Report Title:

Standard of Need

 

Description:

Raises minimum benefit to not less than $1,000 for public assistance and general assistance.

 

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

2170

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2002

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

RELATING TO WELFARE.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the current monthly benefit or assistance allowance of $418 per month for public assistance to households with minor dependents is wholly inadequate for a family to support itself in Hawaii. The assistance allowance is based on a percentage of the federal standard of need that applies to all states.

The purpose of this Act is to increase the minimum monthly benefit assistance for temporary assistance to needy families (TANF) to more realistically reflect the cost of living for a family in Hawaii.

SECTION 2. Section 346-53, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

"(a) This subsection does not apply to general assistance to households without minor dependents. The standard of need for families of given sizes shall equal the poverty level established by the federal government in 1993, prorated over a twelve-month period[.]; provided that in no event shall the monthly assistance allowance be less than $1,000 per month.

The assistance allowance provided shall be based on a percentage of the standard of need. For exempt households and households in which all caretaker relatives are minors, living independently with minor dependents and attending school, the assistance allowance shall be set at sixty-two and one-half per cent of the standard of need. For all other households, the assistance allowance shall be set no higher than sixty-two and one-half per cent of the standard of need and set no lower than fifty per cent of the standard of need. The standard of need shall be determined by dividing the 1993 federal poverty level by twelve and rounding down the quotient. The remaining quotient shall be multiplied by the per cent as set by the director by rules pursuant to chapter 91 and the final product shall be rounded down to determine the assistance allowance; provided that:

(1) The department may increase or reduce the assistance allowance as determined in this subsection for non-exempt households for the purpose of providing work incentives or services under part XI of this chapter;

(2) No reduction shall be allowed that jeopardizes eligibility for or receipt of federal funds;

(3) Reductions in the assistance allowance shall be limited to no more than one per year; and

(4) No non-exempt household, which includes an adult who has received sixty cumulative months of temporary assistance to needy families with minor dependents, shall be eligible for an assistance allowance, unless authorized by federal regulations."

SECTION 3. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2002.

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________