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Amend the bill, as and if amended, by striking all after the enacting words and inserting:

SECTION 1. This act may be cited as the South Carolina Family Independence Act of 1995.

SECTION 2. It is the policy of this State that personal responsibility and parental responsibility must be met if citizens are to attain independence. It is through the family that children best learn discipline, respect, compassion, and enterprise. The current welfare system too often encourages illegitimacy, discourages work, and leads to hopelessness, despair, and the breakdown of families. It must be replaced with a system that provides opportunities for parents to achieve self-sufficiency and penalties for those who refuse to act on that opportunity.

SECTION 1. As used in this act:

(1) `Aid to Families with Dependent Children' or `AFDC' means cash payments or stipends paid to individuals who meet established eligibility criteria.

(2) `Department' means the South Carolina State Department of Social Services.

(3) `Welfare' means cash assistance payments through the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program which must be provided as a stipend to assist families to become employed.

SECTION 1. It is the mandate of the General Assembly that the welfare system in South Carolina be restructured to assist families in poverty to become socially and economically independent. It is the purpose and goal of this legislation to establish the reform of the welfare system as a critical priority for the state and all of its agencies. Cooperation and innovation within and among all state agencies is necessary for the achievement of this goal. The office of the governor shall designate the lead agency for purposes of coordination and the avoidance, where practical, of duplication of services. The State Department of Social Services is mandated to fundamentally change its economic services operation to emphasize employment and training with a minor welfare component. To that end, the department shall expand its

SECTION 2. (A) To emphasize the reciprocal responsibility that exists between welfare recipients and the taxpayers who pay for welfare, an agreement must be signed by each adult AFDC recipient. If a minor mother is living in the home of her parents or guardian, the minor mother and her parent or guardian must sign the agreement. The agreement shall describe the actions the recipient must take to become employed and the time frames for completing these actions. The agreement also shall describe the services the department shall provide or coordinate to assist the recipient in becoming employed. The department shall place a major emphasis on job development and on maximizing employment opportunities within the State. Assistance must be provided by the department's job development specialists who shall work with the private business and industrial community to match welfare recipients with available jobs. Assistance also shall include job clubs, job coaches, financial planners, and personal, social, and work adjustment training specialists.

(B) An applicant who appears to be eligible for welfare assistance and who would be required to participate or who volunteers to participate in the department's employment and training program must be referred to an employment and training unit. An applicant referred must conduct an initial job search and shall provide evidence of this search by listing the employer contacted, the date of the visit with the employer, and the name of the person with whom the applicant spoke. An applicant who does not provide this information must not be approved for assistance until the information is provided. An employment assessment must be conducted on an applicant who is unsuccessful in securing employment to determine if the applicant is job ready. An applicant who has been employed twelve out of the previous twenty-four months or who has graduated from high school or has obtained a GED must be considered job ready and must be enrolled in a job club. Following participation in a job club, the applicant must conduct a job search for an additional period. An applicant who is not job ready or a job ready participant who is unsuccessful in the job search must be evaluated for barriers to employment. An individual agreement containing training and employment requirements must be

(C) All services provided shall complement and maximize existing resources within state agencies and within the private business community. Services to be provided or coordinated by the department include, but are not limited to, assistance with child care and transportation, enrollment in literacy classes, adult education classes, General Equivalency Diploma classes, enrollment in technical schools, vocational training, work experience, and on-the-job training. Additionally, recipients shall participate in activities designed to assist them in job interviews and successful employment. The department shall provide information to applicants and recipients regarding the advantages of participation in the employment and training programs. The department also shall market its training and employment program to education and training program providers and to employers.

SECTION 3. The Employment Security Commission shall provide the department on-line access to all updatable computerized job vacancy data and all other employment listings. To the extent possible, all other state agencies shall provide the department with access to appropriate economic and demographic data concerning AFDC applicants and recipients.

SECTION 4. The department may provide, as appropriate, relocation assistance to families who live in communities where few job opportunities exist. Assistance may be provided to assist recipients in accessing jobs which maximize their skills and abilities.

SECTION 5. To maximize employment opportunities for welfare recipients and to provide for additional job training and placement efforts, instead of making cash assistance payments to AFDC recipients, these payments or some portion of these payments may be paid as a wage subsidy or given as a tax credit to employers offering new jobs as a result of a new business or an expansion of an existing business, subject to the guidelines of the department.

SECTION 6. The General Assembly shall provide by law for a tax credit for employers who hire welfare recipients who have received AFDC benefits for more than twenty-four months and who, in addition, wherever possible, provide health and medical insurance benefits to the former AFDC recipient employees. The Department of Revenue and Taxation and the Department of Commerce shall cooperate with the department to coordinate and develop these tax credits for private businesses. The state

SECTION 7. Each state agency shall establish recruitment and hiring goals which shall target ten percent of all jobs requiring a high school diploma or less to be filled with welfare or food stamp recipients. A question concerning receipt of AFDC benefits or food stamps may be added to the state employment application for purposes of targeting these applicants. Each agency annually shall report to the department the number of welfare recipients employed in comparison to the established goal.

SECTION 8. The department, as part of the employment and training program, shall provide special educational and related services for teen parents to assist them in becoming economically independent and to provide health information. This teen parent initiative must be staffed by department personnel familiar with school drop out programs, family planning programs which comply with existing law, and parent effectiveness training programs, and whenever possible and practical, the department shall coordinate with comparable staff of other state and local agencies in providing these services.

SECTION 9. To expand available job training activities for AFDC recipients, the Governor may target future incentive funds under Title II-A of the Job Training and Partnership Act in such a way as to encourage the service delivery areas and local private industry councils to increase service levels and improve performance outcomes related to services to AFDC recipients.

SECTION 10. To emphasize the importance of education, training, and employment in restructuring the welfare system, the department shall establish goals for the placement and retention of AFDC recipients in employment programs for each county welfare office. These goals must be reflected in the Employee Performance Evaluation of all appropriate department employees.

SECTION 11. (A) To emphasize the necessity of each family achieving independence and self-sufficiency, if an AFDC recipient fails without good cause to comply with the employment and training requirements contained in the agreement entered into between the recipient and the State Department of Social Services, the department shall:

(1) grant a thirty-day conciliation period for the recipient to reconsider the decision not to comply with the terms of the agreement. During this thirty-day period, the recipient has the right to appeal the department's decision to impose sanctions. At the end of this thirty-day period if the conciliation/fair hearing decision was not in the recipient's

(2) terminate all AFDC benefits if the recipient completes the training requirements contained in the agreement and then refuses an offer of employment.

(B) A recipient has good cause for failing to comply with the employment and training provisions of the agreement if the recipient is:

(1) a parent or caretaker relative with a child under one year of age; however, custodial parents under age twenty-five who have not completed their high school education are required to comply with these provisions regardless of the age of the child;

(2) at least six months pregnant and the pregnancy is verified by a qualified licensed health care provider;

(3) incapacitated and the incapacity is verified by a physician, and if the department considers it necessary, confirmed by an assessment performed by the department of vocational rehabilitation, as a physical or mental impairment that prevents the recipient from engaging in gainful employment or participating in education or training;

(4) caring for an incapacitated person whose incapacity has been verified by a physician, and if the department considers it necessary, confirmed by an assessment performed by the department of vocational rehabilitation.

(5) unable to participate because child care and reasonable transportation were not provided when needed for participation in employment and training programs.

SECTION 12. As a condition of eligibility for AFDC benefits, each adult recipient and minor mother recipient must participate in a family skills training program which must include, but is not limited to, parenting skills, financial planning, and health information. Whenever possible and practical, the department shall coordinate with comparable staff of other state and local agencies in providing these services.

This program must include an alcohol and other drug assessment when it is determined by the department that an assessment is appropriate. The department shall coordinate with the Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services to provide the proper assessment of the recipient and training of the department personnel who are to conduct the assessment. If the recipient is determined to be in need of alcohol and other drug abuse treatment, the department shall coordinate the services with the Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services and shall include

SECTION 13. Section 20-7-420 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by an act of 1995 bearing ratification number 585 of 1994, is further amended by adding an appropriately numbered item to read:

"( ) to order a person required to pay support under a court order being enforced under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act who is unemployed or underemployed and who is the parent of a child receiving AFDC benefits to participate in an employment training program or public service employment pursuant to regulations promulgated by the department. The Division of Support Enforcement of the State Department of Social Services also has jurisdiction under this item in cases under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act brought pursuant to Article 32, Chapter 7, Title 20 of the 1976 Code.

SECTION 14. The 1976 Code is amended by adding:

"Section 20-7-873. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a court or administrative order for child support or order for contempt for nonpayment of child support being enforced under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act may direct a noncustodial parent who is unemployed or underemployed and who is the parent of a child receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children benefits to participate in an employment training program or public service employment. Upon failure of the noncustodial parent to comply with an order of contempt which directed the noncustodial parent to participate in the employment training program or public service employment, the Family Court, upon receiving an affidavit of noncompliance from the department, immediately may issue a bench warrant for the arrest of the noncustodial parent. The Department of Social Services shall promulgate regulations governing the eligibility criteria and implementation of these training programs and public service employment."

SECTION 15. The Department of Social Services shall seek federal funds for entrepreneurial development so that AFDC clients can create jobs and provide incentives for AFDC clients in their efforts to attain self-sufficiency and independence. The department shall identify markets for entrepreneurial development for AFDC clients, provide clients with job skills and opportunities to develop expertise in operating businesses, and allow clients to accrue savings, buy stock in a business, or, over a period of time, purchase a business. In carrying out this program the department shall work in conjunction with public, community, and private sector entities including businesses, banks, and other institutions to develop

SECTION 16. In order to assure that all families working toward self sufficiency have access to all potential supportive services that will help ensure their success, the department, within existing revenues, may develop outreach and information programs which provide information and assistance on support services available to low income families including, but not limited to, information on earned income tax credits and medicaid eligibility.

SECTION 17. To promote independence and assist AFDC families in participating in the Department of Social Services employment and training program and in getting to their place of employment, reliable transportation services are needed. The department in conjunction with the Department of Public Safety shall endorse local efforts to develop a statewide network of mass transit systems.

SECTION 1. To emphasize that welfare is temporary assistance in time of trouble, the department shall apply to the federal government for a waiver authorizing assistance in the Aid to Families with Dependent Children Program (AFDC) to be limited to no more than twenty-four months out of one hundred and twenty months and no more than sixty months in a lifetime except when:

(1) the head of household is permanently or totally disabled, whether physical or mental;

(2) the head of household is providing full-time care for a disabled individual in the home;

(3) the parent of the child for whom assistance is received is a minor under the age of eighteen who has not completed high school. Assistance must be provided for a period of up to twenty-four months after the minor parent attains the age of eighteen or completes high school, whichever occurs first;

(4) the individual is involved in an approved training program which will not be completed by the twenty-fourth month. However, no extension may be granted beyond the thirtieth month except with the express permission of the county director;

(5) the adult head of household is not the parent of the child and is not included in the assistance check;

(6) the adult head of household is providing a home for and caring for a child whom the department has determined to be abandoned by his or her parents and for whom the alternative placement is foster care;

(8) an AFDC recipient has failed, in good faith, to become gainfully employed but volunteers in the public sector for twenty hours a week; however, this exception must not extend entitlement to more than thirty-six months in the one hundred twenty month period.

SECTION 2. AFDC recipients must be encouraged to voluntarily participate in a work program when their youngest child reaches the age of six months, but in all cases the recipients must participate in a work program once their youngest child reaches age one.

SECTION 3. The asset limit for families on AFDC must be five thousand dollars. The equity value of any and all vehicles owned by the family must be included in the computation of countable assets to be measured against the five thousand dollar limit.

SECTION 4. Families on AFDC and those not receiving welfare but whose household income falls below one hundred eighty-five percent of the federal poverty level may own an Individual Development Account. Contributions to and interest on these accounts are tax free, and a recipient may accrue up to ten thousand dollars in the account. Withdrawals used for education or job training or to purchase a home are tax free. Withdrawals for other purposes are not tax free.

SECTION 5. To remove the disincentive to employment that occurs when a family's AFDC payment is reduced because of a minor child's earnings and to encourage children in AFDC families to develop positive work attitudes, the State shall apply to the federal government for a waiver to exclude income earned by a minor child attending school when determining eligibility or payment amount for aid to families with dependent children.

SECTION 6. In order to assist AFDC families in gaining financial independence and in building for the future, the Department of Social Services shall apply to the federal government for a waiver allowing the State to exclude interest income and dividends in determining eligibility and payment amounts for aid to families with dependent children.

SECTION 1. To encourage parents to plan for security and assume responsibility for their children, there must be no incremental increase in AFDC benefits to a family as a result of a child born to that parent ten or more months after the family begins to receive AFDC. This section does not apply if the department establishes that the child was conceived as a result of rape or incest.

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