I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 692
To provide for racial equity and fair treatment under the program of block 
grants to States for temporary assistance for needy families. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 11, 2003
Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas (for herself, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Mr. 
TOWNS, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. OWENS, Mr. 
CUMMINGS, Ms. BALDWIN, Ms. NORTON, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. LEE, 
Ms. KILPATRICK, Mr. CLYBURN, Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island, and Mr. 
LANTOS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Ways and Means 
A BILL 
To provide for racial equity and fair treatment under the 
program of block grants to States for temporary assist-
ance for needy families.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Racial Equity and Fair 
Treatment Act of 2003’’. 
SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
The table of contents of this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title.
Sec. 2. Table of contents. 
Sec. 3. Amendment of Social Security Act. 
TITLE I—ENSURING EQUAL ACCESS 
Sec. 101. Competitive grants to improve access to various benefit programs. 
Sec. 102. Assessments for TANF recipients. 
Sec. 103. Revision of work activities. 
Sec. 104. Provision of interpretation and translation services. 
TITLE II—STRENGTHENING FAIR TREATMENT AND 
ANTIDISCRIMINATION PROTECTIONS 
Subtitle A—Strengthening and Streamlining of Antidiscrimination Protections 
Sec. 201. Requirement to establish expedited process for discrimination com-
plaints. 
Sec. 202. Establishment of standardized, fair sanction process. 
Sec. 203. Requirement to provide opportunity to appeal adverse decision. 
Sec. 204. Notification of potential services and protections. 
Sec. 204. Penalties against individuals for unjustified refusal to work; addi-
tional justifications. 
Sec. 205. Requirement to provide information to individuals who are, or are at 
risk of being, sanctioned. 
Sec. 206. Nondiscrimination. 
Sec. 207. Ban on diversion of potential applicants for assistance. 
Subtitle B—Related Provisions 
Sec. 211. Ban on penalizing entire family for misconduct of 1 family member. 
Sec. 212. Eliminate double jeopardy for recipients with past drug offenses. 
Sec. 213. 5-year time limit. 
TITLE III—FAIRNESS FOR IMMIGRANTS 
Sec. 301. Treatment of aliens under the TANF program. 
Sec. 302. Treatment of aliens under the SSI program. 
Sec. 303. Inclusion of participation in English-as-a-second-language program 
among permissible work activities. 
TITLE IV—ENCOURAGE RACIAL EQUALITY 
Sec. 401. Racial performance measure as evaluation criterion in determining 
high performance bonus. 
Sec. 402. Ban on violating antidiscrimination law. 
Sec. 403. Data collection and reporting. 
Sec. 404. Access to welfare; welfare outcomes. 
Sec. 405. Longitudinal studies of TANF recipients.
SEC. 3. AMENDMENT OF SOCIAL SECURITY ACT. 
Except as otherwise expressly provided, wherever in 
this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms 
of an amendment to, or repeal of, a section or other provi-
sion, the amendment or repeal shall be considered to be 
made to a section or other provision of the Social Security 
Act. 
TITLE I—ENSURING EQUAL 
ACCESS 
SEC. 101. COMPETITIVE GRANTS TO IMPROVE ACCESS TO 
VARIOUS BENEFIT PROGRAMS. 
(a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this section are 
to—
(1) inform low-income families with children 
about programs available to families leaving welfare 
and other programs to support low-income families 
with children; 
(2) provide incentives to States and counties to 
improve and coordinate application and renewal pro-
cedures for low-income family with children support 
programs; and 
(3) track the extent to which low-income fami-
lies with children receive the benefits and services 
for which they are eligible. 
(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) LOCALITY.—The term ‘‘locality’’ means a 
municipality that does not administer a program 
funded under part A of title IV of the Social Secu-
rity Act (in this section referred to as ‘‘TANF’’).
(2) LOW-INCOME FAMILY WITH CHILDREN SUP-
PORT PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘low-income family with 
children support program’’ means a program de-
signed to provide low-income families with assistance 
or benefits to enable the family to become self-suffi-
cient and includes—
(A) TANF; 
(B) the food stamp program established 
under the Food Stamp Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 
2011 et seq.) (in this section referred to as 
‘‘food stamps’’); 
(C) the medicaid program funded under 
title XIX of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
1396 et seq.); 
(D) the State children’s health insurance 
program (SCHIP) funded under title XXI of 
the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1397aa et 
seq.); 
(E) the child care program funded under 
the Child Care Development Block Grant Act of 
1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858 et seq.);
(F) the child support program funded 
under part D of title IV of the Social Security 
Act (42 U.S.C. 651 et seq.);
(G) the earned income tax credit under 
section 32 of the Internal Revenue Code of 
1986; 
(H) the low-income home energy assistance 
program (LIHEAP) established under the Low-
Income Home Energy Assistance Act of 1981 
(42 U.S.C 8621 et seq.); 
(I) the special supplemental nutrition pro-
gram for women, infants, and children (WIC) 
established under section 17 of the Child Nutri-
tion Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1786); 
(J) programs under the Workforce Invest-
ment Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 2801 et seq.); and 
(K) any other Federal or State funded pro-
gram designed to provide family and work sup-
port to low-income families with children. 
(3) NONPROFIT.—The term ‘‘nonprofit’’, as ap-
plied to a school, agency, organization, or institution 
means a school, agency, organization, or institution 
owned and operated by 1 or more nonprofit corpora-
tions or associations, no part of the net earnings of 
which inures, or may lawfully inure, to the benefit 
of any private shareholder or individual. 
(4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
(5) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 
the several States of the United States, the District 
of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, 
American Samoa, Guam, and the United States Vir-
gin Islands. 
(c) AUTHORIZATION OF GRANTS.—
(1) STATES AND COUNTIES.—
(A) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary may 
award grants to States and counties to pay the 
Federal share of the costs involved in improving 
the administration of low-income family with 
children support programs, including simpli-
fying application, recertification, reporting, and 
verification rules, and promoting participation 
in such programs. 
(B) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share 
shall be 80 percent. 
(2) NONPROFITS AND LOCALITIES.—The Sec-
retary may award grants to nonprofits and localities 
to promote participation in low-income family with 
children support programs, and distribute informa-
tion about and develop service centers for low-in-
come family with children support programs. 
(d) GRANT APPROVAL CRITERIA.—