H 3633 Session 111 (1995-1996)
H 3633 General Bill, By J.S. Shissias, Askins, D.W. Beatty, Cobb-Hunter, Harvin,
J.H. Hodges, Howard, Inabinett, W.D. Keyserling, Lanford, Lloyd, J.H. Neal,
Neilson, Scott, Spearman, Stuart, Whipper and L.S. Whipper
A Bill to enact the Economic Self-Sufficiency and Parental Responsibility Act
of 1995 so as to establish the welfare policy of the State.-short title
02/16/95 House Introduced and read first time HJ-23
02/16/95 House Referred to Committee on Judiciary HJ-24
A BILL
TO ENACT THE ECONOMIC SELF-SUFFICIENCY AND
PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT OF 1995 SO AS TO
ESTABLISH THE WELFARE POLICY OF THE STATE; TO
EXPAND THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES WORK
SUPPORT PROGRAM STATEWIDE; TO REVISE THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR PARTICIPATION IN THE WORK
SUPPORT PROGRAM; TO REQUIRE AID TO FAMILIES WITH
DEPENDENT CHILDREN (AFDC) RECIPIENTS TO ENTER
INTO AGREEMENTS AND TO ALLOW SANCTIONS FOR
NONCOMPLIANCE; TO INCREASE THE FAMILY ASSETS
LIMIT AND TO REMOVE THE AUTOMOBILE RESOURCE
VALUE LIMIT; TO EXCLUDE FROM INCOME INTEREST
AND DIVIDENDS AND A MINOR CHILD'S EARNINGS; TO
ALLOW INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT ACCOUNTS; TO
REVISE THE AMOUNT A FAMILY MAY DISREGARD AS
INCOME; TO DEVELOP A TRANSITION FROM AFDC
INCOME WHICH ALLOWS A FAMILY TO RECEIVE
CERTAIN BENEFITS AFTER THEY ARE NO LONGER
ELIGIBLE; TO LIMIT RECEIVING AFDC TO THIRTY-SIX
MONTHS EXCEPT UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS; TO
ELIMINATE THE FAMILY DEPRIVATION RULE; TO
PROVIDE INCENTIVES TO BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY TO
HIRE AFDC RECIPIENTS; TO DIRECT THE DEPARTMENT
OF SOCIAL SERVICES TO SEEK FEDERAL FUNDS FOR
ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT INCENTIVES FOR
AFDC RECIPIENTS; TO INCREASE THE AMOUNT
RETURNED TO AFDC FAMILIES FROM CHILD SUPPORT
COLLECTED; TO PROVIDE OUTREACH SERVICES; TO
ENDORSE LOCAL EFFORTS FOR A STATEWIDE MASS
TRANSIT NETWORK; TO PROVIDE THAT FUNDS MUST BE
APPROPRIATED TO MATCH FEDERAL CHILD CARE FUNDS;
TO EXTEND CERTAIN FEDERAL FUNDS TO LOCAL
ENTITIES TO PROVIDE LOW INCOME RENTAL HOUSING;
TO REQUIRE UNEMPLOYED NONCUSTODIAL PARENTS TO
PARTICIPATE IN THE DEPARTMENT'S WORK SUPPORT
PROGRAM; TO PROMOTE ADOLESCENT PREGNANCY
PREVENTION EFFORTS AND THE EXPANSION OF FAMILY
PLANNING SERVICES; AND TO DIRECT THE DEPARTMENT
OF HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL BY 2001 TO
MAKE FAMILY PLANNING SERVICES AVAILABLE TO
WOMEN UNDER ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY-FIVE PERCENT
OF THE FEDERAL POVERTY LEVEL.
Whereas, the General Assembly finds that the welfare system of
South Carolina must be based upon a reciprocal agreement between
welfare recipients and those who are providing the services to these
families. The system must assist families in poverty to become
economically independent by providing the tools to achieve
self-sufficiency and by providing supportive services while at the
same time deterring abuse of the system through the imposition of
fair and meaningful sanctions that can only be imposed when the
State has provided all of the supportive services required to assist
the family in their efforts toward self-sufficiency; and
Whereas, public assistance is not a desired choice for most
recipients since most recipients want to work and improve the lives
of their families as evidenced by the fact that the average Aid to
Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) recipient is on public
assistance for less than two years; and
Whereas, government resources for welfare, when used in an
effective manner, can reduce crime and prison populations,
encourage productivity, improve the quality of life of many South
Carolina families, and generally be as beneficial to this State as
resources spent on traditional economic development strategies; and
Whereas, preventing the need for public assistance is the most cost
effective approach for welfare reform and public policy that uses
resources to encourage and enable responsible family planning, to
emphasize family unit preservation and prevention of pregnancy in
our adolescents, and to promote responsible prenatal and parenting
practices is a good investment in the future of South Carolina; and
Whereas, public and private efforts to increase opportunities for
meaningful job creation and economic development can enable
public assistance recipients and other at-risk individuals to achieve
self-sufficiency and this can be achieved through the cooperative
efforts and joint ventures between the Department of Commerce
and the Department of Social Services; and
Whereas, if the public policy of South Carolina places a priority on
saving people who are mired in the welfare system, then the State
will benefit by saving money, and the quality of life of all South
Carolinians can be enhanced by a lower crime rate, less
incarceration, less illiteracy, and stronger families. Now, therefore,
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South
Carolina:
Part I
State Policy
SECTION 1. This act may be cited as the "Economic
Self-Sufficiency and Parental Responsibility Act of 1995."
SECTION 2. It is the policy of the State that the welfare system
in South Carolina must be structured to assist families in poverty to
maximize their potential to become economically independent. At
the same time, there must be a reciprocal agreement between
welfare recipients and those who pay for welfare, the taxpayers
whose tax dollars provide the services to help achieve
self-sufficiency. The system must encourage individual
responsibility by providing the tools to achieve self-sufficiency and
by determining abuse of the system through the imposition of fair
and meaningful sanctions. It is also the policy of this State that the
State and its authorized agencies must provide supportive services
of child care, transportation, health care, and intensive case
management necessary to assist families in the effort to become
self-sufficient.
SECTION 3. Providing Aid to Families with Dependent Children
(AFDC) families with education and training is meaningless without
available employment and entrepreneurial opportunities. It is the
policy of the State and an immediate priority to make employment
and entrepreneurial opportunities available to AFDC recipients, and
the Department of Commerce shall allocate significant resources to
assist in making these opportunities available.
Part II
Self-Sufficiency
SECTION 1. The Department of Social Services Work Support
Services Delivery System (Work Support Program), as provided in
Article 5, Chapter 5 of Title 43, and which is an employability
development and job placement program for recipients of AFDC
currently administered by the department in twenty-seven counties
must be expanded to provide the full array of program services in
all forty-six counties.
SECTION 2. To foster the goals of self-sufficiency and
independence in the early stages of a family's involvement in the
welfare system, the Department of Social Services shall apply to the
federal government for a waiver authorizing the State to require an
AFDC parent to participate in the Work Support Program when the
parent's youngest child is one year old rather than three years old,
the current threshold for participation.
SECTION 3. The Department of Social Services shall apply to
the federal government for a waiver to revise its Work Support
Program and AFDC program to implement a self-sufficiency
program in all forty-six counties providing individualized plans and
individualized intensive case management which would establish a
reciprocal agreement between the AFDC family and the State to:
(1) provide a continuum of services including, but not limited
to, transitional services to clients and their children based on a
holistic model where case managers are assigned to coordinate
services based on individualized client needs;
(2) consolidate all work support functions for AFDC clients
under the Department of Social Services and charge the department
with the responsibility for placing AFDC clients into meaningful
employment;
(3) establish an agreement of service provision and program
participation and compliance between the client and the State;
(4) establish and locate job development and placement
specialists and housing specialists at the Department of Social
Services to serve these needs for AFDC clients;
(5) identify the time frame necessary for each client to
complete an individualized plan for self-sufficiency;
(6) provide meaningful community service placement to
clients when they successfully complete their individualized plans
for self-sufficiency and no jobs are available for employment;
community service placements must not conflict with the client's
employment search capabilities and must not displace positions for
paid employees at the community placement;
(7) cooperate in the establishment of paternity and collection
of child support, unless there is good cause for the client to refuse;
(8) sanction clients who refuse to comply with their
individualized plans in the following manner:
(a) Upon a client's initial refusal to comply with the plan,
a thirty-day conciliation period must be granted to the client to
reconsider. During this thirty-day period the recipient has the right
to appeal the department's decision to impose sanctions, and the
extent of noncompliance and whether there was good cause for the
recipient's refusal must be determined. After the thirty-day
conciliation period, the client must be taken out of the AFDC
budget, and only may be reinstated when the client agrees to
comply with the individualized plan.
(b) If a client refuses to comply with the plan a second
time, a thirty-day conciliation period must be granted to the client
to reconsider. After the thirty-day conciliation period all AFDC
benefits must be terminated and only may be reinstated when the
client agrees to comply. Training, education, or other services as
outlined in the plan may be provided to the client but the client is
ineligible for benefits except Medicaid.
SECTION 4. In order to assist AFDC families in fulfilling their
obligations to participate in the work support program or to assure
their ability to get to their place of employment by having reliable
transportation, the Department of Social Services shall apply to the
federal government for a waiver authorizing the department to
increase the amount of assets a family may have from one thousand
to three thousand dollars and to remove the one thousand five
hundred dollars equity value resource limit on a car so as to allow a
family one vehicle without regard to value.
SECTION 5. In order to assist AFDC families in gaining
financial independence and in building for the future, the
Department of Social Services shall apply to the federal government
for a waiver allowing the State to exclude interest income and
dividends in determining eligibility and payment amounts for Aid to
Families with Dependent Children.
SECTION 6. Families on AFDC and those not receiving welfare
but whose household income falls below one hundred eighty-five
percent of the federal poverty level may own an Individual
Development Account. These accounts are tax free and shall allow
for savings up to ten thousand dollars to be used for education, for
job training, or to purchase a home.
SECTION 7. To remove the disincentive to employment that
occurs when a family's AFDC payment is reduced because of a
minor child's earnings and to encourage children in AFDC families
to develop positive work attitudes, the Department of Social
Services shall apply to the federal government for a waiver to
exclude income earned by a minor child attending school when
determining eligibility or payment amount for Aid to Families with
Dependent Children.
SECTION 8. The Department of Social Services and the
Department of Commerce shall work with private industry and the
business community in an effort to obtain employment for AFDC
clients. These programs shall offer, at a minimum, some
combination of these incentives to industries and the business
community:
(1) welfare payments as salary supplements for AFDC
employees for a limited but sufficient time for the employee to
acquire insurance coverage under the new employer and to complete
any probationary period established by the employer;
(2) provision of vouchers for use by welfare clients at licensed
or registered day-care centers and expansion of publicly operated
day-care centers to make it easier to develop on-site child care
programs and expansion of publicly operated day-care centers to
assist workers in upholding their work obligation;
(3) transportation to the work site for new employees and
AFDC recipients or other assistance such as vouchers or tax credits
for co-workers who provide transportation to these employees.
SECTION 9. The Department of Social Services shall seek
federal funds for the entrepreneurial development to create jobs and
provide incentives for AFDC clients in their efforts to attain
self-sufficiency and independence. The project must create jobs in
identified markets for AFDC clients, provide clients with job skills
and opportunities to develop expertise in operating businesses, and
allow clients to accrue savings, buy stock in a business or, over a
period of time, purchase a business. In carrying out this program
the department shall work in conjunction with public, community,
and private sector entities including businesses, banks, and other
institutions to develop strategies that provide training, technical
assistance, planning, and research to AFDC clients in their efforts to
own their own businesses.
SECTION 10. To assist AFDC families to more gradually ease
from the welfare system attaining a more stable level of
self-sufficiency and reducing the recidivism rate of families
returning to welfare, the Department of Social Services shall apply
to the federal government for a waiver allowing the department to
revise its income requirements for families on AFDC. Under this
waiver the department would disregard fifty percent of a family's
total gross income until the remaining fifty percent exceeded the
amount of income allowed to be eligible for AFDC, rather than the
current disregard of thirty-three-and-one-third percent for only four
months.
SECTION 11. To promote stability and longevity in employment,
the Department of Social Services shall apply to the federal
government for a waiver authorizing a transition program for
employed AFDC clients who because of their income would
otherwise be ineligible but who do not have sufficient income or
earning power to avoid returning to welfare following the abrupt
loss of AFDC benefits. The transition program waiver would assure
continued AFDC day-care and Medicaid benefits but would reduce
economic benefits incrementally each quarter after the family's
income exceeds the net income allowed for AFDC eligibility,
according to this schedule:
(1) for the first quarter, the family would receive a grant of
twenty percent of the maximum AFDC award for the family size.
(2) for the second quarter, the family would receive a grant of
fifteen percent of the maximum award for the family size.
(3) for the third quarter, the family would receive a grant of ten
percent of the maximum award for the family size.
(4) for the last quarter, the family would receive a grant of five
percent of the maximum award for the family size.
SECTION 12. From the amounts collected by the South Carolina
Department of Social Services Division of Child Support
Enforcement for children and the parents of these children who are
currently recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children
(AFDC), pursuant to Section 43-5-220, the department may
distribute these amounts as follows:
(a) Of the amounts collected which represent monthly monetary
support obligations, the first one hundred dollars of the monthly
payment must be paid to the AFDC family and thereafter must be
increased by fifty dollars per month per year up to the amount of
the monthly support obligation;
(b) If the amount collected is in excess of the amounts required
to be distributed under item (a), the excess must be retained by the
department as reimbursement for AFDC payments made to the
family for which the State has not been reimbursed. Of the amount
retained by the department, the department shall determine the
federal government's share so that the department may reimburse
the federal government to the extent of its participation in the
financing of the AFDC payment.
(c) Payments made to the family in item (a) may not be used in
determining the amount paid, if any, in AFDC or other welfare
benefits.
SECTION 13. (A) The Department of Social Services shall
apply to the federal government for a waiver providing that no
family may receive Aid to Families with Dependent Children for
more than thirty-six months unless the head of the household is:
(1) working 30 hours per week;
(2) permanently or totally disabled, whether physical or
mental;
(3) unable to obtain employment in the private sector because
no job for which the person is qualified is available but the person
is working forty hours per month in a meaningful volunteer public
sector community placement that will contribute to further
employability without displacing already employed workers;
(4) providing full-time care to a disabled dependent in the
home; or
(5) unemployed because Work Support Program services
including, but not limited to, transportation or child care are not
available to assist the person in becoming self-sufficient.
Evidence of the exceptions to the thirty-six month benefit limit as
enumerated in this subsection must be provided to the Department
of Social Services in the manner and form as the department may
require.
(B) This section takes effect upon receipt of a waiver or July 1,
1995, whichever occurs first, and applies to families who apply for
Aid to Families with Dependent Children benefits after June 30,
1995, and upon recertification to families receiving or who have
been determined eligible to receive Aid to Families with Dependent
Children as of July 1, 1995.
SECTION 14. In order to assure that all families working toward
self-sufficiency have access to all potential supportive services that
will help ensure their success, the Department of Social Services
shall develop outreach and informational programs which provide
information and assistance on support services available to low
income families.
SECTION 15. To assist AFDC families in successfully
maintaining employment reliable child care is necessary, and the
General Assembly in the annual appropriations act shall appropriate
the funds necessary to match all available federal child care money.
SECTION 16. To promote independence and assist AFDC
families in participating in the Department of Social Services Work
Support Program and in getting to their place of employment,
reliable transportation services are needed. The Department of
Social Services in conjunction with the Department of Public Safety
and county and local governments shall endorse local efforts to
develop a statewide network of mass transit systems.
SECTION 17. The Secretary of Commerce annually shall report
to the General Assembly on the department's efforts and results in
the recruitment and creation of employment and entrepreneurial
opportunities for current and former AFDC recipients.
Part III
Parental Responsibility
SECTION 1. In order to strengthen and support AFDC families,
promote self-sufficiency, and provide children with the benefits of a
two-parent household, the Department of Social Services shall apply
to the federal government for a waiver to eliminate the
"parental deprivation rule" which deems a family
ineligible for AFDC benefits, regardless of the family's income, if
both parents live in the home and neither is disabled. Those parents
in an AFDC family who are unemployed or underemployed shall
participate in the Department of Social Services Work Support
Program.
SECTION 2. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, if a
court order for child support is in effect, an unemployed or
underemployed noncustodial parent shall participate in the
Department of Social Services Work Support Program.
SECTION 3. The Department of Health and Environmental
Control shall establish a task force of reproductive health care
providers and professionals to develop incentives to increase
physician participation in the Medicaid program in order to provide
better access to comprehensive family planning and prenatal care
for Medicaid clients.
SECTION 4. To assist AFDC families in directing their efforts
to becoming economically stable and financially independent rather
than diverting their resources (human, emotional, and financial) to
the care of children and family members with health and medical
problems as funding is available, the State shall:
(1) provide greater access to and place emphasis on early and
continuous prenatal care;
(2) eliminate as many barriers to good prenatal care as possible;
(3) promote counseling and education about early childhood
health and especially the need for immunizations;
(4) foster better access to preventive health services through
better transportation, co-location of services, and expanded hours
for public health clinics;
(5) provide school nurses to increase access to primary care and
more effective identification and referral of health problems among
children;
(6) expand effective Medicaid reimbursable substance abuse
primary prevention, education, and intervention strategies;
(7) facilitate coordination among the Department of Social
Services, Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services,
Department of Juvenile Justice, and the Department of Education in
providing school and community-based education for alcohol and
drug prevention programs.
SECTION 5. In an effort to provide comprehensive assistance to
AFDC clients that leads to self-sufficiency, the Department of
Social Services Work Support Program must include classes on
parenting skills and daily living skills including, but not limited to,
money management and budgeting, managing a household, marriage
and family relationships, stress management, and coping skills.
SECTION 6. In an effort to assist AFDC clients with family
planning, greater access to family planning counseling and to a
broad range of voluntary family planning methods must be available
to the entire family unit. To address the issue of teen pregnancy
the Department of Health and Human Services, in conjunction with
other appropriate state and local agencies, shall establish and
administer a program for adolescent pregnancy prevention such as
the establishment of adolescent pregnancy prevention councils.
SECTION 7. To further strengthen the family unit and promote
responsible parenting, the concept of family planning must be
expanded beyond methods of contraception to include more
education about reproductive health, abstinence, pregnancy spacing,
sexually transmitted diseases with an emphasis on AIDS education,
and the responsibility of males for pregnancy avoidance and
postponement. The Department of Health and Environmental
Control shall define a set of clinical, educational, and method
oriented family planning services for males and females. The
department shall assist and encourage state agencies and private
sector health care professionals to provide this expanded
information to their clients and shall promote a coordinated
public-private effort to address this issue.
SECTION 8. The Department of Health and Environmental
Control shall make family planning services available to women
whose household income is under one hundred eighty-five percent
of the federal poverty level by 2001.
PART IV
Time Effective
This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
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