Florida Senate - 2017                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. CS/CS/HB 23, 1st Eng.
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì968490?Î968490                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: FAV            .                                
                  05/01/2017           .                                
                                       .                                
                Floor: 1/AD/2R         .                                
             05/04/2017 11:12 AM       .                                
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       The Committee on Appropriations (Powell) recommended the
       following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete everything after the enacting clause
    4  and insert:
    5         Section 1. Paragraph (c) is added to subsection (7) of
    6  section 445.004, Florida Statutes, to read:
    7         445.004 CareerSource Florida, Inc.; creation; purpose;
    8  membership; duties and powers.—
    9         (7) By December 1 of each year, CareerSource Florida, Inc.,
   10  shall submit to the Governor, the President of the Senate, the
   11  Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Senate Minority
   12  Leader, and the House Minority Leader a complete and detailed
   13  annual report setting forth:
   14         (c) For each local workforce development board, participant
   15  statistics and employment outcomes, by program, for individuals
   16  subject to mandatory work requirements due to receipt of
   17  temporary cash assistance or food assistance under chapter 414,
   18  including:
   19         1. Individuals served.
   20         2. Services received.
   21         3. Activities in which individuals participated.
   22         4. Types of employment secured.
   23         5. Individuals securing employment but remaining in each
   24  program.
   25         6. Individuals exiting programs due to employment.
   26         7. Employment status at 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months
   27  after exiting the program, for the past 3 years.
   28         Section 2. Present subsections (3) through (7) of section
   29  445.024, Florida Statutes, are renumbered as subsections (4)
   30  through (8), respectively, and a new subsection (3) is added to
   31  that section, to read:
   32         445.024 Work requirements.—
   33         (3)WORK PLAN AGREEMENT.—For each individual who is not
   34  otherwise exempt from work activity requirements, but before a
   35  participant may receive temporary cash assistance, the
   36  Department of Economic Opportunity, in cooperation with
   37  CareerSource Florida, Inc., and the Department of Children and
   38  Families, must:
   39         (a)Inform the participant, in plain language, and require
   40  the participant to assent to, in writing:
   41         1.What is expected of the participant to continue to
   42  receive temporary cash assistance benefits.
   43         2.Under what circumstances the participant would be
   44  sanctioned for noncompliance.
   45         3.Potential penalties for noncompliance with the work
   46  requirements in s. 414.065, including how long benefits would
   47  not be available to the participant.
   48         (b)Work with the participant to develop strategies to
   49  assist the participant in overcoming obstacles to compliance
   50  with the work activity requirements.
   51         Section 3. Present subsection (4) of section 402.82,
   52  Florida Statutes, is renumbered as subsection (5), and a new
   53  subsection (4) is added to that section, to read:
   54         402.82 Electronic benefits transfer program.—
   55         (4)The department shall impose a fee for the fifth and
   56  each subsequent request for a replacement electronic benefits
   57  transfer card made by a participant within a 12-month period.
   58  The fee must be equal to the cost of replacing the electronic
   59  benefits transfer card. The fee may be deducted from the
   60  participant’s benefits. The department may waive the replacement
   61  fee upon a showing of good cause, such as the malfunction of the
   62  card or extreme financial hardship.
   63         Section 4. Paragraph (a) of subsection (1) and paragraph
   64  (a) of subsection (2) of section 39.5085, Florida Statutes, are
   65  amended to read:
   66         39.5085 Relative Caregiver Program.—
   67         (1) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this
   68  section to:
   69         (a) Provide for the establishment of procedures and
   70  protocols that serve to advance the continued safety of children
   71  by acknowledging the valued resource uniquely available through
   72  grandparents, relatives of children, and specified nonrelatives
   73  of children pursuant to sub-subparagraph (2)(a)1.c. subparagraph
   74  (2)(a)3.
   75         (2)(a) The Department of Children and Families shall
   76  establish, and operate, and implement the Relative Caregiver
   77  Program pursuant to eligibility guidelines established in this
   78  section as further implemented by rule of the department.
   79         1. The Relative Caregiver Program shall, within the limits
   80  of available funding, provide financial assistance to:
   81         a.1. Relatives who are within the fifth degree by blood or
   82  marriage to the parent or stepparent of a child and who are
   83  caring full-time for that dependent child in the role of
   84  substitute parent as a result of a court’s determination of
   85  child abuse, neglect, or abandonment and subsequent placement
   86  with the relative under this chapter.
   87         b.2. Relatives who are within the fifth degree by blood or
   88  marriage to the parent or stepparent of a child and who are
   89  caring full-time for that dependent child, and a dependent half
   90  brother or half-sister of that dependent child, in the role of
   91  substitute parent as a result of a court’s determination of
   92  child abuse, neglect, or abandonment and subsequent placement
   93  with the relative under this chapter.
   94         c.3. Nonrelatives who are willing to assume custody and
   95  care of a dependent child in the role of substitute parent as a
   96  result of a court’s determination of child abuse, neglect, or
   97  abandonment and subsequent placement with the nonrelative
   98  caregiver under this chapter. The court must find that a
   99  proposed placement under this subparagraph is in the best
  100  interest of the child.
  101         2.The relative or nonrelative caregiver may not receive a
  102  Relative Caregiver Program payment if the parent or stepparent
  103  of the child resides in the home. However, a relative or
  104  nonrelative may receive the payment for a minor parent who is in
  105  his or her care and for the minor parent’s child, if both the
  106  minor parent and the child have been adjudicated dependent and
  107  meet all other eligibility requirements. If the caregiver is
  108  currently receiving the payment, the payment must be terminated
  109  no later than the first day of the following month after the
  110  parent or stepparent moves into the home. Before the payment is
  111  terminated, the caregiver must be given 10 days’ notice of
  112  adverse action.
  113  
  114  The placement may be court-ordered temporary legal custody to
  115  the relative or nonrelative under protective supervision of the
  116  department pursuant to s. 39.521(1)(b)3., or court-ordered
  117  placement in the home of a relative or nonrelative as a
  118  permanency option under s. 39.6221 or s. 39.6231 or under former
  119  s. 39.622 if the placement was made before July 1, 2006. The
  120  Relative Caregiver Program shall offer financial assistance to
  121  caregivers who would be unable to serve in that capacity without
  122  the caregiver payment because of financial burden, thus exposing
  123  the child to the trauma of placement in a shelter or in foster
  124  care.
  125         Section 5. (1)The Office of Program Policy Analysis and
  126  Government Accountability shall conduct a study of each local
  127  workforce development board to determine what barriers exist
  128  which prevent participants in the Supplemental Nutrition
  129  Assistance Program and the Temporary Assistance for Needy
  130  Families cash assistance program from complying with the work
  131  requirements in the respective programs. The study must include
  132  detailed data and analysis of the reasons why applicants and
  133  recipients do not comply with the work requirements, the reasons
  134  that noncompliant applicants and recipients identify as barriers
  135  to compliance, and what assistance was offered to the
  136  participants to come into compliance. The study must also
  137  include a listing of the specific reasons for the sanctions
  138  applied, separated into categories with the number of
  139  participants who received each sanction. For example:
  140         (a)Failure to attend a scheduled meeting10 people
  141  sanctioned;
  142         (b) Failure to complete required documents5 people
  143  sanctioned; or
  144         (c) Failure to comply with child support requirements, with
  145  specifics on what the requirement was.
  146         (2) The legislative intent for requesting this independent
  147  study is to gain an in-depth understanding of the barriers that
  148  may exist for people trying to participate in the workforce,
  149  through reviewing the specific reasons participants are
  150  sanctioned on a region by region basis.
  151         (3) The Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government
  152  Accountability shall submit a report with its findings and
  153  recommendations to the Governor, the President of the Senate,
  154  the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Minority
  155  Leaders of the Senate and the House of Representatives by
  156  November 1, 2017.
  157         Section 6. TANF Reemployment Pilot Program.—
  158         (1) The Legislature finds that there is an important state
  159  interest in assisting Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
  160  (TANF) recipients in finding and securing stable and productive
  161  employment and that reemployment programs have the potential to
  162  benefit such recipients and their families and to alleviate the
  163  financial strain on the state economy.
  164         (2) The TANF Reemployment Pilot Program is created in
  165  Pinellas County and shall be administered by the Pinellas
  166  Opportunity Council, Inc.
  167         (3) The purpose of the pilot program is to assist TANF
  168  recipients in developing return-to-work plans with the goal of
  169  reemployment.
  170         Section 7. For the 2017-2018 fiscal year, the sum of
  171  $150,000 in nonrecurring funds from the General Revenue Fund and
  172  $150,000 in nonrecurring funds from the Federal Grants Trust
  173  Fund are appropriated for the TANF Reemployment Pilot Program.
  174         Section 8. This act shall take effect July 1, 2017.
  175  
  176  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
  177  And the title is amended as follows:
  178         Delete everything before the enacting clause
  179  and insert:
  180                        A bill to be entitled                      
  181         An act relating to public assistance; amending s.
  182         445.004, F.S.; requiring CareerSource Florida, Inc.,
  183         to submit a detailed annual report on certain
  184         information for individuals subject to mandatory work
  185         requirements who receive temporary cash or food
  186         assistance; amending s. 445.024, F.S.; requiring the
  187         Department of Economic Opportunity, in cooperation
  188         with CareerSource Florida, Inc., and the Department of
  189         Children and Families, to develop and implement a work
  190         plan agreement for participants in the temporary cash
  191         assistance program; requiring the plan to identify
  192         expectations, sanctions, and penalties for
  193         noncompliance with work requirements; amending s.
  194         402.82, F.S.; requiring the Department of Children and
  195         Families to impose a replacement fee for electronic
  196         benefits transfer cards under certain circumstances;
  197         amending s. 39.5085, F.S.; revising eligibility
  198         guidelines for the Relative Caregiver Program with
  199         respect to relative and nonrelative caregivers;
  200         requiring the Office of Program Policy Analysis and
  201         Government Accountability (OPPAGA) to conduct a study;
  202         providing study requirements; providing legislative
  203         intent; requiring OPPAGA to submit a report by a
  204         certain date to the Governor and the Legislature;
  205         providing legislative findings; creating the TANF
  206         Reemployment Pilot Program in Pinellas County;
  207         providing for the administration of the program;
  208         providing the purpose and goal of the program;
  209         providing an appropriation; providing an effective
  210         date.