Current Status Introducing Body:House Bill Number:3487 Primary Sponsor:Clyborne Committee Number:27 Type of Legislation:JR Subject:Full Employment Act of 1993 Residing Body:House Current Committee:Medical Military, Public and Municipal Affairs Computer Document Number:CYY/15001SD.93 Introduced Date:19930211 Last History Body:House Last History Date:19930211 Last History Type:Introduced, read first time, referred to Committee Scope of Legislation:Statewide All Sponsors:Clyborne Type of Legislation:Joint Resolution
Bill Body Date Action Description CMN Leg Involved
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3487 House 19930211 Introduced, read first time, 27
referred to Committee
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TO ENACT THE SOUTH CAROLINA FULL EMPLOYMENT ACT OF 1993 WHICH IS A THREE-YEAR PILOT TESTING PROGRAM IN SPECIFIED COUNTIES TO PROVIDE PARTICIPANTS IN GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS, INCLUDING WELFARE, CERTAIN OPTIONS TO ACQUIRE ADDITIONAL SKILL LEVELS AND GAINFUL REGULAR EMPLOYMENT, TO SUSPEND NORMAL PUBLIC AID ASSISTANCE TO RECIPIENTS PARTICIPATING IN THE PROGRAM IN THESE SPECIFIED COUNTIES IN LIEU OF THE GRANTING OF CERTAIN PUBLIC OR PRIVATE SECTOR JOBS, TO PROVIDE FOR THE MANNER IN WHICH THE FULL EMPLOYMENT PROGRAM MUST BE FUNDED INCLUDING AN ADJUSTMENT IN EMPLOYERS' REQUIRED UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION CONTRIBUTIONS, AND TO PROVIDE FOR OTHER PROCEDURES NECESSARY TO IMPLEMENT THIS PROGRAM.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. (A) This act is known and may be cited as the South Carolina Full Employment Act of 1993.
(B) It is the purpose of this act to reduce, among South Carolina residents, the need for welfare and the dependence welfare induces, and to that end there is created a demonstration program to be known as the Full Employment Program. The program must be a three-year test project in Charleston, Greenville, and Richland Counties of the effects of replacing certain welfare and unemployment insurance benefits with guaranteed paid employment. During the test, normal Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), unemployment compensation, and food stamp benefits must be suspended in Charleston, Greenville, and Richland Counties. Persons otherwise eligible for those benefits, and others in need of work are eligible for the program. The program shall assign them to wage paying public and private sector jobs designed to increase their self-sufficiency and improve their competitive position in the work force.
SECTION 2. (A) The Department of Social Services shall amend the AFDC, Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS), and food stamp state plans to implement the program in the test counties, and shall obtain federal approval of plan amendments.
(B) The department shall obtain any exemptions and waivers from federal statutes and regulations necessary to qualify the program as a federally approved demonstration project under Section 1115 (42 U.S.C. 1315) of the Social Security Act and Section 17 (7 U.S.C. 2026) of the Food Stamp Act, and to ensure that wages paid by the program to its AFDC and food stamp eligible participants are deemed by the federal government an acceptable alternative form of AFDC and food stamp benefits for purposes of the demonstration.
(C) If amendments to federal statutes are required for implementation of the program, the department shall seek such amendments.
(D) The purpose of this subsection is to facilitate implementation of the program at the earliest possible date and with maximum federal financial participation. To that end the department is directed to expedite plan amendment, waiver acquisition, and statute amendment activities in close and constant coordination with appropriate federal officials, and to prepare and submit completely in a timely manner all forms and data required by those officials.
(E) If required federal approval or statutory or regulatory changes are not obtained by the department by the effective date of this act, the full employment program established herein shall not be implemented or pilot-tested.
SECTION 3. (A) The department shall administer the program and shall promulgate state regulations for operation of the program.
(B) In administering the program, the department shall actively encourage both public and private employers to utilize program participants, and shall ensure that, to the extent feasible, program job assignments match participant skills and experience with the needs of the employers.
(C) The target goals for the program are to reduce the AFDC, food stamp, and unemployment compensation caseloads in the pilot counties by fifty percent by the end of the third year of the pilot test, and to reduce the costs associated with these programs by twenty-five percent over the three year pilot test period. To the maximum extent permitted by federal law, and notwithstanding other provisions of law, the department shall, through competitive procurement, engage the services of qualified public and private organizations to operate the program and to provide services incident to the operation, and shall incorporate in the resultant contracts, to the extent feasible, performance based incentive payments related to accomplishment of program goals.
SECTION 4. (A) There is created a Full Employment Program Review Commission, hereinafter referred to as "Review Commission", to assist the department in the implementation of this act. The Review Commission shall consist of five members: two are appointed by the President of the Senate, one appointed by the Speaker of the House, and three, including the chairman, appointed by the Governor. Terms of office are for three years. At least two members appointed by the Governor must be current or former recipients of AFDC, food stamps, or unemployment compensation. Vacancies must be filled for the remainder of the unexpired term in the manner of original appointment.
(B) The Review Commission shall monitor program progress, assess program effectiveness, and both receive and develop recommendations for program improvement. The Review Commission shall meet no less frequently than once every three months during the period of program operations and shall report annually its findings and recommendations to the General Assembly, the Governor, and the department.
(C) The department shall provide administrative support to the Review Commission and shall respond in writing to Review Commission recommendations within thirty days of receipt.
SECTION 5. (A) There is created in each pilot county a Full Employment Program Local Implementation Council, hereinafter referred to as the "Local Implementation Council", to consist of seven county residents, appointed by the county governing body. Terms of office are for three years. At least two members must be current or former recipients of AFDC, food stamps, or unemployment compensation. Vacancies must be filled for the remainder of the unexpired term in the manner of original appointment.
(B) The Local Implementation Council in each test county shall establish, consistent with this act and with regulations promulgated by the department to carry out this act, policies and procedures for operation of the program within that county.
(C) The Local Implementation Council in each test county may authorize, on a case by case basis, supplemental benefits from the program to meet hardship conditions among program participants as defined by the Local Implementation Council. These hardship conditions include, but are not limited to, reductions in usable income to larger families as a result of program wages being less than previously received benefits from AFDC, unemployment compensation, and food stamps.
(D) The Local Implementation Council in each test county shall monitor the operations of the program for that county, and make recommendations to the Review Commission for improved program efficiency and effectiveness.
(E) The department shall provide administrative support to each Local Implementation Council.
SECTION 6. (A) There is created a Full Employment Program Special Fund, hereinafter called the "Program Special Fund." The Program Special Fund must be administered by the department and must be used exclusively to meet the necessary expenditures of the program.
(B) All funds appropriated for expenditure by or apportioned to this State for operation of the AFDC, JOBS, and food stamp programs in the pilot counties shall accrue to the program special fund.
(C) The Employment Security Commission shall levy a full employment program tax, hereinafter called the "program tax", on all South Carolina employers required to pay state unemployment compensation contributions, at a rate sufficient to produce revenues in an amount equal to the unemployment compensation contribution revenues currently collected within the pilot counties. All program tax revenues shall accrue to the program special fund.
(D) Simultaneously with the levying of the program tax, the Employment Security Commission shall reduce unemployment compensation contribution rates so as to reduce total unemployment compensation revenues by an amount equal to the amount of the revenues produced by the program tax.
(E) All payments by participating employers to the department for specially skilled program participants as described in Section 7(B) of this act shall accrue to the program special fund.
(F) In administering the program special fund, the department shall, consistent with other provisions of this act and to the extent permitted by federal law, maximize the use of federal apportionments for the food stamp, AFDC, and JOBS programs.
SECTION 7. (A) Any resident of the pilot counties who is eighteen years of age or older is eligible to participate in the program. Pilot county residents between sixteen and eighteen years of age are eligible for summer work in the program. There are no other eligibility requirements or limitations, and no one may be required to participate.
(B)(1) Eligible individuals choosing to participate are entitled to a maximum of forty hours per week of employment in program jobs, as available, and must be paid by the department from the program special fund at the hourly rate of ninety percent of the federal minimum wage, except that specially skilled participants may be paid a higher wage, but only if employers have need for this labor and specifically request it. For specially skilled participants, employers shall pay the department an hourly rate equivalent to that received by skilled temporary employees for comparable work within the pilot county, as determined by the department and the department shall pay a specially skilled participant seventy-five percent of the rate charged the employer for the utilization of this skilled labor. For any specific skilled labor assignment, the higher rate of pay shall apply only while the participant is performing the skilled labor requested by employer and only for a period of time not to exceed one hundred eighty calendar days.
(2) Any participant may, at any time, choose to terminate participation in a program job assignment, and any participating employer may at any time choose to terminate the use of a participant. The department shall endeavor to keep these terminations to a minimum and when they occur to provide expeditiously new jobs for the participants and new participants for the employers.
(3) All program wages are subject to federal income, state income, and federal social security (FICA) taxes, which the department shall withhold and pay in accordance with federal and state law. The employers' share of social security taxes and any other applicable taxes must be paid from the program special fund.
(C) Assignment of participants to available jobs must be made on the basis of a preference schedule developed by the department, with priority given to employing those receiving AFDC, food stamp, or unemployment compensation benefits. Those benefits must be suspended when a program job is offered to an unemployment compensation recipient, the custodial parent in an AFDC family, or any adult member of a food stamp household, and the suspension shall occur immediately whether or not the offer is accepted.
(D) Custodial teenaged parents through nineteen years of age receiving AFDC, food stamp, or unemployment compensation benefits may choose, when offered a program job, to substitute up to thirty hours per week attendance at an accredited secondary school with normal program wages to be paid for this attendance so long as the participant is making acceptable progress toward a high school diploma or GED certificate.
(E) Program participants who demonstrate substance abuse or other work-limiting problems may be assigned by the department to rehabilitation facilities to receive appropriate counseling or training, with time spent in these activities compensated at the normal program wage rate so long as the participant is making acceptable progress toward employability but in no case for a period of time exceeding ninety days.
(F) Food stamp recipients in the pilot counties whose food stamp eligibility stems from eligibility for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits may not be offered employment by the program, and thus shall not have their food stamp benefits suspended. However, during the three year program test, these food stamp benefits must be distributed in the form of cash rather than coupons.
(G) Program participants who are Medicaid-eligible at the time they enter the program shall remain Medicaid-eligible so long as they continue to participate.
(H) Participants needing child care must be provided child care through the program.
SECTION 8. (A) Every employer subject to paying state unemployment compensation contributions is eligible for assignment of program participants, but no employer may be required to utilize these participants. All employers shall pay the program tax, whether or not they choose to utilize program participants.
(B) Employers shall provide on-the-job training to the degree necessary for the participants to perform their duties. Employers also shall recruit volunteer mentors from among their regular employees to assist the participants in becoming oriented to work and the workplace.
(C) Employers shall insure compliance with all applicable federal laws and regulations.
SECTION 9. (A) At least quarterly during the three year pilot test period of the program, the department shall report the status and progress of the program to the Review Commission, the General Assembly, and the Governor.
(B) Six months prior to the end of the three year pilot test period, the department shall submit a written report to the Review Commission, the General Assembly, and the Governor, containing a full and complete description and analysis of program operations and results. The report shall include recommendations from the department as to the potential for statewide implementation of the program.
(C) The formal evaluation of the program must be conducted by an independent evaluator reporting to the Review Commission. The evaluation may be based on group comparison, survey, and individualized event and attitude recording techniques. Performance in attaining program goals in each pilot county may be matched against performance using the traditional welfare and employment counseling practices in a comparison county of similar size and with similar welfare and employment characteristics. In addition, the composite performance of the pilot counties may be compared to the remainder of the State. In no case shall experimental designs, which are random assignment of individual potential or actual participants to "treatment" and "control" groups, be used for evaluation of the program.
SECTION 10. This act takes effect January 1, 1994, and expires January 1, 1997.