REPORT TITLE:
Welfare-to-work


DESCRIPTION:
Establishes a welfare-to-work benefits program for public
assistance recipients. (HB2367 HD1)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        2367
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________


                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  The Federal Personal Responsibility and Work
 
 2 Opportunity Act of 1996 abolished the sixty-one year old Aid to
 
 3 Families with Dependent Children entitlement program and replaced
 
 4 it with the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program that
 
 5 requires recipients who are able to work to secure employment at
 
 6 the earliest opportunity.  The new law places a heavy burden on
 
 7 the states to meet strict work participation requirements.
 
 8      The federal requirements have set a laudable goal.  Work is
 
 9 the cornerstone of the community's shared values of personal
 
10 responsibility and self-sufficiency.  In addition, work promotes
 
11 self-discipline and self-esteem.  
 
12      The vast majority of public assistance recipients share the
 
13 community values of parental responsibility and work ethic, and
 
14 will accept financial responsibility for themselves and their
 
15 children when given a real opportunity to achieve self-
 
16 sufficiency.  Many barriers to work, however, frustrate the best
 
17 efforts of public assistance recipients to join the work force on
 
18 a permanent basis.  Moreover, sharp competition for scarce jobs
 
19 often leaves those with little experience or education behind.
 

 
Page 2                                                     2367
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1      Over ninety per cent of assistance households are currently
 
 2 headed by women.  Since approximately two-thirds of all women in
 
 3 Hawaii are working in sales, clerical, and service type jobs
 
 4 which receive the lowest wages, it is unlikely that the majority
 
 5 of assistance households will be able to move out of poverty and
 
 6 be self-sufficient without adding to their knowledge and skills
 
 7 to increase their earning capacity. 
 
 8      Toward that end, the legislature finds that benefits are
 
 9 needed to provide the necessary support to enable recipients to
 
10 secure education and training beyond high school.
 
11      The purpose of this Act is to support the successful
 
12 transition from public assistance to self-sufficiency through a
 
13 benefits program for public assistance recipients.
 
14      It is the intent of this Act to establish policies that
 
15 encourage the pursuit and successful completion of higher
 
16 education in order for single parents and their children to
 
17 achieve a stable future.
 
18      SECTION 2.  Chapter 346, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended
 
19 by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to
 
20 read as follows:
 
21      "§346-     Bridge-to-hope program. (a)  There is created
 
22 within the department a post-secondary education benefits
 
23 program, to be known as the "bridge-to-hope" program, for heads
 

 
Page 3                                                     2367
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 of households in the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families
 
 2 program. 
 
 3      (b)  The department shall provide to all Temporary
 
 4 Assistance to Needy Families recipients who are not exempt from
 
 5 work requirements the option of pursuing post-secondary
 
 6 education, at the same time that they are referred to first-to-
 
 7 work program. 
 
 8      (c)  To receive assistance under this program, the single
 
 9 parent shall:
 
10      (1)  Be working and meeting the minimum work requirements of
 
11           this program;
 
12      (2)  Be enrolled in a course of study approved by the
 
13           department;
 
14      (3)  Be enrolled as a full-time student each semester while
 
15           enrolled; provided that the number of credit hours to
 
16           be considered a full-time student shall be calculated
 
17           in the same manner followed by the University of Hawaii
 
18           system campuses; and
 
19      (4)  Have an income below the current federal poverty level
 
20           for the appropriate household size applicable in the
 
21           State.
 
22      (d)  Any eligible participant under this section shall be
 
23 eligible for or shall continue to receive child care,
 

 
Page 4                                                     2367
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 transportation assistance, and all other support services as may
 
 2 be necessary to allow the participant to attend post-secondary
 
 3 school; provided that the participant shall submit satisfactory
 
 4 evidence to the department that the participant:
 
 5      (1)  Is currently enrolled in an approved course of study
 
 6           and taking the number of credit hours required under
 
 7           subsection (c)(3); and
 
 8      (2)  Has maintained passing grades or better throughout the
 
 9           course of study.
 
10      (e)  Work requirements shall not exceed     hours per week.
 
11      (f)  Internships, externships, practicums, or any other
 
12 work-training required by the course of study or work experience
 
13 related to the student's course of study shall count toward the
 
14 recipient's work requirement; provided that the internship,
 
15 externship, practicum, or any other work-training required by the
 
16 course of study or work experience related to the student's
 
17 course of study shall not exceed     hours per week.
 
18      (g)  The department may require additional or fewer hours of
 
19 federally defined work activities if it certifies that the State
 
20 may not meet federal work participation rates after taking into
 
21 account the caseload reduction credit because recipients enrolled
 
22 in educational courses are not required to engage in federally
 
23 defined work activities for the minimum number of hours.
 

 
Page 5                                                     2367
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1      (h)  The department shall adopt rules in accordance
 
 2 with chapter 91 to carry out the purposes of this section."
 
 3      SECTION 3.  The department of human services shall ensure
 
 4 that its activities taken under this section shall be consistent
 
 5 with the principles and goals of promoting self-sufficiency,
 
 6 earning an educational degree, eliminating poverty, and
 
 7 safeguarding the health, safety, and welfare of Hawaii's poor
 
 8 children.
 
 9      SECTION 4.  New statutory material is underscored.
 
10      SECTION 5.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.