I

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4964

To provide grants for demonstration projects to coordinate the administration

of services to needy families with children.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

AUGUST 12, 1994

Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mr. FROST, Mr. FOGLIETTA, Mr. HASTINGS,

Mrs. MEEK, Mr. EHLERS, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. DE LUGO, Mr. FARR of

California, Mr. ENGEL, and Ms. WOOLSEY) introduced the following bill;

which was referred jointly to the Committees on Ways and Means, Agriculture, Education and Labor, Energy and Commerce, and Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs

A BILL

To provide grants for demonstration projects to coordinate

the administration of services to needy families with children.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa4 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

5 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

6 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Family Service Center

7 Act of 1994’’.
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1 SEC. 2. DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS TO COORDINATE THE

2 ADMINISTRATION OF SERVICES TO NEEDY

3 FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—In order to coordinate the admin5 istration of programs that provide services to needy fami6 lies with children, the Secretary of Health and Human

7 Services (in this section referred to as ‘‘the Secretary’’)

8 may authorize States to conduct demonstration projects

9 in accordance with this section.

10 (b) DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT.—Each State desiring

11 to conduct a demonstration project under this section may

12 submit to the Secretary an application that contains a de13 scription of the measures to be employed to coordinate the

14 administration of the following programs:

15 (1) AFDC PROGRAM.—The program of aid and

16 services for needy families with children under the

17 State plan approved under part A of title IV of the

18 Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 601 et seq.).

19 (2) CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT PRO20 GRAM.—The child support enforcement program car21 ried out under the State plan approved under part

22 D of title IV of the Social Security Act.

23 (3) FOOD STAMP PROGRAM.—The food stamp

24 program, as defined in section 3(h) of the Food

25 Stamp Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 2012(h)).
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1 (4) WIC PROGRAM.—The special supplemental

2 food program for women, infants, and children au3 thorized under section 17 of the Child Nutrition Act

4 of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1786).

5 (5) MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH BLOCK

6 GRANT PROGRAM.—The maternal and child health

7 block grant program under title V of the Social Se8 curity Act.

9 (6) MEDICAID PROGRAM.—Medical assistance

10 furnished under the State plan approved under title

11 XIX of the Social Security Act.

12 (7) SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT PRO13 GRAMS.—Substance abuse treatment programs

14 under title V of the Public Health Service Act and

15 subpart II of part B of title XIX of such Act.

16 (8) JOBS PROGRAMS.—Programs under the Job

17 Training Partnership Act (29 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.)

18 and other Federal job training programs.

19 (9) MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAMS.—Mental

20 health service programs under title V of the Public

21 Health Service Act and subpart I of part B of title

22 XIX of such Act.

23 (10) HOUSING PROGRAMS.—Programs for hous24 ing assistance administered by the Secretary of
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1 Housing and Urban Development or the Secretary of

2 Agriculture.

3 (11) PROGRAMS FOR THE DEVELOPMENTALLY

4 DISABLED.—Programs for developmentally disabled

5 individuals under the Developmental Disabilities As6 sistance and Bill of Rights Act.

7 (12) OTHER PROGRAMS.—Any other program

8 administered by the State, which offers services for

9 children, youth, or needy families with children, that

10 the State considers appropriate to include in the

11 demonstration project.

12 (c) PROJECTS AIMED AT A DIVERSITY OF CLI13 ENTS.—The Secretary shall ensure that, as a group, the

14 demonstration projects authorized to be conducted under

15 this section serve urban, rural, and linguistically and cul16 turally diverse clients and include the broadest possible

17 range of services.

18 (d) PROJECT REQUIREMENTS.—Each State author19 ized to conduct a demonstration project under this section

20 shall—

21 (1) ensure that the project provides—

22 (A) each client with a single place and or23 ganization providing access to, and information

24 and counseling about, the services offered by

25 the programs described in subsection (b);
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1 (B) access points in clients’ neighborhoods

2 for communication with service providers re3 garding their applications and benefits through

4 electronic data processing and communications

5 technology; and

6 (C) approaches to integrating the adminis7 tration of services that are linguistically and

8 culturally appropriate to the clientele of the

9 project; and

10 (2) conduct the project in accordance with such

11 other requirements as the Secretary may prescribe.

12 (e) GRANTS; DURATION OF PROJECTS.—

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall make

14 grants to each State whose application to conduct a

15 demonstration project under this subsection is ap16 proved by the Secretary, to assist the State in carry17 ing out the project for a period of not more than 3

18 years.

19 (2) RENEWAL.—The Secretary may extend for

20 not more than 3 additional years the authority to

21 conduct any demonstration project under this sec22 tion, upon approval by the Secretary based on the

23 effectiveness of the project in achieving the objec24 tives of this section.
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1 (3) TIMING OF GRANT PAYMENTS.—The Sec2 retary may pay grants under this section in advance

3 or in installments, as the Secretary determines ap4 propriate.

5 (f) STATE EVALUATION OF PROJECT.—

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each State that conducts a

7 demonstration project under this section shall, as a

8 part of the project—

9 (A) conduct an evaluation of the effective10 ness and outcomes of the project in improving

11 the coordination and delivery, and in reducing

12 the administrative costs, of services to needy

13 families with children; and

14 (B) cooperate with the Secretary in the

15 conduct of national evaluations of the effective16 ness and cost savings of all such demonstration

17 projects.

18 (2) REPORT.—

19 (A) IN GENERAL.—Each State authorized

20 to conduct a demonstration project under this

21 section shall submit to the Secretary a report

22 on the results of the evaluation described in

23 paragraph (1).

24 (B) TIMING.—The report required by sub25 paragraph (A) with respect to a demonstration
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1 project shall be submitted within 6 months

2 after the earlier of—

3 (i) the completion of the project; or

4 (ii) the end of the 3-year period that

5 begins with the commencement of the

6 project.

7 (g) STATE REPORT ON IMPEDIMENTS TO DELIVERY

8 OF SERVICES, AND ON MEASURES TAKEN TO ELIMINATE

9 OR REDUCE SUCH IMPEDIMENTS.—Each State authorized

10 to conduct a demonstration project under this section shall

11 submit to the Secretary at such time as the Secretary may

12 prescribe a report that describes—

13 (1) the administrative policies and laws of the

14 Federal Government and of the State or of a politi15 cal subdivision of the State, that the State has iden16 tified as impediments to the coordination of the de17 livery of services to needy families with children; and

18 (2) the measures that the State has taken or

19 intends to take to eliminate or reduce the impedi20 ments described in paragraph (1) that are attrib21 utable to administrative policies and laws of the

22 State or of a political subdivision of the State.

23 (h) FEDERAL EVALUATIONS.—

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall conduct

25 evaluations of the implementation and outcomes of
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1 the demonstration projects authorized under this

2 section.

3 (2) ANNUAL REPORTS.—Not later than 3 years

4 after the date of the enactment of this section, and

5 annually thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to

6 the Congress a report the results of the evaluations

7 conducted under paragraph (1) that includes the

8 recommendations of the Secretary as to any statu9 tory changes that would improve integration of serv10 ices provided through programs included in the dem11 onstration projects conducted under this section.

12 (3) FUNDING.—The Secretary may reserve up

13 to 5 percent of the amounts appropriated for grants

14 under this section for the purpose of conducting and

15 reporting on evaluations of the demonstration

16 projects authorized under this section.

17 (i) NO WAIVER AUTHORITY.—This section shall not

18 be construed to authorize the Secretary or appropriate

19 agency head to waive or modify any requirement of any

20 program described in subsection (b).

21 (j) STATE DEFINED.—As used in this section, the

22 term ‘‘State’’ includes the several States, the District of

23 Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Com24 monwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the United
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1 States Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the

2 Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.

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