By Hilderbran                                          H.B. No. 337
       74R1303 MLR-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the amount of AFDC benefits.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Section 31.003, Human Resources Code, is amended
    1-5  to read as follows:
    1-6        Sec. 31.003.  AMOUNT OF FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.  (a)  The
    1-7  <department shall adopt rules governing the determination of the>
    1-8  amount of financial assistance to be granted to a family for the
    1-9  support of <a> dependent children is $188 a month, regardless of
   1-10  the number of dependent children in the family <child>.  The
   1-11  department may increase the amount granted to an amount set by rule
   1-12  in relation to a person who the department determines is receiving
   1-13  assistance on behalf of a dependent child in the family and is a
   1-14  person with a physical or mental disability<, when combined with
   1-15  the income and other resources available for the child's support,
   1-16  must be sufficient to provide the child with a subsistence
   1-17  compatible with decency and health>.
   1-18        (b)  Except as provided by Subsection (a) for a person with a
   1-19  physical or mental disability, the legislature has the sole
   1-20  authority to change the amount of financial assistance established
   1-21  by that subsection.  <In considering the amount of income or other
   1-22  resources available to a child or a relative claiming financial
   1-23  assistance on the child's behalf, the department shall also
   1-24  consider reasonable expenses attributable to earning the income.
    2-1  The department may permit all or part of the earned or other income
    2-2  to be set aside for the future identifiable needs of the child,
    2-3  subject to limitations prescribed by the department.>
    2-4        <(c)  The department's agents employed in the region or
    2-5  county in which the dependent child resides shall determine the
    2-6  amount to be paid in accordance with the rules promulgated by the
    2-7  department.>
    2-8        SECTION 2.  If before implementing Section 31.003, Human
    2-9  Resources Code, as amended by this Act, the Texas Department of
   2-10  Human Services determines that a waiver or authorization from a
   2-11  federal agency is necessary for implementation, the department
   2-12  shall request the waiver or authorization and may delay
   2-13  implementing those provisions until the waiver or authorization is
   2-14  granted.
   2-15        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, and
   2-16  applies to all financial assistance under Chapter 31, Human
   2-17  Resources Code, that is paid on or after that date, regardless of
   2-18  the date on which eligibility for that assistance was determined.
   2-19        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-20  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-21  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-22  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-23  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.