By Maxey H.B. No. 2125
75R12332 KKA-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to creation of a pilot program to establish individual
1-3 development accounts for certain recipients of financial
1-4 assistance.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Subchapter D, Chapter 301, Labor Code, is amended
1-7 by adding Section 301.067 to read as follows:
1-8 Sec. 301.067. PILOT PROGRAM: INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT
1-9 ACCOUNTS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES. (a) The commission by rule shall
1-10 establish and implement a pilot program under which an individual
1-11 development account is established for a recipient of financial
1-12 assistance under Chapter 31, Human Resources Code, who is employed
1-13 by a person in the private sector through a subsidized employment
1-14 program established under Section 31.0126(a)(5), Human Resources
1-15 Code.
1-16 (b) The commission may establish and administer an account
1-17 for a recipient under this section or may contract with a nonprofit
1-18 organization or financial institution to establish and administer
1-19 the account in accordance with commission rules.
1-20 (c) The commission shall encourage the following to match
1-21 deposits made by a recipient of financial assistance to an account
1-22 established under this section:
1-23 (1) private employers, including persons in the
1-24 private sector who employ one or more recipients through a
2-1 subsidized employment program established under Section
2-2 31.0126(a)(5), Human Resources Code;
2-3 (2) community groups; and
2-4 (3) financial institutions.
2-5 (d) Expenditures from a recipient's individual development
2-6 account established under this section while the recipient is
2-7 receiving financial assistance are limited to educational and
2-8 medical expenses, work-related expenses, including expenses of a
2-9 self-employment enterprise, and housing or moving expenses for the
2-10 recipient and a person who is a member of the AFDC-certified group.
2-11 (e) Not later than December 1 of 1998 and 2000, the
2-12 commission shall submit a report to the governor and the members of
2-13 the legislature regarding the status of the pilot program.
2-14 (f) This section expires September 1, 2001.
2-15 SECTION 2. Subchapter B, Chapter 31, Human Resources Code,
2-16 is amended by adding Section 31.0321 to read as follows:
2-17 Sec. 31.0321. EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN INCOME AND RESOURCES.
2-18 (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b), the department may not
2-19 consider money contributed to a recipient's individual development
2-20 account under a pilot program by an employer, community group, or
2-21 financial institution as income or the balance of the account as a
2-22 resource in determining whether the recipient meets household
2-23 income and resource requirements for eligibility for financial
2-24 assistance.
2-25 (b) After consulting with the Texas Workforce Commission,
2-26 the department by rule may place limits on the amount of money not
2-27 considered as income or as a resource under Subsection (a).
3-1 (c) This section expires September 1, 2001.
3-2 SECTION 3. If, before implementing any provision of this
3-3 Act, a state agency determines that a waiver or authorization from
3-4 a federal agency is necessary for implementation, the state agency
3-5 shall request the waiver or authorization and may delay
3-6 implementing that provision until the waiver or authorization is
3-7 granted.
3-8 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-9 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-10 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-11 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-12 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-13 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-14 passage, and it is so enacted.