I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2991 

To encourage States to engage more TANF recipients in activities leading 

to employment and self-sufficiency, and to simplify State administration 

of TANF work requirements. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 9, 2015 

Mr. RENACCI (for himself, Mr. TIBERI, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, and Mr. KILMER) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 

Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Education and 

the Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To encourage States to engage more TANF recipients in 

activities leading to employment and self-sufficiency, and 

to simplify State administration of TANF work requirements. 

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 ‘‘Preparing More Wel5 fare Recipients for Work Act’’. 

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1 SEC. 2. IMPROVING COUNTING OF REQUIRED HOURS OF 

2 PARTICIPATION IN WORK ACTIVITIES. 

3 (a) ELIMINATION OF DISTINCTION BETWEEN CORE

4 AND NON-CORE WORK ACTIVITIES.—Section 

5 407(c)(1)(A) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

6 607(c)(1)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘, not fewer than 

7 20 hours per week of which are attributable to an activity 

8 described in paragraph (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), 

9 or (12) of subsection (d)’’. 

10 (b) ALLOWING STATES TO RECEIVE PARTIAL CRED11 IT FOR PARTIAL ENGAGEMENT.—Section 407(c)(1)(B) of 

12 such Act (42 U.S.C. 607(c)(1)(B)) is amended to read as 

13 follows: 

14 ‘‘(B) PARTIAL CREDIT FOR FAMILIES PAR15 TICIPATING FOR LESS THAN THE MINIMUM

16 HOURS REQUIRED.—If a family receiving assist17 ance under the State program funded under 

18 this part includes an adult or minor child head 

19 of household receiving the assistance who has 

20 participated in work activities for an average of 

21 15 hours (or 10 hours, in the case of a single 

22 parent specified in paragraph (2)(B)) per week 

23 during a month, the family shall count as 0.5 

24 of a family for purposes of calculating the num25 ber described in subsection (b)(1)(B)(i) for the 

26 month.’’. 

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1 (c) STATE OPTION TO REQUEST ALTERNATE WORK

2 PARTICIPATION RATE CALCULATION.—Section 407(a) of 

3 such Act (42 U.S.C. 607(a)) is amended by adding at the 

4 end the following: 

5 ‘‘(3) STATE OPTION TO REQUEST ALTERNATE

6 WORK PARTICIPATION RATE CALCULATION.— 

7 ‘‘(A) APPLICATION.—A State may apply to 

8 the Secretary to apply subparagraph (C) with 

9 respect to the State. 

10 ‘‘(B) APPROVAL OF APPLICATION.—The 

11 Secretary may approve the application if the 

12 State demonstrates to the Secretary (in accord13 ance with such guidelines as the Secretary shall 

14 establish) that the State has systems and mech15 anisms in place to accurately record individual 

16 hours of participation in work activities that ac17 curately reflects the number of hours of partici18 pation of the individuals required to participate 

19 in the activities. 

20 ‘‘(C) ALTERNATIVE CALCULATION.—A 

21 State whose application under this paragraph is 

22 approved by the Secretary shall be considered 

23 to be in compliance with this subsection for a 

24 month in a fiscal year if the sum of the total 

25 number of hours during which the recipients of 

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1 assistance under the State program funded 

2 under this part who are required to be partici3 pating in work activities during the month have 

4 participated in the activities is not less than the 

5 percentage equal to the minimum participation 

6 rate in effect under paragraph (1) for the fiscal 

7 year, multiplied by the sum of— 

8 ‘‘(i) 30 times the number of the re9 cipients who are so required to participate 

10 for an average of at least 30 hours per 

11 week in the month (as determined by the 

12 State); and 

13 ‘‘(ii) 20 times the number of the re14 cipients who are so required to participate 

15 for an average of at least 20 hours per 

16 week in the month (as so determined).’’. 

17 (d) MODIFICATIONS TO COUNTING JOB SEARCH AS

18 WORK.—Section 407(c)(2)(A) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

19 607(c)(2)(A)) is amended to read as follows: 

20 ‘‘(A) COUNTING OF JOB SEARCH AS

21 WORK.—After the participation of an individual 

22 in an activity described in subsection (d)(6) of 

23 this section of a State program funded under 

24 this part or any other State program funded 

25 with qualified State expenditures (as defined in 

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1 section 409(a)(7)(B)(i)) has been counted for 3 

2 months as participation in a work activity, par3 ticipation by the individual in such an activity 

4 shall count towards not more than half of the 

5 hours of participation in work activities by the 

6 individual.’’. 

7 (e) MODIFICATION OF RULE PROVIDING FOR PAR8 TICIPATION BY REASON OF SECONDARY SCHOOL AT9 TENDANCE.—Section 407(c)(2)(C) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

10 607(c)(2)(C)) is amended— 

11 (1) in the subparagraph heading, by striking 

12 ‘‘SINGLE TEEN HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD OR MARRIED

13 TEEN’’ and inserting ‘‘INDIVIDUAL’’; 

14 (2) by striking ‘‘is married or a head of house15 hold and’’ and 

16 (3) by striking ‘‘20 years’’ and inserting ‘‘26 

17 years’’. 

18 (f) REQUIREMENT THAT STATE MEET WITH INDI19 VIDUAL INVOLVED IN JOB READINESS ACTIVITIES FOR

20 MORE THAN 3 MONTHS.—Section 407(c)(2) of such Act 

21 (42 U.S.C. 607(c)(2)) is amended by adding at the end 

22 the following: 

23 ‘‘(E) PERIODIC MEETING WITH INDIVID24 UALS PARTICIPATING IN JOB READINESS AS25 SISTANCE.—After an individual has participated 

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1 for 3 months in an activity described in sub2 section (d)(12) of this section of a State pro3 gram funded under this part or any other State 

4 program funded with qualified State expendi5 tures (as defined in section 409(a)(7)(B)(i)), 

6 the individual shall not be considered to be en7 gaged in work by reason of participation in 

8 such an activity until the State has met with 

9 the individual, and certified that continued par10 ticipation in such an activity is necessary to 

11 help prepare the individual for, or support the 

12 individual in, employment.’’. 

13 (g) PROVIDING CHILD CARE ASSISTANCE TO COM14 MUNITY SERVICE PARTICIPANT REPLACED BY JOB READ15 INESS ASSISTANCE AS SEPARATE WORK ACTIVITY.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 407(d)(12) of such 

17 Act (42 U.S.C. 607(d)) is amended to read as fol18 lows: 

19 ‘‘(12) job readiness assistance.’’. 

20 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

21 407(d)(6) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 607(d)) is amend22 ed by striking ‘‘and job readiness assistance’’. 

23 (h) DOUBLING OF LIMIT ON COUNTING VOCATION

24 EDUCATIONAL TRAINING AS WORK.—Section 407(d)(8) 

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1 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 607(d)(8)) is amended by striking 

2 ‘‘12’’ and inserting ‘‘24’’. 

3 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

4 The amendments made by this Act shall take effect 

5 on October 1, 2015. 

Æ 

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