I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1399
To amend title IV of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity
Reconciliation Act of 1996 to provide States with the option to allow
legal immigrant pregnant women, children, and blind or disabled medi-
cally needy individuals to be eligible for medical assistance under the
Medicaid Program, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL 14, 1999
Mr. LEVIN (for himself, Mr. MATSUI, Mr. CARDIN, Mrs. MINK of Hawaii, Ms.
ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. BECERRA, Mr. COYNE, Mrs.
CLAYTON, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. BERMAN, Mr.
MCDERMOTT, Ms. MCKINNEY, Mr. FROST, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. RUSH, Mr.
MENENDEZ, Mr. LAFALCE, Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island, Mr. DOOLEY
of California, Ms. LEE, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, and Mr. DIAZ-BALART) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways
and Means, and in addition to the Committees on Commerce, Agriculture,
and the Judiciary, 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 amend title IV of the Personal Responsibility and Work
Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 to provide States
with the option to allow legal immigrant pregnant
women, children, and blind or disabled medically needy
individuals to be eligible for medical assistance under
the Medicaid Program, 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 ‘‘Fairness for Legal Im-
migrants Act of 1999’’.
SEC. 2. OPTIONAL ELIGIBILITY OF CERTAIN ALIEN PREG-
NANT WOMEN AND CHILDREN FOR MED-
ICAID.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle A of title IV of the Per-
sonal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation
Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1611–1614) is amended by adding
at the end the following:
‘‘SEC. 405. OPTIONAL ELIGIBILITY OF CERTAIN ALIENS FOR
MEDICAID.
‘‘(a) OPTIONAL MEDICAID ELIGIBILITY FOR CER-
TAIN ALIENS.—A State may elect to waive (through an
amendment to its State plan under title XIX of the Social
Security Act) the application of sections 401(a), 402(b),
403, and 421 with respect to eligibility for medical assist-
ance under the program defined in section 402(b)(3)(C)
(relating to the Medicaid Program) of aliens who are law-
fully residing in the United States (including battered
aliens described in section 431(c)), within any or all (or
any combination) of the following categories of individuals:
‘‘(1) PREGNANT WOMEN.—Women during preg-
nancy (and during the 60-day period beginning on
the last day of the pregnancy).
‘‘(2) CHILDREN.—Children (as defined under
such plan), including optional targeted low-income
children described in section 1905(u)(2)(B).’’.
(b) APPLICABILITY OF AFFIDAVITS OF SUPPORT.—
Section 213A(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act
(8 U.S.C. 1183a(a)) is amended by adding at the end the
following:
‘‘(4) INAPPLICABILITY TO BENEFITS PROVIDED
UNDER A STATE WAIVER.—For purposes of this sec-
tion, the term ‘means-tested public benefits’ does not
include benefits provided pursuant to a State elec-
tion and waiver described in section 405 of the Per-
sonal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Rec-
onciliation Act of 1996.’’.
(c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—
(1) Section 401(a) of the Personal Responsi-
bility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of
1996 (8 U.S.C. 1611(a)) is amended by inserting
‘‘and section 405’’ after ‘‘subsection (b)’’.
(2) Section 402(b)(1) of the Personal Responsi-
bility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of
1996 (8 U.S.C. 1612(b)(1)) is amended by inserting
‘‘, section 405,’’ after ‘‘403’’.
(3) Section 403(a) of such Act (8 U.S.C.
1613(a)) is amended by inserting ‘‘section 405 and’’
after ‘‘provided in’’.
(4) Section 421(a) of such Act (8 U.S.C.
1631(a)) is amended by inserting ‘‘except as pro-
vided in section 405,’’ after ‘‘Notwithstanding any
other provision of law,’’.
(5) Section 1903(v)(1) of the Social Security
Act (42 U.S.C. 1396b(v)(1)) is amended by insert-
ing ‘‘and except as permitted under a waiver de-
scribed in section 405(a) of the Personal Responsi-
bility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of
1996,’’ after ‘‘paragraph (2),’’.
(d) RETROACTIVITY
OF EFFECTIVE DATE.—The
amendments made by this section shall take effect as if
included in the enactment of title IV of the Personal Re-
sponsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of
1996 (8 U.S.C. 1611 et seq.), except that the amendment
made by subsection (b) shall apply as if included in the
enactment of section 551(a) of the Illegal Immigration Re-
form and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (division
C of Public Law 104–208).
SEC. 3. OPTIONAL ELIGIBILITY OF IMMIGRANT CHILDREN
FOR SCHIP.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 405 of the Personal Re-
sponsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of
1996, as added by section 2(a), is amended—
(1) in the heading, by inserting ‘‘AND SCHIP’’
before the period; and
(2) by adding at the end the following new sub-
section:
‘‘(b) OPTIONAL SCHIP ELIGIBILITY FOR CERTAIN
ALIENS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), a
State may also elect to waive the application of sec-
tions 401(a), 402(b), 403, and 421 with respect to
eligibility of children for child health assistance
under the State child health plan of the State under
title XXI of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
1397aa et seq.), but only with respect to children
who are lawfully residing in the United States (in-
cluding children who are battered aliens described in
section 431(c)).
‘‘(2) REQUIREMENT FOR ELECTION.—A waiver
under this subsection may only be in effect for a pe-
riod in which the State has in effect an election
under subsection (a) with respect to the category of
individuals described in subsection (a)(2) (relating to
children).’’.
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by
subsection (a) applies to child health assistance for cov-
erage provided for periods beginning on or after October
1, 1997.
SEC. 4. OPTIONAL ELIGIBILITY OF CERTAIN MEDICALLY
NEEDY ALIENS FOR MEDICAID.
(a) OPTIONAL ELIGIBILITY
OF CERTAIN ALIENS
WHO ARE BLIND OR DISABLED MEDICALLY NEEDY AD-
MITTED AFTER AUGUST 22, 1996.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 405(a) of the Per-
sonal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Rec-
onciliation Act of 1996, as added by section 2(a), is
amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(3) CERTAIN BLIND OR DISABLED MEDICALLY
NEEDY.—Individuals who are considered blind or
disabled under section 1614(a) of the Social Security
Act (42 U.S.C. 1382c(a)) and who, but for sections
401(a), 402(b) and 403 (except as waived under this
subsection), would be eligible for medical assistance
under clause (ii)(IV) of section 1902(a)(10)(A) of
the 
Social 
Security 
Act 
(42 
U.S.C.
1396a(a)(10)(A)), or would be eligible for such as-
sistance under any other clause of that section of
that Act because the individual, if enrolled in the
program under title XVI of the Social Security Act,
would receive supplemental security income benefits
or a State supplementary payment under that
title.’’.
(2) RETROACTIVITY OF EFFECTIVE DATE.—The
amendment made by paragraph (1) shall take effect
as if included in the enactment of title IV of the
Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Rec-
onciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1611 et seq.).
(b) OPTIONAL ELIGIBILITY OF MEDICALLY NEEDY
ALIENS REQUIRING A CERTAIN LEVEL OF CARE.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 405 of the Personal
Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation
Act of 1996, as added by section 2(a) and as amend-
ed by section 3(a) and subsection (a), is further
amended by adding at the end the following new
subsection:
‘‘(c) OPTIONAL ELIGIBILITY FOR MEDICALLY NEEDY
ALIENS REQUIRING
A CERTAIN LEVEL
OF CARE.—A
State may also elect to waive the application of sections
401(a), 402(b), and 421 with respect to eligibility for med-
ical assistance under the program defined in section
402(b)(3)(C) (relating to the Medicaid Program) of aliens
who—