Helping Americans Succeed by Measuring Outcomes Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1490 To amend title IV–A of the Social Security Act, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 4, 2019 Mr. REED (for himself and Mrs. WALORSKI) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addi- tion to the Committee on Education and Labor, for a period to be subse- quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend title IV–A of the Social Security Act, and for other purposes. 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 ‘‘Helping Americans 4 Succeed by Measuring Outcomes Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. PROMOTING ACCOUNTABILITY BY MEASURING 6 WORK OUTCOMES. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 407 of the Social Security 8 Act (42 U.S.C. 607), as amended by subsection (c) of this 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:45 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1490.IH H1490 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1490 IH section, is amended by inserting before subsection (b) the 1 following: 2 ‘‘(a) PERFORMANCE ACCOUNTABILITY AND WORK 3 OUTCOMES.— 4 ‘‘(1) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this subsection 5 is to provide for the establishment of performance 6 accountability measures to assess the effectiveness of 7 States in increasing employment, retention, and ad- 8 vancement among families receiving assistance under 9 the State program funded under this part or any 10 other State program funded with qualified State ex- 11 penditures. 12 ‘‘(2) IN GENERAL.—A State to which a grant 13 is made under section 403 for a fiscal year shall 14 achieve the requisite level of performance on an indi- 15 cator described in paragraph (3)(B) of this sub- 16 section for the fiscal year. 17 ‘‘(3) MEASURING STATE PERFORMANCE.— 18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each State, in con- 19 sultation with the Secretary, shall collect and 20 submit to the Secretary the information nec- 21 essary to measure the level of performance of 22 the State for each indicator described in sub- 23 paragraph (B), for fiscal year 2020 and each 24 fiscal year thereafter, and the Secretary shall 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:45 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1490.IH H1490 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1490 IH use the information collected for fiscal year 1 2020 to establish the baseline level of perform- 2 ance for each State for each such indicator. 3 ‘‘(B) INDICATORS OF PERFORMANCE.— 4 The indicators described in this subparagraph, 5 for a fiscal year, are the following: 6 ‘‘(i) The percentage of individuals who 7 were work-eligible individuals as of the 8 time of exit from the program, who are in 9 unsubsidized employment during the 2nd 10 quarter after the exit. 11 ‘‘(ii) The percentage of individuals 12 who were work-eligible individuals as of the 13 time of exit from the program, who are in 14 unsubsidized employment during the 2nd 15 and 4th quarters after the exit. 16 ‘‘(iii) The median earnings of individ- 17 uals who were work-eligible individuals as 18 of the time of exit from the program, who 19 are in unsubsidized employment during the 20 2nd quarter after the exit. 21 ‘‘(iv) The percentage of individuals 22 who have not attained 24 years of age, are 23 attending high school or enrolled in an 24 equivalency program, and are work-eligible 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:45 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1490.IH H1490 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1490 IH individuals or were work-eligible individ- 1 uals as of the time of exit from the pro- 2 gram, who obtain a high school degree or 3 its recognized equivalent while receiving as- 4 sistance under the State program funded 5 under this part or within 1 year after the 6 exit. 7 ‘‘(C) LEVELS OF PERFORMANCE.— 8 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—For each State 9 submitting a State plan pursuant to sec- 10 tion 402(a), there shall be established, in 11 accordance with this subparagraph, levels 12 of performance for each of the indicators 13 described in subparagraph (B) of this 14 paragraph. 15 ‘‘(ii) WEIGHT.—The weight assigned 16 to such an indicator shall be the following: 17 ‘‘(I) 40 percent, in the case of 18 the indicator described in subpara- 19 graph (B)(i). 20 ‘‘(II) 25 percent, in the case of 21 the indicator described in subpara- 22 graph (B)(ii)(II). 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:45 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1490.IH H1490 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1490 IH ‘‘(III) 25 percent, in the case of 1 the indicator described in subpara- 2 graph (B)(iii). 3 ‘‘(IV) 10 percent, in the case of 4 the indicator described in subpara- 5 graph (B)(iv). 6 ‘‘(iii) AGREEMENT ON REQUISITE 7 PERFORMANCE LEVEL FOR EACH INDI- 8 CATOR.— 9 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—The Sec- 10 retary and the State shall jointly es- 11 tablish the requisite level of perform- 12 ance for the State with respect to 13 each indicator described in clause (ii), 14 for each of fiscal years 2020 through 15 2023, and in the case of each of fiscal 16 years 2021 through 2023, shall do so 17 before the beginning of the respective 18 fiscal year. 19 ‘‘(II) REQUIREMENTS IN ESTAB- 20 LISHING PERFORMANCE LEVELS.—In 21 establishing the requisite levels of per- 22 formance, the State and the Secretary 23 shall— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:45 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1490.IH H1490 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1490 IH ‘‘(aa) take into account how 1 levels involved compare with the 2 levels established for other 3 States; 4 ‘‘(bb) ensure the levels in- 5 volved are adjusted, using the ob- 6 jective statistical model referred 7 to in clause (v), based on— 8 ‘‘(AA) the differences 9 among States in economic 10 conditions, including dif- 11 ferences in unemployment 12 rates or employment losses 13 or gains in particular indus- 14 tries; 15 ‘‘(BB) the characteris- 16 tics of participants on entry 17 into the program, including 18 indicators of prior work his- 19 tory, lack of educational or 20 occupational skills attain- 21 ment, or other factors that 22 may affect employment and 23 earnings; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:45 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1490.IH H1490 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1490 IH ‘‘(cc) take into account the 1 extent to which the levels in- 2 volved promote continuous im- 3 provement in performance by 4 each State. 5 ‘‘(iv) REVISIONS BASED ON ECONOMIC 6 CONDITIONS AND INDIVIDUALS RECEIVING 7 ASSISTANCE DURING THE FISCAL YEAR.— 8 The Secretary shall, in accordance with the 9 objective statistical model referred to in 10 clause (v), revise the requisite levels of per- 11 formance for a State and a fiscal year to 12 reflect the economic conditions and charac- 13 teristics of the relevant individuals in the 14 State during the fiscal year. 15 ‘‘(v) STATISTICAL ADJUSTMENT 16 MODEL.—The Secretary shall use an objec- 17 tive statistical model to make adjustments 18 to the requisite levels of performance for 19 the economic conditions and characteristics 20 of the relevant individuals, and shall con- 21 sult with the Secretary of Labor to develop 22 a model that is the same as or similar to 23 the model described in section 24 116(b)(3)(A)(viii) of the Workforce Inno- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:45 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1490.IH H1490 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 1490 IH vation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 1 3141(b)(3)(A)(viii)). 2 ‘‘(vi) DEFINITION OF EXIT.—In this 3 subsection, the term ‘exit’ means, with re- 4 spect to a State program funded under 5 this part, ceases to receive assistance 6 under the program. 7 ‘‘(D) REGULATIONS.—In order to ensure 8 nationwide comparability of data, the Secretary, 9 after consultation with the Secretary of Labor 10 and with States, shall issue regulations gov- 11 erning the establishment of the performance ac- 12 countability system under this subsection and a 13 template for performance reports to be used by 14 all States.’’. 15 SEC. 3. TRANSITIONAL PHASE-OUT OF BENEFITS FOR FAMI- 16 LIES TO SUPPORT SUCCESS IN WORK. 17 Section 402(a)(1)(B) of the Social Security Act (42 18 U.S.C. 602(a)(1)(B)) is amended by adding at the end 19 the following: 20 ‘‘(vi) The document shall include a de- 21 scription of how the State allows for a 22 transitional period of benefits, such as 23 through temporary earned income dis- 24 regards or a gradual reduction in the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:45 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1490.IH H1490 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 1490 IH monthly benefit amount, for an individual 1 receiving assistance who obtains employ- 2 ment and becomes ineligible due to an in- 3 crease in income obtained through the em- 4 ployment or through an increase in 5 wages.’’. 6 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. 7 The amendments made by this Act shall take effect 8 on October 1, 2019. 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:45 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1490.IH H1490 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS