CS/CS/HB 1267 — Economic Self-sufficiency
by Appropriations Committee; Children, Families & Seniors Subcommittee; and Rep Anderson and others (CS/SB 7052 by Fiscal Policy Committee and Children, Families, and Elder Affairs Committee)
This summary is provided for information only and does not represent the opinion of any Senator, Senate Officer, or Senate Office.
Prepared by: Children, Families, and Elder Affairs Committee (CF)
Public assistance programs help low-income families meet their basic needs, such as housing, food, and utilities. The most commonly utilized public assistance programs in Florida include Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or food assistance, and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and Temporary Cash Assistance (TCA) program. In Florida, the majority of the participants in these programs are children. While the goal of public assistance programs is, generally, to ensure that a family’s basic needs are met and facilitate economic advancement, families often exit programs before they are truly capable of maintaining self-sufficiency. A benefit cliff occurs when a modest increase in wages results in a net loss of income due to the reduction in or loss of public benefits that follows.
The bill revises various components of the TANF, SNAP, and SR programs to better facilitate economic advancement and self-sufficiency. Specifically, the bill:
- Creates case management as a transitional benefit for families transitioning from TCA.
- Requires CareerSource Florida to use a tool to demonstrate future financial impacts of changes to benefits and income.
- Requires local workforce boards to administer, analyze, and use data from intake and exit surveys of TCA recipients.
- Requires the Department of Children and Families to expand mandatory SNAP Employment and Training participation to include adults ages 18-59, who do not have children under age 18 in the home, or otherwise qualify for an exemption.
- Creates the School Readiness Plus Program that provides a child care subsidy for families deemed ineligible on redetermination for the SR program, but have income between 85 and 100 percent of the state median income.
The bill appropriates $23,076,259 in nonrecurring funds from the General Revenue Fund to the Department of Education to implement the School Readiness Subsidy Program.
If approved by the Governor, or allowed to become law without the Governor’s signature, these provisions take effect July 1, 2024.
Vote: Senate 40-0; House 114-1