[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3667 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3667

  To measure the self-sufficiency of families leaving State programs 
  providing temporary assistance to needy families, and to provide an 
  incentive for States to help move families toward self-sufficiency.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 29, 2002

 Ms. Woolsey introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To measure the self-sufficiency of families leaving State programs 
  providing temporary assistance to needy families, and to provide an 
  incentive for States to help move families toward self-sufficiency.

    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 ``Self-Sufficiency Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) A principal objective of programs under the Personal 
        Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 
        (PRWORA) is to move economically disadvantaged adults toward 
        self-sufficiency through employment that pays a wage and 
        benefits at a level that will allow these adults to support 
        themselves and their dependents without public assistance.
            (2) While there is evidence that PRWORA has been successful 
        in moving people off welfare and into jobs, it is not known 
        whether these individuals are on the path to economic 
        independence. There is no standardized method for measuring the 
        extent to which PRWORA is meeting the objective of moving 
        families toward self-sufficiency or the impact of public work 
        supports. There is no requirement that States, Congress, or the 
        Administration ascertain the point at which individual families 
        living in specific locations will reach self-sufficiency.
            (3) At the same time, there is no way of determining what 
        programs have been successful in preparing individuals for the 
        workforce, helping them retain jobs, and moving them in the 
        direction of economic independence.
            (4) Absent this information, the Congress cannot fully 
        evaluate the success of welfare reform or ensure that state and 
        federal funds are being allocated where they will do the most 
        good.
            (5) States should understand when families reach self-
        sufficiency, what programmatic investments help families toward 
        economic independence, and should be rewarded for putting 
        programs in place that will ensure the long-term success of 
        welfare leavers by helping them move toward economic 
        independence.

SEC. 3. SELF-SUFFICIENCY STANDARDS.

    (a) In General.--Section 402 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
602) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a), by inserting ``, subject to 
        subsection (b),'' after ``the Secretary has found''; and
            (2) by redesignating subsections (b) and (c) as subsections 
        (c) and (d), respectively, and by inserting after subsection 
        (a) the following:
    ``(b) Self-Sufficiency Standards.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary may not find that a State 
        plan includes the material described in subsection (a) unless 
        the plan includes a specification of the income needs of 
        families (in this part referred to as `self-sufficiency 
        standards'), adopted or developed by the State, based on family 
        size, the number and ages of children in the family, and sub-
        State geographical considerations.
            ``(2) Criteria.--The State self-sufficiency standards shall 
        separately specify the monthly costs of housing, food, child 
        care, transportation, health care, other basic needs, and taxes 
        (including tax benefits), and shall be determined using 
        national, State, and local data on the cost of purchasing goods 
        and services in the marketplace.
            ``(3) Categories of families.--The State self-sufficiency 
        standards shall categorize families--
                    ``(A) by whether there are 1 or 2 adults in the 
                family;
                    ``(B) by whether there are 0, 1, 2, 3, or more than 
                3 children in the family; and
                    ``(C) by the age of each child in the family, 
                according to whether a child is an infant, of pre-
                school age, of school age, or a teenager.
            ``(4) Regulations.--The Secretary shall prescribe the 
        protocols, criteria, cost categories, definitions, and means of 
        making inflation adjustments to be used in developing self-
        sufficiency standards pursuant to this subsection, which shall 
        be based on commonly accepted definitions of adequacy, such as 
        those used for establishing fair market rents, and that 
        reflect, to the extent possible, consensus and use among those 
        calculating family budgets and self-sufficiency standards.
            ``(5) Recency of data.--The self-sufficiency standards 
        developed pursuant to this subsection shall--
                    ``(A) be recalculated on adoption if the data on 
                which the standards are based is more than 3 years old;
                    ``(B) be recalculated every 5 years after adoption; 
                and
                    ``(C) be updated for inflation each year after 
                adoption in which the standards are not being 
                recalculated pursuant to subparagraph (B).''.
    (b) Reports.--Section 411 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 611) is amended by 
adding at the end the following:
    ``(c) Self-Sufficiency Reports.--
            ``(1) Collection of information on income of persons 
        leaving tanf.--With respect to each family whose participation 
        in the State program funded under this part ends during a 
        calendar quarter in a fiscal year, the State shall collect 
        information on the monthly income of the family as of the time 
        the participation ends and during the same quarter in each of 
        the next 2 fiscal years, based on data of the State 
        unemployment insurance program and benefit programs whose 
        assistance, subsidies, and services provided to the family by 
        any agency of government has the effect of reducing the cost of 
        living of the family.
            ``(2) Annual reports.--Each eligible State shall submit to 
        the Secretary annually a report that contains the following 
        information for the fiscal year most recently ending before the 
        date the report is submitted:
                    ``(A) Income information.--The information 
                collected pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection 
                during the fiscal year as compared with the State self-
                sufficiency standards developed pursuant to section 
                402(b) for the families involved.
                    ``(B) Information on programs and services leading 
                to self-sufficiency.--A description of the ways in 
                which, during the fiscal year, the State program funded 
                under this part and support services provided by the 
                State to recipients of assistance from the 
program moved families toward self-sufficiency, which shall highlight 
programs and services that appeared to have a particularly positive 
effect on achieving self-sufficiency.
                    ``(C) Uses of self-sufficiency standards.--A 
                description of how the State used the self-sufficiency 
                standards during the fiscal year, including whether the 
                standards were used--
                            ``(i) in counseling recipients of 
                        assistance from the State program funded under 
                        this part about their income needs and career 
                        options;
                            ``(ii) as a benchmark for program 
                        evaluation;
                            ``(iii) to identify opportunities to 
                        improve program performance, including 
                        identifying sub-groups or geographic areas in 
                        need of enhanced services;
                            ``(iv) to assess need of recipients of 
                        assistance for vocational training, pre-
                        apprenticeship and apprenticeship activities, 
                        post-secondary education, and basic literacy, 
                        English-as-a-second-language, mental health, 
                        substance abuse, domestic violence, and 
                        homelessness services; and
                            ``(v) to identify programs or strategies 
                        which are most promising in assisting those who 
                        participate in the State program to achieve 
                        self-sufficiency.
            ``(3) Summaries of state reports.--The Secretary shall 
        annually submit to the Congress a report that summarizes the 
        reports submitted pursuant to paragraph (2), and shall make the 
        reports available electronically to the general public in a 
        timely manner.''.
    (c) Funding.--Section 413 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 613) is amended by 
adding at the end the following:
    ``(k) Technical Assistance in Developing Self-Sufficiency 
Standards.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary may provide financial or 
        technical assistance to an eligible State to enable the State 
        to develop or improve the State self-sufficiency standards and 
        produce State reports required by section 402(b). The Secretary 
        shall carry out this paragraph by making a grant to or entering 
        into a contract with an organization or institution with 
        substantial experience in calculating and implementing on the 
        State level family budgets and self-sufficiency standards. An 
        organization or institution desiring to provide technical 
        assistance described in this paragraph shall submit to the 
        Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, and 
        accompanied by such information as the Secretary may reasonably 
        require.
            ``(2) Limitations on authorization of appropriations.--For 
        the cost of carrying out paragraph (1), there are authorized to 
        be appropriated to the Secretary not more than $1,000,000 for 
        each fiscal year.''.
    (d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall take 
effect 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 4. SELF-SUFFICIENCY BONUS.

    (a) In General.--Section 403(a) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 603(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(6) Bonus to encourage states to move families to self-
        sufficiency.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Secretary shall make a grant 
                pursuant to this paragraph to an eligible State for 
                each fiscal year specified in subparagraph (G) for 
                which the State is a self-sufficiency improvement 
                State.
                    ``(B) Amount of grant.--
                            ``(i) In general.--The amount of the grant 
                        payable under this paragraph to a self-
                        sufficiency improvement State for a fiscal year 
                        shall, subject to clause (ii), be an amount 
                        equal to 1 percent of the State family 
                        assistance grant.
                            ``(ii) Pro rata increase.--If the dollar 
                        amount specified in subparagraph (G) for a 
                        fiscal year exceeds the total amount otherwise 
                        payable under this paragraph for a fiscal year, 
                        the Secretary shall increase the amount of the 
                        grant otherwise payable to each State by such 
                        equal percentage as is necessary to ensure that 
                        such dollar amount equals the total amount so 
                        payable.
                    ``(C) Self-sufficiency improvement state.--A State 
                is a self-sufficiency improvement State for a fiscal 
                year for purposes of this paragraph if the self-
                sufficiency score of the State for the fiscal year is 
                greater than the self-sufficiency score of the State 
                for the preceding fiscal year.
                    ``(D) State self-sufficiency score.--The self-
                sufficiency score of a State for a fiscal year for 
                purposes of this paragraph shall be an amount equal to 
                the average of the self-sufficiency scores of the 
                qualified leaver families in the State for the fiscal 
                year.
                    ``(E) Family self-sufficiency score.--
                            ``(i) In general.--The self-sufficiency 
                        score of a family for a fiscal year for 
                        purposes of this paragraph shall be an amount 
                        equal to the income of the family for the 
                        fiscal year divided by the State self-
                        sufficiency standard for the family for the 
                        fiscal year.
                            ``(ii) Determination of income.--In 
                        determining the income of a family, the State 
                        shall take into account as income earnings, 
                        child support, and the value of benefits, 
                        assistance, subsidies, and services of any kind 
                        that are provided to the family by any agency 
                        of government and the receipt of which has the 
                        effect of reducing the cost of living of the 
                        family, net of any premium, copayment, or fee 
                        required to obtain the benefit, assistance, or 
                        service.
                    ``(F) Definitions.--In this paragraph:
                            ``(i) Qualified leaver families.--The term 
                        `qualified leaver families' means, with respect 
                        to a State, the leaver families in the State.
                            ``(ii) Leaver families.--The term `leaver 
                        families' means, with respect to a State and a 
                        particular fiscal year, all families that whose 
                        participation in the State program funded under 
                        this part ended during the period that begins 
                        with October 1 of the fiscal year in which this 
                        paragraph is enacted, and ends with the end of 
                        the particular fiscal year.
                    ``(G) Appropriation.--Out of any money in the 
                Treasury of the United States not otherwise 
                appropriated, there are appropriated for each of fiscal 
                years 2002 through 2006 $200,000,000 for grants under 
                this paragraph.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
take effect on October 1, 2002.
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