HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES STAFF ANALYSIS
BILL #: CS/CS/HB 1267 Economic Self-sufficiency
SPONSOR(S): Appropriations Committee, Children, Families & Seniors Subcommittee, Anderson and others
TIED BILLS: IDEN./SIM. BILLS: SB 7052
REFERENCE ACTION ANALYST STAFF DIRECTOR or
BUDGET/POLICY
CHIEF
1) Children, Families & Seniors Subcommittee 16 Y, 0 N, As CS Osborne Brazzell
2) Appropriations Committee 28 Y, 0 N, As CS Potvin Pridgeon
3) Health & Human Services Committee 19 Y, 0 N Osborne Calamas
SUMMARY ANALYSIS
Public assistance programs help low-income families meet their basic needs, such as housing, food, and
utilities. The most commonly utilized public assistance programs in Florida include Medicaid, the Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or food assistance, and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
(TANF) Temporary Cash Assistance (TCA) program. In Florida, the majority of the participants in these
programs are children.
While the goal of public assistance programs is, generally, to ensure that a family’s basic needs are met and
facilitate economic advancement, families often exit programs before they are truly capable of maintaining self-
sufficiency. A benefit cliff occurs when a modest increase in wages results in a net loss of income due to the
reduction in or loss of public benefits that follows. Benefit cliffs create a financial disincentive for low-income
individuals to earn more income due to the destabilization and uncertainty that often results from a loss in
benefits, especially when the benefit lost was essential to a parent’s ability to reliably work.
The most significant benefit cliffs occur when a family loses housing or child care assistance. While a family is
receiving housing and/or child care benefits, the costs for these necessities are a defined, affordable share of
the family’s income, but those expenses can significantly increase when the family enters the private market.
CS/CS/HB 1267 revises various components of the TANF, SNAP, and School Readiness (SR) programs. The
bill creates case management as a transitional benefit for families transitioning off of TCA. The bill allows TCA
recipients to count hours spent on GED coursework toward their work requirement. The bill also requires the
use of a financial forecasting tool to assist people receiving public benefits in navigating self-sufficiency.
The bill requires the Department of Children and Families to expand mandatory SNAP Employment and
Training participation to include adults ages 18-59, who do not have children under age 18 in the home or
otherwise qualify for an exemption.
The bill creates the School Readiness Subsidy Program to provide financial assistance to families who no
longer qualify for school readiness program funding. The new program will mitigate the child care cliff effect for
families transitioning to economic self-sufficiency.
For Fiscal Year 2024-2025, the bill provides $23,076,259 in nonrecurring funds from the General Revenue
Fund to the Department of Education to implement the School Readiness Subsidy Program. See Fiscal
Comments.
The bill provides an effective date of July 1, 2024.
This docum ent does not reflect the intent or official position of the bill sponsor or House of Representatives .
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DATE: 2/15/2024
 FULL ANALYSIS
I. SUBSTANTIVE ANALYSIS
A. EFFECT OF PROPOSED CHANGES:
Background
Public Assistance Programs
Public assistance programs help low-income families meet their basic needs, such as housing, food,
and utilities.1 The social safety net for American families depends on the coordination of a complex
patchwork of federal, state, and local funding and program administration. 2 Through various programs,
public assistance is capable of helping families keep children in their family home through economic
difficulties 3 and reducing the material hardship that has been linked to negative outcomes in children; 4
as well as driving the economy in times of market downturns 5 and supporting the career advancement
of low-income adults striving to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty.6 But while these outcomes
have been shown to be feasible, the positive impact of public assistance programs can be inhibited by
incongruent policies and the intricacies of overlapping federal programs.
The process of facilitating the broad, conceptual goals of public assistance programs involves several
federal programs with different levels of flexibility that allow the states to tailor the programs to their
own needy populations. The eligibility criteria and participation requirements for each program vary
dependent upon a combination of state and federal policy.
The most commonly utilized public assistance programs in Florida include Medicaid, the Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food assistance or food stamps, and the
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Temporary Cash Assistance (TCA) program. In
Florida, the majority of the participants in one or more of these programs are children. In May 2021, 54
percent of children in Florida were participating in at least one of these public assistance programs. 7
Barriers to Economic Self-Sufficiency
Benefit Cliffs
1 National Conference of State Legislatures. Introduction to Benefits Cliffs and Pub lic Assistance Programs (2023). Available at
https://www.ncsl.org/human-services/introduction-to-benefits-cliffs-and-public-assistance-programs (last visited January 17, 2024).
2 Brookings Institute. State Social Safety Net Policy: How are States Addressing Economic Need? (2023). Available at
https://www.brookings.edu/events/state-social-safety-net-policy-how-are-states-addressing-economic-need/ (last visited January 17,
2024).
3 Providing assistance to needy families so that children can be cared for in their own homes is one of the four purposes of the TANF
program. See, Office of Family Assistance. Ab out TANF (2022). Available at https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ofa/programs/tanf/about (last
visited January 17, 2024). See also, Gennetian, L. & Magnuson, K. Three Reasons Why Providing Cash to Families with Children is a
Sound Policy Investment (2022). Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Available at https://www.cbpp.org/research/income-
security/three-reasons-why-providing-cash-to-families-with-children-is-a-sound (last visited January 17, 2024).
4 Karpman, M., Gonzalez, D., Zuckerman, S., & Adams, G. What Explains the Widespread Material Hardships among Low-Income
Families with Children? (2018). Urban Institute. Available at
https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/99521/what_explains_the_widespread_material_hardship_among_low-
income_families_with_children_0.pdf (last visited January 17, 2024).
5 Vogel, S., Miller, C., & Ralston, K. Impact of USDA's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) on Rural and Urb an
Economies in the Aftermath of the Great Recession (2021). US Departm ent of Agriculture. Economic Research Service Economic
Research Report Numb er 296 (2021). Available at https://ssrn.com/abstract=3938336 (last visited January 17, 2024).
6 Duncan, G. & Holzer, H, Policies that Reduce Intergenerational Poverty (2023). The Brookings Institute. Available at
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/policies-that-reduce-intergenerational-poverty/ (last visited January 17, 2024).
7 Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA). Research Memorandum: Economic Self-Sufficiency,
Research Product 10. On file with the Health & Human Services Committee.
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 The broad goal underlying public assistance programs is to ensure that a family’s basic needs are met
during times of financial hardship and facilitate the economic advancement of low-income families;
however, families often exit programs before they are truly capable of maintaining self-sufficiency. A
benefit cliff occurs when a modest increase in wages results in a net loss of family resources due to the
reduction in or loss of public benefits that follows.8
Benefit cliffs create a financial disincentive for low-income individuals to earn more income due to the
destabilization and uncertainty that often results from a loss in benefits, especially when the benefit lost
was essential to a parent’s ability to work consistently, such as a child care subsidy. 9 The fear of an
impending benefit cliff can be sufficient to discourage career advancement. The complex nature of
public assistance programs contributes to workers struggling to understand the timing and magnitude
of benefits loss. This uncertainty, paired with economic insecurity, can prevent individuals from seeking
or accepting opportunities for career advancement.10
The most significant benefit cliffs occur when a family loses housing or child care assistance. While a
family is receiving housing and/or child care benefits, the costs for these necessities are a defined,
affordable share of the family’s income, but those expenses can skyrocket when the family enters the
private market where there are no controls on prices.11 The chart below reflects an example of a
family’s possible financial situation. A family receiving cash assistance and a child care subsidy can
experience a sudden, significant drop in net resources when their income makes them ineligible for
these benefits.
Benefits depicted: TCA and School Readiness for a family of 3 in Flagler County
Child Care
The lack of child care services presents a significant barrier to employment for the parents of small
children. It is estimated that only 44 percent of U.S. families with children under the age of 13 can
8 Altig, D., Ilin, E., Ruder, A., Terry, E. Benefits Cliffs and the Financial Incentives for Career Advancement: A Case Study of the Health
Care Services Career Pathway (2020). The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Available at https://www.atlantafed.org/community-
development/publications/discussion-papers/2020/01/31/01-benefits-cliffs-and-the-financial-incentives-for-career-advancement (last
visited January 16, 2024).
9 Id.
10 Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Career Ladder Identifier and Financial Forecaster (CLIFF). Available at
https://www.atlantafed.org/economic-mobility-and-resilience/advancing-careers-for-low-income-families/cliff-tool (last visited January
19, 2024).
11 Ettinger de Cuba, S. Cliff Effects and the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (2017). Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
Available at https://www.bostonfed.org/publications/communities-and-banking/2017/winter/cliff-effects-and-the-supplemental-nutrition-
assistance-program.aspx#ft7 (last visited January 16, 2024).
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 afford the full price of childcare without having to sacrifice other basic needs such as housing, food,
health care, and transportation.12
The lack of available affordable, appropriate, high-quality child care impacts how parents participate in
the workforce, as well as children’s cognitive and social development. Parents who work may have to
work fewer hours or turn down higher-paying jobs in order to remain eligible for child care assistance
programs, while other parents may elect to stay at home with small children when child care is not
accessible.13 There is a significant economic impact associated with parents opting out of the
workforce, or choosing to remain in lower-paying jobs, due to the inaccessibility of quality, affordable
child care.14
For parents who choose to remain in the workforce, the inability to afford high-quality child care can
have negative effects on children’s development. Parents may have to reduce their standard of living in
order to afford child care and continue to work; if this results in the sacrifice of adequate housing and
health care, this can adversely affect parents as well as children and lead to financial and psychological
stress.15 Alternatively, parents may choose lower-quality child care that is more affordable. The quality
of child care, however, matters for the healthy development of children at early ages.16 Low-quality
child care can adversely affect children’s task attentiveness and emotional regulation; 17 whereas high-
quality child care has been associated with positive outcomes such as fewer reports of problem
behaviors, higher cognitive performance, and higher language skills. 18
Education
A person’s level of educational attainment has a significant impact on the employment opportunities
available to that person and their capacity for upward economic mobility throughout their life. A person
who attained at least a high school credential, or the equivalent, 19 has access to further education and
professional development that are not available to individuals who did not complete high school. Higher
levels of educational attainment are associated with higher employment rates and higher median
earnings.20 For example, in 2022 the employment rate for adults ages 25 to 34 ranged from 61 percent
12 Birken, B., Ilin, E., Ruder, A., & Terry, E. Restructuring the Eligib ility Policies of the Child Care and Development Fund to Address
Benefit Cliffs and Affordab ility: Florida As a Case Study (2021). Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Available at
https://www.atlantafed.org/-/media/documents/community-development/publications/discussion-papers/2021/01-restructuring-the-
eligibility-policies-of-the-child-care-and-development-fund-to-address-benefit-cliffs-and-affordability-2021-06-18.pdf
13 Morrissey, T.W. Child care and parent lab or force participation: a review of the research literature (2017). Review of Economics of the
Household. 15, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11150-016-9331-3
14
For more information on this economic impact, see, Altig, D., Ilin, E., Ruder, A., & Terry, E. Benefits Cliffs and the Financial
Incentives for Career Advancement: A Case Study of a Health Care Career Pathway. (2020). Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
Available at https://www.atlantafed.org/community-development/publications/discussion-papers/2020/01/31/01-benefits-cliffs-and-the-
financial-incentives-for-career-advancement (last visited January 16, 2024); and Council of Economic Advisers. The Role of Affordab le
Child Care in Promoting Work Outside the Home. (2019). Available at
https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/wpcontent/uploads/2019/12/The -Role-of-Affordable-Child-Care-in-Promoting-Work-Outsidethe-
Home-1.pdf. (last visited January 19, 2024); See also, the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation and the Florida Cha mber of
Commerce Foundation. Untapped Potential in FL – How Childcare Impacts Florida’s Workforce Productivity and the State’s Economy
(2023). Available at https://www.flchamber.com/untappedpotentialfl (last visited February 14, 2024).
15 Supra, note 12.
16 Id.
17
Gialamas, A., Mittinty, M., Sawyer, M., Zubrick, S., & Lynch, J. Child Care Quality and Children's Cognitive and Socio-Emotional
Development: an Australian Longitudinal Study (2014). Early Child Development and Care 184 (7): 977–997.
18 National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). Early Child Care Research Netw ork. The NICHD Study of Early
Child Care and Youth Development (2005). Available at
https://www.nichd.nih.gov/sites/default/files/publications/pubs/docu ments/seccyd_06.pdf (last visited January 19, 2024).
19 The most commonly recognized equivalent to a high school diploma is the General Educational Development (GED) credential. GED
credentials are an alternative credential for individuals who did not compl ete high school. The GED is accepted by most colleges and
universities that require a high school diploma for admission, and most companies that have positions requiring a high school diploma
accept the GED as an alternative credential. For more information see, Stark, P. & Noel, A. Trends in High School Dropout and
Completion Rates in the United States: 1972-2012. (2015). US Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics.
Available at https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED557576 (last visited January 19, 2024).
20 US Department of Education. Report on the Condition of Education 2023 (2023). Available at
https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2023/2023144rev.pdf (last visited January 7, 2023).
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 among individuals who had not completed high school21 to 87 percent for those with a bachelor’s
degree or higher.22
The lack of a high school diploma, or the equivalent, complicates the transition from adolescence to
adulthood. Among young adults who do not pursue post-secondary education, the possession of a high
school diploma is associated with significantly more time spent employed during the early years of
adulthood.23 Additionally, the lack of a high school diploma or an equivalent credential is the top risk
factor for homelessness among young adults.24 There are a variety of other long-term negative
outcomes associated with dropping out of high school, such as lower median income, 25 higher rates of
criminal activity, higher rates of unemployment and incarceration, and poorer health. 26
At the individual level, there are a variety of