LB341 LB341
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LEGISLATURE OF NEBRASKA
ONE HUNDRED SIXTH LEGISLATURE
FIRST SESSION
LEGISLATIVE BILL 341
Introduced by Arch, 14.
Read first time January 16, 2019
Committee: Health and Human Services
1 A BILL FOR AN ACT relating to social services; to amend sections 68-1206
2 and 68-1724, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska; to change
3 provisions relating to transitional child care assistance; and to
4 repeal the original sections.
5 Be it enacted by the people of the State of Nebraska,
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1 Section 1. Section 68-1206, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska, is
2 amended to read:
3 68-1206 (1) The Department of Health and Human Services shall
4 administer the program of social services in this state. The department
5 may contract with other social agencies for the purchase of social
6 services at rates not to exceed those prevailing in the state or the cost
7 at which the department could provide those services. The statutory
8 maximum payments for the separate program of aid to dependent children
9 shall apply only to public assistance grants and shall not apply to
10 payments for social services. As part of the provision of social services
11 authorized by section 68-1202, the department shall participate in the
12 federal child care assistance program under 42 U.S.C. 618, as such
13 section existed on January 1, 2013, and provide child care assistance to
14 families with incomes up to one hundred twenty-five percent of the
15 federal poverty level for FY2013-14 and one hundred thirty percent of the
16 federal poverty level for FY2014-15 and each fiscal year thereafter.
17 (2) As part of the provision of social services authorized by this
18 section and section 68-1202, the department shall participate in the
19 federal Child Care Subsidy program. In determining ongoing eligibility
20 for this program, ten percent of a household's gross earned income shall
21 be disregarded after twelve continuous months on the program and at each
22 subsequent redetermination. In determining ongoing At redetermination of
23 eligibility, if a family's income exceeds one hundred thirty percent of
24 the federal poverty level, the family shall continue to receive
25 transitional child care assistance through the remainder of the family's
26 eligibility period or for up to twenty-four consecutive months or until
27 the family income exceeds one hundred eighty-five percent of the state
28 median income as reported by the United States Bureau of the Census,
29 whichever occurs first. When the family's eligibility period ends, the
30 family shall continue to be eligible for transitional child care
31 assistance if the family's income is below one hundred eighty-five
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1 percent of the federal poverty level. The family shall receive
2 transitional child care assistance through the remainder of the
3 transitional eligibility period or until the family income exceeds
4 eighty-five percent of the state median income as reported by the United
5 States Bureau of the Census, whichever occurs first. federal poverty
6 level. If a family's income falls to one hundred thirty percent of the
7 federal poverty level or below, the twenty-four-month time limit in this
8 subsection shall cease to apply until the family becomes eligible for
9 transitional child care assistance. The amount of such child care
10 assistance shall be based on a cost-shared plan between the recipient
11 family and the state and shall be based on a sliding-scale methodology. A
12 recipient family may be required to contribute a percentage of such
13 family's gross income for child care that is no more than the cost-
14 sharing rates in the transitional child care assistance program as of
15 January 1, 2015, for those no longer eligible for cash assistance as
16 provided in section 68-1724. Initial program eligibility standards shall
17 not be impacted by the provisions of this subsection.
18 (3) In determining the rate or rates to be paid by the department
19 for child care as defined in section 43-2605, the department shall adopt
20 a fixed-rate schedule for the state or a fixed-rate schedule for an area
21 of the state applicable to each child care program category of provider
22 as defined in section 71-1910 which may claim reimbursement for services
23 provided by the federal Child Care Subsidy program, except that the
24 department shall not pay a rate higher than that charged by an individual
25 provider to that provider's private clients. The schedule may provide
26 separate rates for care for infants, for children with special needs,
27 including disabilities or technological dependence, or for other
28 individual categories of children. The schedule may also provide tiered
29 rates based upon a quality scale rating of step three or higher under the
30 Step Up to Quality Child Care Act. The schedule shall be effective on
31 October 1 of every year and shall be revised annually by the department.
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1 Sec. 2. Section 68-1724, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska, is
2 amended to read:
3 68-1724 (1) Cash assistance shall be provided for a period or
4 periods of time not to exceed a total of sixty months for recipient
5 families with children subject to the following:
6 (a) If the state fails to meet the specific terms of the self-
7 sufficiency contract developed under section 68-1719, the sixty-month
8 time limit established in this section shall be extended;
9 (b) The sixty-month time period for cash assistance shall begin
10 within the first month of eligibility;
11 (c) When no longer eligible to receive cash assistance, assistance
12 shall be available to reimburse work-related child care expenses even if
13 the recipient family has not achieved economic self-sufficiency. The
14 amount of such assistance shall be based on a cost-shared plan between
15 the recipient family and the state which shall provide assistance up to
16 one hundred eighty-five percent of the federal poverty level for up to
17 twenty-four months. A recipient family may be required to contribute up
18 to twenty percent of such family's gross income for child care. It is the
19 intent of the Legislature that transitional health care coverage be made
20 available on a sliding-scale basis to individuals and families with
21 incomes up to one hundred eighty-five percent of the federal poverty
22 level if other health care coverage is not available; and
23 (d) The self-sufficiency contract shall be revised and cash
24 assistance extended when there is no job available for adult members of
25 the recipient family. It is the intent of the Legislature that available
26 job shall mean a job which results in an income of at least equal to the
27 amount of cash assistance that would have been available if receiving
28 assistance minus unearned income available to the recipient family.
29 The department shall develop policy guidelines to allow for cash
30 assistance to persons who have received the maximum cash assistance
31 provided by this section and who face extreme hardship without additional
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1 assistance. For purposes of this section, extreme hardship means a
2 recipient family does not have adequate cash resources to meet the costs
3 of the basic needs of food, clothing, and housing without continuing
4 assistance or the child or children are at risk of losing care by and
5 residence with their parent or parents.
6 (2) Cash assistance conditions under the Welfare Reform Act shall be
7 as follows:
8 (a) Adults in recipient families shall mean individuals at least
9 nineteen years of age living with and related to a child eighteen years
10 of age or younger and shall include parents, siblings, uncles, aunts,
11 cousins, or grandparents, whether the relationship is biological,
12 adoptive, or step;
13 (b) The payment standard shall be based upon family size;
14 (c) The adults in the recipient family shall ensure that the minor
15 children regularly attend school. Education is a valuable personal
16 resource. The cash assistance provided to the recipient family may be
17 reduced when the parent or parents have failed to take reasonable action
18 to encourage the minor children of the recipient family ages sixteen and
19 under to regularly attend school. No reduction of assistance shall be
20 such as may result in extreme hardship. It is the intent of the
21 Legislature that a process be developed to insure communication between
22 the case manager, the parent or parents, and the school to address issues
23 relating to school attendance;
24 (d) Two-parent families which would otherwise be eligible under
25 section 43-504 or a federally approved waiver shall receive cash
26 assistance under this section;
27 (e) For minor parents, the assistance payment shall be based on the
28 minor parent's income. If the minor parent lives with at least one
29 parent, the family's income shall be considered in determining
30 eligibility and cash assistance payment levels for the minor parent. If
31 the minor parent lives independently, support shall be pursued from the
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1 parents of the minor parent. If the absent parent of the minor's child is
2 a minor, support from his or her parents shall be pursued. Support from
3 parents as allowed under this subdivision shall not be pursued when the
4 family income is less than three hundred percent of the federal poverty
5 guidelines; and
6 (f) For adults who are not biological or adoptive parents or
7 stepparents of the child or children in the family, if assistance is
8 requested for the entire family, including the adults, a self-sufficiency
9 contract shall be entered into as provided in section 68-1719. If
10 assistance is requested for only the child or children in such a family,
11 such children shall be eligible after consideration of the family's
12 income and if (i) the family cooperates in pursuing child support and
13 (ii) the minor children of the family regularly attend school.
14 Sec. 3. Original sections 68-1206 and 68-1724, Reissue Revised
15 Statutes of Nebraska, are repealed.
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Statutes affected:
Introduced: 68-1206, 68-1724