[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 5171 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 5171
To authorize competitive grants for the establishment of HOPE Accounts
Pilot Projects and HOPE Action Plans Pilot Projects, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
September 25, 2024
Mrs. Gillibrand introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To authorize competitive grants for the establishment of HOPE Accounts
Pilot Projects and HOPE Action Plans Pilot Projects, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Health, Opportunity, and Personal
Empowerment Act of 2024'' or ``HOPE Act of 2024''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) In 2022, according to the Department of Agriculture,
44,151,000 individuals in the United States (including
13,394,000 children) lived in food insecure households.
(2) Food hardship continues to be high, even after the
official end of the COVID-19 public health emergency, with the
Household Pulse Survey of the Bureau of the Census finding
that, between March 1 and April 1, 2024, 23,220,357 individuals
in the United States did not have enough to eat either often or
sometimes.
(3) In 2022, according to the Bureau of the Census,
37,920,000 individuals in the United States (including
11,149,000 children) lived below the Federal poverty line. The
majority of these individuals living in poverty were working
people, children, older individuals, veterans, and individuals
with disabilities.
(4) Many low-income individuals work multiple jobs and,
contrary to common misconceptions, if unemployed, they spend a
great deal of time looking for work. They often travel by
public transportation, laboriously making multiple connections
to shuttle between home, work, social service agencies, houses
of worship, and grocery stores. Low-income individuals living
in rural and suburban areas far from work and without adequate
public transportation rely upon vehicles to get to work, but
these vehicles are often less reliable secondhand vehicles that
often break down. From traveling greater distances between
available jobs and livable areas with affordable housing
options, seeking out scarce childcare options that fit a tight
budget and a constrained travel schedule, and caring for
elderly parents or grandparents because a senior living
facility is not financially realistic, low-income individuals
have little spare time.
(5) While government safety net programs help tens of
millions of individuals avoid starvation, homelessness, and
other outcomes even more dreadful than everyday poverty, there
are significant obstacles that those seeking and maintaining
government assistance face for as long as they are eligible.
Qualified applicants are often required to travel significant
distances to multiple government offices, preparing and
submitting piles of nearly identical paperwork to access the
different government assistance programs. Even when the
application process begins online, the eligible applicant is
often still required to physically follow up with each
government office with physical copies, for near identical
meetings. As a result, many low-income people are actually
unaware of all the government benefits for which they are
eligible, reducing the amount of help going to individuals in
need by tens of billions of dollars every year. The lines in
these offices can seem endless, and sometimes clients need to
wait outside for hours in the worst kinds of weather. Many
offices do not have weekend or night hours, so an applicant is
at risk of losing wages when often their only option is to
apply for government help during work hours.
(6) Each year, many vital government programs go
underutilized because eligible beneficiaries are hindered by
obtrusive, time consuming, and repetitive application barriers.
In fiscal year 2019, according to the Department of
Agriculture, 18 percent of all people eligible for the
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (referred to in this
paragraph as ``SNAP''), 23 percent of the ``working poor''
eligible for SNAP, and 68 percent of adults over 60 who were
eligible for SNAP failed to participate in such program.
According to the Department of Agriculture, the overall
coverage rate of pregnant women, infants, and children up to
age 5 eligible for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program
for Women, Infants, and Children (commonly known as ``WIC'')
declined from 55 percent in 2016 to 50 percent in 2020. In
fiscal year 2023, according to the Department of Agriculture,
47 percent of children in the United States who received meals
through the National School Lunch Program did not received
meals through the School Breakfast Program. In 2022, 8 percent
of individuals in the United States lacked health insurance for
the entire year, according to the Bureau of the Census. The
Internal Revenue Service estimates that one in 5 low-income
United States workers eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit
do not claim it.
(7) The United States has hundreds of thousands of
nonprofit groups providing high-quality and much needed social
services, but it is nearly impossible for struggling people to
determine which of those organizations provide services they
need, whether the organization is conveniently located, and for
which services they are eligible. If they do determine that a
nonprofit organization (or multiple nonprofit organizations)
could help, they need to take yet more time to visit each one.
(8) Since many government and nonprofit programs require
frequent reapplications and recertifications, a low-income
individual often has to repeat the same endless and frustrating
process.
(9) Technology has fundamentally revamped the lives of most
individuals, usually for the better. According to the Pew
Research Center, 79 percent of adult individuals with incomes
of $30,000 or less have a smart phone as of 2023 (not because a
smart phone is a luxury but because it is an essential tool of
learning and work in modern United States) but they rarely can
use these devices to apply for benefits. Digital technology,
combined with policy improvements, can simplify the lives and
boost the long-term self-sufficiency of low-income individuals
in the United States.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Eligible entity.--The term ``eligible entity'' means a
State, unit of general purpose local government, Tribal
government, or an entity that represents a smaller geographical
area therein (including a neighborhood).
(2) HOPE.--The term ``HOPE'' means Health, Opportunity, and
Personal Empowerment.
(3) Individual with a disability.--The term ``individual
with a disability'' means an individual with a disability (as
defined in section 3 of the Americans with Disabilities Act of
1990 (42 U.S.C. 12102)).
(4) Nonprofit organization.--The term ``nonprofit
organization'' means an organization described in section
501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and exempt from
tax under section 501(a) of such Code.
(5) Older individual.--The term ``older individual'' has
the meaning given such term in section 102 of the Older
Americans Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3002).
(6) Qualified business or nonprofit organization.--The term
``qualified business or nonprofit organization'' means an
entity that--
(A) is--
(i) a private business; or
(ii) a nonprofit organization;
(B) is based in the United States; and
(C) has relevant, successful experience in
technology.
(7) Secretaries.--The term ``Secretaries'' means the
Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Secretary of
Agriculture, and the Secretary of Housing and Urban
Development, acting collaboratively (except as otherwise
provided in this Act).
(8) Target population.--The term ``target population''
includes an individual who--
(A) earns an individual or household income below
200 percent of the Federal poverty line;
(B) suffers from food insecurity;
(C) earns insufficient individual or household
income to ensure food security or economic security;
(D) lives in a rural, suburban, or urban community
that suffers from high rates of poverty, hunger, or
food insecurity;
(E) is homeless;
(F) receives (or recently received) assistance
under a State program funded under part A of title IV
of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 601 et seq.),
relating to temporary assistance for needy families;
(G) is eligible for benefits under any Federal
nutrition assistance program or Federal antipoverty
program; or
(H) is formerly a youth in transition from foster
care or the juvenile detention facilities.
SEC. 4. COMPETITIVE GRANTS FOR PILOT PROJECTS.
(a) In General.--For each of fiscal years 2025 through 2030, the
Secretaries shall make grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible
entities to aid target populations through carrying out a HOPE Accounts
Pilot Project described in subsection (b) or a HOPE Action Plans Pilot
Project described in subsection (c).
(b) HOPE Accounts Pilot Project.--A HOPE Accounts Pilot Project
shall enable individuals from target populations to establish through
cooperating banks, credit unions, or governmental or Tribal agencies
HOPE accounts for such individuals--
(1) to have their paychecks deposited directly in such
accounts;
(2) to use such accounts to increase savings that would be
matched with funds provided by government and private sources,
including individual development accounts;
(3) to use an account application on a smart phone to
easily locate and sign up for job training and placement
services online;
(4) to use any smart phone, digital tablet, or computer--
(A) to learn about the public and philanthropic
programs that provide benefits to such individuals,
including aid--
(i) to improve health, nutrition, job
training and placement, housing, and income;
and
(ii) to receive Federal and State tax
credits; and
(B) subject to applicable Federal, State, local, or
Tribal law and, in the case of private benefits, the
cooperation of the provider of such benefits, to
simultaneously apply for, submit eligibility documents
for, enroll in, and manage the use of such benefits at
once through the convenience of their device if such
individuals or their households are eligible for 1 or
more of such benefits;
(5) to receive--
(A) a basic smart phone, digital tablet, or
computer, if such individuals do not own a smart phone,
digital tablet, or computer; and
(B) subsidized internet Wi-Fi access;
(6) to obtain the access and information described in
paragraph (4) with assistance at libraries, government offices,
or nonprofit organizations if such individuals are
uncomfortable using internet technology themselves;
(7) if such individuals are older individuals or
individuals with a disability, to obtain access to the
information described in paragraph (4) through receiving home
visits with the assistance of government employees, employees
of nonprofit organizations, or participants in an AmeriCorps
program carried out under subtitle C of title I of the National
and Community Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12571 et seq.) or
under title II of the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973
(42 U.S.C. 5000 et seq.);
(8) to access health care information that specifies
medical benefits, and any out-of-pocket costs, for each of the
health plans for which such individuals may be eligible, and to
empower them, as practicable, to easily select the plan that
works best for them;
(9) to deposit in the account cash that is set aside for
education, job training, starting a business, or buying a home;
(10) in 1 central online account--
(A) to easily access and monitor the status,
amounts, and recertification deadlines for some or all
their benefits and savings; and
(B) to pay bills online, saving high check cashing
fees and enormous amounts of time;
(11) to budget their resources by using real-time cash flow
data and long-term financial planning data, including
calculating how much they would lose in interest on credit
cards versus how much they would gain in interest by saving
more;
(12) to access calendar and scheduling functions that
enable them to keep track of all job search, work, family, and
school obligations, as well as any social service filing or
appointment dates;
(13) to be protected by security and privacy systems so
that only such individuals, and not the government, nonprofit
organizations, or banking partners, would be able to see or
track private financial and appointment information; and
(14) notwithstanding other provisions of law, to easily and
clearly authorize their sharing of personal and financial
information with multiple government agencies, solely for the
purpose of those government agencies enabling those to apply
for and utilize government benefits.
(c) HOPE Action Plans Pilot Project.--A HOPE Action Plans Pilot
Project shall enable individuals from target populations to partner
with government and nonprofit organizations by entering into voluntary
agreements with such government and nonprofit organizations to carry
out HOPE action plans that--
(1) specify exactly how the parties to such plans will help
such individuals and their families earn, learn, and save
better in order to ensure greater economic opportunity for
themselves and their children by working together in a long-
term, positive relationship for the purpose of ensuring upward
mobility;
(2) could empower such individuals and their families to
better organize their time and focus their activities on
productive endeavors while providing them extra resources to do
so;
(3) could be short-term (a period of not more than 2 years)
and aimed at helping families achieve very basic goals, such as
avoiding homelessness and hunger;
(4) could be long-term (a period of more than 2 years) with
far more ambitious goals for upward mobility; and
(5) would require that participating individuals and their
families and participating government entities and nonprofit
organizations have equal rights to hold each other accountable
for plan outcomes and funding.
(d) Applications; Period of Grants.--
(1) In general.--The Secretaries shall each create an
application process for eligible entities to apply for a grant
under this section. To be eligible to receive a grant under
this section, an eligible entity shall submit to one of the
Secretaries an application--
(A) that contains a description of how the
applicant proposes to use the grant funds to implement
the components of a HOPE Accounts Pilot Project
described in subsection (b) or a HOPE Action Plans
Pilot Project described in subsection (c); and
(B) that is submitted in such form, at such time,
and containing such other information as the
Secretaries may require.
(2) Period.--A grant under this section shall be for a
period not to exceed 5 years.
(e) Form of Grants.--If a Secretary finds it appropriate, the
Secretary may use cooperative agreements, as described in section 6305
of title 31, United States Code, for purposes of making grants under
this section.
(f) Amount of Grant.--Grants made under this section shall range in
amounts from $250,000 to $3,000,000, and shall be proportionate to the
geographical size, project complexity, and number of individuals
participating in each project supported by the grant. Eligible entities
may receive grants made under this section by 2 or more of the
Secretaries. To the extent funds are available, the Secretaries shall
each make not fewer than 8 such grants annually.
(g) Distribution of Grants.--To the extent practicable, the
Secretaries shall make grants for pilot projects that operate
statewide, as well as pilot projects designed to serve specific rural,
urban, and suburban areas. To the extent practicable, pilot projects
for which grants are made shall be distributed among diverse
administrative regions of the Department of Housing and Urban
Development, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the
Department of Agriculture.
(h) Preference.--For purposes of making grants under this section,
preference shall be given to grants for pilot projects that--
(1) serve individuals in rural or urban communities that
are historically underserved and have a high rate of poverty;
(2) simultaneously carry out a HOPE Accounts Pilot Project
described in subsection (b) and a HOPE Action Plans Pi