H. R. 2491—728
‘‘(C) USE OF GRANT.—Each Indian tribe to which a
grant is made under this paragraph shall use the grant
for the purpose of operating a program to make work
activities available to members of the Indian tribe.
‘‘(D) APPROPRIATION.—Out of any money in the Treas-
ury of the United States not otherwise appropriated, there
are appropriated $7,638,474 for each fiscal year specified
in subparagraph (A) for grants under subparagraph (A).
‘‘(b) 3-YEAR TRIBAL FAMILY ASSISTANCE PLAN.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any Indian tribe that desires to receive
a tribal family assistance grant shall submit to the Secretary
a 3-year tribal family assistance plan that—
‘‘(A) outlines the Indian tribe’s approach to providing
welfare-related services for the 3-year period, consistent
with this section;
‘‘(B) specifies whether the welfare-related services pro-
vided under the plan will be provided by the Indian tribe
or through agreements, contracts, or compacts with inter-
tribal consortia, States, or other entities;
‘‘(C) identifies the population and service area or areas
to be served by such plan;
‘‘(D) provides that a family receiving assistance under
the plan may not receive duplicative assistance from other
State or tribal programs funded under this part;
‘‘(E) identifies the employment opportunities in or near
the service area or areas of the Indian tribe and the manner
in which the Indian tribe will cooperate and participate
in enhancing such opportunities for recipients of assistance
under the plan consistent with any applicable State stand-
ards; and
‘‘(F) applies the fiscal accountability provisions of sec-
tion 5(f)(1) of the Indian Self-Determination and Education
Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450c(f)(1)), relating to the submis-
sion of a single-agency audit report required by chapter
75 of title 31, United States Code.
‘‘(2) APPROVAL.—The Secretary shall approve each tribal
family assistance plan submitted in accordance with paragraph
(1).
‘‘(3) CONSORTIUM OF TRIBES.—Nothing in this section shall
preclude the development and submission of a single tribal
family assistance plan by the participating Indian tribes of
an intertribal consortium.
‘‘(c) MINIMUM WORK PARTICIPATION REQUIREMENTS AND TIME
LIMITS.—The Secretary, with the participation of Indian tribes,
shall establish for each Indian tribe receiving a grant under this
section minimum work participation requirements, appropriate time
limits for receipt of welfare-related services under the grant, and
penalties against individuals—
‘‘(1) consistent with the purposes of this section;
‘‘(2) consistent with the economic conditions and resources
available to each tribe; and
‘‘(3) similar to comparable provisions in section 406(d).
‘‘(d) EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE.—Nothing in this section shall
preclude an Indian tribe from seeking emergency assistance from
any Federal loan program or emergency fund.
H. R. 2491—729
‘‘(e) ACCOUNTABILITY.—Nothing in this section shall be con-
strued to limit the ability of the Secretary to maintain program
funding accountability consistent with—
‘‘(1) generally accepted accounting principles; and
‘‘(2) the requirements of the Indian Self-Determination and
Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450 et seq.).
‘‘(f) PENALTIES.—
‘‘(1) Subsections (a)(1), (a)(6), and (b) of section 408, shall
apply to an Indian tribe with an approved tribal assistance
plan in the same manner as such subsections apply to a State.
‘‘(2) Section 408(a)(3) shall apply to an Indian tribe with
an approved tribal assistance plan by substituting ‘meet mini-
mum work participation requirements established under section
411(c)’ for ‘comply with section 406(a)’.
‘‘(g) DATA COLLECTION
AND REPORTING.—Section 410 shall
apply to an Indian tribe with an approved tribal family assistance
plan.
‘‘(h) SPECIAL RULE FOR INDIAN TRIBES IN ALASKA.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provision of
this section, and except as provided in paragraph (2), a tribal
organization in the State of Alaska that receives a tribal family
assistance grant under this section shall use the grant to oper-
ate a program in accordance with the requirements comparable
to the requirements applicable to the program of the State
of Alaska funded under this part. Comparability of programs
shall be established on the basis of program criteria developed
by the Secretary in consultation with the State of Alaska and
the tribal organizations.
‘‘(2) WAIVER.—An Indian tribe described in paragraph (1)
may apply to the appropriate State authority to receive a waiver
of the requirement of paragraph (1).
‘‘SEC. 412. RESEARCH, EVALUATIONS, AND NATIONAL STUDIES.
‘‘(a) RESEARCH.—The Secretary shall conduct research on the
benefits, effects, and costs of operating different State programs
funded under this part, including time limits relating to eligibility
for assistance. The research shall include studies on the effects
of different programs and the operation of such programs on welfare
dependency, illegitimacy, teen pregnancy, employment rates, child
well-being, and any other area the Secretary deems appropriate.
The Secretary shall also conduct research on the costs and benefits
of State activities under section 406.
‘‘(b) 
DEVELOPMENT
AND
EVALUATION
OF
INNOVATIVE
APPROACHES TO REDUCING WELFARE DEPENDENCY AND INCREASING
CHILD WELL-BEING.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may assist States in devel-
oping, and shall evaluate, innovative approaches for reducing
welfare dependency and increasing the well-being of minor
children living at home with respect to recipients of assistance
under programs funded under this part. The Secretary may
provide funds for training and technical assistance to carry
out the approaches developed pursuant to this paragraph.
‘‘(2) EVALUATIONS.—In performing the evaluations under
paragraph (1), the Secretary shall, to the maximum extent
feasible, use random assignment as an evaluation methodology.
‘‘(c) DISSEMINATION
OF INFORMATION.—The Secretary shall
develop innovative methods of disseminating information on any
H. R. 2491—730
research, evaluations, and studies conducted under this section,
including the facilitation of the sharing of information and best
practices among States and localities through the use of computers
and other technologies.
‘‘(d) ANNUAL RANKING OF STATES AND REVIEW OF MOST AND
LEAST SUCCESSFUL WORK PROGRAMS.—
‘‘(1) ANNUAL RANKING OF STATES.—The Secretary shall rank
annually the States to which grants are paid under section
402 in the order of their success in placing recipients of assist-
ance under the State program funded under this part into
long-term private sector jobs, reducing the overall welfare case-
load, and, when a practicable method for calculating this
information becomes available, diverting individuals from for-
mally applying to the State program and receiving assistance.
In ranking States under this subsection, the Secretary shall
take into account the average number of minor children living
at home in families in the State that have incomes below
the poverty line and the amount of funding provided each
State for such families.
‘‘(2) ANNUAL REVIEW OF MOST AND LEAST SUCCESSFUL WORK
PROGRAMS.—The Secretary shall review the programs of the
3 States most recently ranked highest under paragraph (1)
and the 3 States most recently ranked lowest under paragraph
(1) that provide parents with work experience, assistance in
finding employment, and other work preparation activities and
support services to enable the families of such parents to leave
the program and become self-sufficient.
‘‘(e) ANNUAL RANKING OF STATES AND REVIEW OF ISSUES RELAT-
ING TO OUT-OF-WEDLOCK BIRTHS.—
‘‘(1) ANNUAL RANKING OF STATES.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall annually rank
States to which grants are made under section 402 based
on the following ranking factors:
‘‘(i) ABSOLUTE OUT-OF-WEDLOCK RATIOS.—The ratio
represented by—
‘‘(I) the total number of out-of-wedlock births
in families receiving assistance under the State
program under this part in the State for the most
recent fiscal year for which information is avail-
able; over
‘‘(II) the total number of births in families
receiving assistance under the State program
under this part in the State for such year.
‘‘(ii) NET
CHANGES
IN
THE
OUT-OF-WEDLOCK
RATIO.—The difference between the ratio described in
subparagraph (A)(i) for the most recent fiscal year
for which information is available and such State’s
ratio determined for the preceding year.
‘‘(2) ANNUAL REVIEW.—The Secretary shall review the pro-
grams of the 5 States most recently ranked highest under
paragraph (1) and the 5 States most recently ranked the lowest
under paragraph (1).
‘‘(f) STATE-INITIATED STUDIES.—A State shall be eligible to
receive funding to evaluate the State’s family assistance program
funded under this part if—
‘‘(1) the State submits a proposal to the Secretary for
such evaluation,
H. R. 2491—731
‘‘(2) the Secretary determines that the design and approach
of the evaluation is rigorous and is likely to yield information
that is credible and will be useful to other States, and
‘‘(3) unless otherwise waived by the Secretary, the State
provides a non-Federal share of at least 10 percent of the
cost of such study.
‘‘(g) FUNDING OF STUDIES AND DEMONSTRATIONS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Out of any money in the Treasury of
the United States not otherwise appropriated, there are appro-
priated $15,000,000 for each fiscal year specified in section
402(a)(1) for the purpose of paying—
‘‘(A) the cost of conducting the research described in
subsection (a);
‘‘(B) the cost of developing and evaluating innovative
approaches for reducing welfare dependency and increasing
the well-being of minor children under subsection (b);
‘‘(C) the Federal share of any State-initiated study
approved under subsection (f); and
‘‘(D) an amount determined by the Secretary to be
necessary to operate and evaluate demonstration projects,
relating to this part, that are in effect or approved under
section 1115 as of September 30, 1995, and are continued
after such date.
‘‘(2) ALLOCATION.—Of the amount appropriated under para-
graph (1) for a fiscal year—
‘‘(A) 50 percent shall be allocated for the purposes
described in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (1),
and
‘‘(B) 50 percent shall be allocated for the purposes
described in subparagraphs (C) and (D) of paragraph (1).
‘‘SEC. 413. STUDY BY THE CENSUS BUREAU.
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Bureau of the Census shall expand
the Survey of Income and Program Participation as necessary to
obtain such information as will enable interested persons to evalu-
ate the impact of the amendments made by subtitle A of the
Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1995 on a
random national sample of recipients of assistance under State
programs funded under this part and (as appropriate) other low-
income families, and in doing so, shall pay particular attention
to the issues of out-of-wedlock birth, welfare dependency, the begin-
ning and end of welfare spells, and the causes of repeat welfare
spells.
‘‘(b) APPROPRIATION.—Out of any money in the Treasury of
the United States not otherwise appropriated, there are appro-
priated $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999,
and 2000 for payment to the Bureau of the Census to carry out
subsection (a).
‘‘SEC. 414. WAIVERS.
‘‘(a) CONTINUATION OF WAIVERS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in paragraph (2),
if any waiver granted to a State under section 1115 or otherwise
which relates to the provision of assistance under a State
plan under this part is in effect or approved by the Secretary
as of October 1, 1995, the amendments made by the Personal
Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1995 shall not
apply with respect to the State before the expiration (deter-