. The Department shall allocate VIEW funds to local departments of social services based on these performance standards and VIEW caseloads. The allocation formula shall be developed and revised in cooperation with the local social services departments and the Department of Planning and Budget.

C. Out of the appropriation for this Item, $240,129 from nongeneral funds in the first year and $240,129 from nongeneral funds in the second year shall be provided to Russell County, in collaboration with other public and private entities to develop and implement job placement, employment training, and skills training for participants in the Virginia Initiative for Employment not Welfare (VIEW) program. Funds from this appropriation may also be used in other contiguous localities (Planning District 1 and Planning District 2) with the approval of a steering committee composed of the directors of local departments of social services in the above-listed localities.

D. To the extent permitted by federal law, food stamp recipients subject to a work requirement pursuant to § 824 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, Public Law Number 104-193, as amended, shall be permitted to satisfy such work requirement by providing volunteer services to a public or private, nonprofit agency for the number of hours per month determined by dividing the household's monthly food stamp allotment by the federal minimum wage.

E. Out of the amount in Employment Services Payments, $500,000 from the general fund and $5,000,000 from nongeneral funds the first year and $5,000,000 from the general fund and $11,151,332 from nongeneral funds the second year are appropriated to assist hard-to-employ recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) to prepare for, obtain, and retain employment. Any general fund amount in this Item appropriated and required to serve as match to legally committed federal Welfare-to-Work funds during the second year that is unexpended as of June 30, 2000, shall be carried forward and reappropriated for expenditure for the same purpose in the following year.

F. Out of the appropriation for this Item, $50,000 in the first year from the general fund shall be provided to Family Service of Central Virginia, Inc., for the Central Virginia Family Loan Program.

G. Out of this appropriation shall be provided $500,000 from the general fund the first year for a demonstration of Virginia Individual Development Accounts (VIDAs), tax-exempt accounts for participants in the Virginia Initiative for Employment not Welfare program and other TANF-eligible persons, when withdrawals are used to complete vocational school or college, purchase a home, or start a business. Sites will be established in five localities. The VIDA demonstration will be conducted with the cooperation of the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, Virginia Department of Social Services, local departments of social services, Virginia Commonwealth University, and relevant nonprofit organizations. Any unexpended balance shall be carried forward and reappropriated in the second year for the purpose of the demonstration. An interim report shall be provided to the Chairmen of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees by December 1998 and status reports shall be provided annually thereafter.

H.1. Out of this appropriation shall be provided $1,415,000 in nongeneral funds in the first year and $1,415,000 in nongeneral funds in the second year from the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant for child care training of TANF recipients or a TANF-eligible family member. Regional training shall be developed at Norfolk State University, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia State University, the Virginia Community College System, and private nonprofit agencies in cooperation with the Department of Social Services, local social services departments, and the Virginia League of Social Service Executives.

2. The Department of Social Services shall measure the effectiveness of these programs based on established outcome measures.

I.1. The Department of Social Services (DSS) shall make payments in an amount equal to the credit mentioned in § 58.1-339.5, Code of Virginia, under a program known as the “Virginia Work Incentive Payment Program” to all eligible families who make an application. The Department of Taxation shall make available to DSS a list of all persons who appear to be eligible to receive the credit with the necessary identifying information and the amount of taxes paid. No later than July 1, 1999, DSS shall send applications to each of the persons listed by the Department of Taxation and shall make a prompt payment in the amount of the credit (as calculated by the Department of Taxation) to each person who makes a full and complete application and is found to be eligible. No person filing an amended tax return shall be eligible to receive any additional payment or any adjustment to a prior payment under the Virginia Work Incentive Payment Program because of such amended return.

2. The Virginia Work Incentive Payment Program shall take effect for taxable year 1998 upon receipt of written notice from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that the Virginia Earned Income Tax Credit program enacted as Chapter 855, Acts of Assembly of 1998, will not be accepted under the conditions specified in Enactment 2 of that act.

3. The Virginia Work Incentive Payment Program shall not provide grants based upon any taxable year after taxable year 1998, if by July 1, 1999, the United States Department of Health and Human Services provides written notice that the original income tax credit program as provided for by Chapter 855, Acts of Assembly of 1998, (i) qualifies as a portion of the Commonwealth’s maintenance of effort under its Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program; (ii) the Commonwealth is exempt from the reporting requirements found in § 275.3 of Title 45 of the Code of Federal Regulations for families receiving the Virginia earned income tax credit; and (iii) the exemption above will not disqualify the Commonwealth from receiving a workforce participation rate reduction based on a reduction in the TANF caseload, from receiving a high performance bonus, or from being considered for a reduction in penalties for failing to meet the workforce participation requirements.

4. Upon request by the Department of Social Services, the Department of Planning and Budget may transfer general fund appropriations between the Virginia Work Incentive Payment Program in this Item and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program in Item 399, in order to maintain general fund expenditures at a level sufficient to meet the federal TANF Maintenance of Effort (MOE) requirement.

J. The Department of Social Services shall develop and implement a plan for providing education, training, job-specific skills development, and other services to VIEW participants who have difficulty in finding and maintaining employment. The plan shall include (i) criteria that will be used to identify VIEW participants who are considered "hard to serve"; (ii) an estimate of how many VIEW participants are expected to receive special targeted services; (iii) a description of the types and amounts of education, training, and other services that will be offered to this population; (iv) methods for coordinating services among local departments of social services, private industry councils, and other public and private providers of service; and (v) a description of the conditions under which the federal TANF block grant, Welfare-to-Work grant, Job Training Partnership Act funds, and any other source of funds for this purpose will be used to pay for services.

K. It is the intent of the General Assembly that the client populations served in the first year through the Education for Independence programs, previously funded under the Gender Equity set-aside of the 1990 Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education and Applied Technology Act, continue to receive services in the second year from the Social Services Block Grant or other available federal funds, consistent with federal law. Pursuant to this intent, in the second year, the Commissioner of Social Services shall fund continuation of the grants previously funded under the Gender Equity set-aside, to continue for a third year those grants originally awarded in fiscal year 1998 and continued in fiscal year 1999. In developing the budget for the 2000-2002 biennium, it is the intent of the General Assembly that these services be continued and supported through the Workforce Investment Act Title I programs and the state's related One-Stop Career System.