Personal Responsibility and Individual Development for Everyone Act

Bill: 109-s-667
Sponsor: Sen. Grassley, Chuck [R-IA]
Introduced: 2005-03-17 in the Senate
Policy area: Social Welfare
Subjects: Adoption
Aid to dependent children
American Samoa
Bank accounts
Bank records
Block grants
Cash welfare block grants
Child support
Collection of accounts
Commerce
Computer matching
Congress
Congressional reporting requirements
Day care
Disability evaluation
Disabled
Earned income tax credit
Economics and Public Finance
Families
Fathers
Federal aid to Indians
Finance and Financial Sector
Foster home care
Garnishment
Government Operations and Politics
Government lending
Government paperwork
Governmental investigations
Guam
Health
Immigration
Income tax
Indian children
Insurance
Insurance companies
Interstate relations
Labor and Employment
Law
Liens
Marriage
Medicaid
Medical economics
Minorities
Nonmarital births
Northern Mariana Islands
Parents
Passports
Puerto Rico
Science, Technology, Communications
Sexual abstinence
Social security numbers
State government-Indian relations
State laws
Supplemental security income program
Tax refunds
Taxation
Veterans' disability compensation
Virgin Islands
Welfare eligibility
Welfare waivers
Welfare work participation
Workers' compensation

Summary:
action_date: 2005-03-17
text: 
Personal Responsibility and Individual Development for Everyone Act (PRIDE Act) - Reauthorizes, revises, and extends the TANF program under part A (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSA) through FY 2010.
 

 

 

 
Amends the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 to add to TANF a Responsible Fatherhood Program.
 
Revises, authorizes, and extends the program for abstinence education under SSA title V (Maternal and Child Services Block Grant) through FY 2010.
 
Amends SSA title IV part D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity) to revise the rules for the distribution of collected child support.
 

 

 

 

 
Extends the authority to approve child welfare services demonstration projects.
 
Amends SSA: (1) title XVI (Supplemental Security Income) (SSI) to require the Commissioner of Social Security to review State agency blindness and disability determinations for SSI; and (2) title XIX (Medicaid) to continue the transitional medical assistance program (TMA).

action_date: 2005-03-17
text: 

(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)

 
Personal Responsibility and Individual Development for Everyone Act or PRIDE Act - 
Title I: TANF
 - (Sec. 101) Amends part A (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) (TANF) to require State TANF plans to: (1) establish specific measurable performance objectives for pursuing TANF purposes; (2) describe any strategies and programs the State is using or plans to use to address employment retention and advancement, reduction of teen pregnancy, services for struggling and noncompliant families, and for clients with special problems, and program integration; and (3) describe any strategies and programs the State is undertaking to engage faith-based organizations in the delivery of services funded by TANF.
 
(Sec. 102) Amends SSA title IV part A to reauthorize, revise, and extend State family assistance grants for FY 2006 through 2010 and make annual appropriations. 
 
(Sec. 103) Requires States to express in their State TANF plans how they would operate programs to encourage equitable treatment of healthy two-parent married families. Provides for healthy marriage promotion grants, replacing current bonuses to reward State decreases in illegitimacy ratio (hereby repealed). Directs the Secretary to develop and implement programs that are designed to address domestic violence. Authorizes appropriations for such grants for FY 2005 through 2010. Requires such funds to remain available to the Secretary until expended. 
 
(Sec. 104) Reauthorizes and extends annual supplemental grants for population increases in certain States through FY 2009 and makes appropriations. 
 
(Sec. 105) Replaces the high performance bonus with a bonus to reward employment achievement, and makes appropriations for FY 2006 through 2011. Requires the Secretary's formula for measuring State performance to measure absolute progress towards the goal of workplace attachment and advancement for families receiving assistance under TANF. Makes Indian tribes eligible for bonuses and directs the Secretary to consult with them in determining the criteria for awards for them and tribal organizations. 
 
(Sec. 106) Modifies contingency fund requirements. Eliminates a separately designated Contingency Fund for State Welfare Programs. Makes appropriations for FY 2006 through 2010 for making contingency fund grants. Earmarks specified amounts for making payments to Indian tribes with approved tribal family assistance plans. Limits contingency fund grants to needy States, defined by specified criteria for economy-related increases in the number of families receiving assistance. Limits the total amount paid to a single State during a fiscal year to ten percent of the State family assistance grant. Eliminates the annual reconciliation process. Repeals the penalty for State failure to maintain 100 percent of historic effort.
 
(Sec. 107) Revises requirements for the use of TANF grants. Repeals the authority of a State operating a TANF program to apply to an interstate immigrant family the rules (including benefit amounts) of the TANF program of another State if the family has moved to the State from the other State and has resided in the new State for less than 12 months.
 
Restores authority of a State to transfer up to ten percent (currently 4.25 percent) of its TANF State family assistance grant for a fiscal year to carry out State programs pursuant to SSA title XX (Block Grants to States for Social Services).
 
Provides for an increase in social services block grant funds with respect to FY 2006 through 2010.
 
Revises the current authorization for a State or tribe to reserve TANF block grant amounts for any fiscal year to provide TANF without fiscal year limitation. Permits a State or tribe to designate a portion of its TANF grant as a contingency reserve which may be used, without fiscal year limitation, to provide any benefit or service that may be provided under the State or tribal TANF program.
 
Permits a State to use TANF grant funds to establish an undergraduate postsecondary or vocational education program. 
 
(Sec. 108) Repeals the Secretary's authority to make loans to State welfare programs.
 
(Sec. 109) Revises mandatory work requirements. Eliminates the separate work participation rate for two-parent families beginning with FY 2003. Increases the all-family standard from the current 50 percent level to 55 percent for FY 2007, 60 percent for FY 2008, 65 percent for FY 2009, and 70 percent for FY 2010 and thereafter.
 
Replaces the current caseload reduction credit with an employment credit, while giving States the option to phase-in the replacement. Limits the reduction of a State's required participation rate through the application of employment, caseload reduction, or other credits.
 
Directs the Secretary to conduct a Senator Blanche L. Lincoln Employment Study for a report to Congress on the implications of the design of the employment credit and potential improvements to it.
 
Revises the State option for participation rate exemptions to give a State the option on a case-by-case basis to: (1) exclude a family from the determination of the State's monthly participation rate during their first month of TANF; or (2) not require a family with a child under age one to engage in work, and disregard such family in determining the State's minimum participation rate for not more than 12 months. 
 
Revises requirements for determining if a TANF recipient is engaged in work for a month. Provides for determination of countable hours engaged in work for a single parent or relative whose youngest child has attained age six, a single-parent or relative with a child under age six, two-parent families (as under current law), and two-parent families that receive federally funded child care.
 
Expands the list of activities that may be counted towards meeting work participation requirements by a single parent or relative with a child over age six. Includes, subject to certain conditions, such activities as substance abuse counseling or treatment, and programs or activities designed to remove work barriers. Requires an average of 24 hours per week in participation in direct work activities.
 
Modifies special rules to: (1) establish a general limitation of 30 percent for the number of individuals in all families in a State who may be treated as engaged in work by reason of participation in educational activities; and (2) give States the option of deeming a single parent caring for a child or adult dependent with a physical or mental impairment to be meeting all or part of a family's work participation requirements for a month. Provides for optional modification of work requirements for recipients residing in areas of Indian country or an Alaskan native village with high joblessness. Includes as work activities marriage education, marriage skills training, conflict resolution counseling in the context of marriage, and participation in programs that promote marriage. 
 
 (Sec. 110) Eliminates the current State plan requirement for a parent or caretaker receiving TANF to engage in work. Replaces it with requirements for an adult or minor child head of household to engage in work or alternative self-sufficiency activities (as defined by the State), while no longer requiring that such work commence after 24 months of assistance, or once the State determines such an individual as ready to engage in work, whichever is earlier.
 
Replaces individual responsibility plans with family self-sufficiency plans. 
 
Gives States the option to receive work participation rate credit for an individual whose plan specifies that they have a continuing need for rehabilitative services in order to engage in direct work activities. 
 
Requires a State receiving a TANF grant to: (1) monitor the participation of each adult recipient or minor child head of household in the activities specified in the self-sufficiency plan, and regularly review the family's progress toward self-sufficiency; and (2) revise the plan and the activities required under it, upon such a review, as the State deems appropriate in consultation with the family.
 
Requires the State, before imposing a sanction against an adult recipient, minor child head of household, or a family for failure to comply with a requirement of the self-sufficiency plan or the State TANF program, to: (1) review the self-sufficiency plan; and (2) make a good faith effort to consult with the family. Applies family self-sufficiency requirements in the case of a family that includes an adult or minor child head of household recipient of assistance who is subject to a partial sanction. Bases the penalty for failure to comply with such requirements on the severity of failure. Gives the Secretary authority to reduce the penalty under certain circumstances. 
 
Reduces from 50 percent to 40 percent the threshold defining high joblessness in Indian country for purposes of the disregard of months of assistance received by an adult under a State or tribal program.
 
 (Sec. 111) Extends through FY 2011 the requirement that States maintain their own funding at 75 percent of its historic level (80 percent in case of failure to satisfy work standards), or incur reductions in funding as a penalty.
 
Revises criteria for nonimposition of penalties for violations of certain TANF grant requirements where a State has entered a corrective compliance plan. Prohibits the Secretary from imposing the applicable penalty for a State's failure to comply with participation rate requirements for a fiscal year if: (1) the Secretary determines that the State's participation rate for that fiscal year increased by at least five percentage points above its participation rate for the preceding fiscal year; and (2) a State corrective compliance plan accepted by the Secretary specifies how the State will correct the violation. 
 
(Sec. 112) Extends State quarterly reporting requirements to cover families receiving assistance under State programs funded with other qualified State expenditures. Replaces the quarterly report on transitional services with a quarterly report on the number of families and total number of individuals that, during each month, became ineligible to receive assistance under the State TANF program. Requires quarterly reports by States on TANF-funded child care. Requires annual reports on program characteristics and monthly reports on caseload. 
 
 (Sec. 113) Reauthorizes and extends tribal family assistance grants and grants for Native Employment Works programs through FY 2010 and increases the appropriation for such latter grants.
 
Directs the Secretary to award tribal human services program infrastructure improvement grants. Makes appropriations for FY 2006 through 2010 for such grants.
 
Requires State TANF plans to describe how the State will ensure equitable access to benefits and services provided under the program for each member of an Indian tribe or tribal organization who is domiciled in the State and is not eligible for assistance under an approved tribal family assistance plan. 
 
Requires a tribal assistance plan to describe how the Indian tribe will ensure equitable access to benefits and services provided under it for each member of the population it serves. 
 
Requires inclusion of information on Indians served by State programs in annual reports to Congress by the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
 
Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to Congress on the demographics of Indians who do not: (1) reside in Indian country; (2) reside in Alaska; or (3) receive assistance under a tribal family assistance plan. 
 
(Sec. 114) Makes appropriations for FY 2005 through 2010 for research, demonstrations, and technical assistance, of which not less than 80 percent must be expended in connection with marriage promotion activities.
 
Extends through FY 2010 the current annual appropriation of $15 million (and its designated 50-50 allocation) for the funding of certain research, studies, and demonstration projects. 
 
Establishes a demonstration program for up to ten States to improve coordination of assistance provided under TANF, including TANF's mandatory child care program, and SSA title XX (Block Grants to States for Social Services).
 
Directs the Secretary, through grants, contracts, or interagency agreements to develop comprehensive indicators to assess child well-being in each State. Requires the Secretary to establish an advisory panel to recommend appropriate measures and statistical tools for such assessment. Makes appropriations for such program for FY 2006 though 2010.
 
Requires the Secretary to award grants to eligible entities to enable such entities to carry out domestic violence prevention activities. Authorizes appropriations for FY 2006 though 2010.
 
Directs the Secretary, directly or through grants, contracts, or interagency agreements, to conduct research on tribal family assistance and other tribal welfare programs and on efforts to reduce poverty among Indians. Makes appropriations for such program for FY 2006 though 2010. 
 
(Sec. 115) Revises requirements for the Census Bureau study of the impact of title I of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 on a random national sample of TANF recipients. Changes the study into a longitudinal survey of program participation to allow for the assessment of the outcomes of continued welfare reform on the economic and child well-being of low-income families with children, including those who received TANF or services from a State program. Requires the Secretary of Commerce to report to Congress on the well-being of children and families using data collected under the study. Makes appropriations to continue such study through FY 2010 at the current level. 
 
(Sec. 116) Increases the level of appropriations for the mandatory child care program for FY 2006 through 2010, and includes a set-aside of such funds for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and other territories. Increases the set-aside for child care assistance payments to Indian tribes and tribal organizations for such fiscal years. Makes appropriations for FY 2006 though 2010 for supplemental child care grants.
 
 Amends the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) to: (1) redefine taxpayer identification number, for earned income tax credit purposes, to mean, as an alternative, a Social Security number assigned by the Social Security Administration to a U.S. citizen; and (2) deny the child tax credit for any taxable year to taxpayers who claims benefits relating to citizens or residents living abroad for such taxable year.
 
Modifies the special rule relating to two or more claiming a qualifying child for child-related tax benefits. Specifies both rules for parents and for two or more nonparents.
 
(Sec. 117) Defines &quot;assistance&quot; as cash, payments, vouchers, and other forms of benefits designed to meet a family's ongoing basic needs. Includes benefits even when they are: (1) provided in the form of payments by a State agency responsible for administering the State TANF program, or other agency on its behalf, to individual recipients; and (2) conditioned on participation in any work activity under such program. Excludes certain nonrecurrent, short-term benefits, work subsidies, supportive services, refundable earned income tax credits, and certain other services and benefits.
 
(Sec. 118) Amends the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 to add to TANF a new part C (Responsible Fatherhood Program) directing the Secretary to award grants to: (1) up to ten eligible States to conduct demonstration programs to promote responsible fatherhood; and (2) eligible entities, such as charities or faith-based organizations, to conduct demonstration programs. Makes appropriations for FY 2006 through 2010.
 
 Directs the Secretary to contract with a nationally recognized, nonprofit fatherhood promotion organization to: (1) develop, promote, and distribute a media campaign that encourages the appropriate involvement of parents in the life of any child; and (2) develop a national clearinghouse to assist States and communities in efforts to promote and support marriage and responsible fatherhood. Authorizes appropriations for FY 2006 through 2010.
 
Establishes a program of block grants to States for media campaigns, and authorizes appropriations for FY 2006 through 2010.
 
Directs the Secretary to contract with a nationally recognized, nonprofit research and education fatherhood organization to: (1) provide technical assistance and training to public and private agencies and grass roots organizations that promote responsible fatherhood and healthy marriage; and (2) develop a clearinghouse of resource materials to assist community-based organizations in developing local responsible fatherhood programs, with an emphasis on training and outcome evaluation.
 
(Sec. 119) Authorizes the Secretary to award grants to: (1) entities for capitalizing and developing the role of sustainable social services critical to the success of moving TANF recipients into work; and (2) States, counties, localities, Indian tribes or tribal organizations, and nonprofit entities to promote improving access to dependable, affordable automobiles by low-income families with children. Authorizes appropriations for FY 2006 through 2010.
 
Directs the Secretary and the Secretary of Labor to jointly award grants for projects for certain activities, including promoting business linkages and providing for transitional jobs programs.
 
Requires the Secretary to make a grant to one nationally recognized, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization to establish and operate a national teen pregnancy prevention resource center.
 

Title II: Abstinence Education
 - (Sec. 201) Revises, reauthorizes, and extends the program for abstinence education under SSA title V (Maternal and Child Services Block Grant) through FY 2010. Makes any funds that will not be required to carry out an abstinence program of a particular State to be available for reallotment to other States with such programs.
 

Title III: Child Support
 - (Sec. 301) Amends SSA title IV part A to modify the rule requiring assignment to the State of child support rights as a condition of receiving TANF. Provides that assignment covers only child support that accrues during the period that the family receives TANF (thereby eliminating coverage under assignment of any support that accrued before the family began receiving TANF). 
 
Amends SSA title IV part D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity) to revise the rules for the distribution of collected child support. Provides that a State shall not be required to pay to the Federal Government its share of child support collections passed through to TANF families by the State, if the State disregards in determining the amount and type assistance to the family up to $400 per month in the case of a family with one child, or $600 per month in the case of two or more children.
 
Provides that with respect to former TANF families, current child support payments must be paid to the family.
 
Allows States with &quot;section 1115 demonstration waivers&quot; (since October 1, 1997) to continue to pass through payments to families without regard to the waiver's expiration date. Requires the State part D plan to include election as to which rules to apply in distributing child support arrearages collected on behalf of families formerly receiving assistance. Gives States the option to discontinue certain older support assignments. 
 
(Sec. 302) Repeals the requirement that the State first receive a request from a parent or from the State agency under the State TANF plan before conducting mandatory review and (if appropriate) adjustment of child support orders in TANF cases every three years, if it has been assigned child support payments under TANF. (Thus requires the State to conduct a review and adjustment every three years, regardless of whether a review is requested.)
 
(Sec. 303) Directs the Secretary to report to specified congressional committees on the procedures that the States use generally to locate custodial parents for whom child support has been collected but not yet distributed.
 
(Sec. 304) Reduces from $5,000 to $2,500 the amount of child support arrearage triggering passport denial, revocation, or limitation with respect to noncustodial parents.
 
(Sec. 305) Allows the Federal income tax refund offset program to be used to collect child support arrearages on behalf of a child who is not a minor.
 
(Sec. 306) Prohibits the garnishment of any veteran's disability compensation in order to collect alimony, unless that disability compensation is being paid because retirement benefits are being waived.
 
(Sec. 307) Revises the Federal administrative offset program to allow certain Social Security benefits to be offset to collect past due child support being enforced by the State on behalf of families receiving child support enforcement services under SSA title IV part D.
 
(Sec. 308) Revises funding for technical assistance and for the Federal Parent Locator Service (FPLS). Authorizes the Secretary to use: (1) one percent of the Federal share of child support collected the preceding year, or the amount appropriated for FY 2002, whichever is greater, to provide for specified technical assistance and other activities; and (2) two percent of the Federal share of child support collected the preceding year, or the amount appropriated for FY 2002, whichever is greater, to operate FPLS to the extent that system costs are not recovered by user fees.
 
 (Sec. 310) Authorizes the Secretary via the FPLS to: (1) seize assets, held by multistate financial institutions, of individuals who owe past-due support, and transfer them to the appropriate State agencies for distribution; and (2) compare information concerning individuals owing past-due support with information maintained by insurers (or their agents) concerning insurance claims, settlements, awards, and payments, and furnish any information resulting from a match to the appropriate State agencies. 
 
(Sec. 312) Authorizes the transfer of FPLS information to Indian tribes and tribal organizations.
 
(Sec. 313) Repeals the limitation to additional costs of the requirement that the Secretary of Education reimburse the Secretary for any costs incurred by the Secretary in providing requested new hires information.
 
(Sec. 315) Amends the Longshore and Harbor Worker's Compensation Act to ensure that longshore or harbor workers benefits provided by the Federal Government or by private insurers are subject to garnishment for purposes of paying child support obligations. 
 
(Sec. 316) Amends SSA title IV part D, with respect to high-volume, automated administrative enforcement in interstate cases, to declare that if the State provides assistance to another State with respect to a case, the assisting State may establish a corresponding case based on the other State's request for assistance.
 
(Sec. 317) Requires each State's Uniform Interstate Family Support Act to include any amendments officially adopted as of August 2001 by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. 
 
Amends Federal law to provide that the court of a State that has made a child support order has continuing, exclusive jurisdiction to modify its order if it is the controlling order, and: (1) the State is the child's State or the residence of any individual contestant; or (2) if the State is not the residence of the child or an individual contestant, the contestants consent in a record or in open court that the court may continue to exercise jurisdiction to modify its order. Revises the current rules regarding the enforcement of modified orders. 
 
(Sec. 318) Amends SSA title IV part D with respect to grants to States for noncustodial parental access and visitation programs to extend such program to Indian tribes and tribal organizations that have received direct child support enforcement payments from the Federal government for at least one year. Increases the allotments to the States, including minimum allotments, by specified graduated amounts for FY 2006 though 2009 and succeeding fiscal years. Sets aside specified allotments for Indian tribes and tribal organizations for FY 2006 through 2009 and succeeding fiscal years. 
 
(Sec. 319) Changes the timing of the corrective action year for States that are found to be in noncompliance with child support enforcement program requirements to the fiscal year following the fiscal year in which the Secretary makes a finding of noncompliance and recommends a corrective action plan. Prohibits the Secretary from penalizing a State if it corrects its noncompliance during the finding year.
 
(Sec. 320) Requires child support orders to require provisions by either or both parents of medical support for a child.
 
(Sec. 321) Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and the IRC to require an employee health care plan administrator to notify a State child support enforcement agency under certain circumstances when a child loses health care coverage. 
 
(Sec. 322) Prohibits the Secretary from requiring the State of Texas, in order to continue operating its program for monitoring and enforcement of a court child support order without the necessity of a written application by the individual receiving TANF, foster care, or Medicaid services, to apply for a waiver from the requirement to provide paternity establishment or child support enforcement services with respect to any other child.
 
Allows Texas to continue to operate its child support monitoring and enforcement program and expand it to additional counties without the necessity of applying for a waiver from the Secretary so long as an individual to whom the support is owed and who would otherwise have to sign a written application for services under such program has an opportunity to decline such services.
 
 
 
Title IV: Child Welfare
 - (Sec. 401) Amends SSA title XI with respect to demonstration projects which the Secretary finds are likely to promote the objectives of part B (Child-Welfare Services) or E (Foster Care and Adoption Assistance) of SSA title IV. Extends through FY 2010 the Secretary's authority to permit States to conduct such demonstration projects. 
 
(Sec. 402) Removes from Puerto Rico's overall funding ceiling any foster care and adoption assistance payments made to it for FY 2007 through 2010 that exceed the total amount of payments made to it for FY 2003. Limits the amount that can be disregarded to $6.25 million for each of FY 2007 through 2010. 
 
(Sec. 403) Authorizes an Indian tribe or tribal consortium to receive Federal funds for foster care and adoption assistance.
 

Title V: Supplemental Security Income
 - (Sec. 501) Amends SSA title XVI (Supplemental Security Income) (SSI) to require the Commissioner of Social Security to review State agency blindness and disability determinations for SSI, at least 25 percent of those made in FY 2006 and 50 percent of those made in FY 2006 through 2015.
 
(Sec. 502) Extends from seven to nine years, through FY 2008, the time-limited eligibility of qualified aliens (asylees and certain refugees) for SSI benefits.
 

Title VI: Transitional Medical Assistance 
- (Sec. 601) Amends SSA title XIX (Medicaid) to continue the transitional medical assistance (TMA) program through September 30, 2008. Permits States to extend TMA for up to 24 months, allowing continuous eligibility for 12 months by making reporting requirements optional. Authorizes States to waive the requirement for receipt of Medicaid for three of the previous six months (thus easing access to TMA). Requires States to collect and report certain participant information. Makes TMA requirements optional for States that extend pre-welfare-reform Medicaid coverage to children and parents through 185 percent of the Federal poverty level. Requires notice for all families whose aid under SSA title IV part A or E has terminated but whose eligibility for Medicaid continues. Extends use of outstationed workers to accept applications for TMA.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2005-03-30
text: By Senator Grassley from Committee on Finance filed written report under authority of the order of the Senate of 3/17/2005. Report No. 109-51.
action_date: 2005-03-30
text: By Senator Grassley from Committee on Finance filed written report under authority of the order of the Senate of 3/17/2005. Report No. 109-51.
action_date: 2005-03-17
text: Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 60.
action_date: 2005-03-17
text: Committee on Finance. Original measure reported to Senate by Senator Grassley. Without written report.
action_date: 2005-03-17
text: Committee on Finance. Original measure reported to Senate by Senator Grassley. Without written report.
action_date: 2005-03-17
text: Introduced in Senate
action_date: 2005-03-09
text: Committee on Finance ordered to be reported an original measure.