REPORT TITLE:
Welfare Reform


DESCRIPTION:
Bases TANF benefits on current federal poverty level.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        
THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           2059
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO WELFARE REFORM.



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

 1      SECTION 1.  Section 346-53, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 2 amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:
 
 3      "(a)  This subsection does not apply to general assistance
 
 4 to households without minor dependents.  The standard of need for
 
 5 families of given sizes shall equal the current poverty level
 
 6 established by the federal government [in 1993], prorated over a
 
 7 twelve-month period.
 
 8                                                              9 percentage of the standard of need.  For exempt households and
 
10 households in which all caretaker relatives are minors, living
 
11 independently with minor dependents and attending school, the
 
12 assistance allowance shall be set at sixty-two and one-half per
 
13 cent of the standard of need.  For all other households, the
 
14 assistance allowance shall be set no higher than sixty-two and
 
15 one-half per cent of the standard of need and set no lower than
 
16 fifty per cent of the standard of need.  The standard of need
 
17 shall be determined by dividing the [1993] current federal
 
18 poverty level by twelve and rounding down the quotient.  The
 
19 remaining quotient shall be multiplied by the per cent as set by
 

 
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 1 the director by rules pursuant to chapter 91 and the final
 
 2 product shall be rounded down to determine the assistance
 
 3 allowance; provided that:
 
 4      (1)  The department may reduce the assistance allowance as
 
 5           determined in this subsection for non-exempt households
 
 6           for the purpose of providing work incentives or
 
 7           services under part XI of this chapter;
 
 8      (2)  No reduction shall be allowed that jeopardizes
 
 9           eligibility for or receipt of federal funds;
 
10      (3)  Reductions in the assistance allowance shall be limited
 
11           to no more than one per year; and
 
12      (4)  No non-exempt household, which includes an adult who
 
13           has received sixty cumulative months of temporary
 
14           assistance to needy families with minor dependents,
 
15           shall be eligible for an assistance allowance, unless
 
16           authorized by federal regulations."
 
17      SECTION 2.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
18 New statutory material is underscored.
 
19      SECTION 3.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
 
20 
 
21                           INTRODUCED BY: ________________________
 

 
 
 
 
 
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