By Lewis of Tarrant H.B. No. 2940
76R8420 CLG-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to exemptions from work or employment activity
1-3 participation requirements for certain recipients under the
1-4 Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Section 31.012(c), Human Resources Code, is
1-7 amended to read as follows:
1-8 (c) The department shall authorize exemptions from
1-9 participation in work or employment activity requirements under
1-10 this section in a manner that complies with federal law and
1-11 regulations [A person who is the caretaker of a physically or
1-12 mentally disabled child who requires the caretaker's presence is
1-13 not required to participate in a program under this section.
1-14 Effective September 1, 1995, a person is not required to
1-15 participate in a program under this section until the person's
1-16 youngest child at the time the person first became eligible for
1-17 assistance reaches the age of five. Effective September 1, 1997, a
1-18 person is exempt until the person's youngest child at the time the
1-19 person first became eligible for assistance reaches the age of
1-20 four]. Notwithstanding Sections 31.0035(b) and 32.0255(b), the
1-21 department shall provide to a person who is exempt under this
1-22 subsection and who voluntarily participates in a program under
1-23 Subsection (a)(2) six months of transitional benefits in addition
1-24 to the applicable limit prescribed by Section 31.0065.
2-1 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect April 1, 2002, and applies
2-2 only to a person who receives financial assistance under Chapter
2-3 31, Human Resources Code, on or after that date regardless of the
2-4 date on which eligibility for that assistance was determined.
2-5 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-6 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-7 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-8 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-9 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.