By:  Zaffirini                                          S.B. No. 48
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to sanctions imposed on recipients of temporary assistance
 1-3     for needy families for failure to provide certain information.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 31.0032, Human Resources Code, is amended
 1-6     by amending Subsection (a)  and adding Subsection (d) to read as
 1-7     follows:
 1-8           (a)  Except as provided by Section 231.115, Family Code, [as
 1-9     added by Chapter 911, Acts of the 75th Legislature, Regular
1-10     Session, 1997,] if after an investigation the department or the
1-11     Title IV-D agency determines that a person is not complying with a
1-12     requirement of the responsibility agreement required under Section
1-13     31.0031, the department immediately shall apply appropriate
1-14     sanctions or penalties regarding the assistance provided to or for
1-15     that person under this chapter.
1-16           (d)  The department's rules for the imposition of sanctions
1-17     or penalties on a person for whom the Title IV-D agency has made a
1-18     noncompliance determination under Section 231.115, Family Code,
1-19     must provide for the deduction of not less than 25 percent of the
1-20     amount of assistance that would otherwise be provided to the
1-21     person's family if the family consists of:
1-22                 (1)  at least six persons if the family is a two-parent
1-23     family; or
1-24                 (2)  at least seven persons if the family is a
1-25     single-parent family.
 2-1           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2001, and
 2-2     applies only to a sanction or penalty imposed for a noncompliance
 2-3     determination received by the Texas Department of Human Services on
 2-4     or after that date.  A noncompliance determination received by the
 2-5     department before the effective date of this Act is governed by the
 2-6     law in effect on the date the determination was received, and the
 2-7     former law is continued in effect for that purpose.