REPORT TITLE:
Welfare Reform


DESCRIPTION:
Sets assistance allowance at sixty-five per cent of the standard
of need.  (SD1)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        2059
THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           S.D. 1
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 poverty level established
 
 6 by the federal government in 1993, prorated over a twelve-month
 
 7 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]
 
13 sixty-five per cent of the standard of need.  For all other
 
14 households, the assistance allowance shall be set no higher than
 
15 [sixty-two and one-half] sixty-five per cent of the standard of
 
16 need and set no lower than fifty per cent of the standard of
 
17 need.  The standard of need shall be determined by dividing the
 
18 1993 federal poverty level by twelve and rounding down the
 
19 quotient.  The remaining quotient shall be multiplied by the per
 

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           S.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 cent as set by the director by rules pursuant to chapter 91 and
 
 2 the final product shall be rounded down to determine the
 
 3 assistance 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.