Daily bulletin [2009 : April 9, v.2009 : no.42]

Daily Bulletin ACTIONS BY THE NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY School of Government The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Legislative Reporting Service, Box 7294 State Legislative Building, Raleigh, NC 27601 Phone 919.733.2484 ~ Fax 919.715.3464 ~ www.dbulletin.org House Legislative Day 42 Vol. 2009, No. 42 Senate Legislative Day 42 Thursday, April 9, 2009 SUMMARIES OF BILLS FILED HOUSE BILLS H 1280. CLARIFYING CHANGES/WORK FIRST PROGRAM. Filed 4/8/09. CLARIFYING VARIOUS PROVISIONS UNDER THE LAWS PERTAINING TO THE FEDERAL WORK FIRST PROGRAM Current law confers authority for establishing, supervising, and monitoring the Work First Program on the Department of Health and Human Sen/ices (DHHS). It permits counties to submit written notification to DHHS indicating whether they wish to be designated as a Standard Work First Program County, as developed by DHHS, or as an Electing County, a county that elects to develop a local Work First Program and that is approved to administer that local program. Current law also provides that the board of commissioners in an Electing County is responsible for the development, administration, and implementation of the Work First Program in that county, and the county department of social services in a Standard Program County is responsible for administering and implementing the Standard Work First Program in that county. The State Plan is the biennial Work First Program plan, developed by DHHS, and based upon the aggregate of the Electing County Plans and the Standard Work First Program. Definitions. Amends GS 108A-24 to make the following changes to terms as used in GS Chapter 108A: (1) clarifies that county plan means the biennial Work First Program plan prepared by each Electing County (was, county) and submitted to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) for incorporation into the State Plan, which also includes the Standard Work First Program; (2) provides that a child who is 18 years old, in high school and expected to graduate by the child’s 19th birthday may be identified as a dependent child, and may receive Work First benefits through the month that the child turns 19 or graduates from high school, whichever comes first; (3) extends the definition of family to include additional blood or half-blood relatives and adoptive relatives; (4) deletes the definition for First Stop Employment Assistance] (5) expands the definition of parent to include a step-parent; (6) provides that Title IV-A means the Social Security Act, 42 USC § 601 , et seq., as amended by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, PL 104-193, as further amended by the deficit Reduction Act of 2005, PL 109-271 (was, Social Security Act as amend by the Reconciliation Act); and (6) requires work first diversion assistance to be used to address a specific family crisis or episode of need, prohibits its use for ongoing or recurrent needs, and limits its use to once within a 12-month period. Authorization and description of the Work First Program. Makes conforming changes to GS 108A-27 to reflect the amended definitions. Requires DHHS and Electing Counties to provide (was, may provide) Work First Program assistance to qualified (was, legal) immigrants on that same basis as citizens to the extent permitted by federal law. General duties of DHHS with respect to the Work First Program. Amends GS 108A-27.2, clarifying that DHHS is to provide technical assistance to both Electing Counties that are developing and implementing their county plans and Standard Counties implementing their county plans. Directs DHHS to ensure that all families (was, two-parent families) with work eligible parents and parents with children under the age of 12 months receive © 2009 School of Government The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill This work is copyrighted and subject to "fair use" as permitted by federal copyright law. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the express written permission of the publisher. Distribution by third parties is prohibited. Prohibited distribution includes, but is not limited to, posting, e-mailing, faxing, archiving in a public database, installing on intranets or servers, and redistributing via a computer network or in printed form. Unauthorized use or reproduction may result in legal action against the unauthorized user.