Bill Text: FL S0570 | 2017 | Regular Session | Comm Sub

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Public Assistance

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (? 2-1)

Status: (Failed) 2017-05-05 - Died in Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services, companion bill(s) passed, see CS/CS/HB 1121 (Ch. 2017-151) [S0570 Detail]

Download: Florida-2017-S0570-Comm_Sub.html

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       Florida Senate - 2017                              CS for SB 570
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Children, Families, and Elder Affairs; and
       Senator Rouson
       
       
       
       
       586-03333-17                                           2017570c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to public assistance; amending s.
    3         445.004, F.S.; requiring CareerSource Florida, Inc.,
    4         to submit a detailed annual report on certain
    5         information for individuals subject to mandatory work
    6         requirements who receive temporary cash or food
    7         assistance; amending s. 445.024, F.S.; requiring the
    8         Department of Economic Opportunity, in cooperation
    9         with CareerSource Florida, Inc., and the Department of
   10         Children and Families, to develop and implement a work
   11         plan agreement for participants in the temporary cash
   12         assistance program; requiring the plan to identify
   13         expectations, sanctions, and penalties for
   14         noncompliance with work requirements; amending s.
   15         402.82, F.S.; requiring the Department of Children and
   16         Families to impose a replacement fee for electronic
   17         benefits transfer cards under certain circumstances;
   18         amending s. 39.5085, F.S.; revising eligibility
   19         guidelines for the Relative Caregiver Program with
   20         respect to relative and nonrelative caregivers;
   21         requiring the Office of Program Policy Analysis and
   22         Government Accountability (OPPAGA) to conduct a study;
   23         providing study requirements; providing legislative
   24         intent; requiring OPPAGA to submit a report by a
   25         certain date to the Governor and the Legislature;
   26         providing an effective date.
   27          
   28  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   29  
   30         Section 1. Paragraph (c) is added to subsection (7) of
   31  section 445.004, Florida Statutes, to read:
   32         445.004 CareerSource Florida, Inc.; creation; purpose;
   33  membership; duties and powers.—
   34         (7) By December 1 of each year, CareerSource Florida, Inc.,
   35  shall submit to the Governor, the President of the Senate, the
   36  Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Senate Minority
   37  Leader, and the House Minority Leader a complete and detailed
   38  annual report setting forth:
   39         (c) For each local workforce development board, participant
   40  statistics and employment outcomes, by program, for individuals
   41  subject to mandatory work requirements due to receipt of
   42  temporary cash assistance or food assistance under chapter 414,
   43  including:
   44         1. Individuals served.
   45         2. Services received.
   46         3. Activities in which individuals participated.
   47         4. Types of employment secured.
   48         5. Individuals securing employment but remaining in each
   49  program.
   50         6. Individuals exiting programs due to employment.
   51         7. Employment status at 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months
   52  after exiting the program, for the past 3 years.
   53         Section 2. Present subsections (3) through (7) of section
   54  445.024, Florida Statutes, are renumbered as subsections (4)
   55  through (8), respectively, and a new subsection (3) is added to
   56  that section, to read:
   57         445.024 Work requirements.—
   58         (3) WORK PLAN AGREEMENT.—For each individual who is not
   59  otherwise exempt from work activity requirements, but before a
   60  participant may receive temporary cash assistance, the
   61  Department of Economic Opportunity, in cooperation with
   62  CareerSource Florida, Inc., and the Department of Children and
   63  Families, must:
   64         (a) Inform the participant, in plain language, and require
   65  the participant to assent to, in writing:
   66         1. What is expected of the participant to continue to
   67  receive temporary cash assistance benefits.
   68         2. Under what circumstances the participant would be
   69  sanctioned for noncompliance.
   70         3. Potential penalties for noncompliance with the work
   71  requirements in s. 414.065, including how long benefits would
   72  not be available to the participant.
   73         (b) Work with the participant to develop strategies to
   74  assist the participant in overcoming obstacles to compliance
   75  with the work activity requirements.
   76         Section 3. Present subsection (4) of section 402.82,
   77  Florida Statutes, is renumbered as subsection (5), and a new
   78  subsection (4) is added to that section, to read:
   79         402.82 Electronic benefits transfer program.—
   80         (4) The department shall impose a fee for the fifth and
   81  each subsequent request for a replacement electronic benefits
   82  transfer card made by a participant within a 12-month period.
   83  The fee must be equal to the cost of replacing the electronic
   84  benefits transfer card. The fee may be deducted from the
   85  participant’s benefits. The department may waive the replacement
   86  fee upon a showing of good cause, such as the malfunction of the
   87  card or extreme financial hardship.
   88         Section 4. Paragraph (a) of subsection (1) and paragraph
   89  (a) of subsection (2) of section 39.5085, Florida Statutes, are
   90  amended to read:
   91         39.5085 Relative Caregiver Program.—
   92         (1) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this
   93  section to:
   94         (a) Provide for the establishment of procedures and
   95  protocols that serve to advance the continued safety of children
   96  by acknowledging the valued resource uniquely available through
   97  grandparents, relatives of children, and specified nonrelatives
   98  of children pursuant to sub-subparagraph (2)(a)1.c. subparagraph
   99  (2)(a)3.
  100         (2)(a) The Department of Children and Families shall
  101  establish, and operate, and implement the Relative Caregiver
  102  Program pursuant to eligibility guidelines established in this
  103  section as further implemented by rule of the department.
  104         1. The Relative Caregiver Program shall, within the limits
  105  of available funding, provide financial assistance to:
  106         a.1. Relatives who are within the fifth degree by blood or
  107  marriage to the parent or stepparent of a child and who are
  108  caring full-time for that dependent child in the role of
  109  substitute parent as a result of a court’s determination of
  110  child abuse, neglect, or abandonment and subsequent placement
  111  with the relative under this chapter.
  112         b.2. Relatives who are within the fifth degree by blood or
  113  marriage to the parent or stepparent of a child and who are
  114  caring full-time for that dependent child, and a dependent half
  115  brother or half-sister of that dependent child, in the role of
  116  substitute parent as a result of a court’s determination of
  117  child abuse, neglect, or abandonment and subsequent placement
  118  with the relative under this chapter.
  119         c.3. Nonrelatives who are willing to assume custody and
  120  care of a dependent child in the role of substitute parent as a
  121  result of a court’s determination of child abuse, neglect, or
  122  abandonment and subsequent placement with the nonrelative
  123  caregiver under this chapter. The court must find that a
  124  proposed placement under this subparagraph is in the best
  125  interest of the child.
  126         2. The relative or nonrelative caregiver may not receive a
  127  Relative Caregiver Program payment if the parent or stepparent
  128  of the child resides in the home. However, a relative or
  129  nonrelative may receive the payment for a minor parent who is in
  130  his or her care and for the minor parent’s child, if both the
  131  minor parent and the child have been adjudicated dependent and
  132  meet all other eligibility requirements. If the caregiver is
  133  currently receiving the payment, the payment must be terminated
  134  no later than the first day of the following month after the
  135  parent or stepparent moves into the home. Before the payment is
  136  terminated, the caregiver must be given 10 days’ notice of
  137  adverse action.
  138  
  139  The placement may be court-ordered temporary legal custody to
  140  the relative or nonrelative under protective supervision of the
  141  department pursuant to s. 39.521(1)(b)3., or court-ordered
  142  placement in the home of a relative or nonrelative as a
  143  permanency option under s. 39.6221 or s. 39.6231 or under former
  144  s. 39.622 if the placement was made before July 1, 2006. The
  145  Relative Caregiver Program shall offer financial assistance to
  146  caregivers who would be unable to serve in that capacity without
  147  the caregiver payment because of financial burden, thus exposing
  148  the child to the trauma of placement in a shelter or in foster
  149  care.
  150         Section 5. (1) The Office of Program Policy Analysis and
  151  Government Accountability shall conduct a study of each local
  152  workforce development board to determine what barriers exist
  153  which prevent participants in the Supplemental Nutrition
  154  Assistance Program and the Temporary Assistance for Needy
  155  Families cash assistance program from complying with the work
  156  requirements in the respective programs. The study must include
  157  detailed data and analysis of the reasons why applicants and
  158  recipients do not comply with the work requirements, the reasons
  159  that noncompliant applicants and recipients identify as barriers
  160  to compliance, and what assistance was offered to the
  161  participants to come into compliance. The study must also
  162  include a listing of the specific reasons for the sanctions
  163  applied, separated into categories with the number of
  164  participants who received each sanction. For example:
  165         (a) Failure to attend a scheduled meeting—10 people
  166  sanctioned;
  167         (b) Failure to complete required documents—5 people
  168  sanctioned; or
  169         (c) Failure to comply with child support requirements, with
  170  specifics on what the requirement was.
  171         (2) The legislative intent for requesting this independent
  172  study is to gain an in-depth understanding of the barriers that
  173  may exist for people trying to participate in the workforce,
  174  through reviewing the specific reasons participants are
  175  sanctioned on a region by region basis.
  176         (3) The Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government
  177  Accountability shall submit a report with its findings and
  178  recommendations to the Governor, the President of the Senate,
  179  the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Minority
  180  Leaders of the Senate and the House of Representatives by
  181  November 1, 2017.
  182         Section 6. This act shall take effect July 1, 2017.