I
103D CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4605
To amend the Social Security Act, the Food Stamp Act, and other relevant
statutes to redesign the program of aid to families with dependent
children to establish a program that provides time-limited, transitional
assistance, prepares individuals for and requires employment, prevents
dependency, overhauls the child support enforcement mechanism at both
the State and Federal levels, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 21, 1994
Mr. GIBBONS (for himself, Mr. FORD of Michigan, Mr. FORD of Tennessee,
Mr. MARTINEZ, Mr. GEPHARDT, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. ACKERMAN, and Mr.
CRAMER) introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly to the
Committees on Ways and Means, Agriculture, and Education and Labor
A BILL
To amend the Social Security Act, the Food Stamp Act,
and other relevant statutes to redesign the program of
aid to families with dependent children to establish a
program that provides time-limited, transitional assist-
ance, prepares individuals for and requires employment,
prevents dependency, overhauls the child support enforce-
ment mechanism at both the State and Federal levels,
and for other purposes.
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 ‘‘Work and Responsibil-
ity Act of 1994’’.
SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS; REFERENCES.
(a) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—This Act contains the
following titles and sections:
TITLE I—JOBS
Sec. 101. Requirement to participate in enhanced JOBS program.
Sec. 102. Establishment of enhanced JOBS program under part F.
Sec. 103. Amendments pertaining to services and activities under JOBS pro-
gram.
Sec. 104. Twenty-four month limit.
Sec. 105. Responsibilities of assistant secretary for family support.
TITLE II—WORK
Sec. 201. Establishment of program.
Sec. 202. Federal funding for the JOBS and WORK programs; participation
requirements.
Sec. 203. Administration of the JOBS and WORK programs.
Sec. 204. Special provisions relating to Indian tribes and Alaska native organi-
zations.
Sec. 205. Special rules for the Territories.
Sec. 206. Training and employment for non-custodial parents.
Sec. 207. Federal tax treatment of work wages.
TITLE III—CHILD CARE
Sec. 301. Child care for JOBS and WORK program participants and at-risk
families.
Sec. 302. Related amendments.
Sec. 303. Limitation of at-risk child care to families ineligible for recipient or
transitional child care.
Sec. 304. Option to consolidate State responsibility for child care.
Sec. 305. Funding for quality improvement and licensing activities benefitting
children receiving AFDC or at-risk child care.
Sec. 306. Funding of child care for families at risk of welfare dependency.
Sec. 307. Supplement to income disregard.
TITLE IV—PROVISIONS WITH MULTI-PROGRAM APPLICABILITY
Sec. 401. Performance standards.
Sec. 402. AFDC quality control system amendments.
Sec. 403. National welfare receipt registry; State information systems.
Sec. 404. Research and evaluation; technical assistance, demonstration projects.
Sec. 405. Offsets to mandatory spending from fraud, waste, and abuse.
TITLE V—PREVENTION OF DEPENDENCY
Sec. 501. Supervised living arrangements for minors.
Sec. 502. State option to limit benefit increases for additional family members.
Sec. 503. Case management for parents under age 20.
Sec. 504. State option to provide additional incentives and penalties to encour-
age teen parents to complete high school and participate in
parenting activities.
Sec. 505. Adolescent pregnancy prevention grants.
Sec. 506. Demonstration projects to provide comprehensive services to prevent
adolescent pregnancy in high-risk communities.
TITLE VI—CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT
Sec. 600. References in title.
PART A—ELIGIBILITY AND OTHER MATTERS CONCERNING TITLE IV–D
PROGRAM CLIENTS
Sec. 601. Cooperation requirement and good cause exception.
Sec. 602. State obligation to provide paternity establishment and child support
enforcement services.
Sec. 603. Distribution of payments.
Sec. 604. Due process rights.
Sec. 605. Privacy safeguards.
Sec. 606. Requirement to facilitate access to services.
PART B—PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION AND FUNDING
Sec. 611. Federal matching payments.
Sec. 612. Performance-based incentives and penalties.
Sec. 613. Federal and State reviews and audits.
Sec. 614. Automated data processing requirements.
Sec. 615. Director of OSCE program; training and staffing.
Sec. 616. Funding for secretarial assistance to State programs.
Sec. 617. Data collection and reports by the secretary.
PART C—LOCATE AND CASE TRACKING
Sec. 621. Central State case registry.
Sec. 622. Centralized collection and disbursement support payments.
Sec. 623. Amendments concerning income withholding.
Sec. 624. Locator information from interstate networks and labor unions.
Sec. 625. National welfare reform information clearinghouse.
Sec. 626. Expanded locate authority.
Sec. 627. Studies and demonstrations concerning Federal parent locator serv-
ice.
Sec. 628. Use of Social Security numbers.
PART D—STREAMLINING AND UNIFORMITY OF PROCEDURES
Sec. 635. Adoption of uniform State laws.
Sec. 636. State laws providing expedited procedures.
PART E—PATERNITY ESTABLISHMENT
Sec. 640. State laws concerning paternity establishment.
Sec. 641. Outreach for voluntary paternity establishment.
Sec. 642. Penalty for failure to establish paternity promptly.
Sec. 643. Incentives to parents to establish paternity.
PART F—ESTABLISHMENT AND MODIFICATION OF SUPPORT ORDERS
Sec. 651. National Commission on child support guidelines.
Sec. 652. State laws concerning modification of child support orders.
Sec. 653. Study on use of tax return information for modification of child sup-
port orders.
PART G—ENFORCEMENT OF SUPPORT ORDERS
Sec. 661. Revolving loan fund for program improvements to increase collec-
tions.
Sec. 662. Federal income tax refund offset.
Sec. 663. Internal Revenue Service collection of arrears.
Sec. 664. Authority to collect support from employment-related payments by
United States.
Sec. 665. Motor vehicle liens.
Sec. 666. Voiding of fraudulent transfers.
Sec. 667. State law authorizing suspension of licenses.
Sec. 668. Reporting arrearages to credit bureaus.
Sec. 669. Extended statute of limitation for collection of arrearages.
Sec. 670. Charges for arrearages.
Sec. 671. Visitation issue barred.
Sec. 672. Treatment of support obligations under bankruptcy code.
Sec. 673. Denial of passports for nonpayment of child support.
PART H—DEMONSTRATIONS
Sec. 681. Child support enforcement and assurance demonstrations.
Sec. 682. Social Security Act demonstrations.
PART I—ACCESS AND VISITATION GRANTS
Sec. 691. Grants to States for access and visitation programs.
PART J—EFFECT OF ENACTMENT
Sec. 695. Effective dates.
Sec. 696. Severability.
TITLE VII—IMPROVING GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE AND
PREVENTING FRAUD
PART A—AFDC AMENDMENTS
Sec. 701. Permanent requirement for unemployed parent program.
Sec. 702. State options regarding unemployed parent program.
Sec. 703. Definition of essential person.
Sec. 704. Expanded State option for retrospective budgeting.
Sec. 705. Disregards of income.
Sec. 706. Stepparent income.
Sec. 707. Increase in resource limit.
Sec. 708. Exclusions from resources.
Sec. 710. Transfer of resources.
Sec. 711. Limitation on underpayments.
Sec. 712. Collection of AFDC overpayments from federal tax refunds.
Sec. 713. Verification of status of citizens and aliens.
Sec. 714. Repeal of requirement to make certain supplement payments in
States paying less than their needs standards.
‘‘(i) each applicant for or recipient of
aid to families with dependent children
who—
‘‘(I)(a) was born after 1971, or
‘‘(b) is the parent of a dependent
child and is living with such child’s
other parent who is an individual born
after 1971 (or was living with such an
individual during any month after
September 1995 in which they re-
ceived aid under this part), and
‘‘(II) is the parent of a depend-
ent child,
(but not including any individual who is el-
igible by application of section 407, in a
State which exercises the option to limit
eligibility under section 407(b)(2)(B),
‘‘(ii) thereafter any additional classes
of parents of dependent children to whom
the State chooses to make section 417 ap-
plicable (and identified in the State plan
by date of birth, date of application, or
other reasonable basis), and
‘‘(iii) any other applicants for or re-
cipients of aid who the State chooses to re-
quire to participate in the program under
part F and identifies in its State plan ap-
proved under this part;
‘‘(C) that the State will, except as other-
wise provided in this paragraph or part F—
‘‘(i) require all individuals described
in subparagraph (B) other than a child
who is not a custodial parent and is under
age 16 or attending full time an elemen-
tary, secondary, or vocational (or tech-
nical) school) to participate in the program
under part F;
‘‘(ii) to the extent that Federal finan-
cial participation under section 403(k) is
available, allow individuals who are not re-
quired to participate in such program, or
to whom subparagraph (D) applies, to par-
ticipate in such program, except that such
individual shall, in a month in which he or
she meets a condition of any of clauses (i)
through (vii) of subparagraph (D), be per-
mitted to cease participation in such pro-
gram, and be subject to the provisions of
subparagraph (D) (for so long as they re-
main applicable) and the State may, at its
option, apply section 417 to individuals de-
scribed in subparagraph (B)(ii) and who
choose to participate in the program under
part F (even though they meet one of the
criteria under subparagraph (D) for defer-
ral from participation); and
‘‘(iii) with respect to individuals who
wish to participate, but whom the State is
not required to include under clause (ii),
consider such individual’s request for ap-
proval of a self-initiated education and
training program and apply criteria gen-
erally applicable to approval of such activi-
ties under the State’s JOBS program, but
approval of such application shall only
guarantee child care pursuant to sub-
section (g)(1)(A)(i)(II);
‘‘(D) that participation in the program
under part F will not be required and the provi-
sions of such part, other than paragraph (1)
and (2) of section 481(a) (relating to personal
responsibility agreements and employability
plans) will not apply, but the State may provide
for participation in appropriate cases in one or
more types of activities designed as preparation
for participation in the program under part F,
in the case of any individual described in sub-
paragraph (B) who—
‘‘(i) is the custodial parent of a
child—
‘‘(I) born less than one year ear-
lier, or,
‘‘(II) (in the case of either a
child conceived during a month in
which such parent received aid under
this part or a child whose custodial
parent is under the age of 20 and
does not have a high school diploma
or equivalent) born more recently than
within the preceding 12 weeks (or, if
greater) the number of weeks speci-
fied in section 102(a)(1) of the Fam-
ily and Medical Leave Act of 1993 es-
tablishing the period of leave to which
certain employees are entitled follow-
ing the birth of a child, but this
clause may only be applied to one par-
ent of a child for any month;
‘‘(ii) is a woman in the third trimester
of pregnancy;
‘‘(iii) is 60 years of age or older;
‘‘(iv) is needed in the home because of
the illness or incapacity (as confirmed by a
licensed physician, psychologist, or mental
health professional (from a list of such
professionals approved for this purpose by
the State)) of another member of the
household and no other appropriate house-
hold member is available to provide the
needed care;
‘‘(v) is found, on the basis of a certifi-
cation by a licensed physician, psycholo-
gist, or mental health professional (from a
list of such professionals approved for this
purpose by the State) to have an illness or
incapacitating condition, that at least tem-
porarily, prevents the individuals from en-
gaging in employment or training;
‘‘(vi) resides in an area of the State
where the time required to travel to and
from the site where the individual’s partici-
pation in the program under part F would
take place would exceed a total of two
hours (or, if greater, the generally accepted
commuting time in that area) in a day; or
‘‘(vii) meets such other criteria as the
State may specify in its plan that reason-
ably suggest an inability to participate in
the program under part F, except that the
average monthly number of individuals to
whom this clause is applied for months in
any fiscal year shall not exceed 5 percent
of the average monthly number of all indi-
viduals (described in clauses (i) and (ii) of
subparagraph (B)) for months in such fis-
cal year (or, in the case of fiscal years
after 1999, 10 percent of such average
monthly number) together with the average
monthly number of individuals registered
in the WORK program under part G for
months in such year, unless the Secretary,
upon a showing by the State of extraor-
dinary or unforeseeable circumstances, al-
lows the application of this clause to a
greater number of individuals for a speci-
fied period of time;
‘‘(E) that the State will promptly advise
each applicant and recipient of the participation
requirements under this paragraph and of the
limitation on the number of months of eligibility
for aid under this part that may be applied (as
required by the provisions of section 417) to
such applicant or recipient;
‘‘(F) that—
‘‘(i) in the case of a custodial parent
who has not attained 20 years of age, does
not have a high school diploma (or its
equivalent), and is required to participate
in the program under part F, the State
will require such parent to participate in
an educational activity; and’’.
(b) Section 402(a)(19)(E)(ii) of the Act (as in effect
on the date of enactment of this Act) is amended by strik-
ing out ‘‘(notwithstanding the part-time requirement in
subparagraph (C)(iii)(II))’’.
(c) Section 402(a)(19) of the Act is further amend-
ed—
(1) by striking out paragraph (F) (as in effect
on the date of enactment of this Act), and
(2) by striking out so much of subparagraph
(G) as precedes clause (ii) and inserting in lieu
thereof the following:
‘‘(G) that—
‘‘(i) if an individual who is required to
participate in the program under part F
refuses without good cause to accept em-
ployment of 20 hours per week or more (or
such greater number of hours as the State
plan 
provides 
pursuant 
to 
section
417(b)(4)(i)(IV)) in which such individual
is able to engage which is offered through
the public employment offices of the State,
or is otherwise offered by an employer if
the offer of such employer is determined to
be a bona fide offer of employment, the
family of which such individual is a mem-
ber shall be ineligible for aid for six
months or if sooner, until the first month
following the month in which such individ-
ual accepts such an offer of employment;
and
‘‘(ii) if an individual who is required
to participate in the program under part F
fails without good cause to do so, the
needs of such individual shall not be taken
into account in making the determination
under paragraph (7), and if such individ-
ual is the parent or other caretaker rel-
ative, at the option of the State, payments
of aid for any dependent child in the fam-
ily in the form of payments of the type de-
scribed in section 406(b)(2) (which in such
case shall be without regard to clauses (A)
through (D) thereof) may be made;’’.
(d) Section 402(a)(19)(G) of the Act is further
amended—
(1) by redesignating clauses (ii), (iii), and (iv)
as clauses (iii), (iv), and (v), respectively,
(2) by striking out in clause (iii) (as redesig-
nated) ‘‘clause (i)’’ and inserting in lieu thereof
‘‘clause (ii)’’,
(3) by striking out in clause (v) (as redesig-
nated) the dash and all that follows down through
‘‘(II)’’, and placing the text of clause (II) imme-
diately after ‘‘this subparagraph’’, and
(4) by adding at the end thereof the following
new clause:
‘‘(vi) the State agency shall con-
duct 
an 
evaluation 
of 
the 
cir-
cumstances in any case in which an
individual to whom a sanction is being
applied under clause (iii)(I) continues
after three months to fail or refuse to
comply with the requirement that oc-
casioned the imposition of the sanc-
tion, and in the case of any other in-
dividual to whom a sanction is being
applied under clause (iii), and provide
appropriate counseling and other sup-
portive services to assist the individual
to address the cause of the failure or
refusal;
‘‘(vii) during months in which a
sanction is applied under this sub-
paragraph, the family of which the
sanctioned individual is a member
shall be considered to be receiving aid
for purposes of title XIX, and for pur-
poses of any other Federal or Feder-
ally-assisted program, such family
shall be considered to be receiving the
amount of such aid that would be
payable if such individual were not
being sanctioned;
‘‘(viii) during months in which a
sanction is applied under this sub-
paragraph, the family of which the
sanctioned individual is a member
shall be considered to be receiving aid
for purpose of title XIX, and for pur-
poses of any other Federal or Feder-
ally-assisted program, such family
shall be considered to be receiving the
amount of such aid that would be
payable if such individual were not
being sanctioned; and’’.
(e) Section 402(a)(42) of the Act is amended by in-
serting before the semicolon the following: ‘‘and if an indi-
vidual is being sanctioned under section 402(a)(19)(G),
such individual and all members of the family shall not
become ineligible for such medical assistance by reason of
such sanction’’.
SEC. 102. ESTABLISHMENT OF ENHANCED JOBS PROGRAM
UNDER PART F.
(a) Section 481 of the Act is amended—
(1) by amending the heading of such section to
read:
‘‘PURPOSE; REQUIREMENT TO ESTABLISH AND OPERATE
PROGRAM; DEFINITIONS’’;
(2) by redesignating subsection (b) as sub-
section (c); and
(3)(A) by transferring subsection (a) of section
482 to section 481, and redesignating it as sub-
section (b); and
(B) by amending section 481(b) (as so redesig-
nated) by striking out ‘‘Secretary of Labor’’ in para-
this part. The limitation in the preceding sentence shall
not apply to (A) an individual who has received such aid
for 24 months and who is working to the extent described
in clause (IV) or (V) of paragraph (2)(B)(i), whichever
may be applicable, or (B) an individual’s dependent child
or children if they are living with another relative specified
in section 406(a)(1) who is not subject to, or has not re-
ceived aid for months in excess of, the limit prescribed
by, this section.
‘‘(2) APPLICABILITY.—In applying paragraph (1)—
‘‘(A) if an individual has previously received aid
under a State plan approved under this part for
more than 18 months, the number of months for
which an individual is considered to have previously
been paid aid under such a State plan shall be re-
duced by one month for every period of four months
throughout which no such aid was paid, and no
wages under the program under part G were paid
but such number of months shall never be reduced
to fewer than 18 (regardless of whether such periods
of four months were consecutive); and
‘‘(B)(i) there shall not be included, as a month
in which an individual received aid under a State
plan approved under this part—