Bill Text: AZ SB1620 | 2011 | Fiftieth Legislature 1st Regular | Chaptered
Bill Title: Welfare; 2011-2012; budget reconciliation
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 15-0)
Status: (Passed) 2011-04-06 - Governor Signed [SB1620 Detail]
Download: Arizona-2011-SB1620-Chaptered.html
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House Engrossed Senate Bill |
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State of Arizona Senate Fiftieth Legislature First Regular Session 2011
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SENATE BILL 1620 |
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AN ACT
amending section 46-294, Arizona Revised Statutes; Relating to welfare budget reconciliation.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Section 46-294, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
46-294. Duration of assistance
A. A needy family is ineligible for a cash assistance grant awarded under this article, except in case of hardship, if any of the following apply applies:
1. The needy family includes a head of household or the spouse of the head of household who has received cash assistance for himself for a total of thirty-six twenty‑four months.
2. The needy family includes a cash assistance ineligible parent or the spouse of the ineligible parent who has received cash assistance on behalf of an eligible dependent child for a total of thirty-six twenty‑four months.
3. The needy family includes an adult nonparent relative head of household or the spouse of the adult nonparent relative head of household who has received cash assistance on behalf of an eligible dependent child for a total of thirty-six twenty‑four months.
B. The time limit prescribed in subsection A applies retroactively to cash assistance received under this article or the Arizona works program on or after October 1, 2002. The time limit applies regardless of:
1. Whether the thirty-six twenty‑four months are consecutive.
2. The source of funding for the program.
C. The thirty‑six twenty‑four month time limit prescribed in this section does not apply to child only cases.
D. In determining the number of months that assistance has been received, the department shall disregard any month during which assistance is received by:
1. A foster parent, an unrelated adult or a nonparent relative, in a child only case.
2. An assistance unit during the time in which the assistance unit resides on an Indian reservation in which the unemployment rate of the adults residing on the Indian reservation exceeds fifty per cent.
3. An assistance unit if the cash assistance grant is less than the full monthly amount of cash assistance for which the assistance unit qualifies based on the date of the application.
4. An adult recipient who as a minor child was not a head of household or married to a head of household.
E. Except in case of hardship, an assistance unit in which any adult or minor parent of a dependent child who is a head of household or married to a head of household has received sixty months of assistance funded in whole or in part by the temporary assistance for needy families block grant in this or any other state or United States territory or from a tribal temporary assistance for needy families program shall not be eligible to receive under any circumstances more than sixty months of such assistance.
F. Cash assistance shall terminate on the first day of the first month following the effective date of this amendment to this section for any family, without regard to whether the family meets the financial criteria established for a needy family, who that has received thirty-six twenty‑four or more months of cash assistance as of that date.
Sec. 2. Child care assistance eligibility; report
Notwithstanding section 46‑803, Arizona Revised Statutes, for fiscal year 2011‑2012, the department of economic security may reduce maximum income eligibility levels for child care assistance in order to manage within appropriated and available monies. The department of economic security shall notify the joint legislative budget committee of any change in maximum income eligibility levels for child care within fifteen days after implementing the change.
Sec. 3. Department of economic security; drug testing; TANF cash benefits recipients
During fiscal year 2011‑2012, the department of economic security shall screen and test each adult recipient who is otherwise eligible for temporary assistance for needy families cash benefits and who the department has reasonable cause to believe engages in the illegal use of controlled substances. Any recipient who is found to have tested positive for the use of a controlled substance that was not prescribed for the recipient by a licensed health care provider is ineligible to receive benefits for a period of one year.
