By Nelson                                               S.B. No. 64
         76R1328 CLG-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to TANF and Medicaid benefits for additional children born
 1-3     to TANF recipients.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 31, Human Resources Code,
 1-6     is amended by adding Section 31.0038 to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 31.0038.  FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR ADDITIONAL DEPENDENT
 1-8     CHILDREN.  (a)  The department may not provide financial assistance
 1-9     for the support of a child born to a recipient of financial
1-10     assistance at least 10 months after the date on which the recipient
1-11     initially began receiving the assistance.
1-12           (b)  Subsection (a) does not apply to a child born to a
1-13     recipient who reapplies for financial assistance after not
1-14     receiving the assistance for the 12 consecutive months preceding
1-15     the date of the reapplication.
1-16           (c)  If an adult recipient of financial assistance becomes
1-17     the parent of another child while the recipient is receiving the
1-18     assistance, the department, in computing the amount of financial
1-19     assistance for the support of the family, shall:
1-20                 (1)  deduct the earned income disregards allowable
1-21     under federal law; and
1-22                 (2)  increase the amount of the earned income disregard
1-23     for an employed recipient in an amount that equals 50 percent of
1-24     the amount granted under Section 31.003, adjusted for family size.
 2-1           (d)  Notwithstanding Subsection (a), the state shall provide
 2-2     to a child prohibited by that subsection from receiving financial
 2-3     assistance:
 2-4                 (1)  child care and other support services provided
 2-5     under this chapter to a dependent child; and
 2-6                 (2)  medical assistance.
 2-7           SECTION 2.  If, before implementing Section 31.0038, Human
 2-8     Resources Code, as added by this Act, the Texas Department of Human
 2-9     Services determines that a waiver or authorization from a federal
2-10     agency is necessary for implementation of that provision, the
2-11     department shall request the waiver and may delay implementing that
2-12     provision until the waiver or authorization is granted.
2-13           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
2-14     applies only to a child born on or after July 1, 2000, to a
2-15     recipient of financial assistance under Chapter 31, Human Resources
2-16     Code, who, on behalf of another child born to the recipient,
2-17     receives the assistance on or after the effective date of this Act,
2-18     regardless of the date on which eligibility for that assistance was
2-19     determined.
2-20           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-21     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-22     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-23     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-24     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.