[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8203 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 8203

 To prevent and address intentional misuse of subrecipient TANF funds.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 1, 2024

 Mr. Davis of Illinois (for himself, Ms. Chu, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, 
 Mr. Evans, Mr. Gomez, and Mr. Thompson of Mississippi) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To prevent and address intentional misuse of subrecipient TANF funds.

    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 ``TANF State Expenditure Integrity Act 
of 2024''.

SEC. 2. AUTHORITY TO PREVENT AND ADDRESS INTENTIONAL MISUSE OF 
              SUBRECIPIENT FUNDS UNDER THE TANF PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--Section 417 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
617) is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(a) In General.--'' before ``No''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) Authority To Prevent Intentional Misuse of Subrecipient 
Funds.--
            ``(1) Subrecipient monitoring.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Secretary--
                            ``(i) shall develop a framework for the 
                        monitoring of subrecipient use of funds 
                        provided under section 403(a)(1) of this Act, 
                        for the purpose of identifying intentional 
                        misuse, to supplement single State audits 
                        conducted under chapter 75 of title 31, United 
                        States Code;
                            ``(ii) may establish State plan 
                        requirements or formats relating to clause (i); 
                        and
                            ``(iii) may request States to report to the 
                        Secretary such information to supplement the 
                        report provided under section 411(a) as the 
                        Secretary determines is necessary to enable the 
                        Secretary to comply with clauses (i) and (ii) 
                        of this subparagraph.
                    ``(B) No effect on single state audit authority.--
                Clause (i) of this subparagraph shall not be 
                interpreted to limit the authority of the Secretary to 
                conduct single State audits under chapter 75 of title 
                31, United States Code.
            ``(2) Program integrity unit authorization and funding.--
                    ``(A) TANF program integrity unit.--The Secretary 
                shall create a TANF Program Integrity Unit at the 
                Administration for Children & Families, which shall 
                conduct the monitoring described in paragraph 
                (1)(A)(i).
                    ``(B) Appropriation.--Out of any money in the 
                Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the amount made 
                available in section 403(a)(1)(C) for each fiscal year 
                shall be increased by $10,000,000, and the amount of 
                the increase shall be available for the staffing and 
                operations of the TANF Program Integrity Unit and 
                related functions.
            ``(3) Annual report to the congress.--The Secretary shall 
        submit an annual report to the Congress on the activities 
        undertaken under paragraph (2)(A) in the fiscal year covered by 
        the report.''.
    (b) Remedies.--Section 409(a)(1)(B) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
609(a)(1)(B)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``(B) Enhanced penalty for intentional 
        violations.--If'' and inserting the following:
                    ``(B) Enhanced penalty for intentional 
                violations.--
                            ``(i) In general.--If''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
                            ``(ii) Additional remedies.--If the 
                        Secretary finds, as a result of subrecipient 
                        monitoring under section 417(b)(1) of this Act, 
                        that an amount has been intentionally misused 
                        in violation of this part, then the Secretary 
                        shall--
                                    ``(I) notify the State involved of 
                                the finding; and
                                    ``(II) in addition to any penalty 
                                imposed under clause (i), require the 
                                State to expend, in addition to any 
                                other amount required to be expended 
                                under the State program funded under 
                                this part, an amount equal to the 
                                amount so misused, for the provision of 
                                cash assistance directly to families 
                                with an income below 100 percent of the 
                                poverty line (as defined in section 
                                673(2) of the Omnibus Budget 
                                Reconciliation Act of 1981, including 
                                any revision required by such section, 
                                applicable to a family of the size 
                                involved).''.
    (c) Deadline for Publication of Notice of Rulemaking.--Within 2 
years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 
Health and Human Services shall publish a notice of rulemaking to 
implement the amendments made by this section.
    (d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall take 
effect on the later of--
            (1) the 1st day of the 5th calendar quarter that begins 
        after the date of the enactment of this Act; or
            (2) the 1st day of the 1st Federal fiscal year that begins 
        after such date of enactment.
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