CLC H.C.R. 204 75(R)Bill Analysis Human Services HCR 204 By: Hilderbran 5-6-97 5-6-97 BACKGROUND The new Federal Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, better known as the Welfare Reform Act, imposes tough work participation requirements on welfare recipients. Texas must be creative and do more to get welfare recipients jobs. Both Oregon and Mississippi have successful programs which target private industry to create entry-level subsidized jobs for welfare recipients. PURPOSE: As proposed, H.C.R. 204 submits the following resolutions: To acknowledge that the purpose of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) is to create job opportunities for employable people that offer the chance to work toward independence from government assistance; To acknowledge that helping unemployed welfare job applicants find and retain a job is the state's top priority in administering TANF; To acknowledge that for unemployed applicants receiving temporary public assistance, the subsidized work programs can provide skills assessment, one-on-one mentoring by experienced workers, job placement, basic workplace training, and a new opportunity for self reliance; and To acknowledge that everyone benefits from reduced welfare dependency; To encourage the Texas Workforce Commission, with the assistance of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission and the Texas Department of Human Services to implement a subsidized work program for unemployed job applicants receiving cash benefits from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program; To encourage that local workforce boards develop guidelines for setting placement priorities and determine the number of applicants that may be assigned by the program to any one employer based on workforce needs and are demographics. RULEMAKING It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency or institution.