[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1192 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1192

To amend the Social Security Act to require the Secretary of Health and 
   Human Services to approve or deny an application for a waiver for 
   certain demonstration projects under title IV or XI of the Social 
                    Security Act in a timely manner.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 20, 1997

  Mr. Paxon introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
   Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on 
Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 
   each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the 
                jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Social Security Act to require the Secretary of Health and 
   Human Services to approve or deny an application for a waiver for 
   certain demonstration projects under title IV or XI of the Social 
                    Security Act in a timely manner.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Medicaid and TANF Waiver Fairness 
Act of 1997''.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF DEADLINE FOR APPROVAL OR DENIAL OF A SECTION 
              1115 WAIVER APPLICATION.

    (a) In General.--Section 1115 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
1315) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(e)(1) In the case of an application under this section for a 
waiver of compliance with any of the requirements of section 402 or 
1902 that has been pending with the Secretary for the period described 
in paragraph (2), such application shall be deemed to be approved at 
the conclusion of such period unless the Secretary provides written 
notice to the applicant that the application is denied.
    ``(2) The period described in this paragraph is the 270-day period 
that begins on the date such an application is received by the 
Secretary.
    ``(3) Nothing in this subsection shall be construed as preventing 
an applicant from withdrawing such an application at any time.
    ``(4) In the case of denial of such an application, not later than 
15 days after the date of the notice of denial, the Secretary shall 
transmit to the Congress and to the applicant an explanation of the 
specific reasons for such denial, including the factors and data that 
the Secretary took into consideration in making the final 
determination.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--
            (1) In general.--The amendment made by subsection (a) 
        applies to an application for a waiver under section 1115 of 
        the Social Security Act submitted on or after, or pending with 
        the Secretary of Health and Human Services on, the date of the 
        enactment of this Act.
            (2) Special rule for longstanding pending applications.--In 
        applying such section with respect to such an application 
        received by the Secretary more than 240 days before the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the application is deemed to be 
        received by the Secretary 240 days before such date.
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