Sec. 202. Work activation program for adults with dependent children
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The Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 ( 7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: In this section: The term eligible participant means an individual who, during a particular month, is— a parent in a household with dependent children; at least 19, and not more than 55, years of age; not disabled; a member of a household in which 1 or more parents or children receive supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits in the month; a member of a household that received supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits for more than 3 months in the year; and employed less than 100 hours in the month.
The term married couple household means a household that includes 2 eligible participants who are married to each other and have dependent children. The term successful engagement in work activation means— in the case of an individual who is eligible and required to participate in interim work activation, performance during the month that fulfills the activity and hour requirements of subsection (c); in the case of an individual who is required to participate in full work activation, performance during the month that fulfills the activity and hour requirements of subsection (d); and in the case of an individual who meets the eligibility criteria described in subsection (e)(1), performance that fulfills the activity and hour requirements of that subsection.
The term work and work preparation activities means— unsubsidized employment; subsidized private sector employment; subsidized public sector employment; work experience (including work associated with the refurbishing of publicly assisted housing) if sufficient private sector employment is not available; on-the-job training; job readiness assistance; a community service program; vocational educational training (not to exceed 1 year with respect to any individual); job skills training directly related to employment; education directly related to employment, in the case of a recipient who has not received a high school diploma or a certificate of high school equivalency; satisfactory attendance at secondary school or in a course of study leading to a certificate of general equivalence, in the case of a recipient who has not completed secondary school or received such a certificate; the provision of child care services to an individual who is participating in a community service program; workfare under section 20; and supervised job search.
As a condition of receiving supplemental nutrition assistance program funds under this Act, a State agency shall be required to operate a work activation program for eligible participants. In the case of eligible participants who are spouses in a married couple household— the work activation requirement of this section shall apply only if the sum of the combined current employment of both spouses is less than 100 hours per month; and both spouses shall be considered to have achieved successful engagement in the work activation program if either spouse fulfills the work activation requirements described in subsection (c), (d), or (e)(1).
The total combined number of hours of required work and work preparation activities for both spouses in a married couple household shall not be greater than the total number of hours required for a single head of household. In carrying out this section, a State agency shall ensure that, for any month— the proportion that— the number of married couple households that are required to participate in work activation under this section in a month; bears to the number of all households that are required to participate in work activation under this section in the same month; is not greater than— the proportion that— the number of all married couple households with eligible participants in the month; bears to the number of all households with eligible participants in the same month.
A State agency may require eligible participants who meet the criteria in paragraph
(2)to engage in— interim work activation as described in this subsection; or full work activation as described in subsection (d). A State agency may require an eligible participant to participate in interim work activation instead of full work activation if the eligible participant has not engaged in work activation under this section in the preceding 3 years. A participant in interim work activation shall be required— to participate in supervised job search for at least 6 hours per week; and to engage in such additional activities as the State agency may require. An eligible participant shall not participate in interim work activation for more than 3 months. After an eligible participant has participated in interim work activation for 3 months, the State agency shall require the eligible participant— to maintain at least 100 hours of employment per month; or to participate in full work activation. As a condition of receiving supplemental nutrition assistance program funds under this Act, a State agency shall require all or part of the eligible participants in the State to engage in full work activation under this section. An eligible participant who is required to participate in full work activation in a month shall be required to engage in 1 or more work and work preparation activities for an average of 100 hours per month. Of the total number of required hours described in paragraph (2), not fewer than 20 hours per week shall be attributable to an activity described in subparagraph (A), (B), (C), (D), (E), (F), (G), (H), (L), (M), or
(N)of subsection (a)(4). At least 10 percent of the eligible participants that a State requires to participate in full work activation under this section shall be required to participate in activities described in subparagraph (D), (G), or
(M)of subsection (a)(4). Other than unsubsidized employment described in subsection (a)(4)(A), participation in work and work preparation activities under this section shall not be— considered to be employment; or subject to any law pertaining to wages, compensation, hours, or conditions of employment under any law administered by the Secretary of Labor. Except as provided in subsection (g), nothing in this section prevents a State from requiring more than 100 hours per month of participation in work and work preparation activities. For purposes of determining monthly participation rates under this section, an eligible participant who is married or a head of household and who has not attained 20 years of age shall be considered to have completed successful engagement in work activation for a month if the eligible participant— maintains satisfactory attendance at secondary school or the equivalent during the month; or participates in education directly related to employment for an average of at least 20 hours per week during the month. For purposes of determining monthly participation rates under this section, not more than 30 percent of the number of individuals in a State who are treated as having completed successful engagement in work activation for a month may be individuals who are determined to be engaged in work activation for the month by reason of participation in vocational educational training. For any fiscal year, a State agency, at the option of the State agency, may— exempt a household that includes a child who has not attained 12 months of age from engaging in work activation; and disregard that household in determining the monthly participation rates under this section until the child has attained 12 months of age. For purposes of determining monthly participation rates under this section, a household that includes a child who has not attained 6 years of age shall be considered to be successfully engaged in work activation for a month if a member of the household receiving supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits is engaged in work activation for an average of at least 20 hours per week during the month. Except as provided in paragraph (3), if an eligible participant in a household receiving assistance under the State program funded under this section fails to complete successful engagement in work activation in accordance with this section, the State agency shall— in accordance with paragraph (2), reduce the amount of assistance otherwise payable to the entire household pro rata (or more, at the option of the State agency) with respect to the month immediately after any month in which the eligible participant fails to perform; or terminate the assistance entirely. For purposes of paragraph (1)(A), the amount of the pro rata reduction shall equal the product obtained by multiplying— the normal monthly amount of assistance to the entire household that would have been received if not for the reduction under paragraph (1)(A); by the proportion that— the hours of required work and work preparation activities performed by the eligible participant during the month; bears to the number or hours of work and work preparation activities the State agency required the eligible participant to perform in accordance with this section. A State may not reduce or terminate assistance under the State program funded under this section or any other State program funded with qualified State expenditures (as defined in section 409(a)(7)(B) of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. 609(a)(7)(B) )) based on a refusal of an eligible participant to engage in work and work preparation activities required under this section if— the eligible participant is a single custodial parent caring for a child who has not attained 6 years of age; and the eligible participant proves that the eligible participant has a demonstrated inability (as determined by the State agency) to obtain needed child care, due to— unavailability of appropriate child care within a reasonable distance from the home or work site of the eligible participant; or unavailability of all affordable child care arrangements, including formal child care and all informal child care by a relative or under other arrangements. The maximum number of hours during a month that an eligible participant shall be required under this section to work in a community service program or a workfare program under section 20 shall not exceed the quotient obtained by dividing— the total dollar cost of all means-tested benefits received by the household for that month, as determined under paragraph (2); by the Federal minimum wage. Except as provided in subparagraph (B), the total dollar cost of all means-tested benefits shall equal the sum of the dollar cost of all benefits received by the household from— the supplemental nutrition assistance program; the State program funded under part A of title IV of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) or any other State program funded with qualified State expenditures (as defined in section 409(a)(7)(B)(i) of that Act ( 42 U.S.C. 609(a)(7)(B)(i) )); and any assistance provided to a household, landlord, or public housing agency (as defined in section 3(b)(6) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 ( 42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)(6) )) to subsidize the rental payment for a dwelling unit, including assistance provided for public housing dwelling units under section 3 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 ( 42 U.S.C. 1437a ) and assistance provided under section 8 of that Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1437f ). For purposes of subparagraph (A), if the dollar value of 1 or more benefits received by a household in a month has been reduced under subsection
(g)or another sanction requirement, the calculated dollar value of the sanctioned benefits shall equal the dollar value of the benefit that would have been received if the benefit had not been reduced by the sanction. Nothing in this subsection prevents a State agency from requiring an eligible participant to engage in activities not described in paragraph
(1)for additional hours during the month. As a condition of receiving supplemental nutrition assistance program funds under this Act, except as provided in paragraph (2), a State agency shall achieve for each quarter of the fiscal year with respect to all eligible participants receiving assistance under the State program funded under this section for that fiscal year at least the participation rate specified in the following table: If the fiscal year is: The quarterly participation rate shall be at least: 2019 20 percent 2020 35 percent 2021 50 percent 2022 65 percent 2023 80 percent. If the average national unemployment rate during a quarter of a fiscal year, as determined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Department of Labor, is more than 8 percent, the participation goal for the immediately succeeding quarter shall equal the product obtained by multiplying— the applicable quarterly participation rate under paragraph (1); by 0.8. In this subsection, the term sanctioned recipient means any eligible participant who— was required to participate in work activation in a month; failed to perform the assigned work and work preparation activities so as to meet the relevant hourly requirements in subsection (c), (d), or (e)(2); and was sanctioned by a reduced benefit payment in the subsequent month under subsection (g). The work activation participation rate for a State for any quarter of a fiscal year shall equal the average of the monthly participation rates for the State during the 3 months of that quarter. For purposes of paragraph (2), the monthly participation rate shall equal the ratio of all countable participants to all eligible participants in the month, as determined under paragraph (4). Subject to paragraph (5), the ratio of all countable participants to all eligible participants in a month equals the proportion that— the sum obtained by adding— all eligible participants who— were required by the State to engage in interim work activation, full work activation, or education under subsection (e)(1) during the month; and fulfilled the criteria for successful engagement in work activation for that activity during the month; and all sanctioned recipients for that month; bears to the average number of eligible participants in the State in that month. A married couple household consisting of more than 1 eligible participant shall be counted as a single eligible participant for purposes of calculating the participation rate under this subsection. Beginning in the first quarter of fiscal year 2020 and for each subsequent quarter of fiscal year 2020 and of each subsequent fiscal year, each State shall count the monthly average number of countable participants under this section. If the monthly average number of countable participants in a State of a fiscal year is not sufficient to fulfill the relevant work activation participation goal under subsection
(i)during that quarter, the supplemental nutrition assistance program funding for the State under this Act shall be reduced for the fiscal quarter that begins 180 days after the first day of the quarter in which the inadequate performance occurred in accordance with paragraph (3). The total amount of funding a State shall receive for all households with eligible participants for a quarter for which funding is reduced under paragraph
(2)shall equal the product obtained by multiplying— the total amount of funding that the State would have received in the preceding quarter for all households with eligible participants if no reduction had been in place; by the ratio of all countable participants to all eligible participants (as determined under subsection (j)(4)) for the quarter that began 180 days before the first day of the quarter for which funding is reduced. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, for fiscal year 2019 and each subsequent fiscal year, a State that receives supplemental nutrition assistance program funds under this Act may use during that fiscal year to carry out the work activation program of the State under this section— any of the Federal funds available to the State through the State program funded under part A of title IV of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) in that fiscal year; and any of the funds from State sources allocated to the operation of the program described in clause (i). Any State that uses State funds allocated to the State program funded under part A of title IV of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) to administer the work activation program of that State under this section may treat those funds as qualified State expenditures (as defined in section 409(a)(7)(B)(i) of that Act ( 42 U.S.C. 609(a)(7)(B)(i) )) for purposes of meeting the requirements of section 409(a)(7) of that Act ( 42 U.S.C. 609(a)(7) ) in that fiscal year. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, for fiscal year 2019 and each subsequent fiscal year, a State that receives Federal funds under the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 ( 29 U.S.C. 2801 et seq.) may use up to 50 percent of those funds during that fiscal year to carry out the work activation program of the State under this section. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, for fiscal year 2019 and each subsequent fiscal year, a State that receives Federal funds under this Act for an employment and training program under section 6(d) may use those funds during that fiscal year to carry out the work activation program of the State under this section. .
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Sec. 202
Work activation program for adults with dependent children
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