WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE
2024 REGULAR SESSION
Introduced House Bill 5585
By Delegate Burkhammer [Introduced February 12, 2024; Referred to the Committee on Health and Human Resources then the Judiciary]
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1 A BILL to amend and reenact §9-9-9 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to
2 removing the requirement of seeking child support in cases of kinship placements for
3 benefits under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
ARTICLE 9. WV WORKS ACT.
§9-9-9. Personal responsibility contract.
1 (a)(1) Every eligible adult beneficiary and work eligible individual shall participate in a
2 program orientation, family assessments and in the development, and subsequent revisions, of a
3 personal responsibility contract. The contract shall be defined based on the program time limits,
4 support services available, work requirements and family assessments.
5 (2) The participant's contract shall include the following requirements:
6 (A) That the participant develop and maintain, with the appropriate health care provider, a
7 schedule of preventive care for his or her dependent child or children, including routine
8 examinations and immunizations;
9 (B) Assurance of school attendance for school-age children under his or her care;
10 (C) Assurance of properly supervised child care, including after-school care;
11 (D) Establishment of paternity or active pursuit of child support, or both, if applicable and if
12 considered necessary: and Provided, That any person seeking benefits who is acting as a kinship
13 or other relative placement shall not be required to seek child support for the child or children on
14 whose behalf these benefits are sought: Provided, however, That nothing in this section prevents
15 the West Virginia Department of Human Services or a person providing a kinship or other relative
16 placement from seeking child support for children placed in a kinship or other relative placement;
17 (E) Nutrition or other counseling, parenting or family-planning classes.
18 (3) If the participant is a teenage parent, he or she may work, but the contract shall include
19 the requirements that the participant:
20 (A) Remain in an educational activity to complete high school, obtain a general
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21 equivalency diploma or obtain vocational training and make satisfactory scholastic progress;
22 (B) Attend parenting classes or participate in a mentorship program, or both, if appropriate;
23 and
24 (C) Live at home with his or her parent or guardian or in some other adult-supervised
25 arrangements if he or she is an unemancipated minor.
26 (4) If the participant is under the age of twenty years and does not have a high school
27 diploma or its equivalent, the contract shall include requirements to participate in mandatory
28 education or training which, if the participant is unemployed, may include a return to high school,
29 with satisfactory scholastic progress required.
30 (b) In order to receive cash assistance, the participant shall enter into a personal
31 responsibility contract. If the participant refuses to sign the personal responsibility contract, the
32 participant and family members are ineligible to receive cash assistance: Provided, That a
33 participant who alleges that the terms of a personal responsibility contract are inappropriate based
34 on his or her individual circumstances may request and shall be provided a fair and impartial
35 hearing in accordance with administrative procedures established by the department and due
36 process of law. A participant who signs a personal responsibility contract or complies with a
37 personal responsibility contract does not waive his or her right to request and receive a hearing
38 under this subsection.
39 (c) Personal responsibility contracts shall be drafted by the department on a case-by-case
40 basis; take into consideration the individual circumstances of each beneficiary; reviewed and
41 reevaluated periodically, but not less than on an annual basis; and, in the discretion of the
42 department, amended on a periodic basis.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to remove the requirement of seeking child support in
cases of kinship placements for benefits under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.
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Statutes affected:
Introduced Version: 9-9-9