Page 25, between lines 7 and 8,
insert:
“Sec. 16. Section 46-292, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:
START_STATUTE46-292. Eligibility for assistance
A. Cash assistance may be given under this title to
any dependent child:
1. Who has established residence in Arizona at the time of application and is either:
(a) A citizen by birth or naturalization.
(b) A qualified alien who entered the United States on or before August 21, 1996.
(c) A qualified alien who entered the United States as a member of one of the exception groups under Public Law 104‑193,
section 412, in which case the person shall be determined eligible in
accordance with Public Law 104‑193.
(d) Defined as a qualified alien by the attorney
general of the United States under the authority of Public Law 104‑208,
section 501.
For the purposes of subdivisions (b)
and (c) of this paragraph, "qualified alien" means a person who is
defined as a qualified alien under Public Law 104‑193, section 431.
2. Whose parent or parents or person or persons
acting in the parents' place, if employable, do not refuse to accept available
employment and any employable child in the family does not refuse to accept
available employment. The department shall assess the applicant's
employability at the time of initial application for assistance to establish a
self‑sufficiency diversion option, if appropriate, before benefit
issuance. The determination of employability and the conditions under which
employment shall be required shall be determined by the state department,
except that claimed unemployability because of physical or mental incapacity
shall be determined by the state department in accordance with this title.
3. Whose parent or parents or other relatives who
are applying for or receiving assistance on behalf of the child have not transferred or assigned, within
one year prior to application, or while a recipient, transferred or assigned real or personal
property with the intent to evade federal or state eligibility
requirements. Transfer of property with retention of a life estate
for the purpose of qualifying for assistance is prohibited. Where fair
consideration for the property was received, no inquiry into motive is
necessary. A person found ineligible under this section shall be ineligible
for such time as the state department determines.
B. Qualified aliens entering the United States after
August 21, 1996 are ineligible for benefits for a period of five years
beginning on their date of entry, except for Cuban and Haitian entrants as
defined in section 501(e)(2) of the refugee education assistance act of 1980
and exceptions provided under Public Law 104‑193 (personal responsibility
and work opportunity reconciliation act of 1996) and Public Law 105‑32
(balanced budget act of 1997).
C. A parent or any other relative who applies for or
receives cash assistance under this title on behalf of a child shall cooperate
with the department by taking the following actions:
1. Providing information regarding the identity of
the child's father and mother and other pertinent information including their
names, social security numbers and current addresses or a sworn statement that
attests to the lack of this information and that is accompanied by facts
supporting the asserted lack of information.
2. Appearing at interviews, hearings and legal
proceedings.
3. Submitting and having the child submit to genetic
testing.
4. Signing authorizations for third parties to
release information concerning the applicant or the child, or both.
5. In cases in which parentage has not been
established, providing a sworn statement alleging paternity and setting forth
facts establishing a reasonable possibility of the requisite sexual contact
between the parties.
6. Supplying additional information the department
requires.
D. The department shall sanction a recipient who fails, without good cause as
prescribed in subsection E of this section, fails to cooperate with child support
enforcement efforts according to the sanction provisions of section 46‑300.
E. One or more of the following circumstances
constitute good cause for failure to cooperate with child support enforcement
efforts:
1. Cooperation may result in physical or emotional harm to the parent, child for whom support is sought or
caretaker relative with whom the child is living.
2. Legal proceedings for adoption of the child for
whom support is sought are pending before a court.
3. The participant has been working, for less than
ninety days, with a public or licensed private social agency on the issue of
whether to allow the child for whom support is sought to be adopted.
4. The child for whom support is sought was
conceived as a result of sexual assault pursuant to section 13‑1406 or
incest.
F. A person claiming good cause has twenty days from
the date the good cause claim is provided to the agency to supply evidence
supporting the claim. When determining whether the parent or
relative is cooperating with the agency as provided in subsection C of this
section, the agency shall require:
1. If the good cause exception in subsection E,
paragraph 1 of this section is claimed, law enforcement, court, medical,
criminal, psychological, social service or governmental records or sworn
statements from persons with personal knowledge of the circumstances that
indicate that the alleged parent or obligor might inflict physical harm on the
parent, child or caretaker relative.
2. If the good cause exception in subsection E,
paragraph 2 of this section is claimed, court documents that indicate that
legal proceedings for adoption are pending before a court of competent jurisdiction.
3. If the good cause exception in subsection E,
paragraph 3 of this section is claimed, records from a public or licensed
private social services agency showing that placing the child for whom support
is sought is under consideration.
4. If the good cause exception in subsection E,
paragraph 4 of this section is claimed, law enforcement, court, medical,
criminal, psychological, social service or governmental records or sworn
statements from persons with personal knowledge of the circumstances surrounding
the conception of the child that indicate the child was conceived as a result
of sexual assault pursuant to section 13‑1406 or incest.
G. Notwithstanding subsection A of this section and
except as provided in subsection H of this section, a dependent child or
children who are born during one of the following time periods are not eligible
for assistance under this title:
1. The period in which the parent or other relative
is receiving assistance benefits.
2. The temporary period in which the parent or other
relative is ineligible pursuant to a penalty imposed by the department for
failure to comply with benefit eligibility requirements, after which the parent
or other relative is eligible for a continuation of benefits.
3. Any period after November 1, 1995 that is less
than sixty months between a voluntary withdrawal from program benefits or a
period of ineligibility for program benefits which immediately followed a
period during which program benefits were received and a subsequent
reapplication and eligibility approval for benefits.
H. The following exceptions apply to subsection G of
this section:
1. The department shall allow an increase in cash
assistance under the program for a dependent child or children born as a result
of an act of sexual assault as prescribed in section 13‑1406 or incest. The
department shall ensure that the proper law enforcement authorities are
notified of allegations of sexual assault or incest made pursuant to this
paragraph. For the purposes of this paragraph, "an act of sexual
assault" includes sexual assault of a spouse if the offense was committed
before the effective date of this
amendment to this section August
12, 2005.
2. For those parents or other relatives who are
currently authorized for cash assistance the department shall allow an increase
in cash assistance under the program as a result of the birth of a child or
children to the parent or other relative only if the birth occurred within ten
months of the initial eligible month. The department may use only the
additional child or children who are born from the pregnancies covered in this
subsection in computing the additional benefit.
3. The department
shall allow an increase in cash assistance for any dependent child born to a
parent who has not received cash assistance under this title for at least
twelve consecutive months if the child is born within the period beginning ten
months after the twelve consecutive month period and ending ten months after
the parent resumes receiving cash assistance.
4. A dependent child
or children who were born during a period in which the custodial parent
received cash assistance through the Arizona works program shall be eligible to
receive assistance under this title.
5. A dependent child or children who were born within
ten months after the custodial parent received cash assistance through the Arizona works program shall be eligible to receive assistance under this title.
I. The department:
1. Shall
eliminate the benefit cap under subsection G of this section if any of the
following applies:
(a) The child’s parents are deceased
or one parent is deceased and the other parent has abandoned the child as
described in subdivision (b) of this paragraph, is incarcerated as described in subdivision (c) of this paragraph or marries as described
in subdivision (g) of
this paragraph.
(b) The child’s parents have
committed abandonment as defined in section 8‑531 or one parent has
committed abandonment as defined in section 8‑531 and the other parent is
deceased, is incarcerated as described in subdivision (c) of this paragraph or marries as described
in subdivision (g) of
this paragraph.
(c) The child’s parents have become
incarcerated, and will be incarcerated, for a period of at least one year or
one parent has become incarcerated, and will be incarcerated, for a period of
at least one year and the other parent has abandoned the child as described in
subdivision (b) of this
paragraph or marries as described in subdivision (g) of this paragraph.
(d) The department has removed the
child from the child’s home and has placed the child with a relative.
(e) The child is living with a
nonparent relative.
(f) The child is living with a permanent
guardian as described in section 8-871.
(g) The child’s custodial parent
marries and still qualifies for cash assistance.
2. Shall not
eliminate the benefit cap under this subsection unless the expenditure from the
state general fund is offset by reduced cash assistance expenditures.
3. Shall
adopt rules under this section for the following:
(a) The eligibility factors to
remove the benefit cap.
(b) The financial factors in the
cash assistance budget that must exist in order for the department to authorize
an increase in the cash assistance grants without requiring an increase in
expenditures from the state general fund.
I. J. The department
shall calculate the sixty‑month time period referenced in subsection G,
paragraph 3 of this section in the following manner:
1. For persons who are receiving cash assistance on
November 1, 1995, the sixty‑month time period begins on November 1, 1995.
A subsequent sixty‑month time period begins immediately after the
previous period ends if the person is receiving cash assistance through two
sixty‑month periods. If the individual is not receiving cash
assistance at the end of the previous sixty‑month period, any subsequent
sixty‑month time period begins on the date when cash assistance became
effective again, regardless of when the person received an actual payment.
2. For persons who begin receiving cash assistance
after November 1, 1995, the sixty‑month time period begins on the date
cash assistance becomes effective, regardless of when the person received an
actual payment. A subsequent sixty‑month period begins as
provided in paragraph 1 of this subsection.
J. K. In calculating a
parent's or any other relative's benefit increase that arises from any general
increase that has been approved for all program recipients, the department
shall not consider a child or children born under the time periods listed in
subsection G of this section.
K. L. For the parents
or other relatives who have additional children for whom they receive no cash
assistance payment under subsection G of this section, the department shall
make any necessary program amendments or request any necessary federal waivers
to allow the parents or other relatives to earn income in an amount equal to
the disallowed cash assistance payment without affecting their eligibility for
assistance.
L. M. The director
shall adopt rules:
1. To implement this section including rules to
define the investigatory steps which must be taken to confirm that an act of
sexual assault or incest led to the birth of a dependent child or children.
2. That require the department to inform both
verbally and in writing the parents and other relatives who are receiving
assistance under this article of the specific family planning services that are
available to them while they are enrolled as eligible persons in the Arizona
health care cost containment system.
M. N. Nothing
in this section shall be construed to prevent an otherwise eligible child who
is not included in the family's calculation of benefits under this article from
being eligible for coverage under title 36, chapter 29 or for any services that
are directly linked to eligibility for the temporary assistance for needy
families program.
N. O. Assistance
shall not be denied or terminated under this article because the
principal wage earner works one hundred or more hours per month.
O. P. The department shall
include all income from every source available to the person requesting cash
assistance, except income that is required to be disregarded by this subsection
and as determined by the department in rules. For the amount of
income that is received from employment, each month every employed person is
entitled to receive an earned income disregard of ninety dollars plus an
additional thirty per cent of the remaining earned income. A
household that includes an employed person is entitled to an earned income
disregard equal to the actual amount billed to the household for the care of an
adult or child dependent household member, up to two hundred dollars a month
for a child under two years of age and up to one hundred seventy‑five
dollars a month for each other dependent. This dependent care
disregard is allowed only if the expense is necessary to allow the household
member to become or remain employed or to attend postsecondary training or
education that is preparatory to employment.
P. Q. Any parent or other
relative who applies for or receives cash assistance under this article on
behalf of a dependent child who is between six and sixteen years of age shall
ensure that the child is enrolled in and attending school. An initial
applicant is ineligible for benefits until the applicant's dependent children
are verified to be enrolled in and attending an educational program. The
department of education shall assist the department of economic security in
obtaining verification of school enrollment and attendance. The director of
the department of economic security may adopt rules for granting good cause
exceptions from this subsection. The department of economic security
shall sanction a recipient who fails, without good cause, to ensure school
enrollment and attendance according to section 46‑300.
Q. R. Any parent or
other relative who applies for or receives cash assistance under this section
on behalf of a dependent child shall ensure that the child is immunized in
accordance with the schedule of immunizations pursuant to section 36‑672.
The director of the department of economic security may adopt rules for
granting good cause exceptions from this subsection. The department
of economic security shall sanction a recipient, in accordance with section 46‑300,
who fails, without good cause, to obtain the required immunizations for a
dependent child unless the recipient submits to the department of economic
security the documentation described in section 15‑873. END_STATUTE
Sec. 17. Section 46-300, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:
46‑30046-300. Sanctions
A. The department shall impose a series of graduated
sanctions as described in subsection C of this section for any noncompliance
with:
1. The child support enforcement efforts required by
section 46‑292, subsection C unless good cause is established as provided
in section 46‑292, subsections E and F.
2. The work activities requirements described in
section 46‑299, unless good cause is established as provided in section
46‑299, subsection H and department
rules.
3. The school enrollment and attendance provisions requirements of section 46‑292,
subsection P Q.
4. The immunization requirements of section 46-292,
subsection Q R.
B. Noncompliance with one or more of the
requirements listed in subsection A of this section during any calendar month
is deemed to be a month of noncompliance and shall result in the sanctions
prescribed in subsection C of this section. The department shall
impose these graduated sanctions even if the instances of noncompliance do not
occur in consecutive months.
C. The department shall impose the following
sanctions:
1. For the first instance of noncompliance, the
department shall reduce the household's cash assistance grant by twenty-five
per cent for one month.
2. For a second instance of noncompliance that
occurs in a month other than the month in which the first noncompliance
occurred, the department shall reduce the household's cash assistance grant by
fifty per cent for one month.
3. For a third instance of noncompliance that occurs
in a month other than the month in which the second noncompliance occurred and
any instance of noncompliance thereafter, the department shall terminate the
household's cash assistance grant for at least one month or until the household
complies.”
Renumber to conform
Page 30, line 26, strike the third comma insert “:
1.”
Between lines 29 and 30, insert:
“2. For two years after the effective date of this
act to implement the provisions of section 46-292, subsection I, Arizona Revised Statutes, as amended by
this act.”
Amend title to conform