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2002 Session

Budget Amendments - SB30 (Committee Approved)

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Local Groupings for TANF Payment Levels (language only)

Item 354 #3s

Item 354 #3s

Health And Human Resources
Social Services, Department of

Language
Page 276, after line 37, insert:
"D.1.  The State Board of Social Services (State Board) shall adopt necessary regulations by which local boards of social services may request a change in their locality grouping, which is used to determine the amount of payment for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.  The State Board shall establish criteria by which all such requests will be evaluated.  Such criteria shall include, but not be limited to: (i) a comparison of shelter costs in the petitioning locality with the shelter costs in adjacent localities; (ii) assuring that the Department of Social Services has the funding available to make any increased payments which result from the change before the approval of any request; and (iii) the locality has sufficient funding to cover any increased costs that may result from a change in locality grouping in the General Relief program.  Within 280 days of the effective date of this act, the State Board shall establish regulations that specify the criteria that will be used in evaluating local board requests.
2.  If the State Board approves a local board’s request to be reclassified into a locality grouping with lower standards of assistance, (i) such reclassification shall be limited to the TANF and General Relief programs and (ii) the State Board may require that such reclassification be phased-in by providing that eligibility and the amount of benefits in cases open at the time of such reclassification shall continue to be determined using the standards in effect in the former locality grouping at the time of the reclassification."


Explanation
(This amendment requires the State Board of Social Services to develop procedures by which a local agency may request a change in its placement within groupings of localities for determining TANF payment levels.)