HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

133

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2002

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

requesting the department of human services to establish a school attendance record of at least seventy per cent for minors who are parents under the age of eighteen in independent households who have children but no high school diploma in order to comply with the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 so that these individuals may receive benefits under the temporary aid to needy families program.

 

 

WHEREAS, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 prohibits a state from using Temporary Aid to Needy Families funds to provide assistance to an individual who is under age eighteen, is unmarried, has established his or her own household with a minor child at least twelve weeks old, and who has not successfully completed high school or its equivalent, unless the individual either participates in education activities directed toward attainment of a high school diploma or its equivalent, or participates in an alternative education or training program approved by the state; and

WHEREAS, in Hawaii, the Department of Human Services' first-to-work program monitors school attendance for these individuals; and

WHEREAS, however, the Department of Education does not have a uniform policy or definition of satisfactory attendance; and

WHEREAS, as a result, for the purposes of determining whether the individual is participating in educational activities, as required by federal law, the first-to-work program must accept the attendance report of the Department of Education as to satisfactory or unsatisfactory attendance; and

WHEREAS, the federal law also requires single heads of households who are under age twenty to work at least thirty hours per week to receive assistance and for these individuals, attendance in school may be substituted for or counted as hours of work; and

WHEREAS, in this case, the Department of Human Services is aware of the exact number of hours worked or classes attended; and

WHEREAS, at present, there is no clear, fair, and quantifiable attendance requirement for independent minor parents under the age of eighteen who have children but no high school diploma that may be used to comply with the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2002, the Senate concurring, that the Department of Human Services is requested to establish a school attendance record of at least seventy per cent for minors who are parents under the age of eighteen in independent households who have children but no high school diploma in order to comply with the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 so that these individuals may receive benefits under the Temporary Aid to Needy Families program; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Education is requested to keep records of attendance for individuals identified by the Department of Human Services and provide the Department of Human Services with attendance reports upon request; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Human Services and the Superintendent of Education.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title:

Minor Parents; Required School Attendance; TANF Benefits