68-1713.

Department of Health and Human Services; implementation of policies; transitional health care benefits.

(1) The Department of Health and Human Services shall implement the following policies:

(a) Permit Work Experience in Private for-Profit Enterprises;

(b) Permit Job Search;

(c) Permit Employment to be Considered a Program Component;

(d) Make Sanctions More Stringent to Emphasize Participant Obligations;

(e) Alternative Hearing Process;

(f) Permit Adults in Two-Parent Households to Participate in Activities Based on Their Self-Sufficiency Needs;

(g) Eliminate Exemptions for Individuals with Children Between the Ages of 12 Weeks and Age Six;

(h) Providing Poor Working Families with Transitional Child Care to Ease the Transition from Welfare to Self-Sufficiency;

(i) Provide Transitional Health Care for 12 Months After Termination of ADC if funding for such transitional medical assistance is available under Title XIX of the federal Social Security Act, as amended, as described in section 68-906;

(j) Require Adults to Ensure that Children in the Family Unit Attend School;

(k) Encourage Minor Parents to Live with Their Parents;

(l) Establish a Resource Limit of $4,000 for a single individual and $6,000 for two or more individuals for ADC;

(m) Exclude the Value of One Vehicle Per Family When Determining ADC Eligibility;

(n) Exclude the Cash Value of Life Insurance Policies in Calculating Resources for ADC;

(o) Establish the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program as a Continuous Benefit with Eligibility Reevaluated with Yearly Redeterminations;

(p) Establish a Budget the Gap Methodology Whereby Countable Earned Income is Subtracted from the Standard of the Need and Payment is Based on the Difference or Maximum Payment Level, Whichever is Less. That this Gap be Established at a Level that Encourages Work but at Least at a Level that Ensures that Those Currently Eligible for ADC do not Lose Eligibility Because of the Adoption of this Methodology;

(q) Adopt an Earned Income Disregard described in section 68-1726 in the ADC Program, One Hundred Dollars in the Related Medical Assistance Program, and Income and Assets Described in section 68-1201;

(r) Disregard Financial Assistance Described in section 68-1201 and Other Financial Assistance Intended for Books, Tuition, or Other Self-Sufficiency Related Use;

(s) Culture: Eliminate the 100-Hour Rule, The Quarter of Work Requirement, and The 30-Day Unemployed/Underemployed Period for ADC-UP Eligibility;

(t) Make ADC a Time-Limited Program; and

(u) Adopt an Unearned Income Disregard described in section 68-1201 in the ADC Program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and the Child Care Subsidy Program established pursuant to section 68-1202.

(2) The Department of Health and Human Services shall (a) apply for a waiver to allow for a sliding-fee schedule for the population served by the caretaker relative program or (b) pursue other public or private mechanisms, to provide for transitional health care benefits to individuals and families who do not qualify for cash assistance. It is the intent of the Legislature that transitional health care coverage be made available on a sliding-scale basis to individuals and families with incomes up to one hundred eighty-five percent of the federal poverty level if other health care coverage is not available.