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.