1-1     By:  Nelson                                             S.B. No. 64
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed November 24, 1998; January 26, 1999,
 1-3     read first time and referred to Committee on Human Services;
 1-4     March 3, 1999, rereferred to Committee on Health Services;
 1-5     March 10, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 3,
 1-6     Nays 2; March 10, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-7                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-8                                   AN ACT
 1-9     relating to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and
1-10     Medicaid benefits for additional children born to TANF recipients.
1-11           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12           SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 31, Human Resources Code,
1-13     is amended by adding Section 31.0038 to read as follows:
1-14           Sec. 31.0038.  FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR ADDITIONAL DEPENDENT
1-15     CHILDREN.  (a)  The department may not provide financial assistance
1-16     for the support of a child born to a recipient of financial
1-17     assistance at least 10 months after the date on which the recipient
1-18     initially began receiving the assistance.
1-19           (b)  Subsection (a) does not apply to a child born to a
1-20     recipient who reapplies for financial assistance after not
1-21     receiving the assistance for the 12 consecutive months preceding
1-22     the date of the reapplication.
1-23           (c)  If an adult recipient of financial assistance becomes
1-24     the parent of another child while the recipient is receiving the
1-25     assistance, the department, in computing the amount of financial
1-26     assistance for the support of the family, shall:
1-27                 (1)  deduct the earned income disregards allowable
1-28     under federal law; and
1-29                 (2)  increase the amount of the earned income disregard
1-30     for an employed recipient in an amount that equals 50 percent of
1-31     the amount granted under Section 31.003, adjusted for family size.
1-32           (d)  Notwithstanding Subsection (a), the state shall provide
1-33     to a child prohibited by that subsection from receiving financial
1-34     assistance:
1-35                 (1)  child care and other support services provided
1-36     under this chapter to a dependent child; and
1-37                 (2)  medical assistance.
1-38           SECTION 2.  If, before implementing Section 31.0038, Human
1-39     Resources Code, as added by this Act, the Texas Department of Human
1-40     Services determines that a waiver or authorization from a federal
1-41     agency is necessary for implementation of that provision, the
1-42     department shall request the waiver and may delay implementing that
1-43     provision until the waiver or authorization is granted.
1-44           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
1-45     applies only to a child born on or after July 1, 2000, to a
1-46     recipient of financial assistance under Chapter 31, Human Resources
1-47     Code, who, on behalf of another child born to the recipient,
1-48     receives the assistance on or after the effective date of this Act,
1-49     regardless of the date on which eligibility for that assistance was
1-50     determined.
1-51           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-52     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-53     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-54     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-55     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-56                                  * * * * *