Current Status Introducing Body:House Bill Number:4190 Primary Sponsor:Wofford Type of Legislation:HR Subject:Welfare Dependency Task Force Date Bill Passed both Bodies:19930602 Computer Document Number:BBM/10573JM.93 Introduced Date:19930512 Date of Last Amendment:19930602 Last History Body:House Last History Date:19930602 Last History Type:Amended, adopted Scope of Legislation:Statewide All Sponsors:Wofford Clyborne Law McElveen Corning Hodges Hutson H. Brown Boan Stone Shissias Neal Cobb-Hunter Rogers Waites Delleney Barber Type of Legislation:House Resolution
Bill Body Date Action Description CMN Leg Involved
____ ______ ____________ ______________________________ ___ ____________
4190 House 19930602 Amended, adopted
4190 House 19930526 Committee Report: Favorable 27
4190 House 19930512 Introduced, referred to 27
Committee
View additional legislative information at the LPITS web site.
AMENDED
June 2, 1993
H. 4190
Introduced by REPS. Wofford, Clyborne, Law, McElveen, Corning, Hodges, Hutson, H. Brown, Boan, Stone, Shissias, Neal, Cobb-Hunter, Rogers, Waites, Delleney and Barber
S. Printed 6/2/93--H.
Read the first time May 12, 1993.
PROVIDING FOR A TASK FORCE TO STUDY ALL ASPECTS OF THE PROBLEM OF WELFARE DEPENDENCY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND RECOMMEND TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES METHODS OF WELFARE REFORM.
Amend Title To Conform
Whereas, the welfare system was developed in this country to assist temporarily families who were unable to provide for their basic needs and to provide a foundation for families to better themselves; and
Whereas, this system often has failed to be the springboard to self-sufficiency and independence that it was thought to be; and
Whereas, too many families, and even generations of families, have grown increasingly dependent on the welfare system and unable to break the welfare cycle; and
Whereas, welfare policy should promote pride, responsibility, and independence and should assist families in breaking the welfare cycle; and
Whereas, to achieve this goal, it is necessary to conduct an extensive study of the welfare system in an effort to develop methods of restructuring public assistance programs in this State and to reallocate scarce resources so as to further self-sufficiency for recipients of public assistance. Now, therefore,
Be it resolved by the House of Representatives: That:
I. (A) There is established a task force to study welfare reform in this State, to be composed as follows:
(1) three members of the House Judiciary Committee;
(2) four members of the House Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs Committee, all from Subcommittee 5 of that committee;
(3) three members of the House Ways and Means Committee;
(4) one current and one former recipient of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) to be appointed by the commissioner of the South Carolina Department of Social Services;
(5) the commissioner of the Department of Health and Environmental Control or his designee;
(6) the executive director of the Health and Human Services Finance Commission or his designee;
(7) the executive director of the Employment Security Commission;
(8) the executive director of the State Board for Technical and Comprehensive Education or his designee;
(9) the commissioner of the South Carolina Department of Social Services or his designee;
(10) the State Superintendent of Education or her designee;
(11) a member of the South Carolina Legal Services Association appointed by the president of that association;
(12) a member of the South Carolina Hospital Association to be appointed by the president of that association;
(13) a member of the South Carolina Medical Association to be appointed by the president of that association;
(14) two persons from the private sector to be appointed by the chairperson of the task force;
(15) a member of the Urban League to be appointed by the president of the Urban League;
(16) a member of the South Carolina Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union to be appointed by the chapter president;
(17) a member of a local ministerial outreach organization in South Carolina to be appointed by the chairperson of the task force;
(18) a member of the United Way of South Carolina to be appointed by the president of the United Way of South Carolina; and
(19) a member of the Alliance for South Carolina's Children to be appointed by the president of the Alliance for South Carolina's Children;
(20) a member of South Carolina Fair Share to be appointed by the chief executive officer of South Carolina Fair Share;
(21) such other members as the chairperson and task force members consider necessary to carry out the responsibilities and duties of the task force.
The members of the task force under items (1), (2), and (3) of subpart (A) of this Part I shall be the voting members of the task force; the members of the task force under items (4) through (19) of subpart (A) shall be nonvoting members of the task force.
(B) The Speaker of the House of Representatives shall appoint the task force members from the House of Representatives under items (1), (2), and (3) of subpart (A). The chairperson of the task force and a vice chairperson shall be elected by the voting members of the task force.
(C) Vacancies occurring on the task force for any reason must be filled in the same manner as the original appointment or designation.
(D) Staff to assist the task force shall be provided by the South Carolina Department of Social Services, the House Judiciary Committee, the House Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs Committee, and the House Ways and Means Committee, as assigned by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, with the concurrence of the commissioner of the South Carolina Department of Social Services in the case of staff personnel from that agency.
(E) The members of the task force shall receive the usual mileage, subsistence, and per diem allowed by law for members of state boards, committees, and commissions when engaged in the actual performance of their duties as members of the task force, to be paid from the approved accounts of the House of Representatives. Staff assisting the task force, as provided under subpart (D) of this Part I, shall receive no compensation for their services in addition to their normal compensation as state employees, except that the voting members of the task force, by majority vote, may authorize the payment of mileage and subsistence to staff personnel when such personnel are engaged in the actual performance of task force work at a location more than twenty-five miles from Columbia, to be paid from the approved accounts of the House of Representatives.
(F) The task force shall meet as often and in such locations in the State as the chairperson or a majority of the voting members of the task force shall designate. At the direction of the chairperson, the task force may be divided into subcommittees for the purposes of meeting and carrying out the functions of the task force.
II. (A) The task force shall study all aspects of the problem of welfare dependency in this State, including, but not limited to, the following:
(1) methods of providing job training for both custodial and noncustodial parents of children receiving AFDC;
(2) methods of enforcing parental responsibility for child support;
(3) methods of providing, and the availability of, thorough family planning counseling and assistance;
(4) methods to encourage recipients to limit the number of children born into families receiving AFDC;
(5) providing incentives for AFDC recipients to enter and remain in the workplace;
(6) developing methods and resources which will prevent persons from having to seek assistance from the AFDC program;
(7) availability of child care services for AFDC recipients making the transition to self-sufficiency; and
(8) any alternatives to the current AFDC program that could be proposed to the federal government for pilot programs.
(B) The task force shall submit to the House of Representatives its recommendations for welfare reform in this State in the form of a written report identifying laws which need to be amended or repealed or which should be added to the 1976 Code of Laws and identifying and seeking waivers to federal obstacles to state flexibility. The report must be submitted by January 15, 1994, upon which submission the work of the task force shall be concluded and the task force dissolved.
III. The task force may procure information and assistance from any officer or agency of the State or of a political subdivision of the State, and every such officer and agency shall provide the task force relevant information and reasonable assistance on matters of research within their knowledge and control.