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.