Coordinating Assistance for TANF Recipients Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1476 To provide for the conduct of demonstration projects to provide coordinated case management services for TANF recipients. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 28, 2019 Mrs. WALORSKI (for herself, Mr. SMITH of Nebraska, and Mr. WENSTRUP) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means A BILL To provide for the conduct of demonstration projects to provide coordinated case management services for TANF recipients. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Coordinating Assist- 4 ance for TANF Recipients Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. COORDINATED CASE MANAGEMENT DEMONSTRA- 6 TION PROJECTS. 7 Section 403 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 8 603) is amended by adding at the end the following: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:07 Mar 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1476.IH H1476 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 1476 IH ‘‘(c) COORDINATED CASE MANAGEMENT DEM- 1 ONSTRATION PROJECTS.— 2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall make 3 grants to States to conduct demonstration projects 4 designed to implement and evaluate strategies to 5 provide coordinated case management to help indi- 6 viduals receiving assistance under a State program 7 funded under this part or any other State program 8 funded with qualified State expenditures (as defined 9 in section 409(a)(7)(B)(i)) increase their employ- 10 ment and self-sufficiency. 11 ‘‘(2) APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS.—The Sec- 12 retary shall require each State that applies for a 13 grant under this paragraph to do the following: 14 ‘‘(A) Describe how, using the funds pro- 15 vided under this paragraph, the State or its 16 designee will ensure an individual responsibility 17 plan is developed in accordance with section 18 408(b) for each recipient referred to in para- 19 graph (1) of this subsection. 20 ‘‘(B) Describe how the State or its des- 21 ignee will ensure the development of this plan 22 is coordinated with other programs and agen- 23 cies providing benefits and services to the indi- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:07 Mar 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1476.IH H1476 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 1476 IH vidual to help the recipient increase the employ- 1 ment and self-sufficiency of the recipient. 2 ‘‘(C) Describe how the State or its des- 3 ignee will ensure the delivery of the benefits 4 and services to the recipient (which may include 5 the use of home visiting models). 6 ‘‘(D) Describe how the State or its des- 7 ignee will meet with the recipient at least 8 monthly to review the employment status of the 9 recipient and status of the participation of the 10 recipient in other activities, the benefits and 11 services the recipient is receiving, and the 12 progress of the recipient toward meeting the 13 goals specified in the individual responsibility 14 plan of the recipient. 15 ‘‘(3) USE OF FUNDS.—A State to which a grant 16 is made under this subsection may use the grant for 17 the following purposes: 18 ‘‘(A) To support coordinated case man- 19 agers in completing the activities specified in 20 paragraph (2). 21 ‘‘(B) To provide short-term transitional 22 benefits and services to individuals who, due to 23 increased employment or earnings, may face 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:07 Mar 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1476.IH H1476 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 1476 IH disincentives to increasing work or earnings due 1 to the phase-out or loss of certain benefits. 2 ‘‘(C) To ensure that recipients of services 3 under the demonstration project have a choice 4 between two or more coordinated case manage- 5 ment service providers (which may include man- 6 aged care organizations) that demonstrate expe- 7 rience and expertise in case management, in- 8 cluding the development of individual assess- 9 ment plans and coordinated service manage- 10 ment across various programs. 11 ‘‘(D) To improve coordination between pro- 12 grams serving recipients who are part of the 13 demonstration project. 14 ‘‘(E) To improve coordination between in- 15 formation technology and other systems to de- 16 liver better benefits or services to the recipient, 17 except that not more than 10 percent of the 18 grant amount may be used for this purpose. 19 ‘‘(4) EVALUATION.—The Secretary, in consulta- 20 tion with each State conducting a demonstration 21 project under this subsection, shall conduct a high- 22 quality evaluation of the demonstration project in 23 accordance with the following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:07 Mar 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1476.IH H1476 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 1476 IH ‘‘(A) EVALUATOR QUALIFICATIONS.—The 1 Secretary may not enter into a contract with an 2 evaluator unless the evaluator has demonstrated 3 experience in conducting rigorous evaluations of 4 program effectiveness including, where available 5 and appropriate, well-implemented randomized 6 controlled trials. 7 ‘‘(B) METHODOLOGIES TO BE USED.—The 8 evaluation of a demonstration project shall use 9 experimental designs using random assignment 10 or other reliable, evidence-based research meth- 11 odologies that allow for the strongest possible 12 causal inferences when random assignment is 13 not feasible. 14 ‘‘(C) PUBLIC DISCLOSURE.—The Secretary 15 shall publish the results of the evaluation on the 16 website of the Department of Health and 17 Human Services in a location easily accessible 18 by the public. 19 ‘‘(D) LIMITATION ON COST OF EVALUA- 20 TIONS.—For evaluations under this paragraph, 21 the Secretary may not obligate more than 20 22 percent of the funds reserved under paragraph 23 (6) for each fiscal year. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:07 Mar 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1476.IH H1476 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 1476 IH ‘‘(5) RECOMMENDATIONS TO CONGRESS.—The 1 Secretary shall submit recommendations to the Con- 2 gress on ways to improve case management and bet- 3 ter coordinate benefits and services across programs. 4 ‘‘(6) FUNDING.—Of the amounts made avail- 5 able to carry out subsection (b) for fiscal year 2021 6 and each succeeding fiscal year, the Secretary shall 7 reserve $300,000,000 to carry out this subsection. 8 ‘‘(7) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Funds pro- 9 vided to a State under this subsection for a fiscal 10 year shall be expended by the State in the fiscal year 11 or in the succeeding fiscal year.’’. 12 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. 13 The amendment made by this Act shall take effect 14 on October 1, 2020. 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:07 Mar 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1476.IH H1476 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS