REPORT TITLE:
Welfare-to-work


DESCRIPTION:
Establishes a transitional welfare-to-work benefits program for
public assistance recipients.  (SD1)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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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 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 a transitional aid program called the Temporary
 
 5 Assistance to Needy Families program that requires recipients who
 
 6 are able to work to secure employment at the earliest
 
 7 opportunity.  The new law places a heavy burden on the states to
 
 8 meet strict work participation requirements.
 
 9      The federal requirements have set a laudable goal.  Work is
 
10 the cornerstone of the community's shared values of personal
 
11 responsibility and self-sufficiency.  In addition, work promotes
 
12 self-discipline and self-esteem.  
 
13      The vast majority of public assistance recipients share the
 
14 community values of parental responsibility and work ethic, and
 
15 will accept financial responsibility for themselves and their
 
16 children when given a real opportunity to achieve self-
 
17 sufficiency.  Many barriers to work, however, frustrate the best
 
18 efforts of public assistance recipients to join the work force on
 
19 a permanent basis.  Moreover, sharp competition for scarce jobs
 

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

 
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 1 benefits program, to be known as the bridge to hope program, for
 
 2 heads of households in the temporary assistance to needy families
 
 3 program.
 
 4      (b)  The department shall provide to all temporary
 
 5 assistance to needy families recipients who are not exempt from
 
 6 work requirements the option of pursuing post-secondary
 
 7 education, at the same time that they are referred to the first-
 
 8 to-work, or participating in first-to-work.
 
 9      (c)  To receive assistance under this program, the single
 
10 parent shall:
 
11      (1)  Be working in or seeking countable work activity;
 
12      (2)  Be enrolled in or be accepted in a course of study
 
13           approved by the department;
 
14      (3)  Be enrolled at least as a part-time student each
 
15           semester while enrolled; provided that the number of
 
16           credit hours to be considered a part-time student shall
 
17           be calculated in the same manner followed by the
 
18           Federal Student Aid Program; 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,
 

 
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 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);
 
 8      (2)  Has maintained passing grades or better throughout the
 
 9           course of study; and
 
10      (3)  Completes the course of study by the end of two years
 
11           beyond the recipient's time limit.
 
12      (e)  The number of credit carried by the recipient shall
 
13 count towards the work requirements under temporary assistance to
 
14 needy families.
 
15      (f)  Internships, externships, practicums, or any other
 
16 work-training required by the course of study or work experience
 
17 related to the student's course of study shall count toward the
 
18 recipient's work requirement.
 
19      (g)  The department may require additional or fewer hours of
 
20 federally defined work activities, if it certifies that the State
 
21 may not meet federal work participation rates because of
 
22 subsections (e) and (f), due to the reason that recipients
 
23 enrolled in educational courses are not required to engage in
 

 
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 1 federally defined work activities for the minimum number of
 
 2 hours.
 
 3      (h)  The department shall provide additional support to a
 
 4 recipient if all available educational financial aid has been
 
 5 exhausted.
 
 6      (i)  The department shall adopt rules in accordance with
 
 7 chapter 91 to carry out the purposes of this section."
 
 8      SECTION 3.  The department of human services shall ensure
 
 9 that its activities taken under this section 2 of this Act is
 
10 consistent with the principles and goals of promoting self-
 
11 sufficiency, earning an educational degree, eliminating poverty,
 
12 and safeguarding the health, safety, and welfare of Hawaii's poor
 
13 children.  The department shall evaluate the bridge-to-hope
 
14 program annually by utilizing graduation rates and employability
 
15 as benchmarks to determine success.  The department shall report
 
16 to the legislature on data, statistics, findings, and
 
17 recommendations, not later than twenty days before the convening
 
18 of the regular sessions of 2002, 2003, and 2004.
 
19      SECTION 4.  There is appropriated out of the general
 
20 revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $5,000,000, or so much
 
21 thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2000-2001, for the
 
22 bridge-to-hope program.
 
23      The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of
 

 
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 1 human services for the purposes of this Act.
 
 2      SECTION 5.  New statutory material is underscored.
 
 3      SECTION 6.  This Act shall take effect July 1, 2000.