| 19167 | Prepared by the North Dakota
Legislative Council staff for the Budget Committee on Human Services December 1999 |
TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE FOR NEEDY FAMILIES PROGRAM - FUNDING USES
STATE MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT SPENDING
Spending Requirement
- The state is required to spend 80 percent of the state's historic level of spending (FY 1994), or 75 percent if the state meets work participation requirements on qualified state expenditures.
- All maintenance of effort funds must be spent on families that meet the income and resource standards in the state plan and are either eligible for temporary assistance for needy families (TANF) or would be eligible for TANF except they have exceeded the five-year time limit on federally funded assistance. Eligible families include a child living with his or her custodial parent or other adult caretaker relative.
- For the 1999-2001 biennium North Dakota projects spending $16,600,859 to meet maintenance of effort requirements. This includes $14,566,787 for training, education, employment, and management program (TEEM) benefits, foster care emergency assistance and emergency assistance case management, and $2,034,072 for child care.
Qualified Maintenance of Effort Activities
Qualified state maintenance of effort-funded activities include:
- Cash assistance, including any part of the state's share of the child support collection.
- Child care assistance.
- Educational activities to increase self-sufficiency, job training and work (except activities or services that the state makes generally available to its residents without cost and without regard to their income).
- Administrative costs in connection with any of these activities, subject to a 15 percent limitation.
- Any other services or benefits that are reasonably calculated to accomplish a purpose of the TANF program.
Funding Options - Maintenance of Effort
The state may spend their maintenance of effort funds in one of three ways:
- Commingled with federal funds and spent in the TANF program. These expenditures are the least flexible because they are subject to federal funding restrictions, TANF requirements, and maintenance of effort limitations.
- Segregated from federal funds but spent in the TANF program. These expenditures are subject to many TANF requirements including the work participation requirements, child support assignment, and reporting. However, time limits and federal funding restrictions do not apply.
- In separate state programs, operated outside of the TANF program. These expenditures are very flexible and are not subject to the general TANF requirements. However, they must be consistent with the goals of the TANF law and other maintenance of effort requirements. Also, they are included within the 15 percent administrative cap for maintenance of effort expenditures.
FEDERAL TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE FOR NEEDY FAMILIES REVENUE
The state of North Dakota receives $52,799,618 of federal TANF funds for a biennium, or $26,399,809 per year.
ALLOWABLE USES OF FEDERAL TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE FOR NEEDY FAMILIES FUNDS
- The purposes of TANF:
- Assistance to needy families (any unobligated funds at yearend may only be spent subsequently on assistance).
- End the dependence of needy parents on government benefits by promoting job preparation, work, and marriage.
- Prevent and reduce out-of-wedlock pregnancies (potential activities include abstinence programs, nursing services, youth counseling, teen pregnancy prevention, and after school supervision).
- Encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent families (potential activities include parenting skills training, premarital and marital counseling, job training for noncustodial parents, and crisis or intervention services).
NOTE: Subdivisions c and d may be provided to both the needy and nonneedy families, with objective criteria for the services to the nonneedy. - Previously authorized activities:
- Allow states to use federal TANF funds for specific activities that have been previously authorized based on an approved Title IV-A or IV-F plan, using the same eligibility criteria.
- Examples of such activities are juvenile justice and certain state child welfare and foster care activities included in many approved state plans.
- Transfers:
- A state may transfer up to 30 percent of TANF funds each fiscal year to the child care development fund and to the social services block grant program.
- No more than 10 percent of the grant amount for a fiscal year may be transferred to the social services block grant, and if transferred, up to 20 percent of the annual grant could be transferred to the child care development fund.
- Once a state transfers funds to either program, it must use the funds in accordance with the rules of that program. (Transfers cannot be made to a state "rainy day" fund.)
ADDITIONAL TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE FOR NEEDY FAMILIES CONSIDERATIONS
Assistance
- The definition of "assistance" is significant because families receiving TANF assistance must meet work participation and child support cooperation requirements.
- "Assistance" includes benefits directed at basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter, utilities, household goods, and personal care items.
- Assistance excludes:
- Child care, transportation, and other supportive services provided to families that are employed.
- Nonrecurrent, short-term benefits (crisis- or time-limited).
- Work subsidies.
- Refundable earned income tax credits.
- Contributions to and distributions from individual development accounts.
- Education or training, including tuition assistance.
- Other services such as counseling, case management, peer support, child care information and referral, transitional services, job retention, job advancement, and other employment-related services.
- Transportation benefits provided under a "Job Access or Reverse Commute" project to an individual who is not otherwise receiving assistance.
Restrictions on the Use of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Funds
- Restrictions on providing assistance to certain teen parents, convicted felons, and individuals convicted of fraud.
- Prohibition on spending funds on medical services (except prepregnancy family planning).
- A 15 percent cap on administrative expenditures.
- A state may not use federal TANF funds to satisfy a cost-sharing or matching requirement of another federal program unless specifically authorized by federal law.
- State maintenance of effort funds generally cannot be used to meet federal cost-sharing requirements in other programs.
- States may not transfer TANF funds to another federally funded program without specific statutory authority.
- A state may not use TANF funds to construct or purchase buildings or
facilities or to purchase real estate.
- A state may reserve federal TANF funds for any fiscal year for the purpose
of providing "assistance" without fiscal year limitation. A state may only
spend reserve money:
- Within the TANF program.
- To provide benefits that meet the definition of assistance or on related administrative costs. This limitation precludes the state from transferring reserve funds to either the child care development fund or the social services block grant fund.
APPROPRIATE USES OF TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE FOR NEEDY FAMILIES FUNDS
The following chart lists possible uses of federal TANF or state maintenance of effort funds, as identified by the United States Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Human Services response regarding the provision of the service in North Dakota.
| Possible TANF Use | Department of Human Services Response |
| Support for Work Activities | |
| Provide job search, job placement, transportation, and child care services to TANF applicants from the beginning of the TANF application period. | Provided through JOBS, child care, and supportive services. |
| Provide work experience and case management to individuals with employment barriers, such as little or no work history. | Provided through JOBS program. |
| Subsidize wages directly or through an employer. Provide subsidies to help pay for the creation of community jobs for needy parents in private, nonprofit, or community agencies. | Can provide through JOBS program - used very little. Part of TANF grant can subsidize salary. No subsidies to help pay for the creation of jobs. |
| Help unemployed, needy, noncustodial parent by providing job skills training, retraining, job search, employment placement services, or other work-related services. | Not providing anything for noncustodial parents. |
| Provide job retention services or postemployment followup services, such as counseling, employee assistance, or other supportive services. | Provide through welfare-to-work for those who leave TANF due to earnings. For those still on TANF, these services are available through JOBS and supportive services. |
| Pay refugee services providers to provide linguistically and culturally appropriate services that help refugee TANF recipients obtain employment or participate in work activities. | This is being done. Presently Lutheran Social Services is providing the JOBS program for refugees. |
| Provide specialized training for supervisors or job coaches in private industry on how to work with newly hired TANF individuals who have serious barriers to employment or reimburse employers for the time supervisors spend in such training. | Not being done in an organized manner but on a case-by-case basis. |
| Subcontract with business organizations or associations to expand participation of employers in welfare-to-work initiatives and encourage the hiring of TANF recipients. | Not being done at present. The Department of Human Services is exploring pilot projects in different regions and how to involve the private sector has come up as an issue. |
| Conduct a state public awareness campaign designed to inform employers about the benefits of hiring TANF recipients and encourage employers to alert the TANF office when they have job openings. | Not being done as a public awareness campaign. This type of activity does happen as JOBS managers talk with employers, most recently with Amazon.com. |
| Child Care | |
| Transfer federal TANF funds into the child care and development fund to support "quality activities," e.g., to help child care providers attain accreditation and increase monitoring and unannounced inspections of child care settings. | Transferred $2 million in TANF funds to child care block grant. Quality activities are part of the block grant. |
| Counsel needy parents about health, safety, educational, social, and emotional development issues to consider in selecting child care. | Provided through resource and referral agencies under contract with Department of Human Services. |
| Provide full-day/full-year, high-quality child care services for young children in needy families by expanding or extending the hours of programs with high educational and developmental standards, such as Head Start and accredited prekindergarten. | These efforts have been made. Most recently a request for proposal has been developed to extend Head Start hours. |
| Increase child care subsidy levels, especially for infant and toddler care, to expand the availability of care for needy families. | The subsidy levels have been increased in recognition of market rate surveys. |
| Increase child care payment rates for child care offered during nontraditional hours in order to expand the availability of such care. | This has not been done. Other efforts have been made to encourage nontraditional hours. |
| Expand child care staff recruitment activities to increase the availability of care for needy families, especially in areas of short supply such as care for children with special needs, sick-child care, care in rural areas, and care during nontraditional work hours. | Recruitment is part of the resource and referral contract. There has been discussion about increasing the effort in this area. |
| Fund afterschool and summer recreation activities that provide supervision and developmental services for children and youth while their needy parents work. | Some of these activities have been developed through the Children's Services Coordinating Committee. |
| Transportation | |
| Provide transportation allowances to cover incidental expenses and participation-related expenses for unemployed families. | Provided through supportive services. |
| Provide transit passes or tokens. | Provided in some areas. |
| Arrange with another agency to use its buses or vans or share in the costs of purchasing transportation services. | Not being done presently on a statewide basis. The Department of Human Services is working on a pilot with Bis-Man Transit to use their equipment for TANF. |
| Invest in local initiatives to improve the existing transportation network so that needy parents can access jobs. | Being done with Bis-Man Transit. The Department of Human Services will also support other projects as they develop. |
| Reimburse clients for mileage, auto repairs, or auto insurance to facilitate finding employment and job retention. | Provided through supportive services. |
| Contract with a private organization or service to refurbish previously owned cars and provide the cars to TANF recipients or provide financing support that enables recipients to purchase a car. | Not being done. There are limited programs like this being done in other states. |
| Subsidize costs of transporting needy children to child care. | Can be part of transportation allowance through supportive services. |
| Education and Training | |
| Train employed recipients, former recipients, and noncustodial parents in job-related vocational and literacy skills needed for regular, full-time employment. | Can be done through JOBS and welfare-to-work, except noncustodial parents. |
| Fund education or job training activities at colleges and secondary and technical schools that promote advancement to higher paying jobs and self-sufficiency. | Allow for one year. Will pay additional years if client is meeting work requirements. |
| Share with employers the costs of onsite education, such as English as a second language or literacy classes. | Aware of one instance where English as a second language is done onsite. |
| Provide classes for new, unskilled, and semiskilled workers to teach new skills or enhance existing skills in order to improve their chances of job retention and advancement. | Can be provided and is being provided on a case-by-case basis. |
| Mental Health/Substance Abuse | |
| Use federal TANF funds to provide appropriate counseling services (e.g., mental health services, anger management counseling, nonmedical substance abuse counseling services) to family members with barriers to employment and self-sufficiency. | Is being provided for TANF individuals. Discussion on pilot projects has involved expanding this effort, especially in assessment. |
| Use federal TANF or state maintenance of effort funds to provide nonmedical substance or alcohol abuse services, including room and board costs at residential treatment programs. | Is allowed for TANF individuals. Very little inpatient residential treatment being provided, outpatient is more common. |
| Use state maintenance of effort funds (that have not been commingled with federal TANF funds) to pay for medical services (e.g., for treatment of substance or alcohol abuse not paid by Medicaid) or to provide medical coverage for families that lack medical benefits (e.g., for families ineligible for transitional Medicaid or for adults whose children are served by Medicaid or CHIP). | Is not being done as a separate program. Funds are being used for these services. |
| Domestic Violence | |
| Use TANF or maintenance of effort funds to help victims of domestic violence relocate elsewhere in the state or outside the state where employment or safe housing has been secured. | This is allowable for TANF recipients. |
| Collaborate with domestic violence service providers to screen and identify victims; develop safety and services plans; provide appropriate counseling, referrals and other related services; determine the need for waivers of TANF program requirements; establish procedures that will maintain confidentiality of case-record information and ensure safety; and develop appropriate staff training. | Domestic violence questions have been implemented in assessment. More needs to be done as few are being identified. |
| Developmental and Learning Disabilities | |
| Arrange for the state's vocational rehabilitation agency or similar provider to provide assessment, evaluation, assistive technology and equipment, and vocational rehabilitation services to needy individuals who have physical or mental disabilities but would not otherwise receive services. (Such services may also be important to parents or caretakers who receive SSI, while their children receive TANF.) | The Department of Human Services has TANF recipients who are also vocational rehabilitation clients. The two agencies work together on these cases. |
| Provide cash assistance during the waiting period for SSI benefits for a disabled parent or disabled child in the family. | The Department of Human Services provides. |
| Enhancing or Supplementing the Family Income or Assets | |
| Make loans to needy families to provide stable housing, secure a car, or for other reasons that are reasonably calculated to meet a purpose of the program. | Do not have loan program. |
| Create a state refundable earned income tax credit program, using state maintenance of effort funds to pay for the refundable portion of the credit. | Do not do this. These efforts are going on in other states and the Department of Human Services has looked into it. |
| Fund a supplemental unemployment insurance program for unemployed workers in needy families who are not eligible for benefits under the state's regular unemployment insurance program. | Do not do this. This is not an area the Department of Human Services has looked into at this time. |
| Provide stipends to needy parents who combine education/training and work. | Will pay education expenses of TANF clients who meet work requirements. |
| Increase the earnings disregarded for employed parents and adult caretaker relatives. | Did this when TEEM was implemented. |
| Match the contributions of TANF-eligible individuals in individual development accounts developed either under the TANF provisions or the Assets for Independence Act of 1998. | Are not doing this at present time. This is another area where the Department of Human Services has looked at other states' efforts. |
| NOTE: Individual development accounts benefits are not "assistance." Also, individual development accounts benefits and assets may be disregarded in determining TANF eligibility and benefits. | |
| Passthrough to the family (and disregard) some or all of the state's share of the assigned child support collection or passthrough the full amount of the child support collection by using the state's share of the assigned child support collection for part of it and using additional state maintenance of effort funds to pay the remainder. | Do not do this. Was done in past. |
| Provide weatherization assistance or pay for home repairs. | Can be done through LIHEAP. |
| Provide rental assistance, including security deposits, application fees, and payments of back rent to prevent evictions. | Provided some through supportive services. |
| Provide a moving allowance (e.g., when a needy adult family member secures a job that is not close to the family's home). | Provided through supportive services. |
| Inform families about the availability of the earned income tax credit and other ongoing support for working families, including food stamps, Medicaid, and child care. | Done annually. |
| Child Welfare | |
| Collaborate with the child welfare agency to identify and serve children in needy families who are at risk of abuse or neglect (e.g., family counseling, vocational and educational counseling, and counseling directed at specific problems, such as developmentally disabled needs). | Try to do this through assessment. In discussion on pilot projects, child welfare has been involved. |
| Provide cash assistance to needy caretaker relatives or provide appropriate supportive services (e.g., referral services, child care, transportation, and respite care) to caregiver relatives who can provide a safe place for a needy child to live and avoid his or her placement in foster care. | Pay ineligible caretaker cases. Make up about 28 percent of cases. |
| Screen families who have been sanctioned under TANF for risk of child abuse or neglect and provide case management services designed to eliminate barriers to compliance. | Risk factor for child abuse can be taken into account. |
| Family Formation and Pregnancy Prevention | |
| Fund responsible fatherhood initiatives that will improve the capacity of needy fathers to provide financial and emotional support for their children. | Do not do this. Have reviewed other states' efforts. |
| Provide parenting classes, premarital and marriage counseling, and mediation services. | Parenting classes for TANF clients can be paid. |
| Provide counseling services or classes that focus on teen pregnancy prevention. | Working with Department of Health on this issue. |
| Fund state or local media campaigns to encourage young people to delay parenting or to encourage fathers to play a responsible role in their children's lives. | Not being done through TANF, may be part of Department of Health efforts. |
| Change TANF eligibility rules to provide incentives for single parents to marry or for two-parent families to stay together. | Stepparent budgeting ignores stepparent's income for the first six months. |
| Community Development | |
| Issue grants to local welfare planning councils for their use in addressing TANF recipient needs within a specific locale. | Do not do this, do not have these agencies. |
| Provide loans to small businesses if they agree to hire and train TANF recipients. | Has not been done, could be explored. |
| Fund a microenterprise development initiative. | Has not been done, could be explored. |
| Fund Community Development Corporation projects or community-based organizations that employ TANF clients, e.g., by covering the appropriate share of planning, development, and implementation costs. | Has not been done, could be explored. |
| General | |
| Use federal TANF funds for activities for which the state had been specifically authorized per the state's approved AFDC plan, JOBS plan, or supportive services plan as of September 30, 1995, or at state option August 21, 1996, e.g., foster care or juvenile justice activities. | The Department of Human Services uses funds for foster care, family-focused services, child abuse and neglect, parent aid, and intensive in-home services. |
| Use funds to purchase food stamps from the United States Department of Agriculture for legal aliens who are not eligible for benefits under the federal food stamp program. | Not being done with TANF funds. |
| Provide outreach activities that will improve access of needy families to medical benefits provided under the Medicaid or CHIP programs. | Being done by Medicaid. |
| Contribute state maintenance of effort funds to tribal TANF programs. | Not being done. May do this July 1, 2001. |
| Provide training to counselors in employee and family assistance programs about the needs of the population leaving welfare. | Has not been done. Could be done on more formal basis. JOBS and county workers very familiar with this issue. |
OTHER STATES' USES OF TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE FOR NEEDY FAMILIES FUNDS
Attached as an appendix is a summary prepared by the National Conference of State Legislatures that lists unique state programs and services funded with TANF and maintenance of effort.
