[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2952 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2952

   To provide payments to States for increasing the employment, job 
           retention, and earnings of former TANF recipients.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              July 7, 2015

 Mr. Boustany introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To provide payments to States for increasing the employment, job 
           retention, and earnings of former TANF recipients.

    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 ``Improving Employment Outcomes of 
TANF Recipients Act''.

SEC. 2. INCREASING ECONOMIC MOBILITY OF TANF RECIPIENTS.

    (a) In General.--Section 403(a)(4) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 603(a)(4)) is amended to read as follows:
            ``(4) Increasing economic mobility of tanf recipients.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Secretary shall make a grant 
                under this paragraph to each State, with respect to 
                each fiscal year for which the State achieves the 
                requisite level of performance with respect to an 
                indicator described in subparagraph (C)(ii), in the 
                immediately succeeding fiscal year.
                    ``(B) Amount of grant.--
                            ``(i) In general.--The amount of the grant 
                        payable to a State with respect to a fiscal 
                        year for which the State achieves the requisite 
                        level of performance with respect to an 
                        indicator described in subparagraph (C)(ii) 
                        shall be the following:
                                    ``(I) 40 percent of the available 
                                amount with respect to the State for 
                                the fiscal year, if the indicator is 
                                described in subparagraph (C)(ii)(I).
                                    ``(II) 30 percent of the available 
                                amount with respect to the State for 
                                the fiscal year, if the indicator is 
                                described in subparagraph (C)(ii)(II).
                                    ``(III) 30 percent of the available 
                                amount with respect to the State for 
                                the fiscal year, if the indicator is 
                                described in subparagraph (C)(ii)(III).
                            ``(ii) Available amount defined.--In clause 
                        (i), the term `available amount' means, with 
                        respect to a State and a fiscal year, the 
                        amount (if any) by which--
                                    ``(I) the State family assistance 
                                grant that would be payable to the 
                                State for the fiscal year in the 
                                absence of this paragraph; exceeds
                                    ``(II) the State family assistance 
                                grant actually payable to the State for 
                                the fiscal year.
                    ``(C) Measuring state performance.--
                            ``(i) In general.--Each State, in 
                        consultation with the Secretary, shall 
                        establish levels of performance for each 
                        indicator described in clause (ii), for fiscal 
                        year 2017 and each fiscal year thereafter.
                            ``(ii) Indicators.--The indicators 
                        described in this clause are the following:
                                    ``(I) The percentage of former 
                                adult recipients of assistance under 
                                the State program funded under this 
                                part or any other State program funded 
                                with qualified State expenditures (as 
                                defined in section 409(a)(7)(B)(i)) 
                                who, while such recipients, were 
                                required to be engaged in work in 
                                accordance with section 407, and are in 
                                unsubsidized employment during the 2nd 
                                quarter after exiting from the program.
                                    ``(II) The percentage of former 
                                recipients of such assistance who are 
                                in unsubsidized employment during the 
                                4th quarter after exiting from the 
                                program.
                                    ``(III) The percentage change in 
                                median earnings of former recipients of 
                                such assistance who are in unsubsidized 
                                employment in the 4th quarter after 
                                exiting from the program compared with 
                                the median earnings of former 
                                recipients who are in unsubsidized 
                                employment in the 2nd quarter after 
                                exiting from the program.
                            ``(iii) Agreement on requisite performance 
                        level for each indicator.--
                                    ``(I) Fiscal years 2017 and 2018.--
                                Each State shall reach agreement with 
                                the Secretary on the requisite level of 
                                performance for each indicator 
                                described in clause (ii), for each of 
                                fiscal years 2017 and 2018.
                                    ``(II) Fiscal years 2019 and 
                                2020.--Each State shall reach agreement 
                                with the Secretary, before fiscal year 
                                2019, on the requisite level of 
                                performance with respect to each 
                                indicator described in clause (ii), for 
                                each of fiscal years 2019 and 2020.
                    ``(D) Report on state performance.--
                            ``(i) In general.--Not later than October 
                        1, 2016, the Secretary shall develop a template 
                        which each State shall use to report on 
                        outcomes achieved under the State program 
                        funded under this part.
                            ``(ii) Contents.--Each such report shall 
                        include--
                                    ``(I) the number of individuals who 
                                exited the program during the year;
                                    ``(II) the characteristics of the 
                                individuals who exited the program 
                                during the year, including information 
                                on the length of time for which the 
                                individual received assistance under 
                                the program; and
                                    ``(III) information specifying the 
                                levels of performance achieved with 
                                respect to each indicator described in 
                                subparagraph (C)(ii).
                            ``(iii) Publication.--Not later than 
                        September 30 of fiscal year 2019 and of each 
                        succeeding fiscal year, the Secretary shall 
                        make available to the public electronically 
                        each report submitted under this subparagraph 
                        during the fiscal year.
                    ``(E) State failure to meet performance measures.--
                            ``(i) Reservation of funds; required state 
                        spending.--If a State fails to achieve the 
                        requisite level of performance with respect to 
                        an indicator described in subparagraph (C)(ii) 
                        of this paragraph and a fiscal year--
                                    ``(I) the Secretary shall reserve 
                                the funds that would have been payable 
                                to the State under this paragraph if 
                                the State had achieved the level; and
                                    ``(II) the level of State 
                                expenditures otherwise required to 
                                avoid a penalty under section 409(a)(7) 
                                in the succeeding fiscal year shall be 
                                increased by the amount so reserved.
                            ``(ii) Corrective action.--The Secretary 
                        shall award to a State all funds reserved under 
                        clause (i) for the fiscal year with respect to 
                        the State, an indicator, and a fiscal year, in 
                        the immediately succeeding fiscal year, if, in 
                        the immediately succeeding fiscal year, the 
                        State--
                                    ``(I) achieves the requisite level 
                                of performance for the State with 
                                respect to the indicator; or
                                    ``(II) improves the State's level 
                                of performance with respect to the 
                                indicator by at least half of the 
                                amount by which the State's requisite 
                                level of performance with respect to 
                                the indicator in the fiscal year 
                                exceeded the actual level of 
                                performance achieved by the State with 
                                respect to the indicator in the fiscal 
                                year.
                    ``(F) Funding.--The following percentages of the 
                amounts appropriated under paragraph (1)(C) for the 
                following fiscal years are reserved for grants under 
                this paragraph for the fiscal years:
                            ``(i) 4 percent, in the case of fiscal year 
                        2018.
                            ``(ii) 10 percent, in the case of each of 
                        fiscal years 2019 and 2020.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 403(a)(1)(B) of such Act (42 
U.S.C. 603(a)(1)(B)) is amended by inserting ``, reduced by the 
percentage (if any) specified in paragraph (4)(F) with respect to the 
fiscal year,'' before ``as the amount''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this Act shall take 
effect on October 1, 2015.
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