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2000 Session

Budget Amendments - HB29 (Member Request)

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Chief Patron: Armstrong
TANF Block Grant

Item 399 #1h

Item 399 #1h

First Year - FY1999 Second Year - FY2000
Health and Human Resources
Social Services, Department of FY1999 $0 FY2000 $10,000,000 NGF

Language
Page 319, line 56, strike "$140,725,988" and insert "$150,725,988".
Page 322, after line 32, insert:
"H.1.  Out of this appropriation shall be provided $10,000,000 in nongeneral funds in the second year from the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Block grant for the establishment of a Targeted Dislocated Worker Transitional Assistance Fund and Program in Planning District 12, Western Piedmont, for those individuals who are seeking employment, or who are in employment re-training, job skills, or who are attending a vocational education program or post-secondary education situation.
2.  Qualified individuals shall be eligible for up to eighteen months of assistance.
3.  Maximum utilization shall be made of the private sector to provide state-of-the art employment training, job skills training or vocational education, or post-secondary education as an incentive for "new and emerging economies and industries."
4.  A program operating board shall be established, composed of the chief administrative officer of each locality within Planning District 12, Western Piedmont, to manage and operate the Targeted Dislocated Worker Transitional Assistance Fund and Program.  The chief administrative officer of the County of Henry shall chair the Program Operating Board.  The Treasurer of the County of Henry shall serve as the fiscal officer of the Targeted Dislocated Worker Transitional Assistance Fund and Program.  The program operating board shall establish criteria for eligibility for participation in the Program.  The Program Operating Board shall establish guidelines, consistent with specified criteria for the services that are eligible for assistance to an individual qualified for participation in the program.  Assistance may be in the form of a voucher or cash assistance.  The program operating board may provide for administrative expenses and
expenses related to operating the program from funds appropriated under this Item in an amount not to exceed 15 percent of the established fund.
5.  The program operating board, pursuant to the following criteria, shall establish guidelines for expenditures from the fund.  Expenditures from the fund shall be made for basic costs of living and training incurred by displaced workers while re-training or furthering their education in order to gain employment in new industries and economies.  "Displaced worker" means any person who has been laid off from the textile industry in Planning District 12, Western Piedmont, on or after July 1, 1999.  In determining services that are eligible for cash assistance for the program operating board shall provide, at a minimum, for the following cash payments:  per diem stipend while in job skills development and training classes/programs; health care expenses; housing costs (including rent or mortgage payment and utilities): transportation (including automobile loan payments); and other items, pursuant to the criteria, that would preserve the economic viability of the family.
6.  The Targeted Dislocated Worker Transitional Assistance Fund and Program shall be administered through local governments by local departments of social services.  The directors of the local departments of social services located in Planning District 12, Western Piedmont, shall constitute a Technical Support Committee of the Program Operating Board.
7.  The Commissioner of Social Services shall provide assistance as requested by the Program Operating Board, or as requested by the Technical Support Committee.
8.  The Commissioner of Social Services shall establish a State-Level Work Group to assist the Program Operating Board and Technical Support Committee, upon request.
9.  Funds that are unexpended as of June 30, 2000, shall be carried forward and re-appropriated for expenditure for the same purpose in the following year."


Explanation
(This amendment establishes the Targeted Dislocated Workers Transitional Assistance Fund and Program to provide voucher or cash assistance to dislocated textile workers in Planning District 12, Western Piedmont, while they are seeking employment and participating or awaiting participation in an employment skills training program, for no more than 18 months, to provide for economic viability of the family. It further provides for the creation of an Operating Board of local government chief administrative officers to administer the fund and program. Local departments of social services will operate the program for their local governments under the supervision of their Targeted Dislocated Workers Transitional Assistance Fund and Program Operating Board.)