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- Project Title: Pennsylvania--Common Sense Welfare to Work
Program.
- Description: Statewide, would impose 24 month time limit on
receipt
- of AFDC after which individuals would be required to work or
- participate in subsidized employment, work experience,
on-the-job
- training, community service or workfare for at least 20 hours
per week;
- require adult applicants and recipients, pregnant/parenting
minors, and
- minors without high school diplomas or equivalent who are not
attending
- school to sign an Agreement of Mutual Responsibility (AMR) as
a
- condition of eligibility for AFDC and impose a $40 per month
penalty
- for failure to comply with the agreements in the AMR; impose
sanctions
- for failing to comply with employment-related AMR provisions
which
- would be progressive and could lead to permanent
disqualification for
- the adult in the first 24 months and for the family after that
period;
- provide the lesser of the Pennsylvania benefit or the former
state
- benefit during the first 12 months of residency; deny AFDC to
an
- individual serving a disqualification for either Food Stamp
program or
- PA's General Assistance program fraud or who has been
sentenced for a
- criminal offense but has not satisfied the penalty imposed by
a court
- and to exchange information with the State Police and Board of
- Probation and Parole to identify such persons; deny AFDC and
Medicaid
- to those who fail to appear, as a defendant, at a criminal
court
- proceeding; require nonexempt applicants and recipients who
are not
- employed an average of 20 hours/week to participate in an
eight-week
- job search period and additional activities if employment is
not found;
- after 24 months of AFDC receipt, require work or participate
in
- subsidized employment, work experience, on-the-job training,
community
- service or workfare for an average of 20 hours/week as a
condition of
- receipt of cash assistance; limit exemptions from JOBS and
work
- requirements; eliminate priority for volunteers under JOBS,
limitations
- on periods of job search, and requirement to consider
preferences of
- participant to the maximum extent possible in employability
plan;
- eliminate workers' compensation coverage under community
service
- activity; allow the filling of established unfilled vacancies
under the
- Work Supplementation component, allow participation for 12
months, and
- cash out food stamp benefits for Work Supplementation
participants;
- eliminate gross income test (i.e., 185 percent of need
standard);
- disregard 50 percent of earned income without time limit;
exclude one
- vehicle for AFDC and food stamps; disregard all earned income
of
- dependent children for AFDC and food stamps, and increase age
limit for
- dependent children to 21 years of age; require recipients
under 18 to
- attend high school or GED; extend Transitional Child Care
(TCC) beyond
- 12 months, establish co-payments as a percentage of cost of
care,
- expand eligibility to include cases which have received AFDC
for one
- month and which close for any reason other than sanction if
the
- individual is employed; extend transitional Medicaid to 12
months for
- cases which close as a result of child support collections;
require
- cooperation with Child Support Enforcement for AFDC recipients
and
- Medicaid-only applicants and recipients prior to authorization
of
- assistance for applicants; redefine what constitutes
noncooperation for
- child support; allow IV-D workers to determine cooperation
rather than
- IV-A workers; provide AFDC to needy child who resides with
non-relative
- if in the best interest of the child; expand two-parent
eligibility by
- eliminating 100-hour definition of employment, 30-day waiting
period,
- and work history requirements; expand eligibility to pregnant
women in
- the first trimester of pregnancy; for AFDC and Medicaid,
exclude value
- of life insurance and nonresident property, and in-kind
income; for
- AFDC, Medicaid, and food stamps revise lump sum policy and
exclude
- student financial aid; for AFDC and food stamps change
budgeting
- methods and recovery of over/underpayments.
- Date Received: 7/31/96.
- Type: Combined AFDC/Medicaid.
- Current Status: Pending.
- Contact Person: Ed Zogby, (717) 772-7829.
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