By Oakley                                             H.B. No. 1482
       74R4463 MLR-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to AFDC benefits for certain children.
    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  by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsections (d) and (e) to
    1-6  read as follows:
    1-7        (a)  The department shall adopt rules governing the
    1-8  determination of the amount of financial assistance to be granted
    1-9  for the support of a dependent child.  The amount granted, when
   1-10  combined with the income and other resources available for the
   1-11  child's support, must be sufficient to provide the child with a
   1-12  subsistence compatible with decency and health.  However, in
   1-13  determining the total amount to be granted to a family, the
   1-14  department may not consider more than two children in a family as
   1-15  eligible for financial assistance.
   1-16        (d)  Notwithstanding Subsection (a), the department shall
   1-17  consider additional children in a family for purposes of requiring
   1-18  the cooperation of the person who would otherwise be receiving
   1-19  financial assistance on behalf of the child in:
   1-20              (1)  identifying and locating an absent parent of the
   1-21  child;
   1-22              (2)  establishing the maternity or paternity of the
   1-23  child if necessary; or
   1-24              (3)  providing other information that is necessary to
    2-1  establish and enforce a court-ordered child support obligation for
    2-2  the child.
    2-3        (e)  Notwithstanding Subsection (a), the state shall provide
    2-4  to an additional child who is not eligible for financial
    2-5  assistance:
    2-6              (1)  child care and other services provided under this
    2-7  chapter to a dependent child;
    2-8              (2)  medical assistance under the state Medicaid
    2-9  program; and
   2-10              (3)  nutritional assistance.
   2-11        SECTION 2.  If before implementing a provision of this Act
   2-12  the Texas Department of Human Services determines that a waiver or
   2-13  authorization from a federal agency is necessary for
   2-14  implementation, the department shall request the waiver or
   2-15  authorization and may delay implementing that provision until the
   2-16  waiver or authorization is granted.
   2-17        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, and
   2-18  applies only to a person who applies for financial assistance under
   2-19  Chapter 31, Human Resources Code, on or after that date.  A person
   2-20  who applied for financial assistance under Chapter 31, Human
   2-21  Resources Code, before the effective date of this Act is governed
   2-22  by the law as it existed immediately before the effective date, and
   2-23  that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
   2-24        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-25  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-26  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-27  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-1  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.