September 5, 2018, Introduced by Senators HOPGOOD, JONES, GREGORY, ANANICH, EMMONS and GREEN and referred to the Committee on Families, Seniors and Human Services.
A bill to amend 1939 PA 280, entitled
"The social welfare act,"
by amending section 57g (MCL 400.57g), as amended by 2014 PA 375.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 57g. (1) Except as provided in subsection (5), if a
recipient does not meet his or her individual family self-
sufficiency plan requirements and is therefore noncompliant, the
department shall impose the penalties described under this section.
The department shall implement a schedule of penalties for
instances of noncompliance as described in this subsection. The
penalties shall be as follows:
(a) For the first instance of noncompliance, the family is
ineligible to receive family independence program assistance for
not less than 3 calendar months.
(b) For the second instance of noncompliance, the family is
ineligible to receive family independence program assistance for
not less than 6 calendar months.
(c) For the third instance of noncompliance, the family is
permanently ineligible to receive family independence program
assistance.
(2) For the purposes of subsections (1) to (4),
"noncompliance" means 1 or more of the following:
(a) A recipient quits a job.
(b) A recipient is fired for misconduct or absenteeism.
(c) A recipient voluntarily reduces employment hours or
earnings.
(d) A recipient refuses a bona fide offer of employment or
additional hours up to 40 hours per week.
(e) A recipient does not participate in PATH program
activities.
(f) A recipient is noncompliant with his or her family self-
sufficiency plan.
(g) A recipient states orally or in writing his or her intent
not to comply with family independence program or PATH program
requirements.
(h) A recipient refuses employment support services if the
refusal prevents participation in an employment or self-sufficiency
related activity.
(3)
For any an instance of noncompliance, the recipient shall
receive notice of the noncompliance. The recipient shall have not
less than a 12-day negative action period before the penalties
prescribed in this section are imposed. If the recipient
demonstrates good cause for the noncompliance during this period
and if the family independence specialist caseworker and the PATH
program caseworker agree that good cause exists for the recipient's
noncompliance, a penalty shall not be imposed. For the purpose of
this subsection, good cause is 1 or more of the following:
(a) The recipient suffers from a temporary debilitating
illness or injury or an immediate family member has a debilitating
illness or injury and the recipient is needed in the home to care
for the family member.
(b) The recipient lacks child care as described in section
407(e)(2) of the personal responsibility and work opportunity
reconciliation act of 1996, 42 USC 607.
(c) Either employment or training commuting time is more than
2 hours per day or is more than 3 hours per day when there are
unique and compelling circumstances, such as a salary at least
twice the applicable minimum wage or the job is the only available
job placement within a 3-hour commute per day, not including the
time necessary to transport a child to child care facilities.
(d) Transportation is not available to the recipient at a
reasonable cost.
(e) The employment or participation involves illegal
activities.
(f) The recipient is physically or mentally unfit to perform
the job, as documented by medical evidence or by reliable
information from other sources.
(g) The recipient is illegally discriminated against on the
basis of age, race, disability, gender, color, national origin, or
religious beliefs.
(h) Credible information or evidence establishes 1 or more
unplanned or unexpected events or factors that reasonably could be
expected to prevent, or significantly interfere with, the
recipient's compliance with employment and training requirements.
(i) The recipient quit employment to obtain comparable
employment.
(4) For all instances of noncompliance resulting in
termination
of family independence program assistance for any a
period of time described in subsection (1), the period of time the
recipient is ineligible to receive family independence program
assistance applies toward the recipient's 48-month cumulative
lifetime total.
(5) Family independence program assistance benefits shall be
denied or terminated if a recipient fails, without good cause, to
comply with applicable child support requirements including efforts
to establish paternity, and assign or obtain child support. The
family independence program assistance group is ineligible for
family independence program assistance for not less than 1 calendar
month. After family independence program assistance has been
terminated for not less than 1 calendar month, family independence
program assistance may be restored if the noncompliant recipient
complies with child support requirements including the action to
establish paternity and obtain child support. As used in this
subsection, "good cause" includes an instance in which efforts to
establish paternity or assign or obtain child support would harm
the child or in which there is danger of physical or emotional harm
to the child or the recipient. Good cause also includes, but is not
limited to, an instance in which the child is a victim of abuse,
the child was conceived as the result of nonconsensual sexual
penetration, or the child was conceived as a result of an act for
which the child's biological father was convicted of criminal
sexual conduct as provided in sections 520a to 520e and 520g of the
Michigan penal code, 1931 PA 328, MCL 750.520a to 750.520e and
750.520g, or a substantially similar statute of another state or
the federal government.
(6) If an applicant or recipient is denied a good cause
exemption as described in subsection (5), the department must
notify the applicant or recipient not more than 30 days after the
determination is made that the request for a good cause exemption
was denied. This notification must be sent by mail and must include
a space for the applicant or recipient to sign to consent or not
consent to the application being processed. The form must clearly
state that if the applicant or recipient consents to proceed with
the application, information shall be provided to the county
prosecutor for the purpose of establishing paternity, obtaining
child support, or both. The form must also clearly state that if
the applicant or recipient chooses to withdraw the application, the
child support specialist cannot provide the county prosecutor with
information for the purpose of establishing paternity, obtaining
child support, or both. The applicant or recipient must provide
this information to the department within 30 days after the date of
the letter denying a good cause exemption.
(7) If the recipient receives a good cause exemption from the
department as described in subsections (5) and (6), the department
shall not provide the county prosecutor with any information for
the purpose of establishing paternity, obtaining child support, or
both.
Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect 90 days
after the date it is enacted into law.