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104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 161

To discourage States and local governments from providing general welfare

assistance to able-bodied individuals unless such individuals are participating in workfare programs.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 4, 1995

Mr. SOLOMON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Ways and Means

A BILL

To discourage States and local governments from providing

general welfare assistance to able-bodied individuals unless such individuals are participating in workfare programs.

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Workfare Incentive

5 Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. AMENDMENT.

2 Section 403 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.

3 603) is amended by inserting after subsection (b) the fol4 lowing new subsection:

5 ‘‘(c)(1)(A) If the Secretary determines—

6 ‘‘(i) that a State is operating a general welfare

7 assistance program described in paragraph (3) dur8 ing a calendar quarter, or

9 ‘‘(ii) that more than 20 percent of the local gov10 ernments within a State that provide general welfare

11 assistance are operating programs described in para12 graph (3) during a calendar quarter,

13 the Secretary shall reduce by 50 percent the amount that

14 such State would otherwise receive under subsection (a)

15 or (l) with respect to expenditures made by such State

16 during such quarter for the administration of the aid to

17 families with dependent children program under this part.

18 ‘‘(B) If a State receives a reduced payment in a cal19 endar quarter as a result of a determination by the Sec20 retary under subparagraph (A)(ii)—

21 ‘‘(i) such State shall reduce for such quarter

22 the payments made to each State office administer23 ing the aid to families with dependent children pro24 gram which is located within the jurisdiction of the

25 local governments described in subparagraph (A)(ii)

26 by an amount equal to 50 percent of the Federal
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1 share of the administrative expenses of such office;

2 and

3 ‘‘(ii) such State shall not, as a result of such

4 reduced payment, reduce for such quarter the pay5 ments made to any State office administering the

6 aid to families with dependent children program

7 which is not located within the jurisdiction of the

8 local governments described in subparagraph (A)(ii).

9 ‘‘(2) If the Secretary determines that any local gov10 ernment within a State that is not described in paragraph

11 (1)(A) is operating a general welfare assistance program

12 described in paragraph (3) during a calendar quarter, the

13 State shall reduce for such quarter the payments made

14 to any State office administering the aid to families with

15 dependent children program which is located within the

16 jurisdiction of such local government by an amount equal

17 to 50 percent of the Federal share of the administrative

18 expenses of such office and such amount shall be paid by

19 the State to the Secretary.

20 ‘‘(3) A general welfare assistance program described

21 in this paragraph is a general welfare assistance program

22 that—

23 ‘‘(A) provides benefits to able-bodied individuals

24 (as determined by the Secretary) who have attained

25 age 18 and who have no dependents (hereafter re-
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1 ferred to in this subsection as ‘able-bodied individ2 uals’);

3 ‘‘(B) does not have a workfare program that

4 meets the participation rate requirements of para5 graph (4); and

6 ‘‘(C) does not meet any other requirements set

7 forth in regulations issued by the Secretary.

8 ‘‘(4)(A) The participation rate requirements of this

9 paragraph are as follows:

10 ‘‘(i) In the case of a workfare program which

11 is first implemented after the date of the enactment

12 of this subsection, the participation rate for such

13 program shall be—

14 ‘‘(I) for the second year that the program

15 is operated, 10 percent; and

16 ‘‘(II) for any succeeding year that the pro17 gram is operated, the program’s participation

18 rate for the preceding year plus 2 percent.

19 ‘‘(ii) In the case of a workfare program which

20 is operating on the date of the enactment of this

21 subsection, the participation rate for such program

22 shall be—

23 ‘‘(I) for 1995—
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1 ‘‘(aa) in the case of a program with a

2 participation rate below 10 percent for

3 1994, 10 percent; and

4 ‘‘(bb) in the case of a program with a

5 participation rate between 10 percent and

6 50 percent for 1994, the program’s partici7 pation rate for 1994 plus 2 percent; and

8 ‘‘(II) for any succeeding year that the pro9 gram is operated, the program’s participation

10 rate for the preceding year plus 2 percent.

11 ‘‘(B) The participation rates required under clauses

12 (i) and (ii) of subparagraph (A) shall not exceed 50 per13 cent.

14 ‘‘(C) For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘par15 ticipation rate’ means the percentage of able-bodied indi16 viduals receiving general welfare assistance who are par17 ticipating in a workfare program.

18 ‘‘(5) Within 5 years after the date of the enactment

19 of this subsection, the Secretary shall conduct a review

20 of State and local participation rates and submit to Con21 gress a report containing any of the Secretary’s rec22 ommendations with respect to the participation rate re23 quirements of paragraph (4).’’.
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1 SEC. 3. APPLICATION OF AMENDMENT.

2 (a) Except as provided in subsection (b), the amend3 ment made by section 2 shall apply to calendar quarters

4 beginning on or after July 1, 1995.

5 (b) In the case of a State which the Secretary deter6 mines requires State legislation (other than legislation au7 thorizing or appropriating funds) in order to comply with

8 the amendments made by section 2, the State shall not

9 be regarded as failing to comply with such amendments

10 solely on the basis of its failure to meet the requirements

11 of such amendments before the first day of the first cal12 endar quarter beginning after the close of the first regular

13 session of the State legislature that begins after the date

14 of the enactment of this Act. For purposes of the preced15 ing sentence, in the case of a State that has a 2-year legis16 lative session, each year of such session shall be deemed

17 to be a separate regular session of the State legislature.

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