SB5214 amends current law related to TANF timeline limitations and allows time limit extensions related to hardship if the recipient is: participating satisfactorily in the program; temporarily prevented from working or looking for a job; or in need of mental health or substance use disorder treatment.
SB5214 also now allows a WorkFirst orientation by phone rather than in-person orientation for TANF; removes the full family sanction policy, and allows a family to keep earn and keep all (as opposed to 1½ of its earnings during every month it is eligible to receive assistance.
Substitute Bill:
- Provides that for any month the state unemployment rate is at or above 7 percent, the Department of Social and Health and Services may not count a temporary assistance for needy families recipient's cash grant towards the 60-month lifetime limit.
- Provides that the bill applies retroactively as of March 1, 2020 as well as prospectively.
2nd substitute:
- Provides that a person receiving a Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) grant in any month after March 2020 in which the state unemployment rate is at or above 7 percent is eligible for a hardship extension to the 60-month lifetime time limit for TANF grants, if the person is otherwise eligible for TANF except that they have exceeded 60 months.
- Provides that the extension is the equal to the number of months that the person received a TANF grant during a month of unemployment at or above 7 percent, and must be applied sequentially following other hardship extensions that may apply.
- Provides that the bill applies retroactively as of March 1, 2020 as well as prospectively.