SB 202 - Perfected

FIRST REGULAR SESSION

[P E R F E C T E D]

SENATE SUBSTITUTE NO. 2 FOR

SENATE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR

SENATE BILLS NOS. 202, 23 & 183

89TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

INTRODUCED BY SENATOR MAXWELL.

Offered March 25, 1997.

Senate Substitute No. 2 adopted, March 26, 1997.

Taken up for Perfection March 26, 1997. Bill declared Perfected and Ordered Printed, as amended.

TERRY L. SPIELER, Secretary.

S0393.08P

AN ACT

To repeal sections 96.230, 96.240, 96.250, 96.260, 96.270, 96.280, 96.290, 161.193, 167.260, 205.590, 205.600, 205.610, 205.620, 205.640, 205.650, 205.660, 205.670, 205.680, 205.690, 205.700, 205.710, 205.720, 205.730, 205.740, 205.750, 205.760, 205.765, 205.766, 205.767, 205.769, 205.770, 205.780, 205.790, 205.820, 205.830, 205.840, 205.850, 205.860, 205.870, 205.880, 205.890, 205.900, 205.910, 205.920, 205.930, 205.940, 205.950, 207.010, 207.090, 208.010, 208.015, 208.040, 208.041, 208.042, 208.043, 208.044, 208.047, 208.048, 208.050, 208.060, 208.075, 208.080, 208.120, 208.150, 208.160, 208.170, 208.180, 208.182, 208.325, 208.337, 208.339, 208.342, 208.345, 208.400, 208.405, 208.410, 208.415, 208.500, 208.503, 208.505, 210.245, 210.252, 210.256, 473.399, 620.481, 620.521, 620.523, 620.527, 620.528, 620.529, 620.537, 660.016, 660.020, 660.023, and 660.026, RSMo 1994, and sections 135.240, 208.151, 210.221, 620.530 and 660.017, RSMo Supp. 1996, relating to public health and welfare, and to enact in lieu thereof eighty-four new sections relating to the same subject with an effective date for certain sections.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows:

Section A. Sections 96.230, 96.240, 96.250, 96.260, 96.270, 96.280, 96.290, 161.193, 167.260, 205.590, 205.600, 205.610, 205.620, 205.640, 205.650, 205.660, 205.670, 205.680, 205.690, 205.700, 205.710, 205.720, 205.730, 205.740, 205.750, 205.760, 205.765, 205.766, 205.767, 205.769, 205.770, 205.780, 205.790, 205.820, 205.830, 205.840, 205.850, 205.860, 205.870, 205.880, 205.890, 205.900, 205.910, 205.920, 205.930, 205.940, 205.950, 207.010, 207.090, 208.010, 208.015, 208.040, 208.041, 208.042, 208.043, 208.044, 208.047, 208.048, 208.050, 208.060, 208.075, 208.080, 208.120, 208.150, 208.160, 208.170, 208.180, 208.182, 208.325, 208.337, 208.339, 208.342, 208.345, 208.400, 208.405, 208.410, 208.415, 208.500, 208.503, 208.505, 210.245, 210.252, 210.256, 473.399, 620.481, 620.521, 620.523, 620.527, 620.528, 620.529, 620.537, 660.016, 660.020, 660.023 and 660.026, RSMo 1994, and sections 135.240, 208.151, 210.221, 620.530 and 660.017, RSMo Supp. 1996, are repealed and eighty-four new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 30.255, 135.240, 167.260, 205.770, 205.780, 205.790, 205.820, 205.830, 207.010, 208.010, 208.015, 208.044, 208.060, 208.075, 208.080, 208.120, 208.150, 208.151, 208.160, 208.170, 208.180, 208.182, 208.325, 208.337, 208.345, 208.700, 208.701, 208.703, 208.705, 208.707, 208.710, 208.712, 208.715, 208.717, 208.720, 208.722, 208.725, 208.727, 208.730, 208.732, 208.737, 210.221, 210.245, 210.252, 210.256, 473.399, 660.016, 660.017, 660.020, 660.023 and 660.026, to read as follows:

Section 1. 1. By July 1, 1997, the department of social services shall establish and implement the "Families Work Program" in accordance with "The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), Title IV, Section 401 et seq., as amended. All funds received by the state for this program shall be subject to appropriation by the state legislature consistent with the terms and conditions of Part A of Title IV of the Social Security Act and the Child Care and Development Block Grant Amendments of 1996, as amended, and any applicable state laws.

2. The department of social services shall inform all applicants and recipients of assistance of any funds through the families work program that such assistance shall be used for the purpose of obtaining self-sufficiency.

3. Unless otherwise indicated in this legislation, the department of social services shall act consistently with the provisions certified in the plan submitted to the United States Department of Health and Human Services on September 30, 1996, or subsequent certification dates for funds from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Block grant. As indicated in that plan, the state of Missouri shall:

(1) Operate a child support enforcement program;

(2) Operate a foster care and adoption assistance program; and

(3) Establish and enforce standards and procedures to ensure against program fraud, including prevention of nepotism, conflicts of interest and kickbacks.

4. The state of Missouri shall also continue to operate the following waivers granted under section 1115 of the Social Security Act:

(1) The Missouri families mutual responsibility plan that began on July 1, 1995, and is scheduled to operate through June 30, 2000, statewide; and

(2) The 21st century communities demonstration plan that began on January 31, 1993, and is scheduled to operate through January 31, 2005.

5. The goals of the families work program are to:

(1) Move families from welfare to work and increase their opportunities to achieve self-sufficiency;

(2) Insure accountability on the part of persons who receive government assistance and the state agencies' administering programs that serve Missouri's low-income families;

(3) Create a program that is tailored to meet the individual needs of the adult diverse population as a transition to work;

(4) Provide assistance to Missouri's needy children and families while maintaining assistance on a fair and consistent basis through the state;

(5) Encourage and facilitate meaningful contact and relationships between children and non-custodial parents whenever it is in the best interest of the children;

(6) Build on Missouri's already successful welfare reform efforts;

(7) Maximize Missouri's receipt of federal funds;

(8) Simplify program rules by coordinating Missouri's programs that serve low-income families; and

(9) Insure health care coverage to the maximum extent possible for needy children and families.

(10) Reducing the number of out-of-wedlock births.

6. The department of social services shall administer a fund to be known as the "Missouri Families Work Program Fund", which is hereby created in the state treasury. Moneys deposited in the fund shall equal one hundred percent of federal funds granted to the state by the United States Department of Health and Human Resources pursuant to the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity and Reconciliation Act of 1996, as amended, also known as the federal TANF block grant, moneys appropriated by the general assembly and any private donations or grants.

7. The unexpended balance of funds received from the federal TANF Block Grant, and the interest earned on such funds at the end of any biennium year shall be exempt from the provisions of section 33.080, RSMo, relating to the transfer of unexpended balances to the general revenue fund.

, and subject to the following provisions:

(1) For purposes of this section, a "substantive" rule shall be defined as an action of the agency which has the effect of creating a legal right, liability, obligation or sanction;

(2) All substantive rules promulgated pursuant to the provisions of this section, and all substantive rulemaking authority authorized by this section, shall expire on August 31, 1998

(3) In any action challenging any substantive rule promulgated pursuant to the provisions of this bill, the agency as defined in section 536.010, RSMo, promulgating such substantive rule shall be required to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the substantive rule or threatened application of the substantive rule is valid, is authorized by law, is not in conflict with any law and is not arbitrary and capricious;

(4) The court shall award reasonable fees and expenses as defined in section 536.085, RSMo, to any party who prevails against the agency in such action; and

8. The department of social services, division of family services shall collect and record in computer readable format data describing the demographics of persons applying for and receiving or not receiving public assistance and the actions taken by the department of social services, division of family services. The data shall cover applications, determinations of eligibility, granting, changing or denying benefits, amounts of benefits, sanctions, length of time on public assistance, age, physical or mental disability, incapacity to work as provided in section 3.7, county and zip code of residence. The data collection shall be integrated with the tracking required under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation of 1996, as amended, to avoid duplication.

9. The data, devoid of personal identification, shall be made available at actual cost of reproduction to universities or colleges and state agencies doing research on public assistance programs in a computer readable format.

10. The office of administration shall contract with a university, college or other agency independent of the department which has demonstrated expertise and experience in evaluating the success of programs of public assistance or human social development. In developing the request for proposal, the office of administration shall consult with the departments of elementary and secondary education, social services, mental health, labor and industrial relations, health and economic development. The purpose of the study will be to measure the performance of the public assistance system including inequities in the system. The scope of the study shall apply the science of statistics and probability to identify the demographics of persons receiving public assistance and the response of the public assistance system to the needs of the applicants and recipients. The study shall also look for patterns and anomalies based upon residence, county, division of family services region, race, age, marital status, gender, or other demographic categories.

11. The contractor shall do an annual analysis of the data and report on the performance of the public assistance system and any anomalies and inequities to the department of social services, the governor and the general assembly.

12. Upon the termination of any benefits or supportive services of a participant by the division as a sanction authorized pursuant to the provisions of this section, the participant shall be afforded a postermination hearing within thirty days, on the record, with an opportunity for the participant to be heard.

13. No person shall without good cause, as such term is defined in Public Law 104-193 and regulations defined thereunder, refuse services offered by the department pursuant to this section. The department may, by rule and regulation, provide sanctions against any person who violates the provisions of this subsection.

14. In recognition of the reality of family violence for some individuals who may need public assistance, and to ensure that applicants and recipients who are victims of abuse as defined in section 445.010, RSMo, are not placed at risk of abuse or unfairly penalized, the department shall, in accordance with the plan identified in subsection 3 of this section:

(1) Identify applicants and recipients who are such victims while protecting their confidentiality;

(2) Refer these individuals for supportive domestic violence services to increase self-sufficiency;

(3) Assess the need for a determination of good cause or hardship exemptions from families work requirements if such requirements place such applicants and recipients at risk of abuse. Such good cause or hardship exemptions shall not exceed public assistance time limits as established in The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, as amended.

15. 1. There is hereby established a joint committee of the general assembly to be known as the "Joint Legislative Welfare Reform and TANF Block Grant Oversight Committee". Such committee shall be composed of seven members of the senate, no more than two of which shall be members of the senate appropriations committee, appointed by the president pro tem of the senate, and seven members of the house of representatives, no more than two of which shall be members of the house budget committee, appointed by the speaker of the house. The appointment of each member shall continue during his or her term of office as a member of the general assembly or until a successor has been duly appointed to fill his or her place when such term of office as a member of the general assembly has expired. The joint committee shall meet at least biannually. Committee members shall receive no additional compensation, but shall be reimbursed for reasonable and necessary expenses related to fulfilling the duties of the committee. Such expenses shall be paid from the joint contingency fund. No more than four members of the senate and four members of the house shall be from the same political party. A majority of the members shall constitute a quorum.

2. The joint committee may, within the limits of its appropriations, employ such persons necessary to carry out its duties. The compensation of such personnel shall be paid from the joint contingency fund. The joint committee may, within limits of appropriations for that purpose enter into contracts to provide such professional, legal or technical assistance as may be necessary for it to perform its functions.

3. The duties of the joint committee shall include, but may not be limited to:

(1) Monitoring the design and implementation of the provisions of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, as amended;

(2) An annual review of the implementation of the state waivers and recommendations based upon such review submitted to the president pro tem of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives regarding the continuance or discontinuance of such waivers;

(3) An annual evaluation of the funding levels, based upon the information provided by the department with recommendations submitted to the president pro tem of the senate, speaker of the house of representatives, chair of the senate appropriations committee and chair of the house budget committee regarding appropriate levels of funding for the families work act;

(4) Based on the analysis of the statewide data base of public assistance recipients provided by the department, make recommendations to the president pro tem of the senate and speaker of the house of representatives about which categories of needy individuals and families to exempt from the work participation requirements pursuant to the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996;

(5) Making recommendations for administrative or procedural changes in the internal management or organization of the state agencies which provide or regulate public assistance programs;

(6) Compiling a report of its activities to be submitted to the members of the general assembly and the governor not later than January fifteenth of each year;

(7) Any state funded agency which provides or regulates health care services shall cooperate with and assist the joint committee in the performance of its duties and shall make available all books, records and information as requested by the joint committee; and

(8) The joint committee shall have the power to subpoena witnesses, take testimony under oath, compel the attendance of witnesses, the giving of testimony and the production of records.

16. The department of social services is authorized to propose rules and regulations necessary to implement the program and sanctions referenced in this section only as provided pursuant to section 32 of this act.

Section 2. 1. Subject to necessary federal waivers and appropriation authority, the department of social services may implement programs and policies designed to reduce a family's dependence on welfare. The department may implement such programs statewide or as pilot projects in specific geographical locations. These shall include programs designed to supplement the wages of recipients of benefits for twelve months or as provided by federal waivers by directing benefits provided through the work first program to employers who hire such individuals, pursuant to section 28 of this act, and to the establishment of individual family development accounts.

For the purposes of this section:

(1) A "substantive" rule shall be defined as an action of the agency which has the effect of creating a legal right, liability, obligation or sanction;

(2) All substantive rules promulgated pursuant to the provisions of this section, and all substantive rulemaking authority authorized by this section, shall expire on August 31, 1998;

(4) The court shall award reasonable fees and expenses as defined in section 536.085, RSMo, to any party who prevails against the agency in such action.

2. Nothing in this section shall preempt or supersede any provision of state law that provides greater protection for employees from job displacement.

3. The department of social services is authorized to propose rules and regulations necessary to implement the programs referenced in this section only as provided pursuant to section 32 of this act.

Section 3. 1. Missouri shall maintain its effort of spending in order to maximize the state's receipt of federal funds under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, as amended, and to successfully implement programs that serve Missouri's low-income families and help them achieve self-sufficiency. The state of Missouri shall:

(1) Appropriate no less than one hundred percent of its fiscal year 1994 non-federal expenditures on "qualified state expenditures" as defined in section 409(a)(7)(B) of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996, as amended; and

(2) Maintain at least one hundred percent of the greater of its fiscal year 1994 or fiscal year 1995 non-federal expenditure on child care programs, as required by section 603(b) of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, as amended, in order to draw down the maximum amount of federal child care funds available to Missouri under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, as amended.

2. The qualified state expenditures that will count toward the maintenance of effort requirement for the TANF block grant are:

(1) State spending in the program created by the block grant on eligible families for:

(a) Cash assistance;

(b) Child care;

(c) Educational activities, designed to increase self-sufficiency, job training and work, excluding any expenditure for public education except expenditures which involve the provision of services or assistance to a member of an eligible family which is not generally available to persons who are not members of an eligible family;

(d) Administrative costs, as defined by the state, not to exceed fifteen percent of the total amount of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, as amended, Title I block grant; and

(e) Any other use of funds allowed under the grant, including, but not limited to, funds to provide training to department employees for the purposes of ensuring compliance with the programs and provisions of this act and to ensure applicants are provided with all information regarding benefits in compliance with subsection 2 of section 1 of this act. Such funds shall be expended in a manner that does not jeopardize the abilities of needy children and families to obtain public assistance;

(2) State expenditures in excess of the amount spent in fiscal year 1995 for other state or local programs on eligible families for the activities listed in subdivision (1) of this section;

(3) State spending on families who would otherwise be eligible for assistance if not for the application of the five year lifetime limit on federal benefits; and

(4) State expenditures that would have received federal match funds under former programs.

3. The Department of Social Services shall administer a fund to be known as the "Missouri General Revenue Maintenance of Effort Fund", which is hereby created in the state treasury. Moneys deposited in the fund shall equal one hundred percent of state funds expended in fiscal year 1994 on the aids to families with dependent children program, aid to families with dependent children related child care programs, the job opportunities and basic skills training program and emergency assistance programs. Eighty percent of such moneys deposited in the fund shall be appropriated for the qualified state expenditures provided in section 3, subsection 2 of this act. The remaining twenty percent shall remain in the fund subject to appropriation at the sole discretion of the general assembly.

4. The unexpended balance existing in the fund and the interest earned on the fund at the end of any biennium year shall be exempt from the provisions of section 33.080, RSMo, relating to the transfer of unexpended balances to the general revenue fund.

5. To reduce the number of applicants for public assistance, the department of social services may also use the Missouri maintenance of effort fund or Missouri families work program fund for temporary assistance for needy families to eliminate barriers to accepting employment and to assist individuals in remaining in the work place. Such funds may be used for, but not limited to, assisting families in making a child care payment, primary housing payment or rent or utilities payment, transportation allowance payment, work-related expense payment, medical expense payment, including personal care attendants for the disabled, that is not covered by Federal Title XIX or third party insurance payors. Such payment shall be limited to a non-recurring payment and shall be made directly to vendors or to reimburse individuals for the purchase of receipted necessary materials.

6. The Missouri maintenance of effort fund may also be used to provide assistance by establishing criteria for a state only funded program when the adult population served are not able to meet the federal work requirements due to age or due to physical or mental disabilities.

7. The provisions of this section shall expire on June 30, 2002.

8. The Missouri General Revenue maintenance of effort fund may also be used to provide assistance by establishing criteria for a state only funded program when the adult population served are not able to meet the federal work requirements due to incapacity of the adult to work because of the incapacity of the adult caretaker or the caretaker's dependent as determined by the department by rule. Beginning fiscal year 1999 the funding for this subsection shall be appropriated as a separate item. The provisions of this subsection shall expire on January 1, 2005.

Section 4. 1. There is hereby established the "Missouri Workforce Policy Board".

2. The board shall advise the governor and general assembly on statewide workforce development goals and objectives; changes to the workforce development system needed to educate and train all Missourians to enter into the workforce; and the creation of a comprehensive strategic plan and system that fully develops community-based service delivery and that provides for the allocation of funds based on performance and outcomes.

3. The board shall consist of twenty-four members appointed by the governor. The governor shall designate one nongovernmental member to be chair. Two members shall be members of the house of representatives and two shall be members of the senate. Legislative members shall be selected from two different political parties as recommended by the speaker of the house and president pro tem of the senate. The board shall be further composed of the following groups:

(1) Representatives of business and industry;

(2) Representatives of state agencies, or their designee, including the director of the department of economic development, the commissioner of elementary and secondary education, the director of the department of labor and industrial relations, the director of the department of social services and the commissioner of higher education;

(3) Representatives of local secondary education;

(4) Representatives of organized labor;

(5) Representatives of the general public;

(6) Representatives of community-based organizations;

(7) Representatives of Missouri vocational associations;

(8) Representatives of area vocational school networks;

(9) Representatives of community college systems; and

(10) Representatives of the women's council.

4. Members of the board shall not be compensated for their services, but shall be reimbursed for actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties.

5. The governor may replace any member of the board who misses two consecutive scheduled meetings.

Section 5. 1. The board shall have the following powers and duties:

(1) To do all things necessary or convenient to carry out the powers and duties of the board as expressly provided in this act including, but not limited to, adopting, altering or repealing its own by-laws, and making and executing contracts and other agreements;

(2) To receive, accept and utilize gifts, grants, donations or contributions of money, property, facilities or services, with or without consideration from any person, firm, corporation, foundation or other entity or from this state or any agency, instrumentality or political subdivision thereof or from the United States government or any agency or instrumentality thereof;

(3) Advise and submit recommendations to the governor and the general assembly;

(4) Work toward the establishment of a state workforce development system that improves the opportunity for Missourians to obtain and retain employment in well-paying jobs and move those individuals who have incomes below the poverty-line to above and beyond;

(5) Establish a model of statewide, regional and local outcomes to be achieved by the workforce development system in Missouri;

(6) The model shall determine specific measures by which statewide, regional and local outcomes and performance will be measured and evaluated to ensure accountability for results;

(7) Develop a statewide comprehensive strategic plan addressing economic and workforce development to accomplish the statewide, regional and local outcomes defined and desired by the board;

(8) Establish parameters, criteria, requirements, guidelines and geographic boundaries necessary to establish regional organizational structures within which programs and services will be delivered;

(9) Review and comment upon regional and local organizational structures;

(10) Review, comment upon and recommend modifications in state plans, strategic plans, budget requests, programs and services of state agencies;

(11) Establish a system to monitor the implementation of and evaluate the performance of the strategic plans, programs and services provided throughout the state including, but not limited to, availability, adequacy, responsiveness, quality of services and the achievement of outcomes. The board may also make recommendations to the governor and general assembly on corrective action needed to achieve the goals set forth in the strategic plan;

(12) Evaluate and provide recommendations on any federal fiscal policy changes related to workforce development and training programs;

(13) Recommend any state budget, policy and/or organizational structure changes necessary to facilitate a streamlined, coordinated, cost-effective workforce development and training system;

(14) Develop a workforce development delivery system that provides coordination of resources from the state departments and programs that will allow local communities to tailor services to meet the established outcomes and needs of their areas. The board will work with departments to review which state and federal programs and funding will be included in the workforce development system. State and federal programs which shall be reviewed include, but are not limited to, the Job Training Partnership Act, Wagner-Peyser, job development fund, customized training, community college new jobs training program, regional technology education program, community college workforce funding, food stamp employment and training program, Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Act, school-to-work, the adult education act, FUTURES, the national and community service act, NAFTA Trade Adjustment Assistance for Workers, Disabled Veterans' Outreach program, local veterans' employment representation program, Job Corps, work opportunity tax credit program, the one-stop career systems, the women's council and the Vocation Rehabilitation Act;

(15) Prepare and submit an annual report to the governor and general assembly by December each year;

(16) The board shall perform all functions required by the federal Job Training Partnership Act or its successor acts; and

(17) Hold joint meetings and work with the family investment trust board, established in section 8 of this act, to identify and implement any state budget, policy or organizational structure changes necessary to ensure the integrated delivery of workforce development services and services dealing with the well being of children, youth and families.

(18) Review the roles, responsibilities and duties of the Missouri training and employment council and the state council on vocational education.

Section 6. The board may appoint ad hoc planning groups or other groups made up of representatives from the various departments and programs affected by the board as the board deems necessary to assist the board in its efforts. Funding and staffing for the board in its efforts will be assigned to the office of administration, division of budget planning. Such staff and expenses will be cost allocated to the affected departments and programs. Departments shall share information and cooperate with the board in its efforts.

Section 7. The board, its duties and responsibilities identified in sections 4 to 6 of this act, will cease to exist on December 31, 1999.

Section 8. 1. There is hereby established the family investment trust board.

2. The board shall advise the governor and general assembly on statewide issues concerning children, youth and families; changes to the existing system needed to implement the federal Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, as amended; and the creation of a comprehensive strategic plan and system that encourages community-based service delivery and that provides for the allocation of funds based on performance and outcomes.

3. The board shall consist of sixteen members appointed by the governor. The governor shall designate the board's chair or co-chairs. The board shall be composed as follows:

(1) Six members shall be representatives of state agencies, or their designee, including the director of the department of economic development, the commissioner of elementary and secondary education, the director of the department of health, the director of the department of labor and industrial relations, the director of the department of mental health and the director of the department of social services;

(2) Two members shall be members of the house of representatives, selected from two different political parties, as recommended by the speaker of the house;

(3) Two members shall be members of the senate, selected from two different political parties, as recommended by the president pro tem of the senate;

(4) Four members of the private sector, such as business leaders in the state and nongovernmental community leaders or advocates for families and children; and

(5) Two elected members of the governing body of a county or municipality.

4. Members of the board shall not be compensated for their services, but shall be reimbursed for actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties.

5. The governor may replace any member of the board who misses two consecutive scheduled meetings.

Section 9. 1. The board shall have the following powers and duties:

(1) To do all things necessary or convenient to carry out the powers and duties of the board as expressly provided in this act including, but not limited to, adopting, altering or repealing its own by-laws or making and executing contracts and other agreements;

(3) Advise and submit recommendations to the governor and the general assembly;

(4) Establish statewide, regional and local outcomes to improve the state's delivery system for children, youth and families in Missouri through greater collaboration among state departments including:

(a) Parents working;

(b) Children safe in their families and families safe in their communities;

(d) Children in families that are healthy;

(e) Children and youth succeeding in school; and

(f) Youth ready to enter the workforce and become productive citizens;

(5) Establish the specific measures by which statewide, regional and local outcomes and performance will be measured and evaluated to ensure accountability for results;

(6) Develop a statewide comprehensive strategic plan addressing issues surrounding children, youth and families to accomplish the statewide, regional and local outcomes defined and desired by the board;

(7) Establish parameters, criteria, requirements and guidelines necessary to establish regional and local organizational structures, and for the formation of community partnerships to provide services specifically tailored to meet the outcomes and needs of their areas. Community partnerships include any integrated, collaborative local efforts established to plan, implement, monitor and evaluate programs to deal more effectively with the problems of children, youth and families in this state including, but not limited to, caring communities;

(8) Review, comment upon and recommend modifications in state plans, strategic plans and budget requests, programs and services of state agencies. These comments and recommendations, unless implemented, shall become a part of any agency's state plan, strategic plan and budget request, presented to the appropriate approving entity, the governor and the general assembly;

(9) Review, comment upon and approve or disapprove plans, programs and budgets of regional and local organizational structures and community partnerships established under this section;

(10) Establish a system to monitor the implementation of and evaluate the performance of the strategic plans, programs and services provided throughout the state including, but not limited to, availability, adequacy, responsiveness, quality of services and the achievement of outcomes. The board may also make recommendations to the governor and general assembly on corrective action needed to achieve established outcomes;

(11) Evaluate and provide recommendations on any federal fiscal policy changes related to services provided to children, youth and families;

(12) Recommend any state budget, policy and/or organizational structure changes necessary to facilitate a streamlined, coordinated, cost-effective service delivery system that provides:

(a) Accountability for results;

(b) Services close to where families live and where children attend school; and

(13) Develop a delivery system that provides a funding mechanism for pooling resources from the state departments and programs that will allow local communities to tailor services to meet the established outcomes and needs of their areas. The board will work with departments to review which state and federal programs and funding will be pooled. State and federal programs which may be reviewed include, but are not limited to, the social services block grant, the temporary assistance for needy families block grant, the child care development block grant, the maternal and child health block grant, health initiative fund, preventive health block grant, substance abuse prevention and treatment block grant, block grant for community mental health services, caring communities, child protective services, neighborhood assistance act, community development block grant, affordable housing assistance tax credit program, Missouri low-income housing tax credit program and youth opportunities and violence prevention program;

(14) Prepare and submit an annual report to the governor and general assembly by December 31 each year;

(15) Hold joint meetings and work with the workforce development policy board, established in section 4 of this act, to identify and implement any state budget, policy or organizational structure changes necessary to ensure the integrated delivery of workforce development services and services dealing with the well being of children, youth and families;

(16) The board, subject to appropriations, shall set up a program of performance awards for employees of state or local governments who are directly in contact with participants in the families work program. The program shall give public recognition and monetary reward to employees who demonstrate exemplary performance in assisting participants to attain the goals of the families work program. Recipients, co-workers, managers, community organizations, shall annually be invited to recommend exemplary employees for the performance rewards. The board shall set criteria for recognition of the nominated employees. Using these criteria and the purposes and goals of the families work program, the board shall annually decide upon recipients of the rewards and publicity present them. The provisions of this subsection shall sunset sixty months following the effective date of this act.

Section 10. The governor may appoint ad hoc planning groups or other groups made up of representatives from the various departments and programs affected by the board as the governor deems necessary to assist the board in its efforts. Funding and staffing for the board will be assigned to the office of administration, division of budget planning. Such staff and expenses will be cost allocated to the affected departments and programs. Departments shall share information and cooperate with the board in its efforts.

Section 11. The board, its duties and responsibilities identified in sections 8 to 11 of this act, will cease to exist on December 31, 2000.

Section 12. As used in sections 12 to 30 of this act and any other sections administering the families work program, the following terms mean:

(1) "Department", the department of social services and all its divisions;

(2) "Household", families that include a minor child who resides with a custodial parent, legal guardian or other caretaker relative;

(3) "Minor child", an individual who:

(a) Has not attained eighteen years of age; or

(b) Has not attained nineteen years of age and is a full-time student in a secondary school or in the equivalent level of vocational or technical training.

Section 13. 1. The department of social services through the families work program shall establish the "Work First Program" to replace the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) and the Title IV-A Emergency Assistance Program. The work first program will stress self-sufficiency through employment and shall require that adults be responsible for fulfilling their individual self-sufficiency plans, while requiring the state to support targeted populations trying to secure and retain employment.

2. The work first program shall move able-bodied adults into work activities as an alternative to receiving public assistance. The department of social services shall establish the eligibility requirements for the work first program which shall be no more restrictive than those requirements in place on July 16, 1996.

3. Any individual wishing to make application for any of the public assistance programs administered or supervised by the state shall have the opportunity to do so. Such public assistance shall be furnished with reasonable promptness to each eligible individual in accordance with statute and rules of the department. The department or a division of the department shall consider an application for public assistance to be for any category of public assistance for which the applicant or the applicant's dependents may be eligible.

Section 14. 1. The department of social services shall develop and implement a pilot program that provides incentives for recipients of public assistance to seek and retain employment. Such program shall be formulated in the following model:

(1) A determination of the cash value of each recipient's families total benefit package currently being provided through the families work program, food stamp program, medicaid insurance program and child support assurance program. This cash value shall be used as the base amount a recipient would have to earn to be provided with an economic incentive to remain out of public assistance programs; and

(2) From this base the department shall formulate a payment system for public assistance benefits which will continually offer an economic incentive for qualified individuals to earn an income, keep a percentage of this income and eventually end the need for public assistance. The payment system shall allow qualified individuals to keep a percentage of their job-related income with the remainder going to the state through a reduction in benefits.

2. The department may disregard a recipient's gross job-related earned income for the first month of participation in the program. Upon the completion of the first month employment, the department shall begin to charge the recipient a percentage, to be set by rule, of his or her job-related income in exchange for the entire benefit package. The total benefits would remain the same until the point at which a recipient earns an amount equal to the cash value of the entire benefit package, however, as the recipient's income increases he or she would pay a greater percentage of the cost for the total benefit package.

3. If a recipient voluntarily leaves the program within the first three months, such recipient shall be given the opportunity to prove a good cause for doing so. When good cause can be established, the recipient may be eligible for an extension or assistance to remove a barrier to self-sufficiency. If no good cause for the recipient's action is proven, a recalculation of the benefits for the household shall be made without considering the needs of the caretaker recipient. The suspension of caretaker benefits shall continue until the amount suspended equals the extra benefits received.

4. The department of social services is authorized to propose rules and regulations necessary to implement the pilot program referenced in this section only as provided pursuant to section 32 of this act.

Section 15. 1. The department of social services shall determine eligibility requirements of the work first program. Such eligibility requirements shall include income and asset limits and shall also include, but not be limited to:

(1) Requiring an applicant to participate in the work first program work activities as defined in section 25 of this act, with exclusions approved by the department;

(2) Requiring an applicant to be a resident of the state of Missouri, and a United States citizen or a legal immigrant who resided in the United States prior to August 22, 1996; however, qualified legal aliens shall be allowed to apply for and receive public assistance funded through the federal TANF block grant program;

(3) Requiring an applicant to provide his or her Social Security number or numbers, if the individual has more than one such number, and by requiring the applicant for or recipient of benefits to cooperate with the department to obtain a social security number;

(4) Establishing that assistance benefits shall only be paid to families that include at least one minor child who resides with his or her father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, brother, sister, stepfather, stepmother, stepbrother, stepsister, uncle, aunt, first cousin, nephew, niece, legal guardian or other adult caretaker relative of the minor child;

(5) Requiring an applicant for benefits to state in writing, during the application process, whether that individual or any member of his or her household has been convicted under federal or state law of a felony offense which has as an element of the offense the possession, use or distribution of a controlled substance as defined in Section 102(6) of the Controlled Substances Act, 21 USC 802(6). This subdivision shall only apply to convictions occurring after August 22, 1996, the date of the enactment of The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, as amended;

(6) Compliance with all requirements regarding the assignment of rights to support by any recipient of or applicant for benefits; and

(7) Participation by any recipient of or applicant for benefits in procedures to establish paternity and to identify the father of a child for whom assistance is sought, unless such individual has good cause for refusing to cooperate as determined by the department of social services in accordance with federally prescribed standards in effect as of July 16, 1996.

2. For the purpose of determining eligibility to receive, or the amount of, any assistance or benefits through the Missouri work first program, the department of social services shall disregard funds made to or maintained in, including interest accruing on an individual development account.

3. The department of social services is authorized to propose rules and regulations necessary to implement the programs referenced in this section only as provided pursuant to section 32 of this act.

Section 16. The department may adopt additional requirements, by rule promulgated pursuant to section 32 of this act, for eligibility for benefits through the Missouri families work and work first programs.

The income levels and resource limits which qualify a family for benefits shall be determined by the department, shall be no more restrictive than those in place on August 22, 1996, for the aid to families with dependent children program, and shall be uniformly applied throughout the state.

Section 17. 1. The department shall require, as a condition of eligibility for benefits through the work first program, that each applicant for or recipient of benefits shall assign to the department any rights to support from any other person that such applicant or recipient may have on his or her own behalf or on behalf of any other family member for whom the applicant or recipient is applying for or is receiving benefits. Such assignment of rights to support shall take effect upon a determination by the department that the applicant is eligible for assistance through the work first program. The assignment shall be effective for current and accrued support obligations and shall authorize the division of child support enforcement of the department of social services to bring an administrative or judicial action to establish or enforce a current support obligation, to collect support arrearage that have accrued under an existing order for support, or to seek reimbursement of a support obligation pursuant to the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, as amended.

2. The department shall not require as a condition of eligibility for benefits through the work first program that any member of a family must assign to the department any rights to support which accrue after the date the family leaves the program.

3. The department of social services shall implement the provisions necessary to collect current and accrued support obligations unless the department determines that such implementation is contrary to the best interest of a child on whose behalf benefits are claimed or of the caretaker of such a child. Such provisions shall include establishing the paternity of a child for whom support is claimed or obtaining any other payments or property that are due to such applicant or child. The divisions of family services and child support enforcement shall impose such sanctions as are consistent with the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, as amended, and are otherwise provided for by state law and through rules and regulations promulgated by the department of social services and subject to the following provisions:

(1) For purposes of this section, a "substantive" rule shall be defined as an action of the agency which has the effect of creating a legal right, liability, obligation or sanction;

(2) All substantive rules promulgated pursuant to the provisions of this section, and all substantive rulemaking authority authorized by this section, shall expire on August 31, 1998

(4) The court shall award reasonable fees and expenses as defined in section 536.085, RSMo, to any party who prevails against the agency in such action.

4. If the division of child support enforcement determines that an individual who is receiving benefits through the work first program fails or refuses to cooperate in establishing paternity or in establishing, modifying, or enforcing a support order with respect to a child and for whom benefits are sought or received and if the individual does not demonstrate to the satisfaction of the department good cause for such failure or refusal to cooperate or enforce a support order, the department shall impose sanctions. The department shall promulgate such regulations as are necessary to implement this statute, including setting forth time frames for ineligibility and establishing such exemptions are deemed appropriate. The department shall promulgate rules concerning the implementation of this section.

5. Child care support is defined as the legal obligation of an individual to provide an amount required to be paid under a judgment decree or order, whether temporary or final, issued by a court of competent jurisdiction or an administrative agency specifically for the child care expenses of a child. Any rights to receive child care support under a state program funded under Part A of the Social Security Act or under the state plan approved under Part A of the Social Security Act are assigned to the state as a pre-condition of receiving child care assistance. Assignment of child care support does not constitute an assignment of the child support amount awarded for the basic child needs of food, clothing and shelter but only for the assignment of the specific award for child care costs.

6. The department of social services is authorized to propose rules and regulations necessary to implement the programs and sanctions referenced in this section only as provided pursuant to section 32 of this act.

Section 18. 1. Work first program benefits shall be granted on behalf of a needy child and may be granted to a caretaker relative or legal guardian caring for a needy dependent child if the child:

(1) Has been deprived of parental support or care by reason of the death, continued absence from the home, or physical or mental incapacity of a parent;

(2) Is living with a caretaker relative or legal guardian;

(3) Is under the age of eighteen; and

(4) Is not eligible for work first program benefits under section 24 of this act because the child is not living with a parent or stepparent.

2. The amount of the monthly public assistance benefit payable hereunder shall be determined by the standards set forth in section 208.150, RSMo.

Section 19. Federal Title IV-E eligibility may be granted to a dependent child:

(1) Who would meet the requirements of aid to families with dependent children in effect as of June 1, 1995, except for his removal from the home of a relative as a result of a judicial determination to the effect that continuation therein would be contrary to the welfare of such child;

(2) For whose placement and care the division of family services is responsible;

(3) Who has been placed in a foster family home, or in either a for profit or nonprofit private child-care facility as a result of such determination; and

(4) Who:

(a) In and for the month in which court proceedings leading to such determination were initiated would have qualified for aid to families with dependent children under the requirements in effect on June 1, 1995, if application had been made therefor; or

(b) In the case of a child who had been living with a specified relative within six months prior to the month in which such proceedings were initiated, would have qualified for such aid in and for such month, if in such month he had been living with, and removed from the home of, such a relative and application had been made therefor.

Section 20. 1. The department is not prohibited by federal law from testing applicants or recipients of public assistance for the use of controlled substances or from sanctioning those who test positive for the use of such substances. Recipients of work first program benefits and food stamp recipients, who are required to participate in a work activity in order to retain their eligibility for such programs and who are denied employment due to failing an employer-required controlled substance screening, shall have sixty days to become employed with the screening employer or obtain other employment.

2. (1) Denial of employment after failing a controlled substance screening and failure to become employed within sixty days of the screening shall result in a sanction of the work first program benefits and food stamp benefits for the household for a minimum of thirty days but not more than sixty days unless the department locates payment resources for drug rehabilitation.

(2) A second or subsequent denial of employment for failing a second or subsequent controlled substance screening and failure to become employed within sixty days of the screening shall result in a sanction of the work first program benefits and food stamp benefits for the household for a minimum of sixty days but not more than one hundred twenty days unless the department locates payment resources for drug rehabilitation.

3. All records obtained in an employer-required controlled substance screening, shall remain confidential between the applicant, the employer and the department.

4. An individual who has been convicted under federal or state law after August 22, 1996, of any felony offense which has as an element of the offense the possession, use, or distribution of a controlled substance as defined in Section 102(6) of the Controlled Substances Act, 21 USC 802(6), shall be ineligible for a time period from receipt of benefits through any state program funded or carried out under Part A of Title IV of the Social Security Act or the Food Stamp Act of 1977. The department shall promulgate such regulations as are necessary to implement this statute, including setting forth time frames for ineligibility and establishing such exemptions as are deemed to be appropriate and subject to the following provisions:

(1) For purposes of this section, a "substantive" rule shall be defined as an action of the agency which has the effect of creating a legal right, liability, obligation or sanction;

(2) All substantive rules promulgated pursuant to the provisions of this section, and all substantive rulemaking authority authorized by this section, shall expire on August 31, 1998;

(4) The court shall award reasonable fees and expenses as defined in section 536.085, RSMo, to any party who prevails against the agency in such action.

5. Any person receiving public assistance benefits pursuant to chapter 208, RSMo, is deemed to have consented to a drug test to detect the use of controlled substances. Such test may be requested by the director of the department of social services. Any public assistance recipient who is found to have tested positive for the use of a controlled substance, which was not prescribed for such recipient by a licensed physician or dentist, may, after an administrative hearing conducted pursuant to the provisions of chapter 536, RSMo, be declared ineligible as determined by the department director or his designee, for some or all public assistance benefits of a period up to one year from the date of the administrative hearing.

6. The director shall promulgate rules to effectuate the provisions of this section. No rule or portion of a rule promulgated under the authority of this section shall become effective unless it has been promulgated pursuant to the provisions of section 536.024, RSMo.

7. The department of social services is authorized to propose rules and regulations necessary to implement this section only as provided pursuant to section 32 of this act.

Section 21. 1. A dependent child eighteen years of age shall, in order to retain eligibility for benefits through the work first program, be enrolled as a full-time student in a public or private secondary school, or an equivalent level of vocational or technical school in lieu of secondary school.

2. Any sanction imposed by the department for a recipient's failure to comply with requirements of subsection 1 of this section shall continue until the minor child is attending school. Good cause exceptions to this requirement may be made by the department if there is substantial evidence that the action of the parent or caretaker presents a probability of serious harm to the parent or caretaker.

, and subject to the following provisions:

(1) For purposes of this section, a "substantive" rule shall be defined as an action of the agency which has the effect of creating a legal right, liability, obligation or sanction;

(2) All substantive rules promulgated pursuant to the provisions of this section, and all substantive rulemaking authority authorized by this section, shall expire on August 31, 1998;

(4) The court shall award reasonable fees and expenses as defined in section 536.085, RSMo, to any party who prevails against the agency in such action.

Prior to imposing a sanction, the department shall make a reasonable effort to resolve disputes when a recipient of benefits through the work first program fails to meet the program requirements. Reasonable efforts shall include a written notice to the recipient of an intent to sanction. The notice shall include actions the recipient may take to avoid sanctions, an offer to discuss barriers to participation and, if appropriate, alternative program provisions that may be incorporated in an individual responsibility plan.

Section 22. The department shall deny benefits through the work first program to or on behalf of:

(1) Any member of a family that includes an adult who has received benefits for sixty months or more, whether or not consecutive, through this program or any other state program that has been created and funded through the provisions of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, as amended, after the date such state program has commenced unless:

(a) In any month during which benefits were provided to that individual he or she:

a. Was a minor child; and

b. Was not the head of household or married to the head of household;

(b) Benefits were provided to the individual during a month in which he or she lived on an Indian reservation or in an Alaskan Native village as defined in the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, as amended; or

(c) The department elects to extend the period of eligibility for benefits for the individual and his or her family members through a program which is not funded by TANF Block Grant dollars;

(2) An individual who has been convicted in federal or state court of having made a fraudulent statement or representation with respect to his or her place of residence in order to receive benefits simultaneously from two or more states under programs that have been created and funded through the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, as amended, Title XIX, the Food Stamp Act of 1977, the Supplemental Security Income Program under Title XVI, or any program under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act. The period of ineligibility shall begin on the date the individual was convicted of the offense and shall continue for ten years;

(3) An individual who:

(a) Is fleeing to avoid prosecution for custody or confinement after he or she has been convicted under any federal or state law of a crime which is a felony or, in the state of New Jersey, is a high misdemeanor; or

(b) Is violating a condition of probation or parole imposed under any federal or state law;

(4) An individual or on behalf of a minor child who has been or is expected by a parent or other caretaker relative to be absent from the home for such period of time as is designated by the department in Missouri's state plan filed pursuant to the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, as amended;

(5) The parent or other relative caretaker of a minor child who fails to notify the department of the absence of a minor child from the home by the end of the fifth day after it becomes apparent to the parent or relative caretaker that the child will be absent from the home for the period of time established by the department of social services and referred to in subdivision (4) of this section;

(6) An individual who is a recipient of assistance through other specific state programs designated to provide supplemental aid;

(7) Any other individual who is precluded from receiving benefits in accordance with the provisions of The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996, as amended.

Section 23. Work first program benefits shall not be granted or continued:

(1) Unless the benefits granted are used to meet the needs of the child and the needy eligible relative caring for a dependent child;

(2) To any person who refuses to accept vocational rehabilitation services or training or medical or other legal healing treatment necessary to improve or restore his capacity to support himself and his dependents, and it is certified by competent medical authority designated by the division of family services that such physical or mental incapacity can be removed, corrected or substantially improved; provided, however, the division of family services may in its discretion waive this requirement, taking into consideration the age of the individual, nature and extent of training and treatment, or whether he endangers the health of others in his refusal, whether the training or treatment is such that a reasonably prudent person would accept it, and all other facts and circumstances in the individual case;

(3) To a household that receives in any month an amount of income which together with all other income for that month, not excluded or disregarded by the division, exceeds the standard of need established by the department of social services. For the purposes of this subdivision, where consistent with federal law or regulation, "income" as established by the department of social services in conformance with the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, as amended, shall not include the proceeds of any life insurance policy, or prearranged funeral or burial contract, provided that such proceeds are actually used to pay for the funeral or burial expenses of the deceased family member, earnings of a student in school eighteen years of age or younger, child support assurance or earned income.

Section 24. 1. Except as otherwise provided in this section, benefits through work first program shall not be provided to an unmarried individual who has not attained the age of eighteen years if the individual:

(1) Has a minor child at least twelve weeks of age in his or her care and the individual has not successfully completed a high school education or a course of study resulting in a certificate of general equivalence unless the individual participates in:

(a) Educational activities directed toward the attainment of a high school diploma or a certificate of general equivalence; or

(b) An alternative educational or training program that has been approved by the department; or

(2) Is a single custodial parent of a child not residing in a home in which his or her parent(s), guardian(s), or adult relative(s) is also residing. Exceptions to this requirement shall be allowed in circumstances in which:

(a) The single custodial parent does not have a parent, legal guardian or other appropriate adult relative who is living or whose whereabouts are known;

(b) The single custodial parent does not have a parent, legal guardian, or other appropriate adult relative, who would otherwise meet applicable criteria to act as their legal guardian, who allows the single custodial parent to live in their home;

(c) The department determines that the single custodial parent or the minor child is being or has been subjected to serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse, or exploitation in the residence of the single custodial parent's own parent or legal guardian;

(d) The department determines that substantial evidence exists of an act or failure to act that presents an imminent or serious harm to the single custodial parent or the minor child if the single custodial parent and the minor child lived in the same residence with the individual's parent or legal guardian; or

(e) The department otherwise determines that it is in the best interest of the minor child to waive these requirements with respect to the single custodial parent or the minor child.

2. In circumstances in which the department determines that an individual does not have an appropriate living arrangement in accordance with subsection 1 of this section, the division shall assist the individual in obtaining a second chance home, maternity home, or other appropriate adult-supervised supportive living arrangement. Thereafter, the division shall require the individual and any child who is in the care of the individual to reside in such home or other living arrangement as a condition of the individual's continued eligibility for benefits through the work first program.

Section 25. 1. Work activities for the work first program shall be those activities which are set forth in the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, as amended, or those activities which are permitted under a federally approved waiver granted to the department of social services. The department shall promulgate such regulations as are necessary to implement and enforce work activities requirements, including waiver exemptions that are inconsistent with the requirements of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, as amended, or a federally approved waiver and subject to the following provisions:

(1) For purposes of this section, a "substantive" rule shall be defined as an action of the agency which has the effect of creating a legal right, liability, obligation or sanction;

(2) All substantive rules promulgated pursuant to the provisions of this section, and all substantive rulemaking authority authorized by this section, shall expire on August 31, 1998;

(4) The court shall award reasonable fees and expenses as defined in section 536.085, RSMo, to any party who prevails against the agency in such action.

2. An individual who is a single parent head of household of one or more children of any age who is himself or herself not yet twenty years of age is deemed to be engaged in work for a month if the individual:

(1) Maintains satisfactory attendance, during the month, in a secondary school or a course of study leading to a certificate of general equivalence; or

(2) Participates in education directly related to employment.

3. The department shall establish a system of sanctions that shall be imposed regarding an individual's continued entitlement to benefits through the work first program in circumstances in which the individual fails or refuses to cooperate in participating in work activities as set forth in this section. Such system of sanctions shall set forth the types of benefits for which a sanctioned individual will be disqualified and the period of time that such sanctioned individual will remain disqualified from receiving such benefits. The state shall reduce the amount of assistance otherwise payable to the family pro rata with respect to any period during a month in which the individual so refuses to engage in work requirements in accordance with the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, as amended, subject to good cause and other exceptions as the state might establish. Imposition of such sanctions shall be subject to good cause and such other exceptions as are established by the department. However, sanctions may not be imposed for benefits provided through the Medicaid for pregnant women program or the Medicaid for children program as set forth in section 208.151, RSMo. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 208.180, RSMo, the department may establish that an individual who has been sanctioned for any period of time for failure to cooperate with work activities requirements shall be entitled to receive benefits through the work first program only after he or she is in compliance on a monthly basis with work activities requirements.

Section 26. The maximum amount of monthly public assistance money payment benefits payable to or on behalf of a needy person shall not exceed the following:

(1) Benefits payable to individuals under the work first program in accordance with requirements established by the department or benefits people qualified for pursuant to aid to families with dependent children under the requirements in effect on June 1, 1995;

(2) Aid or public relief to an unemployable person not to exceed one hundred dollars.

Section 27. 1. The department of social services through the families work program shall establish the "Child Support Assurance Program". The child support assurance program shall provide benefits to children who meet specific eligibility requirements.

2. The department will aggressively collect child support and intensify its efforts consistently with the new child support requirements of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, as amended.

3. The state shall provide child support assurance benefits to needy children in all appropriate circumstances and it will also intensify its efforts to ensure that families obtain self-sufficiency.

4. In order to participate in the child support assurance program:

(1) The custodial parent shall be employed and have an earned, gross income that does not exceed one hundred percent of the federal poverty limit by household size;

(2) The department ascertains that the noncustodial parent has a legal order to pay child support;

5. The department shall design the necessary administrative procedures for the timely review of custodial parent earnings;

6. When a custodial parent is receiving a cash grant from the department to support the family, and the custodial parent begins and receives earnings from an employer, if the household has a legal order to establish child support, child support assurance shall be initiated for the children. When the household's earning exceeds the standard of need for cash assistance, they will transition to the below poverty level child support assurance.

7. If the funds at the disposal or which may be obtained by the department of social services for the payment of child support assurance program benefits shall at any time become insufficient to pay the full amount thereof, the amount of any payment to or on behalf of each of such persons shall be reduced pro rata in proportion to such deficiency in the total amount available or to become available for such purpose.

Section 28. 1. Except as otherwise provided in this section, an adult receiving benefits through the work first program may fill a vacant employment position in order to engage in work activities. An adult receiving benefits through the work first program, who fills a vacant employment position in order to engage in work activities must be guaranteed a wage equivalent to that of the minimum wage.

2. A supplemental wage assistance employment position made available pursuant to this section may not be created as the result of, or may not result in, any of the following:

(1) Displacement or partial displacement of current employees, including but not limited to, overtime currently being worked by employees, a reduction in non-overtime work hours, wages or employment;

(2) The filling of positions which would otherwise be promotional opportunities for current employees;

(3) A strike, lock out or other bona fide labor dispute or violation of any existing collective bargaining agreements between employees and employers; or

(4) The filling of a position created by termination, layoff or reduction in workforce.

3. An individual who believes that he or she has been adversely affected by a violation of this subsection or the organization that is duly authorized to represent the employee, shall be afforded an opportunity to grieve it. The employee or his/her organization must first attempt to remedy the alleged violation through a meeting with the employer within thirty days of the request for the meeting. If the complaint is not resolved to the satisfaction of the employee, he/she may appeal to the Missouri State Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. The hearing must be conducted in accordance with rules and notification requirements adopted by Missouri department of labor and a decision must be rendered within forty-five days of the hearing. If there is an existing grievance procedure in a collective bargaining agreement, it must be followed. Remedies shall include reinstatement, retroactive pay and benefits.

4. Nothing in this section shall preempt or supersede any provision of state law that provides greater protection for employees from job displacement.

Section 29. There is hereby established in each office of the department of social services which takes applications for work first assistance or joint office when co-located with another agency, a direct placement program. The department shall identify which case worker or case managers will participate in the program. Participation shall be voluntary. The case workers and case managers together with the office director or designee, shall identify employers or job vacancies which recipients may be referred to for interviews and possible employment.

2. Each self sufficiency pact shall identify a time when the recipient will be referred to the direct placement program. Any recipient referred to the direct placement program who refuses to go for or does not attend an interview established by a case worker or manager, or who refuses to accept a job offered by an employer, without good cause, shall be sanctioned according to the provisions of subsection 3 of section 25.

3. Each case worker participating in the direct placement program shall be eligible for a bonus plan, hereby established. The provisions of chapter 36 to the contrary notwithstanding, each participating employee shall, subject to appropriations, receive a bonus of one hundred dollars for each successful recipient above the base rate. The maximum bonus paid during any fiscal year shall be two thousand dollars. The bonus shall be paid twice a year. The base rate shall be equal to twenty five percent of the persons, receiving cash assistance funded by the TANF Block Grant, in the eligible employees average monthly case load over the previous twelve months but not less than ten. Successful recipients shall be those recipients of work first assistance who are employed at least thirty hours a week and have retained such employment for at least six months. The department may establish additional requirements relating to employee eligibility or measuring successful recipients, deemed necessary for successful operation of the bonus plan. The department shall request suggestions about the bonus plan from, but not limited to, employees, appropriate union associations or other associations such as the National Eligibility Association and the County Directors Association. The provisions of this subsection shall sunset sixty months following the effective date of this act.

Section 30. 1. The department shall establish "individual development accounts" whereby individuals receiving work first benefits may accumulate assets for specific purposes as defined in The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, as amended. Any assets accumulated in an individual development account shall not be counted in determining eligibility or benefits for the purpose of work first program or any other cash assistance program operated pursuant to this section.

and subject to the following provisions:

(1) For purposes of this section, a "substantive" rule shall be defined as an action of the agency which has the effect of creating a legal right, liability, obligation or sanction;

(2) All substantive rules promulgated pursuant to the provisions of this section, and all substantive rulemaking authority authorized by this section, shall expire on August 31, 1998;

(4) The court shall award reasonable fees and expenses as defined in section 536.085, RSMo, to any party who prevails against the agency in such action.

2. These accounts shall be used for the purpose of enabling individuals to accumulate funds for the following purposes:

(1) Post-secondary educational expenses;

(2) First home purchase; or

(3) Business capitalization.

3. The department of social services is authorized to propose rules and regulations necessary to implement this section only as provided pursuant to section 32 of this act.

Section 31. 1. A corporate taxpayer that pays for child care services in Missouri for dependent children of an employee of the taxpayer during the employee's hours of employment may claim a credit against the corporate income tax imposed pursuant to chapter 143, RSMo, in an amount equal to thirty percent of the total expenses, net of any reimbursements, for child care services incurred and paid by the taxpayer in the taxable year. This credit shall apply for those employees that have an annual gross income of twenty-one thousand dollars or less.

2. A corporate taxpayer that operates a child care facility in Missouri, in which at least fifty percent of the children attending the facility are the dependent children of the taxpayer's employees that have an annual gross income of twenty-one thousand dollars or less, may also claim a credit against the corporate income tax imposed pursuant to chapter 143, RSMo, in an amount equal to thirty percent of the net cost of operating a child care facility for the taxable year. If two or more taxpayers share in the cost of operating a child care facility primarily for the dependent children of the taxpayer's employees, that have an annual gross income of twenty-one thousand dollars or less, each corporate taxpayer shall be allowed a credit in relation to the taxpayer's share of the cost of operating the child care facility. Each corporate taxpayer's share of the tax credit shall be determined by dividing the number of the taxpayer's employees' children served by the total number of children served and multiplying the result by the net cost of operating the child care facility. The credit allowed pursuant to this subsection may be taken only if the child care facility is operated under the authority of a license issued by the department of health. For the purposes of this section, the term "net cost" means the cost of operating a child care facility less any amounts collected as fees for use of the facility, any federal tax credits with respect to the facility or its operation and any other payment or reimbursement from any other source other than the credit provided by this section.

3. For the purposes of this section, "dependent children" means natural, adopted, stepchildren, or wards who are under eighteen.

4. The credits provided for by subsections 2 and 3 of this section may only be deducted from the taxpayer's corporate income tax liability for the taxable year in which the expenditure occurred. The credit may not exceed thirty thousand dollars in any taxable year. If the credit amount exceeds the corporate income tax liability, the excess may be carried forward for three consecutive years; provided that in no event shall the annual credit amount exceed thirty thousand dollars.

5. The department of social services shall evaluate and make recommendations regarding the necessity for the creation for other tax credits which may apply to:

(1) Costs paid or incurred by a corporate taxpayer for contributions used to provide child care for employees' children; and

(2) Cost paid or incurred by a corporate taxpayer for contributions used to provide after school, holiday and summer care programs for employees' children.

Section 32. 1. The department in conjunction with community colleges and vocational schools shall develop pilot programs utilizing a coordinated approach to enable welfare recipients to obtain an education that leads to permanent full-time employment with benefits while ensuring that they meet the work participation requirements under the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act.

2. At least one pilot program shall be established with a community college and at least one with a vocational school. The pilot programs shall include activities in which will count towards the work participation rate such as:

(1) Work/study employment;

(2) Cooperative work experience where students earn units of college credit for their work;

(3) Internships where students obtain practical work experience in the occupational field in which they are training;

(4) Community service programs where students perform community service work in their field of study while earning a stipend for future continued education; and

(5) Work opportunity agreements where students who participate in a work opportunity program with private business are guaranteed employment in the field of their training at the successful completion of their education.

3. Community college and vocational school staff will coordinate services for students.

4. Subsidized child care will be provided while welfare recipients are attending college, vocational school and participating in work activities.

5. The department shall contract for independent evaluation of the pilot programs and report to the legislature annually.

Section 33. 1. The delegation of authority to the department of social services to propose to the general assembly rules or regulations pursuant to this act is contingent upon the department complying with the provisions of this section and this delegation of legislative power to the department to promulgate proposed rules and proposed orders of rulemaking that have the effect of substantive law, other than rules relating to the department's organization and internal management, is contingent and dependent upon the power of the general assembly to review proposed orders of rulemaking, to delay the effective date of the proposed final order of rulemaking until thirty legislative days after such rule is filed with the general assembly and the secretary of state, and to disapprove any rule or portion thereof as provided herein.

2. No rule or portion of a rule that has the effect of substantive law, and is promulgated under this section shall become effective until it has been reviewed by the general assembly in accordance with the procedures provided herein and the department's authority to propose rules is dependent upon the power of the general assembly to review and disapprove any such proposed rule or portion thereof by concurrent resolution adopted in accordance with the provisions of article IV, section 8 of the Missouri constitution.

3. The department may promulgate a proposed rule by complying with the procedures provided in section 536.021, RSMo, except that the notice of proposed rulemaking shall first be filed with the general assembly by providing a copy to the joint committee on administrative rules which may hold hearings upon any proposed rule or portion thereof at any time. The department shall cooperate with the joint committee on administrative rules by providing any witnesses, documents or information as may be requested.

4. Except as otherwise provided herein, the department shall comply with the provisions of section 536.021, RSMo, except that the department may file a proposed order of rulemaking with the secretary of state only by first filing a copy thereof with the general assembly by providing a copy to the secretary of the senate and the clerk of the house of representatives. The president pro tem of the senate shall direct that a copy of the proposed order of rulemaking be delivered to the director of the joint committee on administrative rules.

5. The proposed order of rulemaking shall not become effective until thirty legislative days after such proposed final order of rulemaking has been filed with the secretary of state. The joint committee on administrative rules may hold one or more hearings upon such proposed final order of rulemaking.

6. The committee may, by majority vote of its members, recommend that the general assembly disapprove any rule or portion thereof, after hearings and upon a finding that such rule or portion thereof is substantive in nature in that it creates rights or liabilities or provides for sanctions as to any person, corporation or other legal entity, and that such rule or portion of a rule should be disapproved for one or more of the following grounds:

(1) An absence of statutory authority for the proposed rule;

(2) An emergency relating to public health, safety or welfare;

(3) The proposed rule is in conflict with state law;

(4) A substantial change in circumstance since enactment of the law upon which the proposed rule is based;

(5) The proposed rule is arbitrary and capricious.

7. The general assembly may adopt a concurrent resolution in accordance with the provisions of article IV, section 8 of the Missouri constitution to disapprove and hold for naught any rule or portion thereof upon the grounds stated in this subsection.

8. Any rule or portion thereof not disapproved within thirty legislative days shall be deemed approved by the general assembly and the secretary of state may publish such order of rulemaking as soon as practicable after the expiration of thirty legislative days. Upon adoption of such concurrent resolution within thirty legislative days, the secretary of state shall not publish the order of rulemaking until the expiration of time necessary for such resolution to be signed by the governor or vetoed and overridden by the general assembly. If a concurrent resolution is adopted and signed by the governor or a veto of such resolution is overridden, the secretary of state shall publish in the Missouri Register, as soon as practicable, a notice amending the order of rulemaking as provided.

9. The secretary of state may publish the proposed order of rulemaking as soon as practicable after the expiration of thirty legislative days.

10. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 1.140, RSMo, the provisions of this section are nonseverable and the delegation of authority to propose a final order of rulemaking is essentially dependent upon the powers vested with the general assembly as provided herein. If any of the powers vested with the general assembly to review, to delay the effective date, to disapprove, or hold ineffective a rule or portion of a rule contained in an order of rulemaking, are held unconstitutional or invalid, the purported grant of rulemaking authority and any rule promulgated under such purported rulemaking authority delegated to the department by this act shall be invalid and void.

11. Nothing in this section shall prevent the general assembly from adopting by bill the rules or portions thereof proposed by the department as contained in an order of rulemaking. In that event, the proposed order of rulemaking and any rule proposed therein shall be held for naught and only such rules as are adopted by the general assembly shall become effective as submitted to the governor by bill. In that event, the secretary of state shall not publish the proposed order of rulemaking and said proposed order of rulemaking shall be invalid and held for naught.

30.255. Beginning July 1, 1998, the state treasurer shall, when making a new deposit of state funds, continuing an existing demand deposit of state funds, or renewing an existing time deposit of state funds beyond the expiration date of the deposit in any financial institution, review and consider the depository institutions' lending record, giving consideration to, among other factors, whether:

(1) The institution has been given by the appropriate federal regulatory agency a written evaluation of the institution's record of meeting the credit needs of its entire community, including low and moderate income neighborhoods, pursuant to the federal Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, as amended, 12 U.S.C. 2905; and

(2) The most recent evaluation of the institution includes a rating of "needs to improve record of meeting community credit needs" or "substantial noncompliance of meeting community credit needs", or categories substantially comparable if said federal law is amended.

135.240. The provisions of subdivision (3) of section 135.225 and section 135.230 shall apply to employees determined to:

(1) Be difficult to employ. For the purpose of this section, "a person difficult to employ" shall mean a person who was unemployed for at least three months immediately prior to being employed at the new business facility in the enterprise zone; or

(2) Be eligible for public assistance in accordance with eligibility standards for aid to families with dependent children in effect on July 16, 1996 or be eligible for funds from the temporary assistance for needy families block grant program or general relief programs.

167.260. 1. Any local school district offering to all pupils who are eligible by age pursuant to section 163.017, RSMo a full day of kindergarten within the school calendar as prepared pursuant to section 171.031, RSMo, shall be eligible for state aid for a program for developmentally delayed and free reduced price lunch eligible children ages three and four as defined in section 178.691, RSMo, and for children from at-risk families as defined in section 167.273. State aid shall be provided for no more than a half-day program within the district's school calendar. At a minimum such eligible child shall reach the age of three before the first day of [October] August prior to the start of the school year. Such program shall emphasize social skills, physical development and preparation for kindergarten.

2. Any school district offering instruction to children ages three and four shall receive subject to appropriations additional state aid based on the count of children ages three and four enrolled in the district's program and eligible for free and reduced price lunch divided by two multiplied by the guaranteed tax base as defined in subsection (7) of section 163.011, RSMo, multiplied by the operation levy for school purposes as defined in subsection (9) of section 163.011, RSMo.

[2.] 3. The state board of education shall approve such programs and distribute state aid.

205.770. 1. In any county of the second class in this state there may be created and established by order of the county commission of any such county a board which shall be styled "The Social Welfare Board of the County of .........".

2. [All powers and duties connected with and incident to the betterment of social and physical causes of dependency, the relief and care of the indigent, and the care of sick dependents, with the exception of the mentally ill and those suffering with contagious, infectious and transmissible diseases shall be exclusively invested in and exercised by the board.

3.] The board shall have power to receive and expend donations for social welfare and medical purposes and shall have [exclusive] control over the distribution and expenditure of any public funds set aside and appropriated by such counties and by any city located in any such county for the relief of the temporarily dependent. The board shall have power to promote the general welfare of the poor within the limits of such counties by [social and sanitary reforms, by industrial instruction, by the inculcation of habits of providence and self-dependence, and by the establishment and maintenance of any activities to these ends] providing medical care and emergency assistance. The board shall have power to sue and be sued, complain and defend in all courts, to assume the care of or take, by gift, grant, devise, bequest or otherwise, any money, real estate, personal property, right of property, or other valuable things, and may use, enjoy, control, sell or convey the same for charitable purposes, to have and to use a common seal and alter the same at pleasure.

[4.] 3. The board may make bylaws for its own guidance, rules and regulations for the government of its agents, servants and employees, and for the distribution of the funds under its control.

[5.] 4. If any second class county which has established a social welfare board pursuant to the provisions of this section, subsequently becomes a first class or a third class county, such county may retain its social welfare board and continue to function pursuant to the provisions of sections 205.770 to 205.840.

205.780. [Said] This board shall have the [exclusive] power to make [all suitable provisions for the relief, maintenance and support of all indigent persons within said county and within any city in said county who may appropriate for the support of said board, and to make suitable provisions for the care and maintenance to the sick dependents and those who are unable to support themselves; to enforce the laws of the state, the ordinances of such cities located within said county, in regard to the indigent, and to make] such rules and regulations in the conduct of its business not inconsistent with the laws of the state of Missouri and the ordinances of such cities[; to have exclusive control, care and management of all public hospitals owned or operated by said counties or said cities, except those for the care of the insane and those suffering with contagious, infectious and transmissible diseases; to recommend to the common council of said city the passage of such ordinances as said board may deem necessary for the welfare of the indigent of said city;]. This board will [to] have the power to appoint competent physicians and surgeons, who shall hold their office at the pleasure of said board, at a salary to be fixed by said board, and said physicians and surgeons shall perform such duties as may be prescribed by said board, and shall render medical attendance to all those who may come within the provisions of this law; [said] this board shall have the power and it shall be the duty of [said] this board to employ and discharge all persons or officers in their judgment necessary to carry out the matters over which [said] this board is given jurisdiction or control.

205.790. 1. [Said] This board shall be nonpartisan and nonsectarian in character, and the members and officers thereof shall receive no compensation as such.

2. [Said] This board shall consist of the mayor of such cities and the presiding commissioner of the county commission of such counties, who shall be ex officio members thereof, and six other members, three of whom shall be appointed by the county commission of such counties, who shall hold office, one for one year, one for two years and one for three years, whose terms of office shall be designated by such county commission, three by the mayor and common council of such cities, who shall hold office, one for one year, one for two years and one for three years, whose terms of office shall be designated by the mayor.

3. Whenever the term of office of any member so appointed expires, the appointment of his successor shall be for three years. All such appointments shall date from the first of June following their appointment.

4. Vacancies from any causes shall be filled in like manner as original appointment. The mayor may, for misconduct or neglect of duty, remove any member appointed by him in the manner required for removal of officers of such cities. The county commission may, by a majority vote, for misconduct or neglect of duty, remove any member appointed by them.

205.820. It shall be the duty of said board to keep a record of its proceedings and of its receipts, expenditures and operations, and shall annually render a full and complete itemized report, stating the condition of their trust, together with such other suggestions as they may deem of general interest to the mayor and [common] city council of said cities and the county commission of said counties; provided, said board shall render reports concerning receipts, expenditures, operations, etc., whenever called for by the [common] city council of said cities or the county commission of said counties.

205.830. 1. It shall be the duty of said board, when any person by himself, herself, or another apply for relief to make immediate inquiry [into the state and circumstances of the applicant, and if it shall appear that he or she is in such indigent circumstances as to require temporary relief, the said board shall furnish, out of the funds in their hands, such relief as the circumstances of the case may require; provided, that in all cases where the applicant for aid may be found dependent and said applicant or member of said applicant's family is an able-bodied male person capable of performing manual labor, said board shall require such person to perform work to the value of the aid given, and the city engineer and the street commissioners of such cities in their respective departments are required to utilize the services of such able-bodied persons upon receiving notice from said board that such person has received or is entitled to such aid. Where the applicant or a member of the applicant's family is an able-bodied female, said board shall, whenever practicable, require that labor to the value of the aid given be performed. They shall make investigations of cases of dependence for individuals or other charitable organizations and furnish such reports upon the same as in their judgment seems advisable.

2. Their office shall be a center of intercommunication between the various charitable agencies in the city. They shall foster harmonious cooperation between them and endeavor to eradicate the evils of overlapping relief, and for this purpose shall maintain a confidential registration bureau.

3. When it is impossible to repress mendicancy by the above means they shall prosecute imposters. They shall carefully work out such plans for helping families to self-dependence as may seem most practicable. They shall make concentrated attack on social causes of hardship, such as unsanitary housing, child labor, extortionate charges by pawnshops, salary loan and chattel mortgage agreements] to determine if such person is eligible for such relief.

207.010. The [division of family services is an integral part of the] department of social services [and] shall have and exercise all the powers and duties necessary to carry out fully and effectively the purposes assigned to it by law and shall be the state agency to:

(1) Administer state plans and laws involving [aid to dependent children] the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Block Grant program and any program established subsequent to the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, as amended;

(2) Aid or relief in case of public calamity;

(3) Aid for direct relief;

(4) Child welfare services;

(5) Social services to families and adults;

(6) Pensions and services for the blind; and

(7) Any other duties relating to public assistance and social services which may be imposed upon the department of social services.

208.010. 1. In determining the eligibility of a claimant for public assistance [under this law] pursuant to this chapter, it shall be the duty of the division of family services to consider and take into account all facts and circumstances surrounding the claimant, including [his] the claimant's living conditions, earning capacity, income and resources, from whatever source received, and if from all the facts and circumstances the claimant is not found to be in need, assistance shall be denied. In determining the need of a claimant, the costs of providing medical treatment which may be furnished under sections 208.151 to 208.158 and 208.162 shall be disregarded. The amount of benefits, when added to all other income, resources, support, and maintenance shall provide such persons with reasonable subsistence compatible with decency and health in accordance with the standards developed by the division of family services; provided, when a husband and wife are living together, the combined income and resources of both shall be considered in determining the eligibility of either or both. "Living together" for the purpose of this chapter is defined as including a husband and wife separated for the purpose of obtaining medical care or nursing home care, except that the income of a husband or wife separated for such purpose shall be considered in determining the eligibility of his or her spouse, only to the extent that such income exceeds the amount necessary to meet the needs (as defined by rule or regulation of the division) of such husband or wife living separately. In determining the need of a claimant in federally aided programs there shall be disregarded such amounts per month of earned income in making such determination as shall be required for federal participation by the provisions of the federal Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.A. 301 et seq.), or any amendments thereto. When federal law or regulations require the exemption of other income or resources, the division of family services may provide by rule or regulation the amount of income or resources to be disregarded. In determining the eligibility of a claimant pursuant to this section, the division of family services shall make all appropriate inquiries with the division of employment security, department of revenue and other such agencies and divisions prior to the issuance of such public assistance benefits. Should benefits be awarded on a temporary or emergency basis, such eligibility for benefits shall be terminated within thirty days unless the determining division has reverified and substantiated a continued need.

2. Benefits shall not be payable to any claimant who:

(1) Has or whose spouse with whom [he] the claimant is living has, prior to July 1, 1989, given away or sold a resource within the time and in the manner specified in this subdivision. In determining the resources of an individual, unless prohibited by federal statutes or regulations, there shall be included (but subject to the exclusions [under] pursuant to subdivisions (4) and (5) of this subsection, and subsection 4 of this section) any resource or interest therein owned by such individual or spouse within the twenty-four months preceding the initial investigation, or at any time during which benefits are being drawn, if such individual or spouse gave away or sold such resource or interest within such period of time at less than fair market value of such resource or interest for the purpose of establishing eligibility for benefits, including but not limited to benefits based on December, 1973, eligibility requirements, as follows:

(a) Any transaction described in this subdivision shall be presumed to have been for the purpose of establishing eligibility for benefits or assistance [under] pursuant to this chapter unless such individual furnishes convincing evidence to establish that the transaction was exclusively for some other purpose;

(b) The resource shall be considered in determining eligibility from the date of the transfer for the number of months the uncompensated value of the disposed of resource is divisible by the average monthly grant paid or average medicaid payment in the state at the time of the investigation to an individual or on his or her behalf [under] pursuant to the program for which benefits are claimed, provided that:

a. When the uncompensated value is twelve thousand dollars or less, the resource shall not be used in determining eligibility for more than twenty-four months; or

b. When the uncompensated value exceeds twelve thousand dollars, the resource shall not be used in determining eligibility for more than sixty months;

(2) The provisions of subdivision (1) of this subsection [2 of this section] shall not apply to a transfer, other than a transfer to claimant's spouse, made prior to March 26, 1981, when the claimant furnishes convincing evidence that the uncompensated value of the disposed of resource or any part thereof is no longer possessed or owned by the person to whom the resource was transferred;

(3) Has received, or whose spouse with whom [he] the claimant is living has received, benefits to which [he] the claimant was not entitled through misrepresentation or nondisclosure of material facts or failure to report any change in status or correct information with respect to property or income as required by section 208.210. A claimant ineligible [under] pursuant to this subsection shall be ineligible for such period of time from the date of discovery as the division of family services may deem proper; or in the case of overpayment of benefits, future benefits may be decreased, suspended or entirely withdrawn for such period of time as the division may deem proper;

(4) Owns or possesses resources in the sum of one thousand dollars or more; provided, however, that if such person is married and living with spouse, he or she or they, individually or jointly, may own resources not to exceed two thousand dollars; and provided further, that in the case of an [aid to families with dependent children claimant] individuals receiving benefits through the work first program, the provision of this subsection shall not apply;

(5) Prior to October 1, 1989, owns or possesses property of any kind or character, excluding amounts placed in an irrevocable prearranged funeral or burial contract pursuant to subsection 2 of section 436.035, RSMo, and subdivision (5) of subsection 1 of section 436.053, RSMo, or has an interest in property, of which [he] the claimant is the record or beneficial owner, the value of such property, as determined by the division of family services, less encumbrances of record, exceeds twenty-nine thousand dollars, or if married and actually living together with husband or wife, if the value of his or her property, or the value of his or her interest in property, together with that of such husband and wife, exceeds such amount;

(6) In the case of [aid to families with dependent children] individuals receiving benefits through the work first program, if the parent, stepparent, and child or children in the home owns or possesses property of any kind or character, or has an interest in property for which he or she is a record or beneficial owner, the value of such property, less encumbrances of record and excluding the home occupied by the claimant, as determined by the division of family services [and as allowed by federal law or regulation, less encumbrances of record, exceeds one thousand dollars, excluding the home occupied by the claimant, amounts placed in an irrevocable prearranged funeral or burial contract pursuant to subsection 2 of section 436.035, RSMo, and subdivision (5) of subsection 1 of section 436.053, RSMo, one automobile which shall not exceed a value set forth by federal law or regulation and for a period not to exceed six months, such other real property which the family is making a good-faith effort to sell, if the family agrees in writing with the division of family services to sell such property and from the net proceeds of the sale repay the amount of assistance received during such period. If the property has not been sold within six months, or if eligibility terminates for any other reason, the entire amount of assistance paid during such period shall be a debt due the state] exceeds the maximum amount established through regulation by the department of social services, division of family services. This maximum shall not be less than one thousand dollars. Each individual participating in the work first program shall be allowed to exclude one automobile from this determination;

(7) Is an inmate of a public institution, except as a patient in a public medical institution.

3. In determining eligibility and the amount of benefits to be granted [under] pursuant to federally aided programs, the income and resources of a relative or other person living in the home shall be taken into account to the extent the income, resources, support and maintenance are allowed by federal law or regulation to be considered.

4. In determining the total property owned [under] pursuant to subdivision (5) of subsection 2 of this section, or resources, of any person claiming or for whom public assistance is claimed, there shall be disregarded any life insurance policy, or prearranged funeral or burial contract, or any two or more policies or contracts, or any combination of policies and contracts, which provides for the payment of one thousand five hundred dollars or less upon the death of any of the following:

(1) A claimant or person for whom benefits are claimed; or

(2) The spouse of a claimant or person for whom benefits are claimed with whom [he] the claimant is living. If the value of such policies exceeds one thousand five hundred dollars, then the total value of such policies may be considered in determining resources; [except that, in the case of aid to families with dependent children, there shall be disregarded any prearranged funeral or burial contract, or any two or more contracts, which provides for the payment of one thousand five hundred dollars or less per family member] and provided further that in the case of individuals receiving work first program benefits the provision of this subsection shall not apply.

5. Beginning September 30, 1989, when determining the eligibility of institutionalized spouses, as defined in 42 USC section 1396r-5, for medical assistance benefits as provided for in section 208.151 and 42 USC sections 1396a et seq., the division of family services shall comply with the provisions of the federal statutes and regulations. As necessary, the division shall by rule or regulation implement the federal law and regulations which shall include but not be limited to the establishment of income and resource standards and limitations. The division shall require:

(1) That at the beginning of a period of continuous institutionalization that is expected to last for thirty days or more, the institutionalized spouse, or the community spouse, may request an assessment by the division of family services of total countable resources owned by either or both spouses;

(2) That the assessed resources of the institutionalized spouse and the community spouse may be allocated so that each receives an equal share;

(3) That upon an initial eligibility determination, if the community spouse's share does not equal at least twelve thousand dollars, the institutionalized spouse may transfer to the community spouse a resource allowance to increase the community spouse's share to twelve thousand dollars;

(4) That in the determination of initial eligibility of the institutionalized spouse, no resources attributed to the community spouse shall be used in determining the eligibility of the institutionalized spouse, except to the extent that the resources attributed to the community spouse do exceed the community spouse's resource allowance as defined in 42 USC section 1396r-5;

(5) That beginning in January, 1990, the amount specified in subdivision (3) of this subsection shall be increased by the percentage increase in the consumer price index for all urban consumers between September, 1988, and the September before the calendar year involved; and

(6) That beginning the month after initial eligibility for the institutionalized spouse is determined, the resources of the community spouse shall not be considered available to the institutionalized spouse during that continuous period of institutionalization.

6. Beginning July 1, 1989, institutionalized individuals shall be ineligible for the periods required and for the reasons specified in 42 USC section 1396p.

7. The hearings required by 42 USC section 1396r-5 shall be conducted [under] pursuant to the provisions of section 208.080.

8. Beginning October 1, 1989, when determining eligibility for assistance [under] pursuant to this chapter there shall be disregarded unless otherwise provided by federal or state statutes, the home of the applicant or recipient when the home is providing shelter to the applicant or recipient, or his or her spouse or dependent child. The division of family services shall establish by rule or regulation in conformance with applicable federal statutes and regulations a definition of the home and when the home shall be considered a resource that shall be considered in determining eligibility.

9. Reimbursement for services provided by an enrolled medicaid provider to a recipient who is duly entitled to Title XIX Medicaid and Title XVIII Medicare Part B, Supplementary Medical Insurance (SMI) shall include payment in full of deductible and coinsurance amounts as determined due [under] pursuant to the applicable provisions of federal regulations pertaining to Title XVIII Medicare Part B, except the applicable Title XIX cost sharing.

10. A "community spouse" is defined as being the noninstitutionalized spouse.

208.015. 1. The division of family services shall grant general relief benefits to those persons determined to be eligible [under] pursuant to this chapter and the applicable rules of the division. The director may adopt such additional requirements for eligibility for general relief, not inconsistent with this chapter, which [he] the director deems appropriate.

2. General relief shall not be granted to any person:

(1) Who has been approved for federal supplemental security income and was not on the general relief rolls in December, 1973; or

(2) Who is a recipient of:

(a) [Aid to families with dependent children] Benefits funded through the work first program;

(b) Aid to the blind benefits;

(d) Supplemental aid to the blind benefits.

3. A person shall not be considered unemployable, [under] pursuant to this section, if unemployability is due to school attendance.

4. Persons receiving general relief in December, 1973, and who qualify for supplemental security income shall continue to receive a general relief grant if necessary to prevent a reduction in the total cash income received by such person in December, 1973, which general relief grant shall not exceed the amount of general relief provided by law.

5. In providing benefits to persons applying for or receiving general relief, benefits shall not be provided to any member of a household if the claimant is employable as defined by rule of the division of family services; or if certain specified relatives living in the household of the claimant are employed and have income sufficient to support themselves and their legal dependents and to meet the needs of the claimant as defined by rule of the division. "Specified relatives" shall be defined as the spouse, mother, father, sister, brother, son, daughter, and grandparents of the claimant, as well as the spouses of these relatives, if living in the home.

6. General relief paid to an unemployable person shall not exceed one hundred dollars a month.

208.044. 1. The division of family services shall provide child day care services [to any person who meets the qualifications set forth at sections 301 and 302 of the Family Support Act of 1988 (P.L. 100-485)] in accordance with Title VI of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, as amended, known as the Child Care and Development Block Grant Amendments of 1996.

2. The division of family services shall purchase the child day care services required by this section by making payments, in accordance with the Child Care and Development Block Grant Amendments of 1996, and payments made directly to any providers of day care services licensed pursuant to chapter 210, RSMo, or to providers of day care services who are not required by chapter 210, RSMo, to be licensed [because they are providing care to relative children or no more than four children] or by reimbursement to parents for services rendered by such providers.

[3. When a person who has been eligible and receiving day care services under this section becomes ineligible due to the end of the twelve-month period of transitional day care, as defined in section 208.400, such person may receive day care services from the division of family services if otherwise eligible for such services. Until October 1, 1992, participants eligible for income eligible day care services, as defined by the division of family services, will continue to receive such services in the same proportion as that provided in fiscal year 1989, subject to appropriation.]

208.060. Application for any benefits [under] pursuant to any law of this state administered by the division of family services acting as a state agency shall be filed in the county office. Application for [aid to dependent children] benefits through the work first program shall be made by the person with whom the child will live while receiving aid. All applications shall be in writing, or reduced to writing, upon blank forms furnished by the division of family services, and shall contain such information as may be required by the division of family services or by any federal authority [under] pursuant to the social security law and amendments thereto. The term "benefits" as used herein or in this law shall be construed to mean:

(1) [Aid to dependent children] Benefits funded through the work first program;

(2) Aid or public relief to individuals in cases of public calamity;

(3) Money or services available for child welfare services;

(4) Any other grant, aid, pension or assistance administered by the division of family services.

208.075. 1. When an application is made for [aid to dependent children] families work program or aid to the permanently and totally disabled benefits because of the physical or mental condition of a person the division of family services shall require the person to be examined by competent medical or other appropriate authority designated by the division of family services. If benefits are paid because of the physical or mental condition of a person the division of family services may, as often as it deems necessary, require such person to be reexamined by competent medical or other appropriate authority designated by the division of family services. Written reports of examinations and reexaminations shall be required and evaluated by the division of family services in determining eligibility to receive benefits or to continue to receive benefits.

2. In any appeal hearing as provided for by section 208.080 and the question at issue involves the physical or mental incapacity of a person, regardless of whether assistance has been denied or a recipient has been removed from the assistance rolls, the written reports of the examination or reexamination made by competent medical or other appropriate authority designated by the division of family services, and any written medical reports by other physicians or clinics submitted by claimant, are hereby declared to be competent evidence and admissible as such at the appeal hearing to be considered by the director with any other evidence submitted. Any written medical report purporting to be executed and signed by the medical or other appropriate authority, its agents, or employees shall be prima facie evidence of it being properly executed and signed without further proof of identification.

208.080. 1. Any applicant for or recipient of benefits or services provided by law by the division of family services may appeal to the director of the division of family services from a decision of a county office of the division of family services in any of the following cases:

(1) If [his] the applicant's or recipient's right to make application for any such benefits or services is denied; or

(2) If [his] the applicant's or recipient's application is disallowed in whole or in part, or is not acted upon within a reasonable time after it is filed; or

(3) If it is proposed to cancel or modify benefits or services; or

(4) If [he] the applicant or recipient is adversely affected by any determination of a county office of the division of family services in its administration of the programs administered by it; or

(5) If a determination is made pursuant to subsection 2 of section 208.180 that payment of benefits on behalf of a dependent child shall not be made to the relative with whom [he] such child lives.

2. If the division proposes to terminate or modify the payment of benefits or the providing of services to the recipient or the division has terminated or modified the payment of benefits or providing of services to the recipient and the recipient appeals, the decision of the director as to the eligibility of the recipient at the time such action was proposed or taken shall be based on the facts shown by the evidence presented at the hearing of the appeal to have existed at the time such action to terminate or modify was proposed or was taken.

3. In the case of a proposed action by the county office of the division of family services to reduce, modify, or discontinue benefits or services to a recipient, the recipient of such benefits or services shall have ten days from the date of the mailing of notice of the proposed action to reduce, modify, or discontinue benefits or services within which to request an appeal to the director of the division of family services. In the notice to the recipient of such proposed action, the county office of the division of family services shall notify the recipient of all [his] the recipient's rights of appeal [under] pursuant to this section. Proper blank forms for appeal to the director of the division of family services shall be furnished by the county office to any aggrieved recipient. Every such appeal to the director of the division of family services shall be transmitted by the county office to the director of the division of family services immediately upon the same being filed with the county office. If an appeal is requested, benefits or services shall continue undiminished or unchanged until such appeal is heard and a decision has been rendered thereon, except that in [an aid to families with dependent children] a work first program case the recipient may request that benefits or services not be continued undiminished or unchanged during the appeal.

4. When a case has been closed or modified and no appeal was requested prior to closing or modification, the recipient shall have ninety days from the date of closing or modification to request an appeal to the director of the division of family services. Each recipient who has not requested an appeal prior to the closing or modification of [his] the recipient's case shall be notified at the time of such closing or modification of [his] the right to request an appeal during this ninety-day period. Proper blank forms for requesting an appeal to the director of the division of family services shall be furnished by the county office to any aggrieved applicant. Every such request made in any manner for an appeal to the director of the division of family services shall be transmitted by the county office to the director of the division of family services immediately upon the same being filed with the county office. If an appeal is requested in the ninety-day period subsequent to the closing or modification, benefits or services shall not be continued at their prior level during the pendency of the appeal.

5. In the case of a rejection of an application for benefits or services, the aggrieved applicant shall have ninety days from the date of the notice of the action in which to request an appeal to the director of the division of family services. In the rejection notice the applicant for benefits or services shall be notified of all of [his] the applicant's rights of appeal [under] pursuant to this section. Proper blank forms for requesting an appeal to the director of the division of family services shall be furnished by the county office to any aggrieved applicant. Any such request made in any manner for an appeal shall be transmitted by the county office to the director of the division of family services, immediately upon the same being filed with the county office.

6. If the division has rejected an application for benefits or services and the applicant appeals, the decision of the director as to the eligibility of the applicant at the time such rejection was made shall be based upon the facts shown by the evidence presented at the hearing of the appeal to have existed at the time the rejection was made.

7. The director of the division of family services shall give the applicant for benefits or services or the recipient of benefits or services reasonable notice of, and an opportunity for, a fair hearing [in the county of his residence at the time the adverse action was taken. The hearing shall be] conducted by the director of the division of family services or [his designee] an authorized designee to include an administrative hearing officer in the administrative hearing unit of the division of legal services. Every applicant or recipient, on appeal to the director of the division of family services, shall be entitled to [be present at the hearing, in person and by attorney or representative] a hearing either in person or by telephone. All in-person hearings shall be held in one of the administrative hearing units regional hearing offices located throughout the state, or as designated by the administrative hearing unit. A person requesting a hearing may appear with or without an attorney or other representative, and shall be entitled to introduce into the record of such hearing any and all evidence, by witnesses or otherwise, pertinent to such applicant's or recipient's eligibility between the time [he applied] application for benefits or services was made and the time the application was denied or the benefits or services were terminated or modified, and all such evidence shall be taken down, preserved, and shall become a part of the applicant's or recipient's appeal record. Upon the record so made, the director of the division of family services shall determine all questions presented by the appeal, and shall make such decision as to the granting of benefits or services as in [his] the director's opinion is justified and is in conformity with the provisions of the law. The director shall clearly state the reasons for [his] the director's decision and shall include a statement of findings of fact and conclusions of law pertinent to the questions in issue.

8. All appeal requests may initially be made orally or in any written form, but all such requests shall be transcribed on forms furnished by the division of family services and signed by the aggrieved applicant or recipient or his or her representative prior to the commencement of the hearing.

208.120. 1. For the protection of applicants and recipients, all officers and employees of the state of Missouri are prohibited, except as hereinafter provided, from disclosing any information obtained by them in the discharge of their official duties relative to the identity of applicants for or recipients of benefits or the contents of any records, files, papers, and communications, except in proceedings or investigations where the eligibility of an applicant to receive benefits, or the amount received or to be received by any recipient, is called into question, or for the purposes directly connected with the administration of public assistance. In any judicial proceedings, except such proceedings as are directly concerned with the administration of these programs, such information obtained in the discharge of official duties relative to the identity of applicants for or recipients of benefits, and records, files, papers, communications and their contents shall be confidential and not admissible in evidence.

2. The division of family services shall in each county welfare office maintain monthly a report showing the name and address of all recipients certified by such county welfare office to receive public assistance benefits, together with the amount paid to each recipient during the preceding month, and each such report and information contained therein shall be open to public inspection at all times during the regular office hours of the county welfare office; provided, however, that all information regarding applicants or recipients other than names, addresses and amounts of grants shall be considered as confidential.

3. It shall be unlawful for any person, association, firm, corporation or other agency to solicit, disclose, receive, make use of or authorize, knowingly permit, participate in or acquiesce in the use of any name or lists of names for commercial or political purposes of any nature; or for any name or list of names of recipients secured from such report in the county welfare office to be published in any manner. Anyone willfully or knowingly violating any provisions of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. If the violation is by other than an individual, the penalty may be adjudged against any officer, agent, employee, servant or other person of the association, firm, corporation or other agency who committed or participated in such violation and is found guilty thereof.

4. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section to the contrary, the department of social services shall furnish, at least four times annually and upon request of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the name, address and other identifying information of any individual whom the department knows to be unlawfully in the United States.

208.150. The maximum amount of monthly public assistance money payment benefits payable to or on behalf of a needy person shall not exceed the following:

[(1) Aid to families with a dependent child, or children, and needy eligible relatives caring for a dependent child, or children, in an amount to be computed as follows:

(a) Beginning July 1, 1993, and at least every three years thereafter, the division of family services shall determine by regulation the average need for each such eligible person, which shall include the cost of basic needs required to maintain a child or children in the home at a reasonable and decent low-income standard of living, and shall pay, on a uniform basis, the highest percent of such need as shall be possible within the limits of funds appropriated for that purpose, less available income;

(b) "Available income" means the total income, before taxes or other deductions, of each person residing within the same household, except, to the extent allowed by federal law, the earnings of a student under nineteen years of age enrolled in a secondary school or at the equivalent level of vocational or technical training, plus or minus such credits or deductions as may be prescribed by the division of family services by regulations for the sole purpose of complying with federal laws or regulations relating to this state's eligibility to receive federal funds for aid to families with dependent children payments, and such credits or deductions as may otherwise be prescribed by law;

(d) If the determined need under this subdivision is of an amount less than ten dollars, no cash payment will be made;]

(1) Families work program benefits payable to individuals under the work first program in accordance with requirements established by the department or benefits people qualified for pursuant to aid to families with dependent children under the requirements in effect on June 1, 1995. The department shall not establish benefits payable to be less than those in place on June 1, 1995, and within appropriations authority;

(2) Aid or public relief to an unemployable person not to exceed one hundred dollars.

208.151. 1. For the purpose of paying medical assistance on behalf of needy persons and to comply with Title XIX, Public Law 89-97, 1965 amendments to the federal Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. section 301 et seq.) as amended, the following needy persons shall be eligible to receive medical assistance to the extent and in the manner hereinafter provided:

(1) All recipients of state supplemental payments for the aged, blind and disabled;

(2) [All recipients of aid to families with dependent children benefits, including all persons under nineteen years of age who would be classified as dependent children except for the requirements of subdivision (1) of subsection 1 of section 208.040] Individuals who meet the July 16, 1996, eligibility requirements for aid to families with dependent children or requirements so established by the department and who are eligible for medical assistance in accordance with rules and regulations promulgated by the department;

(3) All recipients of blind pension benefits;

(4) All persons who would be determined to be eligible for old age assistance benefits, permanent and total disability benefits, or aid to the blind benefits under the eligibility standards in effect December 31, 1973, or less restrictive standards as established by rule of the division of family services, who are sixty-five years of age or over and are patients in state institutions for mental diseases or tuberculosis;

(5) All persons under the age of twenty-one years who [would be eligible for aid to families with dependent children] meet the July 16, 1996, eligibility requirements for aid to families with dependent children or requirements as established by the department[;], except for the requirements of [subdivision (2) of subsection 1 of section 208.040] deprivation of parental support, and who are residing in an intermediate care facility, or receiving active treatment as inpatients in psychiatric facilities or programs, as defined in 42 U.S.C. 1396d, as amended;

(6) All persons under the age of twenty-one years who would be eligible for aid to families with dependent children benefits [except for the requirement of deprivation of parental support as provided for in subdivision (2) of subsection 1 of section 208.040] pursuant to the July 16, 1996, eligibility requirements or requirements as established by the department except for the requirement of deprivation of parental support;

(7) All persons eligible to receive nursing care benefits;

(8) All recipients of family foster home or nonprofit private child-care institution care, subsidized adoption benefits and parental school care wherein state funds are used as partial or full payment for such care;

(9) All persons who were recipients of old age assistance benefits, aid to the permanently and totally disabled, or aid to the blind benefits on December 31, 1973, and who continue to meet the eligibility requirements, except income, for these assistance categories, but who are no longer receiving such benefits because of the implementation of Title XVI of the federal Social Security Act, as amended;

(10) Pregnant women who meet the requirements for aid to families with dependent children that were in existence as of July 16, 1996, or requirements as established by the department, except for the existence of a dependent child in the home;

(11) Pregnant women who meet the requirements for aid to families with dependent children that were in existence as of July 16, 1996, or requirements as established by the department, except for the existence of a dependent child who is deprived of parental support [as provided for in subdivision (2) of subsection 1 of section 208.040];

(12) Pregnant women or infants under one year of age, or both, whose family income does not exceed an income eligibility standard equal to one hundred eighty-five percent of the federal poverty level as established and amended by the federal Department of Health and Human Services, or its successor agency;

(13) Children who have attained one year of age but have not attained six years of age who are eligible for medical assistance under 6401 of P.L. 101-239 (Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1989). The division of family services shall use an income eligibility standard equal to one hundred thirty-three percent of the federal poverty level established by the Department of Health and Human Services, or its successor agency;

(14) Children who have attained six years of age but have not attained nineteen years of age. For children who have attained six years of age but have not attained nineteen years of age, the division of family services shall use an income assessment methodology which provides for eligibility when family income is equal to or less than equal to one hundred percent of the federal poverty level established by the Department of Health and Human Services, or its successor agency. As necessary to provide medicaid coverage [under] pursuant to this subdivision, the department of social services may revise the state medicaid plan to extend coverage [under] pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 1396a (a)(10)(A)(i)(III) to children who have attained six years of age but have not attained nineteen years of age as permitted by paragraph (2) of subsection (n) of 42 U.S.C. 1396d using a more liberal income assessment methodology as authorized by paragraph (2) of subsection (r) of 42 U.S.C. 1396a;

(15) The following children with family income which does not exceed two hundred percent of the federal poverty guideline for the applicable family size:

(a) Infants who have not attained one year of age with family income greater than one hundred eighty-five percent of the federal poverty guideline for the applicable family size;

(b) Children who have attained one year of age but have not attained six years of age with family income greater than one hundred thirty-three percent of the federal poverty guideline for the applicable family size; and

(c) Children who have attained six years of age but have not attained nineteen years of age with family income greater than one hundred percent of the federal poverty guideline for the applicable family size. Coverage [under] pursuant to this subdivision shall be subject to the receipt of notification by the director of the department of social services and the revisor of statutes of approval from the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services of applications for waivers of federal requirements necessary to promulgate regulations to implement this subdivision. The director of the department of social services shall apply for such waivers. The regulations may provide for a basic primary and preventive health care services package, not to include all medical services covered by section 208.152, and may also establish copayment, coinsurance, deductible, or premium requirements for medical assistance [under] pursuant to this subdivision. Eligibility for medical assistance [under] pursuant to this subdivision shall be available only to those infants and children who do not have or have not been eligible for employer-subsidized health care insurance coverage for the six months prior to application for medical assistance. Children are eligible for employer-subsidized coverage through either parent, including the noncustodial parent. The division of family services may establish a resource eligibility standard in assessing eligibility for persons [under] pursuant to this subdivision. The division of medical services shall define the amount and scope of benefits which are available to individuals [under] pursuant to this subdivision in accordance with the requirement of federal law and regulations. Coverage [under] pursuant to this subdivision shall be subject to appropriation to provide services approved under the provisions of this subdivision;

(16) The division of family services shall not establish a resource eligibility standard in assessing eligibility for persons [under] pursuant to subdivision (12), (13) or (14) of this subsection. The division of medical services shall define the amount and scope of benefits which are available to individuals eligible [under] pursuant to each of the subdivisions (12), (13), and (14) of this subsection, in accordance with the requirements of federal law and regulations promulgated thereunder except that the scope of benefits shall include case management services;

(17) Notwithstanding any other provisions of law to the contrary, ambulatory prenatal care shall be made available to pregnant women during a period of presumptive eligibility pursuant to 42 U.S.C. section 1396r-1, as amended;

(18) A child born to a woman eligible for and receiving medical assistance [under] pursuant to this section on the date of the child's birth shall be deemed to have applied for medical assistance and to have been found eligible for such assistance under such plan on the date of such birth and to remain eligible for such assistance for a period of time determined in accordance with applicable federal and state law and regulations so long as the child is a member of the woman's household and either the woman remains eligible for such assistance or for children born on or after January 1, 1991, the woman would remain eligible for such assistance if she were still pregnant. Upon notification of such child's birth, the division of family services shall assign a medical assistance eligibility identification number to the child so that claims may be submitted and paid under such child's identification number;

(19) Pregnant women and children eligible for medical assistance pursuant to subdivision (12), (13) or (14) of this subsection shall not as a condition of eligibility for medical assistance benefits be required to apply for [aid to families with dependent children] benefits through the work first program. The division of family services shall utilize an application for eligibility for such persons which eliminates information requirements other than those necessary to apply for medical assistance. The division shall provide such application forms to applicants whose preliminary income information indicates that they are ineligible for [aid to families with dependent children] benefits through the work first program. Applicants for medical assistance benefits [under] pursuant to subdivision (12), (13) or (14) shall be informed of the [aid to families with dependent children program] work first program and that they are entitled to apply for such benefits. Any forms utilized by the division of family services for assessing eligibility [under] pursuant to this chapter shall be as simple as practicable;

(20) Subject to appropriations necessary to recruit and train such staff, the division of family services shall provide one or more full-time, permanent case workers to process applications for medical assistance at the site of a health care provider, if the health care provider requests the placement of such case workers and reimburses the division for the expenses including but not limited to salaries, benefits, travel, training, telephone, supplies, and equipment, of such case workers. The division may provide a health care provider with a part-time or temporary case worker at the site of a health care provider if the health care provider requests the placement of such a case worker and reimburses the division for the expenses, including but not limited to the salary, benefits, travel, training, telephone, supplies, and equipment, of such a case worker. The division may seek to employ such case workers who are otherwise qualified for such positions and who are current or former welfare recipients. The division may consider training such current or former welfare recipients as case workers for this program;

(21) Pregnant women who are eligible for, have applied for and have received medical assistance [under] pursuant to subdivision (2), (10), (11) or (12) of this subsection shall continue to be considered eligible for all pregnancy-related and postpartum medical assistance provided [under] pursuant to section 208.152 until the end of the sixty-day period beginning on the last day of their pregnancy;

(22) Case management services for pregnant women and young children at risk shall be a covered service. To the greatest extent possible, and in compliance with federal law and regulations, the department of health shall provide case management services to pregnant women by contract or agreement with the department of social services through local health departments organized [under] pursuant to the provisions of chapter 192, RSMo, or chapter 205, RSMo, or a city health department operated [under] pursuant to a city charter or a combined city-county health department or other department of health designees. To the greatest extent possible the department of social services and the department of health shall mutually coordinate all services for pregnant women and children with the crippled children's program, the prevention of mental retardation program and the prenatal care program administered by the department of health. The department of social services shall by regulation establish the methodology for reimbursement for case management services provided by the department of health. For purposes of this section, the term "case management" shall mean those activities of local public health personnel to identify prospective medicaid-eligible high-risk mothers and enroll them in the state's medicaid program, refer them to local physicians or local health departments who provide prenatal care under physician protocol and who participate in the medicaid program for prenatal care and to ensure that said high-risk mothers receive support from all private and public programs for which they are eligible and shall not include involvement in any medicaid prepaid, case-managed programs;

(23) By January 1, 1988, the department of social services and the department of health shall study all significant aspects of presumptive eligibility for pregnant women and submit a joint report on the subject, including projected costs and the time needed for implementation, to the general assembly. The department of social services, at the direction of the general assembly, may implement presumptive eligibility by regulation promulgated pursuant to chapter 207, RSMo;

(24) All recipients who would be eligible for aid to families with dependent children benefits in accordance with the eligibility requirements that were in existence as of July 16, 1996, or requirements as established by the department except for the requirements of paragraph (d) of subdivision (1) of section 208.150 as it existed on July 16, 1996;

(25) All persons who would be determined to be eligible for old age assistance benefits, permanent and total disability benefits, or aid to the blind benefits, under the eligibility standards in effect December 31, 1973, or those supplemental security income recipients who would be determined eligible for general relief benefits under the eligibility standards in effect December 31, 1973, except income; or less restrictive standards as established by rule of the division of family services. If federal law or regulation authorizes the division of family services to, by rule, exclude the income or resources of a parent or parents of a person under the age of eighteen and such exclusion of income or resources can be limited to such parent or parents, then notwithstanding the provisions of section 208.010:

(a) The division may by rule exclude such income or resources in determining such person's eligibility for permanent and total disability benefits; and

(b) Eligibility standards for permanent and total disability benefits shall not be limited by age;

(26) Within thirty days of the effective date of an initial appropriation authorizing medical assistance on behalf of "medically needy" individuals for whom federal reimbursement is available [under] pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 1396a (a)(10)(c), the department of social services shall submit an amendment to the medicaid state plan to provide medical assistance on behalf of, at a minimum, an individual described in subclause (I) or (II) of clause 42 U.S.C. 1396a (a)(10)(C)(ii).

2. Rules and regulations to implement this section shall be promulgated in accordance with section 431.064, RSMo, and chapter 536, RSMo. No rule or portion of a rule promulgated [under] pursuant to the authority of this chapter shall become effective unless it has been promulgated pursuant to the provisions of section 536.024, RSMo.

3. [After December 31, 1973, and before April 1, 1990, any family eligible for assistance pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 601 et seq., as amended, in at least three of the last six months immediately preceding the month in which such family became ineligible for such assistance because of increased income from employment shall, while a member of such family is employed, remain eligible for medical assistance for four calendar months following the month in which such family would otherwise be determined to be ineligible for such assistance because of income and resource limitation. After April 1, 1990, any family receiving aid pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 601 et seq., as amended,] Any family receiving Title XIX benefits based on meeting the eligibility requirements for aid to families with dependent children that were in existence on July 16, 1996, or requirements as established by the department in at least three of the six months immediately preceding the month in which such family becomes ineligible for such aid, because of hours of employment or income from employment of the caretaker relative, shall remain eligible for medical assistance for six calendar months following the month of such ineligibility as long as such family includes a child as provided in 42 U.S.C. 1396r-6. Each family which has received such medical assistance during the entire six-month period described in this section and which meets reporting requirements and income tests established by the division and continues to include a child as provided in 42 U.S.C. 1396r-6 shall receive medical assistance without fee for an additional six months. The division of medical services may provide by rule the scope of medical assistance coverage to be granted to such families.

4. For purposes of section 1902(1), (10) of Title XIX of the federal Social Security Act, as amended, any individual who, for the month of August, 1972, was eligible for or was receiving aid or assistance pursuant to the provisions of Titles I, X, XIV, or Part A of Title IV of such act and who, for such month, was entitled to monthly insurance benefits [under] pursuant to Title II of such act, shall be deemed to be eligible for such aid or assistance for such month thereafter prior to October, 1974, if such individual would have been eligible for such aid or assistance for such month had the increase in monthly insurance benefits [under] pursuant to Title II of such act resulting from enactment of Public Law 92-336 amendments to the federal Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 301 et seq.), as amended, not been applicable to such individual.

5. When any individual has been determined to be eligible for medical assistance, such medical assistance will be made available to him or her for care and services furnished in or after the third month before the month in which he or she made application for such assistance if such individual was, or upon application would have been, eligible for such assistance at the time such care and services were furnished; provided, further, that such medical expenses remain unpaid.

208.160. The department of social services or its divisions shall prepare separate rolls of persons entitled to benefits or compensation for:

(1) Supplemental payments;

(2) [Aid to dependent children] Families work program;

(3) Aid or public relief;

(4) Administrative personnel services and expenses;

(5) Any other grant, aid, pension, assistance or welfare services administered by the department of social services or its divisions. From the rolls, the department of social services or its divisions shall prepare warrants in the form required by section 33.160, RSMo, which shall be certified by the commissioner of administration to the state treasurer for certification as required by section 30.180, RSMo. As authorized by section 30.205, RSMo, or sections 105.273 to 105.278, RSMo, the commissioner or the state treasurer may authorize the department of social services to place their signature on the warrant to create a negotiable check or draft or may authorize the electronic transfer of funds in place of a check or draft.

208.170. 1. The state treasurer shall be treasurer and custodian of all funds and moneys of the department and shall issue checks upon such funds or moneys in accordance with such rules and regulations as the department shall prescribe.

2. There is hereby established as a special fund, separate and apart from the public moneys of this state, the following:

(1) Supplemental payment fund;

(2) Aid to families with dependent children fund;

(3) Relief fund;

(4) Child welfare service fund;

(5) Administration fund;

(6) Title XIX fund;

(7) Child support enforcement fund;

(8) Families work program fund;

(9) Missouri maintenance of effort funds.

3. The supplemental payment fund shall consist of moneys appropriated by the state, and such moneys as may be received from the federal government or other sources for the payment of supplemental payments. All checks payable to recipients of supplemental payments shall be drawn on and paid from this fund.

4. The [aid to families with dependent children] work first program fund shall consist of moneys appropriated by the state, and such moneys as may be received from the federal government or other sources for the payment of aid to families [with dependent children] receiving benefits through the work first program. All checks payable for [aid to families with dependent children] the work first program shall be drawn on and paid from this fund. Any funds remaining in the aid to families with dependent children fund on July 1, 1997, or the date on which this section becomes effective, whichever occurs later, shall be transferred to the work first program fund.

5. The relief fund shall consist of moneys appropriated by the state, and such moneys as may be received from the federal government or other sources for aid or relief in cases of public calamity. All expenditures for aid or relief in cases of public calamity shall be paid from this fund.

6. The child welfare service fund shall consist of moneys appropriated by the state, and such moneys as may be received from the federal government or other sources for child welfare services, and this fund or any portion of it may be transferred to the administration fund.

7. The administration fund shall consist of moneys appropriated by the state, and moneys received from the federal government to pay the administrative costs of the department in administering the provisions of the law. All checks payable for employees and personal services of representatives of the department shall be drawn on and paid from the administration fund.

8. The Title XIX fund shall consist of moneys appropriated by the state and such moneys as may be received from the federal government or other sources for the payment of medical assistance rendered to eligible recipients pursuant to the Title XIX state plan, and all checks payable on behalf of recipients shall be drawn on and paid from this fund.

9. The child support enforcement fund shall consist of moneys appropriated by the state, and such moneys as may be received from the federal government or other sources including moneys representing assigned support obligations collected on behalf of recipients of public assistance and nonrecipients of public assistance, any fees collected by the department and any incentive payments received from other states. From this fund shall be paid any moneys collected which represent assigned support obligations required by state law or federal law to be returned to the obligee on whose behalf the obligation was collected, incentive payments to political subdivisions of this state or to other states, any reimbursement to the federal government for its respective share of payments for [aid to families with dependent children] benefits through the work first program and administrative costs incurred by the department in the administration of the child support enforcement program including purchase of child support enforcement services pursuant to the terms of cooperative agreements entered into with political subdivisions of this state, appropriate courts, law enforcement officials or others. Nothing herein shall prohibit the appropriation of federal funds to defer all administrative costs incurred by the department pursuant to chapter 454, RSMo, in the event that federal financial participation is extended to include all costs.

208.180. 1. Payment of benefits hereunder shall be made monthly in advance, at such regular intervals as shall be determined by the division of family services, directly to the recipient, or in the event of [his] the recipient's incapacity or disability, to [his] the recipient's legally appointed conservator, and except as provided in subsection 2 of this section, in the case of a dependent child to the relative with whom [he] such child lives; provided, that payments for the cost of authorized inpatient hospital or nursing home care in behalf of an individual may be made after the care is received either during [his] the individual's lifetime or after [his] the individual's death to the person, firm, corporation, association, institution, or agency furnishing such care, and shall be considered as the equivalent of payment to the individual to whom such care was rendered. All incapacity or disability proceedings of persons applying for or receiving benefits [under this law] pursuant to this chapter shall be carried out without fee or other expense when in the opinion of the probate division of the circuit court the person is unable to assume such expense. At the discretion of the court such a guardian or conservator may serve without bond.

2. Payment of benefits with respect to a dependent child may be made, pursuant to regulations of the division of family services, to an individual, other than the relative with whom [he] such child lives, who is interested in or concerned with the welfare of the child, or who is furnishing food, living accommodations or other goods, services or items to or for the dependent child[, in the following cases:

(1)] where the relative with whom the child lives has demonstrated an inability to manage funds to the extent that payments to [him] such relative have not been or are not being used in the best interest of the child[; or

(2) Where the relative has refused to participate in a work or training program to which he has been referred under section 208.042].

3. Whenever any recipient shall have died after the issuance of a benefit check to [him] such recipient, or on or after the date upon which a benefit check was due and payable to [him] such recipient, and before the same is endorsed or presented for payment by the recipient, the probate division of the circuit court of the county in which the recipient resided at the time of [his] the recipient's death shall, on the filing of an affidavit by one of the next of kin, or creditor of the deceased recipient, and upon the court being satisfied as to the correctness of such affidavit, make an order authorizing and directing such next of kin, or creditor, to endorse and collect the check, which shall be paid upon presentation with a certified copy of the order attached to the check and the proceeds of which shall be applied upon the funeral expenses and the debts of the decedent, duly approved by the probate division of the circuit court, and it shall not be necessary that an administrator be appointed for the estate of the decedent in order to collect the benefit check. No cost shall be charged in such proceedings. Such affidavit filed by one of the next of kin, or creditor, shall state the name of the deceased recipient, the date of [his] such recipient's death, the amount and number of such benefit check, the funeral expenses and debts owed by the decedent, and whether the decedent had any estate other than the unpaid benefit check and, in the event the decedent had an estate that requires administration, the provisions of this section shall not apply and the estate of the decedent shall be administered upon in the same manner as estates of other deceased persons.

208.182. 1. The division of family services shall establish [pilot projects in St. Louis city and in any county with a population of six hundred thousand or more, which shall provide for] a system of electronic transfer of benefits to public assistance recipients specified in subsection 5 of this section. The electronic benefits transfer system shall be implemented for food stamp recipients not later than October 1, 2002. Such system shall allow recipients to obtain cash from automated teller machines or point of sale terminals. If less than the total amount of benefits is withdrawn, the recipient shall be given a receipt showing the current status of [his] the recipient's account.

2. The disclosure of any information provided to a financial institution, business or vendor by the division of family services pursuant to this section is prohibited. Such financial institution, business or vendor may not use or sell such information and may not divulge the information without a court order. Violation of this subsection is a class A misdemeanor.

3. Subject to appropriations and subject to receipt of waivers from the federal government to prevent the loss of any federal funds, the department of social services shall require the use of photographic identification on electronic benefit transfer cards issued to recipients in this system. Such photographic identification electronic benefit transfer card shall be in a form approved by the department of social services.

4. The division of family services shall promulgate rules and regulations necessary to implement the provisions of this section pursuant to section 660.017, RSMo, and chapter 536, RSMo.

5. The delivery of electronic benefits and the electronic eligibility verification, including, but not limited to, [aid to families with dependent children (AFDC)] those funded through families work program, women, infants and children (WIC), early periodic screening diagnosis and treatment (EPSDT), food stamps, supplemental security income (SSI), including medicaid, child support, and other programs, shall reside in one card that may be enabled by function from time to time in a convenient manner.

208.325. 1. [Beginning October 1, 1994,] The department of social services shall enroll [AFDC] families work program recipients in the self-sufficiency [program] pacts established by this section. [The department may target AFDC households which meet at least one of the following criteria:

(1) Received AFDC benefits in at least eighteen out of the last thirty-six months; or

(2) Are parents under twenty-four years of age without a high school diploma or a high school equivalency certificate and have a limited work history; or

(3) Whose youngest child is sixteen years of age, or older; or

(4) Are currently eligible to receive benefits pursuant to section 208.041, an assistance program for unemployed married parents.

2. The department shall, subject to appropriation, enroll in self-sufficiency pacts by July 1, 1996, the following AFDC households:

(1) Not fewer than fifteen percent of AFDC households who are required to participate in the FUTURES program under sections 208.405 and 208.410, and who are currently participating in the FUTURES program;

(2) Not fewer than five percent of AFDC households who are required to participate in the FUTURES program under sections 208.405 and 208.410, but who are currently not participating in the FUTURES program; and

(3) By October 1, 1997, not fewer than twenty-five percent of aid to families with dependent children recipients, excluding recipients who meet the following criteria and are exempt from mandatory participation in the family self-sufficiency program:

(a) Disabled individuals who meet the criteria for coverage under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, P.L. 101-336, and are assessed as lacking the capacity to engage in full-time or part-time subsidized employment;

(b) Parents who are exclusively responsible for the full-time care of disabled children; and

2. Self-sufficiency pacts developed and utilized by the department of social services in conjunction with the implementation of families work program shall meet the requirements of the individual responsibility plans required by the Personal Responsibility and Work Reconciliation Act of 1996, as amended.

3. Upon enrollment in the [family self-sufficiency program] work first program, a household shall receive an initial assessment of the family's educational, child care, employment, medical and other supportive needs. There shall also be assessment of the recipient's skills, education and work experience and a review of other relevant circumstances. Each assessment shall be completed in consultation with the recipient and, if appropriate, each child whose needs are being assessed.

4. Family assessments shall be used to complete a family self-sufficiency pact in negotiation with the family. The family self-sufficiency pact shall identify a specific point in time, no longer than twenty-four months after the family enrolls in the self-sufficiency pact, when the family's primary self-sufficiency pact shall conclude. The self-sufficiency pact is subject to reassessment and may be extended for up to an additional twenty-four months, but the maximum term of any self-sufficiency pact shall not exceed a total of [forty-eight] sixty months. Family self-sufficiency pacts should be completed and entered into within three months of the initial assessment.

5. The division of family services shall complete family self-sufficiency pact assessments and/or may contract with other agencies for this purpose, subject to appropriation.

6. Family self-sufficiency assessments shall be used to develop a family self-sufficiency pact after a meeting. The meeting participants shall include:

(1) A representative of the division of family services, who may be a case manager or other specially designated, trained and qualified person authorized to negotiate the family self-sufficiency pact and follow-up with the family and responsible state agencies to ensure that the self-sufficiency pact is reviewed at least annually and, if necessary, revised as further assessments, experience, circumstances and resources require;

(2) The recipient and, if appropriate, another family member, assessment personnel or an individual interested in the family's welfare.

7. The family self-sufficiency pact shall:

(1) Be in writing and establish mutual state and family member obligations as part of a plan containing goals, objectives and timelines tailored to the needs of the family and leading to self-sufficiency;

(2) Identify available support services such as subsidized child care, medical services and transportation benefits during a transition period, to help ensure that the family will be less likely to return to public assistance.

8. The family self-sufficiency pact shall include a parent and child development plan to develop the skills and knowledge of adults in their role as parents to their children and partners of their spouses. Such plan shall include school participation records. The department of social services shall, in cooperation with the department of health, the department of mental health, and the "Parents as Teachers" program in the department of elementary and secondary education, develop or make available existing programs to be presented to persons enrolled in a family self-sufficiency pact.

[9. A family enrolled in a family self-sufficiency pact may own or possess property as described in subdivision (6) of subsection 2 of section 208.010 with a value of five thousand dollars instead of the one thousand dollars as set forth in subdivision (6) of subsection 2 of section 208.010.

10. A family receiving AFDC may own one automobile, which shall not be subject to property value limitations provided in section 208.010.

11. Subject to appropriations and necessary waivers, the department of social services may disregard from one-half to two-thirds of a recipient's gross earned income for job-related and other expenses necessary for a family to make the transition to self-sufficiency.

12.] 9. A recipient may request a review by the director of the division of family services, or his designee, of the family self-sufficiency pact or any of its provisions that the recipient objects to because it is inappropriate. After receiving an informal review, a recipient who is still aggrieved may appeal the results of that review under the procedures in section 208.080.

[13.] 10. The term of the family self-sufficiency pact may only be extended due to circumstances creating barriers to self-sufficiency and the family self-sufficiency pact [may] shall be updated and adjusted to identify and address the removal of these barriers to self-sufficiency.

[14.] 11. Where the capacity of services does not meet the demand for the services, limited services may be substituted and the pact completion date extended until the necessary services become available for the participant. The pact shall be modified appropriately if the services are not delivered as a result of waiting lists or other delays.

[15.] 12. The division of family services shall establish a training program for self-sufficiency pact case managers which shall include but not be limited to:

(1) Knowledge of public and private programs available to assist recipients to achieve self-sufficiency;

(2) Skills in facilitating recipient access to public and private programs; and

(3) Skills in motivating and in observing, listening and communicating.

[16.] 13. The division of family services shall ensure that families enrolled in the family self-sufficiency program make full use of the federal earned income tax credit.

[17. Failure to comply with any of the provisions of a self-sufficiency pact developed pursuant to this section shall result in a recalculation of the AFDC cash grant for the household without considering the needs of the caretaker recipient.

18. If a suspension of caretaker benefits is imposed, the recipient shall have the right to a review by the director of the division of family services or his designee.

19. After completing the family self-sufficiency program, should a recipient who has previously received thirty-six months of aid to families with dependent children benefits again become eligible for aid to families with dependent children benefits, the cash grant amount shall be calculated without considering the needs of caretaker recipients. The limitations of this subsection shall not apply to any applicant who starts a self-sufficiency pact on or before July 1, 1997, or to any applicant who has become disabled or is receiving or has received unemployment benefits since completion of a self-sufficiency program.

20.] 14. There shall be conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the family self-sufficiency program contained in the provisions of this act [and the job opportunities and basic skills training program ("JOBS" or "FUTURES") as authorized by the provisions of sections 208.400 to 208.425]. The evaluation shall be conducted by a competitively chosen independent and impartial contractor selected by the commissioner of the office of administration. The evaluation shall be based on specific, measurable data relating to those who participate successfully and unsuccessfully in these programs and a control group, factors which contributed to such success or failures, the structure of such programs and other areas. The evaluation shall include recommendations on whether such programs should be continued and suggested improvements in such programs. The first such evaluation shall be completed and reported to the governor and the general assembly by September 1, 1997. Future evaluations shall be completed every three years thereafter. [In addition, in 1997, and every three years thereafter, the oversight division of the committee on legislative research shall complete an evaluation on general relief, child care and development block grants and social services block grants.]

[21.] 15. The director of the department of social services may promulgate rules and regulations, pursuant to section 660.017, RSMo, and chapter 536, RSMo, governing the use of family self-sufficiency pacts in this program and in other programs, including programs for noncustodial parents of children receiving assistance.

[22. The director of the department of social services shall apply to the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services for all waivers of requirements under federal law necessary to implement the provisions of this section with full federal participation. The provisions of this section shall be implemented, subject to appropriation, as waivers necessary to ensure continued federal participation are received.]

208.337. 1. The division may deposit funds into an account on behalf of children whose custodial parent is a participant in the [program authorized pursuant to the provisions of sections 208.400 to 208.425,] work first program and whose noncustodial parent is participating in a state job training and adult educational program approved by the division of family services. If agreed upon by the parties, funds may also be deposited for this purpose when the noncustodial parent terminates participation in the job training or educational program, until the custodial parent completes participation in [the program authorized pursuant to the provisions of sections 208.400 to 208.425] work first program work activities. The amount deposited for each child shall not exceed the portion of current child support paid by the noncustodial parent, to which the state of Missouri is entitled according to applicable state and federal laws. Money so received shall be governed by this section notwithstanding other state laws and regulations to the contrary.

2. Any money deposited by the division on behalf of a child, as provided in subsection 3 of this section, shall be accounted for in the name of the child. Any money in the account of a child may be expended only for care or services for the child as agreed upon by both parents. The division shall, by rule adopted pursuant to section 454.400, RSMo, and chapter 536, RSMo, establish procedures for the establishment of the accounts, use, expenditure, and accounting of the money, and the protection of the money against theft, loss or misappropriation.

3. The division shall deposit money appropriated for the purposes of this section with the state treasurer. Any earnings attributable to the money in the account of a child shall be credited to that child's account.

4. Each child for whose benefit funds have been received by the division, and the parents of such child, shall be furnished annually by the division of budget and finance of the department of social services with a statement listing all transactions involving the funds which have been deposited on the child's behalf, to include each receipt and disbursement, if any.

5. (1) The director of the department of social services shall apply for all waivers of requirements under federal law to implement the provisions of this section.

(2) This program shall not be implemented until the waiver has been obtained from the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services by the director of the department of social services.

208.345. The division of family services, with the cooperation of the division of vocational rehabilitation, shall establish a protocol where persons who qualify for public assistance, including [aid to families with dependent children,] general relief and medical assistance, because of a disability may be directed to an appropriate federal agency to apply for other benefits. The division of family services shall also establish a procedure to identify applicants and recipients who may be entitled to supplement or supplant state benefits with other benefits through the Social Security Disability, Railroad Retirement, Supplemental Security Income, Veterans, Qualified Medicare Beneficiary and Specified Low Income Medicare Beneficiary and other programs.

208.700. In order to promote diverse approaches to the problems of poverty and to encourage maximum local participation and volunteerism, the "Community Partnership Program" is hereby created as a pilot program in the State of Missouri.

208.701. This program shall be organized by the Department of Social Services in two Missouri counties and organization in any county desiring to be eligible to participate shall be required to provide the Department of Social Services with no less than five written statements from organizations within the county declaring their intent to act as partners in the Community Partnership Program. The program shall be implemented within the first six months from the effective date of this act.

208.703. As used in sections 208.700 to 208.737, the following terms shall mean:

(1) "Community partnership organization", any of the following which chooses to dispense public assistance to qualified individuals, and meets the requirements set forth in section 208.725:

(a) Benevolent association established pursuant to chapter 352, RSMo;

(b) Charitable organization as defined in section 407.453, RSMo;

(d) Governmental body;

(e) Not for profit corporation established pursuant to chapter 355, RSMo;

(f) Organization that has obtained an exemption from the payment of federal income taxes as provided in section 501 (c) (3), 501 (c) (7) or 501 (c) (8) of Title 26, United States Code, as amended; or

(g) Religious or educational organization exempt from taxation pursuant to the Missouri or United States Constitution;

(2) "Director", the director of the division of family services;

(3) "Division", the division of family services;

(4) "Program", the community partnership program established pursuant to this act;

(5) "Public assistance", the cash, in-kind, or other payment to which a qualified individual is entitled;

(6) "Qualified individuals", any individual who receives any cash or in-kind payment, or any other public assistance administered by the division of family services;

(7) "Taxpayer", person, firm, a partner in a firm, corporation or a shareholder in an S corporation doing business in the state of Missouri and subject to the state income tax imposed by the provisions of chapter 143, RSMo, or a corporation subject to the annual corporation franchise tax imposed by the provisions of chapter 147, RSMo, or an insurance company paying an annual tax on its gross premium receipts in this state, or other financial institution paying taxes to the state of Missouri or any political subdivision of this state under the provisions of chapter 148, RSMo, or an express company which pays an annual tax on its gross receipts in this state pursuant to chapter 153, RSMo, or an individual subject to the state income tax imposed by the provisions of chapter 143, RSMo.

208.705. The provisions of chapter 208, RSMo, to the contrary notwithstanding, qualified individuals may participate in the community partnership program as established in sections 208.700 to 208.737.

208.707. Those qualified individuals who elect to participate in the program shall enter into a contractual agreement with a community partnership organization of the qualified individual's choosing for the purpose of distributing public assistance and providing services pursuant to section 208.715. No qualified individual shall enter into more than one contractual arrangement with a community partnership organization concurrently.

208.710. 1. The division shall:

(1) Determine and publicly disclose the gross amount of public assistance to be dispersed for aid to families with dependent children, and the total costs for administering said assistance as a percentage of said gross amount;

(2) Calculate the public assistance to be distributed to qualified individuals who choose to participate in the program in the same manner as the public assistance distributed to those individuals who elect not to participate;

(3) Not reduce the monthly cash public assistance of those who elect not to participate in the program based upon the amount of moneys transferred to the community partnership program fund pursuant to this section;

(4) Not set a public assistance amount for qualified individuals who elect to participate in a community partnership program that is less than the public assistance amount of those who do not participate in the program;

(5) Develop standardized forms for the contractual agreements between the division and community partnership organizations and between qualified individuals and community partnership organizations;

(6) Provide qualified individuals with information on a regular basis of any community partnership organizations available within the geographical area of the qualified individual;

(7) Establish a hotline for qualified individuals to register complaints on community partnership organizations for noncompliance of the terms of duly executed contractual arrangements.

2. Payments to implement sections 208.700 to 208.737 shall be made from the community partnership program fund created in section 208.730.

208.712. Any community partnership organization may contract with the division to distribute public assistance to qualified individuals who elect to participate in a community partnership program.

208.715. Any community partnership organization, in establishing and maintaining a community partnership program, may:

(1) Charge qualified individuals who choose to participate a fee for the provision of services equal to the amount of the community partnership organization's administrative costs for providing said services; however, the community partnership organization shall not charge a fee which as a percentage of the public assistance distributed exceeds ten percent;

(2) Supplement the public assistance to which a qualified individual, who has entered into an agreement with the community partnership organization pursuant to section 208.707, with additional cash grants, gifts, or services, including, but not limited to, the following:

(a) Child day care in a child day care center;

(b) Job training;

(c) Transportation;

(d) Food or household necessities;

(e) Remedial education;

(f) Domestic skills training;

(g) Parenting instruction;

(h) Health benefits.

208.717. As a condition of the receipt of public assistance or any other support provided by a community partnership organization, including those services set out in section 208.715, a community partnership organization may require qualified individuals to meet any additional standards, except that the community partnership organization may not require the qualified individual to:

(1) Perform any illegal act; or

(2) Attend any religious worship service.

208.720. Qualified individuals who fail to meet the requirements of a duly executed contractual agreement with a community partnership organization shall forfeit to the division, upon a fifteen-day notice to the qualified individual and the division, any increase in their public assistance provided for in section 208.730, over that which the qualified individual would otherwise receive and shall forfeit to the community partnership organization any other supplemental support provided by the community partnership organization pursuant to section 208.715. The forfeiture shall continue until a qualified individual is deemed by the community partnership organization under terms established by the division or by the division to be in compliance with the provisions of the contractual agreement, or until the contract is terminated by the qualified individual or the community partnership organization pursuant to section 208.722. If a contractual agreement between a community partnership organization and a qualified individual is terminated, the qualified individual shall be deemed to be a nonparticipant in the program for a period of thirty days or until the said qualified individual enters or re-enters into a contractual agreement with a community partnership organization, whichever is less. Those recipients deemed to be nonparticipants due to termination of a contract shall receive public assistance as otherwise provided for by law.

208.722. Every duly executed contractual agreement between a qualified individual and a community partnership organization shall contain a provision allowing the qualified individual or the community partnership organization the right to rescind the agreement upon thirty days notice to the division and to all parties to the said contractual agreement.

208.725. The division shall require community partnership organizations to meet the following conditions before entering into or re-entering into any contractual agreement with the division for the provision of services pursuant to section 208.715:

(1) Meet the definition established in section 208.702, for community partnership organizations;

(2) Be in existence for a period of at least five years before they are eligible for the program;

(3) Demonstrate to the division, through a written report, the services that are to be provided;

(4) Allow audits of public assistance distributed to recipients pursuant to sections 208.707 and 208.710;

(5) Agree that the community partnership organization will not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, or national origin; and

(6) Establish and maintain a system for addressing the grievances of those qualified individuals affected by the contract with the division.

208.727. 1. Community partnership organizations may actively seek private donations to support and supplement a community partnership program. Any taxpayer of Missouri may claim a tax credit if provided for by an appropriation by the general assembly; however, the amount appropriated for the tax credit, if any, shall not be less than the savings realized by the division as a result of the program established by this act.

2. A taxpayer shall be allowed to claim a tax credit against the taxpayer's state tax liability, in an amount equal to fifty percent of the amount such taxpayer contributed to the community partnership organization.

3. The amount of the tax credit claimed shall not exceed the amount of the taxpayer's state tax liability for the taxable year that the credit is claimed, and such taxpayer shall not be allowed to claim a tax credit in excess of fifty thousand dollars per taxable year. However, any tax credit that cannot be claimed in the taxable year the contribution was made may be carried over to the next four succeeding taxable years until the full credit has been claimed.

208.730. The "Community Partnership Program Fund" is hereby created in the state treasury to support the provisions of sections 208.700 to 208.737. Moneys shall be appropriated to the fund to provide public assistance to qualified individuals that are at least equal to the public assistance that such individuals would otherwise receive plus an amount at least equal to ten percent of the total amount transferred or the amount of savings resulting from implementation of the program. Moneys in the community partnership program fund that are not required to meet or augment the community partnership program funding requirements of the state in any fiscal year shall be invested by the state treasurer in the same manner as other surplus funds are invested. Interest, dividends and moneys earned on such investments shall be credited to the community partnership program fund. Such fund may also receive gifts, grants, contributions, appropriations and funds or public assistance from any other source or sources, and make investments of the unexpended balances thereof.

208.732. 1. There is hereby created the "Community Partnership Advisory Council" to make recommendations to the division on ways to improve and expand the program. The council shall be composed of seven members, consisting of the lieutenant governor, the director of social services, the director of the division of family services, or their representatives, and four members of the public who are active participants in a community partnership organization. The four members of the public shall be appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the senate, and no more than two shall be of the same political party. The chair of the council shall be the lieutenant governor. Council members appointed by the governor shall serve four-year terms or until their successor is duly appointed and qualified.

2. The advisory council shall meet as necessary, but at least twice yearly, to review activities of the commission, present recommendations in writing to the governor and the general assembly as requested or as necessary to ensure adequate exchange of information, and meet within four weeks after the initial members have been appointed. Four of the members shall constitute a quorum and no action shall be taken without the concurrence of four of the members.

208.737. This credit shall become effective January 1, 1998 and shall apply to all taxable years beginning after December 31, 1997.

210.221. 1. The department of health shall have the following powers and duties:

(1) After inspection, to grant licenses to persons to operate child care facilities if satisfied as to the good character and intent of the applicant and that such applicant is qualified and equipped to render care or service conducive to the welfare of children, and to renew the same when expired. No license shall be granted for a term exceeding two years. Each license shall specify the kind of child care services the licensee is authorized to perform, the number of children that can be received or maintained, and their ages and sex;

(2) To inspect the conditions of the homes and other places in which the applicant operates a child care facility, inspect their books and records, premises and children being served, examine their officers and agents, [and] deny, suspend [or] revoke or place on probation the license of such persons as fail to obey the provisions of sections 210.201 to 210.245 [or], the rules and regulations made by the department of health. The director also may revoke or suspend a license when the licensee has failed to renew or has surrendered the license;

(3) To promulgate and issue rules and regulations the department deems necessary or proper in order to establish standards of service and care to be rendered by such licensees to children. No rule or regulation promulgated by the division shall in any manner restrict or interfere with any religious instruction, philosophies or ministries provided by the facility and shall not apply to facilities operated by religious organizations which are not required to be licensed; and

(4) To determine what records shall be kept by such persons and the form thereof, and the methods to be used in keeping such records, and to require reports to be made to the department at regular intervals.

2. Any child care facility may request a variance from a rule or regulation promulgated pursuant to this section. The request for a variance shall be made in writing to the department of health and shall include the reasons the facility is requesting the variance. The department shall approve any variance request that does not endanger the health or safety of the children served by the facility. The burden of proof at any appeal of a disapproval of a variance application shall be with the department of health. Local inspectors may grant a variance, subject to approval by the department of health.

3. The department shall deny, suspend or revoke a license if it receives official notice that the license is prohibited by any local law related to the health and safety of children in child care as determined by local authorities.

[3.] 4. No rule or portion of a rule promulgated under the authority of sections 210.201 to 210.245 shall become effective unless it has been promulgated pursuant to the provisions of section 536.024, RSMo.

210.245. 1. Any person who violates any provision of sections 210.201 to 210.245, or who for himself or for any other person makes materially false statements in order to obtain a license or the renewal thereof under sections 210.201 to 210.245, shall be guilty of an infraction for the first offense and shall be assessed a fine not to exceed two hundred dollars and shall be guilty of a class A misdemeanor for subsequent offenses. In case such guilty person is a corporation, association, institution or society, the officers thereof who participate in such misdemeanor shall be subject to the penalties provided by law.

2. If the department of health proposes to deny, suspend or revoke a license, the department of health shall serve upon the applicant or licensee written notice of the proposed action to be taken. The notice shall contain a statement of the type of action proposed; the basis for it; the date the action will go into effect; and a statement that the applicant or licensee shall have thirty days to request in writing a hearing before the administrative hearing commission. If no written request for a hearing is received by the department of health within thirty days of the applicant or licensee's receipt of the notice, the proposed discipline shall take effect thirty-one days from the date the original notice was received by the applicant or licensee. If the applicant or licensee makes a written request for a hearing, the department of health shall file a complaint with the administrative hearing commission within ninety days of receipt of the request for a hearing. The complaint shall comply with the laws and regulations for actions brought before the administrative hearing commission.

3. The department of health may issue letters of censure or warning and may place a license on probation without formal notice or hearing.

4. The department of health may suspend any license simultaneously with action taken in subsection 2 of section 210.245, if the department of health finds that there is a threat of imminent bodily harm to the children in care. The notice of suspension shall include the basis of the suspension and the appeal rights of the licensee. The licensee may appeal the decision to suspend the license to the department of health. The appeal must be filed within ten days from the receipt of the notice of appeal. A hearing shall be conducted by the department of health within ten days from the date the appeal is filed. The suspension shall continue in effect until the conclusion of the proceedings, including review thereof, unless sooner withdrawn by the department of health, dissolved by a court of competent jurisdiction or stayed by the administrative hearing commission.

[2.] 5. In addition to initiating proceedings under subsection 1 of this section, or in lieu thereof, the prosecuting attorney of the county where the child care facility is located may file suit for a preliminary and permanent order overseeing or preventing the operation of a child care facility or the department may request that the attorney general seek an injunction to prevent the operation of the facility for violating any provision of sections 210.201 to 210.245. The order shall remain in force until such a time as the court determines that the child care facility is in substantial compliance. [If the prosecuting attorney refuses to act or fails to act within thirty days of receipt of notice from the department of health, the department of health may request that the attorney general seek an injunction of the operation of such child care facility.]

[3.] 6. In cases of imminent bodily harm to children in the care of a child care facility, the department may file suit in the circuit court of the county in which the child care facility is located for injunctive relief, which may include removing the children from the facility, overseeing the operation of the facility or closing the facility.

210.252. 1. All buildings and premises used by a child care facility to care for more than four children except those exempted from the licensing provisions of the department of health pursuant to subdivisions (1) [to], (2), (3), (4) and (6) of section 210.211, shall be inspected annually for fire and safety by the state fire marshal, his designee or officials of a local fire district and for health and sanitation by the department of health or officials of the local health department. Evidence of compliance with the inspections required by this section shall be kept on file and available to parents of children enrolling in the child care facility.

2. Local inspection of child care facilities may be accomplished if the standards employed by local personnel are substantially equivalent to state standards and local personnel are available for enforcement of such standards.

3. Any child care facility may request a variance from a rule or regulation promulgated pursuant to this section. The request for a variance shall be made in writing to the department of health and shall include the reasons the facility is requesting the variance. The department shall approve any variance request that does not endanger the health or safety of the children served by the facility. The burden of proof at any appeal of a disapproval of a variance application shall be with the department of health. Local inspectors may grant a variance, subject to approval by the department.

4. The department of health shall administer the provisions of sections 210.252 to 210.256, with the cooperation of the state fire marshal, local fire departments and local health agencies.

5. The department of health shall promulgate rules and regulations to implement and administer the provisions of sections 210.252 to 210.256. Such rules and regulations shall provide for the protection of children in all child care facilities whether or not such facility is subject to the licensing provisions of sections 210.201 to 210.245.

210.256. 1. Any person who violates any provision of sections 210.252 to 210.255, or who for himself or for any other person makes a materially false statement in the notice of parental responsibility required by sections 210.254 and 210.255, shall be guilty of an infraction for the first offense and shall be assessed a fine not to exceed two hundred dollars and shall be guilty of a class A misdemeanor for subsequent offenses. In case such guilty person is a corporation, association, institution, or society, the officers thereof who participate in such violation shall be subject to the same penalties.

2. In addition to initiating proceedings under subsection 1 of this section, or in lieu thereof, the prosecuting attorney of the county where the child care facility is located may file suit for a preliminary and permanent order overseeing or preventing the operation of a child care facility [for violating any provision of section 210.252] or the department may request that the attorney general seek an injunction to prevent the operation of the child care facility for violating any provision of sections 210.252 to 210.259 or the rules promulgated by the department. The injunction shall remain in force until such a time as the court determines that the child care facility is in substantial compliance.

3. In cases of imminent bodily harm to children in the care of a child care facility, the department of health may apply to the circuit court of the county in which the child care facility is located for injunctive relief, which may include removing the children from the facility, overseeing the operation of the facility or closing the facility.

473.399. 1. As used in this section, the following terms mean:

(1) "Assistance", funds expended by a state agency to or on behalf of a person in the form of aid, care, or services, except that for the purposes of this section, [aid to families with dependent children] work first program benefits shall not be considered assistance;

(2) "Obligor estate", the estate against which an obligation [under] pursuant to this section arises;

(3) "Recipient", a person to whom or on whose behalf assistance is provided;

(4) "State agency", the department of social services, department of health and department of mental health of the state of Missouri.

2. For the purposes of this section, the providing of assistance shall create an obligation which may be recovered by filing a claim in the probate division of the circuit court against the decedent estate of the spouse of the deceased recipient upon such spouse's death as provided by the probate code of Missouri, chapters 472, 473, 474 and 475, RSMo. The amount of the state debt shall be the full amount of assistance without interest provided to the recipient during the marriage of such recipient and spouse; provided that the liability of the obligor estate shall not exceed the value of the combined resources of the recipient and the spouse of the recipient on the date of death of the recipient.

3. The state agency providing the assistance may initiate a claim on the debt against the obligor estate.

4. The obligor estate may assert as a defense to the state agency's claim that more than two years prior to the providing of assistance, the recipient voluntarily abandoned the spouse.

5. An obligor estate shall have the right of setoff against the state debt for any amounts recovered by the state agency from the estate of the deceased recipient pursuant to section 473.398.

6. Claims shall not be filed [under] pursuant to this section when collection of the state debt would be contrary to federal statutes for assistance programs in which federal funds are received.

660.016. If the state's net federal reimbursement allowance for fiscal year 1994 and subsequent fiscal years exceeds one hundred thirty million dollars, the department of social services shall include in its 1995 fiscal year budget recommendation that any revenues in excess of one hundred thirty million dollars subject to appropriation be designated for the following purposes:

(1) Loans for physicians and nurses who will serve in medically underserved areas of Missouri as designated by the director of health;

(2) Primary and preventive care initiatives, including parenting classes, as determined by the directors of health and social services; and

(3) Transitional medicaid expenses of [AFDC] work first program recipients who accept employment which does not provide a medical benefit. As used in this section, "net federal reimbursement allowance" shall mean that amount of the federal reimbursement allowance in excess of the amount of state matching funds necessary for the state to make payments required by subsection 1 of section 208.450, RSMo, or, if the payments exceed the amount so required, the actual payments made for the purposes specified in subsection 1 of section 208.450, RSMo. This section shall cease to be in effect if the revenues generated by sections 208.450 to 208.480, RSMo, become ineligible for federal financial participation, if payments cease to be made pursuant to section 208.471, RSMo, or if such sections expire in accordance with section 208.480, RSMo.

660.017. [The department of social services may adopt, appeal and amend rules necessary to carry out the duties assigned to it. All rules shall be promulgated pursuant to the provisions of this section and chapter 536, RSMo. No rule or portion of a rule promulgated under the authority of this section shall become effective unless it has been promulgated pursuant to the provisions of section 536.024, RSMo.] 1. All rulemaking authority delegated by the general assembly to the department prior to the effective date of this act is invalid and of no force and effect.

2. The delegation of authority to the department of social services to propose to the general assembly rules or regulations after the effective date of this act is contingent upon the department complying with the provisions of this section and this delegation of legislative power to the department to promulgate proposed rules and proposed orders of rulemaking that have the effect of substantive law, other than rules relating to the department's organization and internal management, is contingent and dependent upon the power of the general assembly to review proposed orders of rulemaking, to delay the effective date of the proposed final order of rulemaking until thirty legislative days after such rule is filed with the general assembly and the secretary of state, and to disapprove any rule or portion thereof as provided herein.

3. No rule or portion of a rule that has the effect of substantive law, shall become effective until it has been reviewed by the general assembly in accordance with the procedures provided herein and the department's authority to propose rules is dependent upon the power of the general assembly to review and disapprove any such proposed rule or portion thereof by concurrent resolution adopted in accordance with the provisions of article IV, section 8 of the Missouri constitution.

4. The department may promulgate a proposed rule by complying with the procedures provided in section 536.021, RSMo, except that the notice of proposed rulemaking shall first be filed with the general assembly by providing a copy to the joint committee on administrative rules which may hold hearings upon any proposed rule or portion thereof at any time. The department shall cooperate with the joint committee on administrative rules by providing any witnesses, documents or information as may be requested.

5. Except as otherwise provided herein, the department shall comply with the provisions of section 536.021, RSMo, except that the department may file a proposed order of rulemaking with the secretary of state only by first filing a copy thereof with the general assembly by providing a copy to the secretary of the senate and the clerk of the house of representatives. The president pro tem of the senate shall direct that a copy of the proposed order of rulemaking be delivered to the director of the joint committee on administrative rules.

6. The proposed order of rulemaking shall not become effective until thirty legislative days after such proposed final order of rulemaking has been filed with the secretary of state. The joint committee on administrative rules may hold one or more hearings upon such proposed final order of rulemaking.

7. The committee may, by majority vote of its members, recommend that the general assembly disapprove any rule or portion thereof, after hearings and upon a finding that such rule or portion thereof is substantive in nature in that it creates rights or liabilities or provides for sanctions as to any person, corporation or other legal entity, and that such rule or portion of a rule should be disapproved for one or more of the following grounds:

(1) An absence of statutory authority for the proposed rule;

(2) An emergency relating to public health, safety or welfare;

(3) The proposed rule is in conflict with state law;

(4) A substantial change in circumstance since enactment of the law upon which the proposed rule is based;

(5) The proposed rule is arbitrary and capricious.

8. The general assembly may adopt a concurrent resolution in accordance with the provisions of article IV, section 8 of the Missouri constitution to disapprove and hold for naught any rule or portion thereof upon the grounds stated in this subsection.

9. Any rule or portion thereof not disapproved within thirty legislative days shall be deemed approved by the general assembly and the secretary of state may publish such order of rulemaking as soon as practicable after the expiration of thirty legislative days. Upon adoption of such concurrent resolution within thirty legislative days, the secretary of state shall not publish the order of rulemaking until the expiration of time necessary for such resolution to be signed by the governor or vetoed and overridden by the general assembly. If a concurrent resolution is adopted and signed by the governor or a veto of such resolution is overridden, the secretary of state shall publish in the Missouri Register, as soon as practicable, a notice amending the order of rulemaking as provided.

11. Nothing in this section shall prevent the general assembly from adopting by bill the rules or portions thereof proposed by the department as contained in an order of rulemaking. In that event, the proposed final order of rulemaking and any rule proposed therein shall be held for naught and only such rules as are adopted by the general assembly shall become effective as submitted to the governor by bill. In that event, the secretary of state shall not publish the proposed final order of rulemaking and said proposed final order of rulemaking shall be invalid and held for naught.

660.020. For the purposes of sections 660.020 to 660.026, the following terms mean:

(1) "Caseload standards", the minimum and maximum number of cases that an employee can reasonably be expected to perform in a normal work month based on the number of cases handled by, or the number of different job functions performed by, the employee;

(2) "Department", the department of social services;

(3) "Director", the director of the department of social services;

(4) "Professional caseload standards", caseload standards that are defined by national organizations such as the Child Welfare League, National Eligibility Workers Associations and the National Association of Social Workers, or caseload standards used in other states which have similar job titles.

660.023. 1. The director shall develop caseload standards based on the actual duties of employees in each program area of the department. The director shall consider the recommendations of the caseload standards advisory committee, established pursuant to section 660.026 when developing these caseload standards.

2. In establishing standards pursuant to sections 660.020 to 660.026, the director shall:

(1) Ensure the standards are based on the actual duties of the caseworker;

(2) Ensure the standards are consistent with existing professional caseload standards; and

(3) Consider standards developed by other states for workers in similar positions of employment.

3. Such standards shall be used by the director as the basis of the department's personnel budget request to the governor.

4. If an employee has failed to satisfactorily complete assignments that are in excess of specified caseload standards, good faith efforts to complete such assignments shall be among the factors considered in the employee's performance evaluation and before any disciplinary action is imposed. If an employee's performance evaluation is lowered or discipline is imposed by a supervisor, because the employee has failed to satisfactorily complete assignments that are in excess of specified caseload standards, the employee may file a grievance based on a claim of work expectations that exceed caseload standards, and the employee shall be entitled to an accelerated hearing of that grievance by the director.

5. Subject to appropriations, the department shall use the standards established pursuant to sections 660.020 to 660.026 to assign caseloads to individual employees.

6. The director shall promulgate rules prescribing the standards provided for in this section. No rule or portion of a rule promulgated under the authority of this section shall become effective unless it has been promulgated pursuant to the provisions of section 536.024, RSMo.

660.026. 1. The director shall convene, at least biannually, a caseload standards advisory committee which shall consist of seven nonsupervisory employees of the department and three division directors of the department or their designees. A representative of the employees' certified majority organization shall also serve on the committee. The caseload standards advisory committee shall include as nearly as possible employees from each program area of the department.

2. The caseload standards advisory committee shall review professional and other caseload standards and recommendations the committee considers appropriate and recommend to the department suggestions for minimum and maximum caseloads for each category of workers employed by the department.

[96.230. In all cities of the third class in this state there is hereby created and established, at the option of the mayor and common council of any such city, a board which shall be styled "The Social Welfare Board of the City of ...". All powers and duties connected with and incident to the relief and prevention of dependency, relief and care of the indigent, and the care of sick dependents, with the exception of the insane and those suffering with contagious, infectious and transmissible diseases, and excepting those persons who may be admitted to the county poorhouses of the counties in which such cities are located, shall be exclusively invested in and exercised by the board. The board shall have power to receive and expend donations for social welfare purposes, and shall have exclusive control of the distribution and expenditure of any public funds set aside and appropriated by such cities for relief of the temporary dependent. The board shall have power to sue and be sued, complain and defend in all courts, to assume the care of or take by gift, grant, devise, bequest or otherwise, any money, real estate, personal property, right of property or other valuable things, and may use, enjoy, control, sell or convey the same for charitable purposes, to have and to use a common seal and alter the same at pleasure. The board may make bylaws for its own guidance, rules and regulations for the government of its agents, servants and employees, and for the distribution of the funds under its control.]

[96.240. Said board shall have power to make all suitable provisions for the relief, maintenance and support of all indigent persons within said cities, and to make suitable provisions for the care and maintenance of the sick dependents and those who are unable to support themselves; to enforce the laws of the state, the ordinances of said cities, in regard to the indigent, and to make such rules and regulations in the conduct of its business not inconsistent with the laws of the state of Missouri, and the ordinances of said cities; to recommend to the common council of said cities the passage of such ordinances as said board may deem necessary for the welfare of the indigent of said cities. The board shall have the power to employ and discharge all persons or officers in their judgment necessary to carry on the work over which said board is given jurisdiction or control. Said board shall further have power to enter into cooperative arrangement with state or county agencies, or with charitable and philanthropic associations in order better to promote the objects of its work. Said board may act as agent for the county superintendent of public welfare within the limits of the city, under such arrangements as may be made jointly by them.]

[96.250. Said board shall be nonpartisan and nonsectarian and the members and officers thereof shall receive no compensation as such. Said board shall consist of the mayor of such cities, who shall be ex officio a member thereof, and six other members, men or women, who shall be appointed by the mayor and the common council of such cities, who shall hold office, two for one year, two for two years, and two for three years, whose term of office shall be designated by the mayor. Whenever the term of office of any member so appointed expires, the appointment of his successor shall be for three years. All such appointments shall date from the first of June following their appointment. Vacancies from any causes shall be filled in like manner as original appointment. The mayor may, for misconduct or neglect of duty, remove any members appointed by him in the manner required for removal of officers of such cities.]

[96.260. Said members shall, immediately after their appointment, and annually thereafter, meet and organize by electing out of their number a president, vice president, treasurer and secretary. All subordinate officers and employees appointed shall give such bonds for the faithful discharge of their duties as may be required by the board.]

[96.270. All moneys received or appropriated for the use of said board shall be deposited with the treasurer, who shall give good and sufficient bond to said board for the safekeeping and proper expenditure of all funds placed in his hands, by or for the use of said board.]

[96.280. It shall be the duty of said board to keep a record of its proceedings and its receipts, expenditures and operations, and to annually render a full and complete itemized report, stating the condition of their trust, together with such other matters as they may deem of general interest to the mayor and common council of said cities; provided said board shall render reports concerning receipts, expenditures, operations, etc., whenever called for by the common council of said cities.]

[96.290. It shall be the duty of said board, when any person by himself or another applies for relief, to make immediate inquiry into the state and circumstances of the applicant, and if it shall appear that he or she is in such indigent circumstances as to require temporary relief, the said board shall furnish, out of the funds in its hands, such relief as the circumstances of the case may require; provided, that in all cases where the applicant for aid may be found dependent, and said applicant or member of said applicant's family is an able-bodied person, said board shall require such person to perform work to the value of the aid given.]

[161.193. 1. As used in this section, the word "council" means the state council on vocational education assigned to the department of elementary and secondary education by executive orders 85-3 and 85-5 in 1985.

2. The council shall provide to the department of economic development, the education committees of the house of representatives and the senate, and the appropriations committees of the house of representatives and the senate copies of all reports which the council is required to submit or does submit to the state board of education, the governor, the state job training coordinating council, the secretary of education and the secretary of labor, or any of the above.]

[205.590. Aged, infirm, lame, blind or sick persons, who are unable to support themselves, and when there are no other persons required by law and able to maintain them, shall be deemed poor persons.]

[205.600. No person shall be deemed an inhabitant within the meaning of sections 205.580 to 205.760, who has not resided in the county for the space of twelve months next preceding the time of any order being made respecting such poor person, or who shall have removed from another county for the purpose of imposing the burden of keeping such poor person on the county where he or she last resided for the time aforesaid.]

[205.610. The county commission of each county, on the knowledge of the judges of such tribunal, or any of them, or on the information of any associate circuit judge of the county in which any person entitled to the benefit of the provisions of sections 205.580 to 205.760 resides, shall from time to time, and as often and for as long a time as may be necessary, provide, at the expense of the county, for the relief, maintenance and support of such persons.]

[205.620. The county commission shall at all times use its discretion and grant relief to all persons, without regard to residence, who may require its assistance.]

[205.640. The several county commissions shall have power, whenever they may think it expedient, to purchase or lease, or may purchase and lease, any quantity of land in their respective counties, not exceeding three hundred and twenty acres, and receive a conveyance to their county for the same.]

[205.650. Such county commission may cause to be erected on the land so purchased or leased a convenient poorhouse or houses, and cause other necessary labor to be done, and repairs and improvements made, and may appropriate from the revenues of their respective counties such sums as will be sufficient to pay the purchase money in one or more payments to improve the same, and to defray the necessary expenses.]

[205.660. The county commission shall have power to make all necessary and proper orders and rules for the support and government of the poor kept at such poorhouse, and for supplying them with the necessary raw materials to be converted by their labor into articles of use, and for the disposing of the products of such labor and applying the proceeds thereof to the support of the institution.]

[205.670. The several county commissions shall set apart from the revenues of the counties such sums for the annual support of the poor as shall seem reasonable, which sums the county treasurers shall keep separate from other funds, and pay the same out on the warrants of their county commissions.]

[205.680. Any county which now has or may hereafter have within such county a city having a special charter and which city now has or may hereafter have a population of not less than ten thousand inhabitants and not more than thirty thousand inhabitants shall, out of the funds of such county, provide for the care of the poor in said county, including poor of such city or cities, and no such city shall hereafter be exempt from any tax for the support of the poor of such county. No money shall hereafter be refunded to any such city by any such county on account of any money expended by said county for the support of the poor of said county.]

[205.690. Whenever such poorhouse or houses are erected, the county commission shall have power to appoint a fit and discreet person to superintend the same and the poor who may be kept thereat, and to allow such superintendent a reasonable compensation for his services.]

[205.700. Such superintendent shall have power to cause persons kept at such poorhouse, who are able to do useful labor, to perform the same by reasonable and humane coercion.]

[205.710. The county commission may at any time, for good cause, remove the superintendent and appoint another to fill the vacancy.]

[205.720. It shall be the duty of the superintendent of the poor, or poor farm, as provided for in sections 205.580 to 205.760, to keep a book furnished by the county commission, and enter therein a book account of all business transactions had or done or caused to be done by him as superintendent. Said book shall show an itemized account of all farm products, stock and other articles sold by the superintendent or by his authority, and of all articles purchased for the use of the poor, or for the use or improvement of the poor farm or the buildings thereon, and of all expenses for farm labor and other work or services done by order or contract of the superintendent, and of such other items as may be ordered kept therein by the county commission.]

[205.730. It shall be the duty of the superintendent to appear before the county commission on the first day of every regular session thereof, and at such other times as the commission may require, and present said book to said commission for their inspection. Should the superintendent fail or refuse to keep such book and present the same to the county commission, as provided in sections 205.580 to 205.760, it shall be considered sufficient cause for his removal, and it shall be the duty of the county commission to remove the same, and appoint another to fill the vacancy.]

[205.740. All money that shall come into the hands of the superintendent from the sale of farm products, stock or other articles belonging to the county, and all other money belonging to the county that shall come into his hands from other sources, except by warrants drawn in his favor by the county commission, shall be paid into the county treasury and placed with the fund for the support of the poor, and a receipt taken for the same.]

[205.750. Every superintendent, before entering upon his duties, shall enter into a bond to the state of Missouri in a sum not less than five hundred nor more than three thousand dollars, to be determined by the county commission, conditioned that he will faithfully account for all money belonging to the county that shall come into his hands, and that he will exercise due diligence and care over property belonging to the county, under his control. Said bond shall be approved by the county commission and filed with the clerk thereof.]

[205.760. Sections 205.720 to 205.750 shall not apply to any county where the support and keeping of the poor is let out by contract, nor to any county where the superintendent rents or leases the poor farm and stocks the same and furnishes the necessary farm implements used thereon at his own expense, and carries on said farm at his own expense.]

[205.765. 1. The county commission of any county of the first class may by resolution create a department of health and welfare which department shall be operated in the manner hereinafter set out.

2. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection 1, no department of health and welfare shall be created in any county of the first class not having a charter form of government in which a county health center has been established pursuant to the provisions of sections 205.010 to 205.150, whether or not the health center is established prior to the county's attaining first class status.]

[205.766. 1. The commissioners of the county commission shall during their term of office serve as commissioners of health and welfare of their respective counties and shall have charge and control of all county hospitals, clinics, health centers, institutions for the insane and all county corrective, welfare and eleemosynary institutions except the county jail and the place of detention used by the juvenile court.

2. Said commissioners shall have supervision of the rehabilitation of all state prisoners in the county jail after conviction and sentence thereto, subject to the approval of the county sheriff.

3. They shall perform investigational case work, excepting that relating to adoption, probation and detention of juveniles, in all cases involving the distribution and expenditure of any county funds.

4. They shall administer all laws relating to the county support of the poor and shall have charge of all boarding home care for all juveniles subject to the jurisdiction of the juvenile court and shall perform such other duties as provided by law.]

[205.767. The commissioners of health and welfare may appoint a director of health and welfare and the commissioners shall fix his compensation. The commissioners may also employ such assistants as are necessary and shall fix their compensation. The cost of salaries and expenses of the department shall be apportioned to any appropriate county fund.]

[205.769. 1. Any first class county not having a charter form of government and adjacent to a county of the first class having a charter form of government which does not contain a city with a population of three hundred thousand or more, and adjacent to not more than one county of the second class, may make health inspections of premises on or from which food is prepared, served, or sold to members of the general public for consumption by humans; except this act shall not apply to hospitals licensed under chapter 197, RSMo, or to nursing homes licensed under chapter 198, RSMo. Any county which makes inspections as authorized by this section shall also have the power and authority to issue licenses and to charge reasonable fees for such inspections, which fees shall not exceed the amount necessary to fund and implement an inspection program established pursuant to this section.

2. Such inspections shall be performed at least annually according to procedures established by the Missouri department of health and shall be performed in the most cost efficient manner. Inspections shall be performed by qualified employees of the county, or by contracting such services on a fee basis, at the discretion of the county commission. Any person making such inspections must meet the Missouri department of health qualifications.

3. No establishment described in subsection 1 of this section shall be issued a county license until it has passed inspection. Any such establishment which has been licensed and subsequently fails an inspection shall be given ten days to correct its deficiencies and if such establishment fails to correct its deficiencies, it shall be subject to license suspension and suspension of operations. If the establishment operates without the license, the owner is guilty of a class B misdemeanor. The license shall remain suspended until the deficiencies are corrected.

4. New establishments must submit plans for their operation to the county health department before construction proceeds and licenses are sought Establishments already doing business in the county shall not be subject to this subsection.

5. All religious, educational, nonprofit, fraternal or civic organizations shall be exempt from the fees authorized by the provisions of subsection 1 of this section.

6. From and after August 13, 1986, health inspections of the establishments described in subsection 1 of this section shall be performed only by the county and the state. Municipalities may provide for such health inspections only in those counties which do not provide for a health inspection throughout the county.]

[205.840. It shall be the duty of the board of police commissioners of said cities, and the health officers of said cities and counties to render said social welfare board, its officers and agents, such aid as may be requested by them, or either of them, whenever such aid requested shall reasonably come within the duties of said police board, its agents or officers or the health officers aforesaid.]

[205.850. The county commission in counties of the third and fourth classes may in its discretion, with an order of the juvenile court showing approval, appoint a county superintendent of public welfare, and such assistants as it may deem necessary. Whenever the county commission of any county has appointed a superintendent of public welfare such officer shall assume all the powers and duties now conferred by law upon the probation or parole officer of such county and shall assume all the powers and duties of the attendance officer in said county and all the powers and the duties of the attendance officer in any incorporated town or village having a population of more than one thousand inhabitants, and no other or different probation or parole officer or attendance officer or officers shall be appointed by the judge of the juvenile court, by the county superintendent of public schools, or by the school board or any incorporated city, town, or village school district or consolidated school district.]

[205.860. The county commission shall fix the salary of the county superintendent of public welfare and of his assistants in its county.]

[205.870. It shall be the duty of the county superintendent of public welfare to administer all of the funds of the county devoted to outdoor relief and allowances to needy mothers. He shall seek to discover any cases of neglect, dependent, defective or delinquent children in the county, and take all reasonable action in his power to secure for them the full benefit of the laws enacted for their benefit. Assistants to the county superintendents of public welfare shall perform such of the duties of the county superintendent of public welfare as he may assign to them.]

[205.880. The county superintendent of public welfare may be deputized or authorized and required by the department of social services to act as its agent in relation to any work to be done by said department within the county, and when said county superintendent is so authorized as the agent of the department of social services, he shall have the same powers and authority as are given to the department of social services. The county superintendent of public welfare may at any time call on the department of social services for advice and assistance in the performance of his duties.]

[205.890. The county superintendent of public welfare in each county shall, upon the request of the department of mental health, and in accordance with its direction, give special care and attention to the needs of any patient recently discharged from the state hospital for the insane who resides in his county, either on parole or permanent discharge, to the end that such patients may be established in such favorable circumstances as shall tend to prevent their relapse into insanity, and shall report on the progress of such former patients to the department of mental health, and under its direction, to the institution from which they have been paroled or discharged.]

[205.900. 1. The county superintendent of public welfare shall give such oversight and supervision to prisoners who are on parole from the state penitentiary and are residing in his county, and to persons who are on parole from the Missouri Reformatory, and Missouri Training School for Boys and to girls on parole from the State Training School for Girls or from the State Training School for Negro Girls, as may be requested by the state department of corrections and human resources and shall report upon the progress of said paroled prisoners to the state department of corrections and human resources as often as it may request.

2. The county superintendent of public welfare in each county shall give oversight and supervision to prisoners on parole or probation by any court in the state of Missouri and shall investigate applications for clemency when requested to do so by said courts, and shall report in regard to each person placed under his supervision to the court placing said persons under his supervision.

3. The county superintendent of public welfare shall also give oversight and supervision to children placed on parole or probation by the juvenile court or the court having jurisdiction of children's cases in his county when requested to do so by said court and shall report to said court upon progress of persons thus placed on parole or probation.]

[205.910. The county superintendent of public welfare in each county shall cooperate with the state employment bureaus and shall, upon request of the head of such bureaus, furnish data with regard to the opportunities for employment in their respective counties and shall aid and assist in any practical way in securing employment for the unemployed in his county.]

[205.920. The county superintendent of public welfare and his assistants may be deputized by the director of the inspection section of the department of labor and industrial relations, as his agent or agents, and when they are so deputized by the director, they shall have the same powers and authority as deputy industrial inspectors.]

[205.930. The county superintendent of public welfare shall investigate the conditions of living among the poor, sick and delinquent in the county and examine thoroughly into causes of crime and poverty in the county and shall make recommendations from time to time to the proper state department, and to proper local authorities as to any change in conditions or in legislation necessary to prevent or reduce poverty, crime or distress in the state.]

[205.940. The records of cases handled and business transacted by the county superintendent of public welfare shall be kept in such manner and form as may be prescribed by the department of social services.]

[205.950. The county superintendent of public welfare shall each year prepare and keep on file, a full report of his work and proceedings during the year, and shall file a copy with the county commission and with the secretary of the department of social services.]

[207.090. 1. The division of family services of the department of social services shall, in cooperation with the division of aging, develop and establish a pilot project for the employment of persons age fifty-five or older as part-time case workers for the division. The project shall be of a three-year duration and shall be funded by federal funds and state appropriations made for that purpose, not to exceed fifty percent of the total cost of the project, and donations received from private persons, firms, or corporations. The project shall not exceed ten senior citizens at any one time, and no one senior citizen shall be assigned more than ten cases at any one time. The participants shall be compensated for their services in an amount not to exceed five thousand dollars a year each. The pilot project shall be established in each county of the first classification containing the major part of a city with a population of more than three hundred thousand. Annually, the division of family services shall report on the project to the governor and the general assembly.

2. The section shall expire on August 28, 1997.]

[208.040. 1. Aid to families with dependent children shall be granted on behalf of a dependent child or children and may be granted to the parents or other needy eligible relative caring for a dependent child or children who:

(1) Is under the age of eighteen years; or is under the age of nineteen years and a full-time student in a secondary school (or at the equivalent level of vocational or technical training), if before the child attains the age of nineteen the child may reasonably be expected to complete the program of the secondary school (or vocational or technical training);

(2) Has been deprived of parental support or care by reason of the death, continued absence from the home, or physical or mental incapacity of a parent, and who is living with father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, brother, sister, stepfather, stepmother, stepbrother, stepsister, uncle, aunt, first cousin, nephew or niece, in a place of residence maintained by one or more of such relatives as the child's own home, and financial aid for such child is necessary to save the child from neglect and to secure for the child proper care in such home. Physical or mental incapacity shall be certified to by competent medical or other appropriate authority designated by the division of family services, and such certificate is hereby declared to be competent evidence in any proceedings concerning the eligibility of such claimant to receive aid to families with dependent children benefits. Benefits may be granted and continued for this reason only while it is the judgment of the division of family services that a physical or mental defect, illness or disability exists which prevents the parent from performing any gainful work;

(3) Is not receiving supplemental aid to the blind, blind pension, supplemental payments, or aid or public relief as an unemployable person;

(4) Is a resident of the state of Missouri.

2. The division of family services shall require as additional conditions of eligibility for benefits that each applicant for or recipient of aid:

(1) Shall furnish to the division the applicant or recipient's social security number or numbers, if the applicant or recipient has more than one such number;

(2) Shall assign to the division of family services in behalf of the state any rights to support from any other person such applicant may have in the applicant's own behalf or in behalf of any other family member for whom the applicant is applying for or receiving aid. An application for benefits made under this section shall constitute an assignment of support rights which shall take effect, by operation of law, upon a determination that the applicant is eligible for assistance under this section. The assignment is effective as to both current and accrued support obligations and authorizes the division of child support enforcement of the department of social services to bring any administrative or judicial action to establish or enforce a current support obligation, to collect support arrearages accrued under an existing order for support, or to seek reimbursement of support provided by the division;

(3) Shall cooperate with the divisions of family services and of child support enforcement unless the division of family services determines in accordance with federally prescribed standards that such cooperation is contrary to the best interests of the child on whose behalf aid is claimed or to the caretaker of such child, in establishing the paternity of a child born out of wedlock with respect to whom aid is claimed, and in obtaining support payments for such applicant and for a child with respect to whom such aid is claimed, or in obtaining any other payments or property due such applicant or such child. The divisions of family services and of child support enforcement shall impose all penalties allowed pursuant to federal participation requirements;

(4) Shall cooperate with the department of social services in identifying and providing information to assist the state in pursuing any third party who may be liable to pay for care and services available under the state's plan for medical assistance as provided in section 208.152, unless such individual has good cause for refusing to cooperate as determined by the department of social services in accordance with federally prescribed standards; and

(5) Shall participate in any program designed to reduce the recipient's dependence on welfare, if requested to do so by the department of social services.

3. The division shall require as a condition of eligibility for AFDC benefits that a minor child under the age of eighteen who has never married and who has a dependent child in his or her care, or who is pregnant and otherwise eligible for AFDC benefits, shall reside in a place of residence maintained by a parent, legal guardian, or other adult relative or in some other adult-supervised supportive living arrangement, as required by section 403 of P.L. 100-485. Exceptions to the requirements of this subsection shall be allowed in accordance with requirements of the federal Family Support Act of 1988 in any of the following circumstances:

(1) The individual has no parent or legal guardian who is living or the whereabouts of the individual's parent or legal guardian is unknown; or

(2) The division of family services determines that the physical health or safety of the individual or the child of the individual would be jeopardized; or

(3) The individual has lived apart from any parent or legal guardian for a period of at least one year prior to the birth of the child or applying for benefits; or

(4) The individual claims to be or to have been the victim of abuse while residing in the home where she would be required to reside and the case has been referred to the child abuse hotline and a "reason to suspect finding" has been made. Households where the individual resides with a parent, legal guardian or other adult relative or in some other adult-supervised supportive living arrangement shall, subject to federal waiver to retain full federal financial participation and appropriation, have earned income disregarded from eligibility determinations up to one hundred percent of the federal poverty level.

4. If the relative with whom a child is living is found to be ineligible because of refusal to cooperate as required in subdivision (3) of subsection 2 of this section, any aid for which such child is eligible will be paid in the manner provided in subsection 2 of section 208.180, without regard to subsections 1 and 2 of this section.

5. The department of social services may implement policies designed to reduce a family's dependence on welfare. The department of social services is authorized to implement these policies by rule promulgated pursuant to section 660.017, RSMo, and chapter 536, RSMo, either statewide or as pilot projects, in certain geographic areas, subject to obtaining necessary federal waivers and appropriation authority, and in compliance with state statutes. These policies may include:

(1) Increasing the earned income and resource disregards allowed recipients to help families achieve a gradual transition to self-sufficiency, including implementing policies to simplify employment-related eligibility standards by increasing the earned income disregard to two-thirds by July 1, 1998;

(2) Supplementing wages for recipients for the lesser of forty-eight months or the length of the recipient's employment by diverting the aid to families with dependent children grant to employers who hire such recipients, provided that the department of social services shall develop a methodology and a process for addressing instances where a regular employee claims job loss because of replacement solely due to the employer's preference for hiring a worker whose wage is supplemented by an aid to families with dependent children grant.

6. Upon receipt of a federal waiver which allows such, the work history requirements and definition of "unemployed" shall not apply to parents under age twenty-one in order for these parents to be eligible for assistance under section 208.041.]

[208.041. 1. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (2) of section 208.050, the provisions of section 208.040 shall also apply to a needy child who has been deprived of parental support or care by reason of the unemployment of a parent as such term "unemployment" is defined and determined by the division of family services pursuant to applicable federal law and regulations. The unemployed parent, for whose child or children benefits may be received, is eligible for payments and under this section must:

(1) Be physically present in Missouri, living in the home with the child or children, actively seeking employment, and complying with requirements made by the division of family services pursuant to applicable state and federal requirements for registration with the United States Secretary of Labor or his representative regarding employment, training, work incentive and special work projects;

(2) Have been unemployed for at least thirty days prior to receiving benefits under this section and must apply for and receive any unemployment benefits to which he or she is entitled, such benefits to be considered as unearned income in determining eligibility for aid to families with dependent children;

(3) Not have refused without good cause, within such thirty-day period prior to the receipt of such aid, any bona fide offer of employment which he or she is physically able to perform and otherwise qualified to engage in;

(4) Not have refused, without good cause, vocational rehabilitation, education, training, work incentive or special work projects offered;

(5) (a) Have six or more quarters of work within any thirteen-calendar-quarter period ending within one year prior to the application for such aid or have received or have been qualified to receive unemployment compensation within such one-year period;

(b) A "quarter of work" with respect to any individual shall mean a period of three consecutive calendar months ending on March thirty-first, June thirtieth, September thirtieth, or December thirty-first in which he or she received earned income of not less than fifty dollars or in which he or she participated in a community work and training program or the work incentive program;

(c) An individual shall be deemed "qualified" for unemployment compensation under the state's unemployment compensation law if he or she would have been eligible to receive such benefits upon filing application, or he or she performed work not covered by such law which, if it has been covered, would, together with any covered work he or she performed, have made him or her eligible to receive such benefits upon filing application; and

(6) Be the natural or adoptive parent of the child or children or legally responsible for the support of the child or children.

2. The division of family services shall enter into a cooperative agreement with the state department of elementary and secondary education and the coordinating board for higher education for use of public vocational rehabilitation and education services and facilities in respect to the unemployed parent to the end that those capable of assimilating and utilizing the same may be trained or retrained.

3. The division of family services shall enter into an agreement with the division of employment security for registration and reregistration of unemployed parents, and shall refer them to the United States Secretary of Labor or his representative, within thirty days of receiving assistance, for the purpose of providing employment, training, work incentive and special work projects for all eligible unemployed parents as provided in section 208.042.

4. Payments shall be prorated within the limits of the appropriations, and shall not exceed the amount of the appropriations made therefor.

5. This section shall not become effective until June 16, 1983.]

[208.042. 1. In households containing recipients of aid to families with dependent children benefits, each appropriate child, relative or other eligible individual sixteen years of age or over shall be referred by the division of family services to the United States Secretary of Labor or his representative for participation in employment, training, work incentive or special work projects when established and operated by the secretary, to afford such individuals opportunities to work in the regular economy and to attain independence through gainful employment.

2. The division of family services, pursuant to applicable federal law and regulations, shall determine the standards and procedures for the referral of individuals for employment, training, work incentive and special work projects, which shall not be refused by such individuals without good cause; but no recipient or other eligible individual in the household shall be required to participate in such work programs if the person is

(1) Ill, incapacitated, or of advanced age;

(2) So remote from the location of any work or training project or program that he cannot effectively participate;

(3) A child attending school full time;

(4) A person whose presence in the household on a substantially continuous basis is required because of illness or incapacity of another member of the household.

3. The division of family services shall pay to the United States Secretary of Labor or his representative up to twenty percent of the total cost, in cash or in kind, of the work incentive programs operated for the benefit of the eligible persons referred by the division of family services; and the division of family services shall pay an amount to the secretary for eligible persons referred to and participating in special work projects not to exceed the maximum monthly payments authorized under sections 208.041 and 208.150 for recipients of public assistance benefits. An allowance in addition to the maximum fixed by section 208.150 may also be made by the division of family services for the reasonable expenses of any needy child or needy eligible relative which are attributable to his participating in a work training or work incentive program.

4. If an eligible child or relative refuses without good cause to participate in any work training or work incentive program to which he has been referred, payment to or on behalf of the child or relative may be continued for not more than sixty days thereafter, but in such cases payments shall be made pursuant to subsection 2 of section 208.180. If a relative has refused to so participate, payments on behalf of the eligible children cared for by the relative shall be made pursuant to subsection 2 of section 208.180.

5. The division of family services is authorized to expend funds to provide child day care services, when appropriate, for the care of children required by the absence of adult persons from the household due to referral and participation in employment, training, work incentive programs or special work projects.]

[208.043. 1. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 208.040, aid to dependent children benefits shall be granted on behalf of a needy child and may be granted to a needy eligible legal guardian caring for a needy dependent child who:

(1) Has been deprived of parental support or care by reason of the death, continued absence from the home, or physical or mental incapacity of a parent;

(2) Is living with a legal guardian;

(3) Is under the age of eighteen; and

(4) Is not eligible for aid to dependent children benefits under section 208.040 because the child is not living with a specified relative.

2. The amount of the monthly public assistance benefit payable hereunder shall be determined by the standards set forth in section 208.150.]

[208.047. 1. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 208.040, aid to dependent children benefits may be granted to a dependent child:

(1) Who would meet the requirements of section 208.040, except for his removal from the home of a relative as a result of a judicial determination to the effect that continuation therein would be contrary to the welfare of such child;

(2) For whose placement and care the division of family services is responsible;

(3) Who has been placed in a foster family home or nonprofit private child-care institution as a result of such determination; and

(4) Who (a) received aid to dependent children benefits in and for the month in which court proceedings leading to such determination were initiated; or (b) would have received aid in or for that month if application had been made therefor; or

(c) in the case of a child who had been living with a relative specified in section 208.040 within six months prior to the month in which such proceedings were initiated, would have received aid in and for such month, if in such month he had been living with, and removed from the home of, such a relative and application had been made therefor.

2. Monthly aid to dependent children benefits on behalf of a child placed in a foster family home or nonprofit private child-care institution shall not exceed one hundred dollars for each child and in the event that federal aid to states for dependent children placed in a nonprofit private child-care institution is withdrawn, benefit payments under this section shall be terminated on behalf of a dependent child in a nonprofit private child-care institution.]

[208.048. 1. A dependent child eighteen years of age shall, in order to retain eligibility for aid to families with dependent children, be enrolled as a full-time student in a public or private secondary school, or an equivalent level of vocational or technical school in lieu of secondary school, and reasonably expected to complete the program of the secondary school, or equivalent vocational or technical training.

2. The department of social services shall promulgate rules and regulations to carry out the provisions of this section pursuant to section 660.017, RSMo, and chapter 536, RSMo.]

[208.050. Aid to families with dependent children benefits shall not be granted or continued:

(1) Unless the benefits granted are used to meet the needs of the child and the needy eligible relative caring for a dependent child;

(2) To any person when benefits are claimed by reason of his physical or mental incapacity, and such person refuses to accept vocational rehabilitation services or training or medical or other legal healing treatment necessary to improve or restore his capacity to support himself and his dependents, and it is certified by competent medical authority designated by the division of family services that such physical or mental incapacity can be removed, corrected or substantially improved; provided, however, the division of family services may in its discretion waive this requirement, taking into consideration the age of the individual, nature and extent of training and treatment, or whether he endangers the health of others in his refusal, whether the training or treatment is such that a reasonably prudent person would accept it, and all other facts and circumstances in the individual case;

(a) Such amount of income shall be considered income to the individual in the month received, and the household of which such person is a member shall be ineligible for the whole number of months that equals the sum of such amount and all other income received in such month, not excluded or disregarded by the division, divided by the standard of need applicable to the family;

(b) Any income remaining shall be treated as income received in the first month following the period of ineligibility specified in paragraph (a);

(c) For the purposes of this subdivision, where consistent with federal law or regulation, "income" shall not include the proceeds of any life insurance policy, or prearranged funeral or burial contract, provided that such proceeds are actually used to pay for the funeral or burial expenses of the deceased family member.]

[208.339. The office of administration, division of personnel, shall explore telecommuting employment options for aid to families with dependent children recipients.]

[208.342. The director of the department of social services shall, in conjunction with the state treasurer's office, coordinate an earned income tax credit program for qualifying AFDC recipients.]

[208.400. As used in sections 208.400 to 208.425 and section 452.311, RSMo, the following terms mean:

(1) "Case manager", an employee of the division having responsibility for the assessment of the participant's educational and employment needs and for assisting the participant in the development and execution of the service plan;

(2) "Community work experience program", as defined under section 201 of the Family Support Act of 1988 (P.L. 100-485), a program designed to enhance the employability of participants not otherwise able to obtain employment through providing training and an actual work experience;

(3) "Department", the department of social services;

(4) "Division", the division of family services of the department of social services;

(5) "Educational component", that portion of the Missouri job opportunities and basic skills training (JOBS) program which is intended to provide educational opportunities for participants. This component will include:

(a) "Adult basic education", any part-time or full-time program of instruction emphasizing reading, writing and computation skills, including day classes or night classes, which prepares a person to earn a Missouri high school equivalency certificate pursuant to section 161.093, RSMo;

(b) "High school education", instruction in two or more grades not lower than the ninth nor higher than the twelfth grade which leads to the award of a diploma provided by any school to a person, to the extent that such instruction conforms to the requirements established pursuant to section 201 of P.L. 100-485 and federal regulations promulgated under said section;

(c) "Postsecondary education", any part-time or full-time program of instruction in a community junior college, college or university as allowed by regulations of the department of health and human services; and

(d) "Vocational education", any part-time or full-time program of instruction of less than baccalaureate grade, including day classes or night classes, which prepares a person for gainful employment;

(6) "Employment component", that portion of the Missouri JOBS program which is intended to provide employment counseling, training, and referral and employment opportunities for participants;

(7) "JOBS", the job opportunities and basic skills training program for AFDC recipients developed by the division of family services;

(8) "Participant", any recipient who is participating in the Missouri JOBS program;

(9) "Recipient", any person receiving aid to families with dependent children benefits under section 208.040 or 208.041;

(10) "Service plan", as defined in section 201 of the Family Support Act of 1988 (P.L. 100-485), an employability plan designating the services to be provided by the department and the activities in which the participant will be involved; and

(11) "Transitional child care services", child day care services provided, as defined in sections 301 and 302 of the Family Support Act of 1988 (P.L. 100-485), to participants who have become ineligible for such services due to the increased wages of or hours of employment.]

[208.405. 1. No later than October 1, 1990, the division of family services shall establish and operate a job opportunities and basic skills training (JOBS) program for AFDC recipients.

2. The division of family services, subject to appropriation, shall administer the job opportunities and basic skills training (JOBS) program as provided in Part F of Title IV of the Social Security Act.

3. Pursuant to Public Law 100-485, state funds expended for education, training and employment activities, including supportive services, to assist aid to families with dependent children recipients in becoming self-sufficient shcll be no less than the level expended for such purposes in fiscal year 1986.

4. The department shall plan and coordinate all the JOBS program with the Missouri Job Training Coordinating Council, educational training and basic skills training and opportunities afforded under the provisions of this act with the department of elementary and secondary education, the department of labor and industrial relations and the department of economic development so as not to duplicate any existing program and services now offered. The existing personnel in those departments together with such added personnel as may be authorized by appropriations shall be utilized in carrying out the provisions of this act.]

[208.410. 1. The division, in determining the priority of participation by individuals, shall give priority to volunteers as described in section 201 of P.L. 100-485.

2. The state plan for the job opportunities and basic skills training program shall include a publicity or recruitment program the goal of which shall be to ensure that volunteers for participation in the job opportunities and basic skills training program are served first and are given preference for available education, training and support services.

3. Any recipient who has a child under three years of age living in the home and is personally providing care for the child shall be exempt from required participation in the JOBS program.

4. Prior to the termination of any benefits or supportive services of a participant by the division as a sanction authorized pursuant to the provisions of this section, the participant shall be afforded a pretermination hearing, on the record, with an opportunity for the participant to be heard.

5. No person shall without good cause, as such term is defined in Public Law 100-485 and regulations defined thereunder, refuse services offered by the division pursuant to this section. The division may, by rule and regulation, provide sanctions against any person who violates the provisions of this subsection. Sanctions shall be consistent with the provisions of Title II, Section 201 of the Family Support Act of 1988.]

[208.415. 1. The division shall adopt rules and regulations pursuant to chapter 536, RSMo, to administer such program. Such rules shall include procedures for referral of individuals for education, employment, job search, training including on-the-job training, and special work projects. Such rules may implement any optional provision of the Family Support Act of 1988.

2. An initial assessment of the educational, child care, and other supportive services needs as well as the skills, prior work experience, and employability of each participant in the program including a review of the family circumstances shall be completed for all participants. This assessment shall be completed in consultation with the participant.

3. On the basis of the assessment, the division, in consultation with the participant, shall develop a service plan for the participant. The service plan shall explain the services that will be provided by the state agency and the activities in which the participant will take part under the program, including child care and other supportive services, shall set forth a service goal for the participant, and shall, to the maximum extent possible and consistent with sections 208.400 to 208.425, and section 452.311, RSMo, reflect the respective preferences of such participant. The plan shall take into account the participant's supportive services needs, available program resources, and local employment opportunities. The plan shall include a description of the rights, duties, and responsibilities of the participant and the division.

4. The division may operate a community work experience program in accordance with section 201 of P.L. 100-485. The program shall be voluntary for thirty-six months after July 27, 1989, after which time those individuals who have received AFDC benefits for thirty-six of the preceding sixty months may be required to participate in the community work experience program.]

[208.500. 1. Sections 208.500 to 208.507 shall be known as "Transitional Benefits Demonstration Project". Subject to appropriations and receipt of a federal waiver, the division of family services shall establish a three-year demonstration project which shall provide transitional benefits to families who lose their eligibility for assistance under aid to families of dependent children because of an increase in earned income.

2. As used in sections 208.500 to 208.507, the following terms mean:

(1) "Child care", child care services provided by the division of family services;

(2) "Division", division of family services of the department of social services;

(3) "Medical services", those services provided for under section 208.152;

(4) "Participant", any recipient who is participating in the demonstration project;

(5) "Project", a demonstration project directed at AFDC recipients who become ineligible for benefits due to an increase in earned income, in which such recipients can receive child care and medical services for an indefinite period of time, not to exceed three years, to assist in the transition from welfare to employment;

(6) "Recipient", any person receiving aid to families of dependent children benefits under section 208.040 or 208.041.]

[208.503. 1. The division shall select project participants from applicants who meet the criteria and requirements set forth in subsection 3 of this section.

2. Subject to appropriations, the division shall provide child care and medical services to no more than two hundred fifty head-of-household participants. Such child care and medical services will continue until the earned income of the participant is at least two times the minimum wage. The division shall deliver the transitional child care assistance through a vendor voucher payment or purchase of service system which requires that as the recipient's earned income increases, the recipient shall contribute to the cost of the assistance in accordance with a sliding scale fee established by rule.

3. In order to be considered for selection as a prospective project participant pursuant to sections 208.500 to 208.507:

(1) A person shall apply to the division to participate in the program;

(2) An applicant shall have been a recipient of AFDC benefits for at least twelve of the last thirty-six months preceding application;

(3) The applicant shall have become ineligible for AFDC benefits due to an increase in earned income, within the year preceding application, or is currently receiving transitional child care services as defined in section 208.400;

(4) The applicant shall be employed at the time of application and not receiving employer paid child care or medical services;

(5) The applicant shall meet any other criteria as determined by the division of family services.]

[208.505. The division of family services shall conduct research to determine the relationship between continued employment of former recipients and providing child care and medical services to participants and shall make recommendations to the general assembly concerning the continuation or modification of the project.]

[620.481. There is hereby created the "Missouri Job Training Joint Legislative Oversight Committee". The committee shall consist of three members of the Missouri senate appointed by the president pro tem of the senate; three members of the house of representatives appointed by the speaker of the house. No more than two of the members of the senate and two of the members of the house of representatives shall be from the same political party. Members of the Missouri job training joint legislative oversight committee shall report to the governor, the president pro tem of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives on all assistance to industries under the provisions of sections 620.470 to 620.481 provided during the preceding fiscal year and the customized job training program administered by the department of elementary and secondary education. The report of the committee shall be delivered no later than October first of each year. The director of the department of economic development shall report to the committee such information as the committee may deem necessary for its annual report. Members of the committee shall receive no compensation in addition to their salary as members of the general assembly, but may receive their necessary expenses while attending the meetings of the committee, to be paid out of the joint contingent fund.]

[620.521. Sections 620.521 to 620.530 shall be known and may be cited as the "Missouri Training and Employment Council Act".]

[620.523. 1. There is hereby established the "Missouri Training and Employment Council".

2. The Missouri training and employment council shall study and make recommendations regarding the improvement of the state's job training service delivery network. Such recommendations will consider improved federal and state resource use and expanded coordination of state job training and employment activities with other related activities. Using the results of interdepartmental collaboration at early stages of policy formation, the council shall propose a statewide training and employment policy and a periodically updated plan of services for achieving Missouri's objective of full employment. The council shall serve as a forum for public and private sector representation to encourage cooperative uses of training and employment funding, facilities and staff resources for a more comprehensive and coordinated statewide system.

3. The Missouri training and employment council shall consist of thirty members appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the senate. The governor shall designate one nongovernmental member to be chairman. The council shall be composed as follows:

(1) Thirty percent of the membership shall be representatives of business, industry and agriculture, including individuals who are representatives of business, industry, and agriculture on private industry councils, job service employer committees or local education advisory committees within the state;

(2) Thirty percent of the membership shall be:

(a) Members of the general assembly and state agencies and organizations. One representative each from the department of economic development, the department of elementary and secondary education, the department of labor and industrial relations and the department of social services shall be appointed;

(b) Representatives of the units or consortia of units of general local government which shall be nominated by the chief elected officials of the units or consortia of units of local government and the representatives of local educational agencies who shall be nominated by local educational agencies. One community college president or chancellor, one representative of the state council on vocational education and one director of an area vocational school shall be appointed to the council. To the extent feasible, such appointees shall have knowledge of or experience with economic development, job training, education or related areas;

(3) Thirty percent of the membership shall be representatives of organized labor and representatives of community-based organizations in the state;

(4) Ten percent of the membership shall be representatives of the general public. The composition and the roles and responsibilities of the Missouri training and employment council membership may be amended to comply with any succeeding federal or state legislative or regulatory requirements governing training and employment programs, except that the procedure for such change shall be outlined in state rules and regulations and adopted in the bylaws of the council.

4. Each member of the council shall serve for a term of four years and until a successor is duly appointed; except that, of the members first appointed, six members shall serve for a term of four years, eight members shall serve for a term of three years, eight members shall serve for a term of two years and eight members shall serve for a term of one year. Each member shall continue to serve until a successor is duly appointed. The council shall meet at least four times each year at the call of the chairman.

5. The members of the council shall receive no compensation, but shall be reimbursed for all necessary expenses actually incurred in the performance of their official duties.]

[620.527. 1. The Missouri training and employment council shall:

(1) Review studies of occupational trends, employment supply and demand, industry growth, job training program participation, labor force literacy and early warning signals that industries are beginning to decline or are in danger of closing;

(2) Report to the governor and to the general assembly regarding statewide training and employment policies which have been developed in concert with interagency assistance from the department of economic development, the department of elementary and secondary education, the department of labor and industrial relations, the department of social services and other agencies delivering training and employment services;

(3) Prepare and submit to appropriate state and local agencies a statewide plan for full-employment services including such activities as labor exchange, job training or retraining, job development, job placement services and labor force literacy;

(4) Work through various state agencies delivering training and employment services to review interagency coordination and program effectiveness;

(5) Review and report to the governor innovative proposals for training and employment programs; and

(6) Encourage the participation of government, business and industry, and unions or other labor organizations, for providing assistance to dislocated workers, in communities where plant closures occur.

2. The roles, responsibilities and duties of the Missouri job training coordinating council established by Missouri executive order 88-8 are hereby assigned to the Missouri training and employment council. The Missouri training and employment council shall perform all council functions required by the federal Job Training Partnership Act, as amended, as well as the expanded requirements defined by sections 620.521 to 620.530.]

[620.528. No later than September 1, 1992, the Missouri training and employment council shall submit to the governor and to the general assembly a proposed statewide training and employment policy. This policy shall address public and private participation toward achieving Missouri's objective of full employment. The policy shall also address methods to improve federal and state resource use in the providing of job training services and coordination of training and employment activities with other related activities.]

[620.529. 1. The Missouri training and employment council shall prepare and recommend a statewide training and employment plan for consideration by appropriate state and local agencies by 1993. The plan shall be reviewed annually and updated periodically and shall propose implementation timetables, measurable objectives and specific courses of action. The plan shall describe possible cooperative uses of training and employment funding, facilities and staff resources whenever feasible and shall focus on the development of a more coordinated training and employment delivery system.

2. The plan shall include provisions to accomplish the following objectives by the administering agencies:

(1) Provide a streamlined intake and assessment process for persons seeking training and employment assistance;

(2) Target appropriate skill areas for training so that persons are trained for positions expected to exist in the labor market;

(3) Allow workers with obsolete or inadequate skills to have their skills upgraded while retaining employment;

(4) Retrain workers displaced by high technology industry and plant closings to reenter the Missouri workforce;

(5) Involve business and industry in the planning, operation and evaluation of training programs;

(6) Encourage and assist local educational agencies, vocational technical schools and post-secondary institutions to coordinate their curricula and course selections with the changing needs of business and industry;

(7) Develop programs to improve the use of apprenticeship as a method of instruction in Missouri.

3. The objectives listed in subsection 2 of this section shall be the foundation for interagency efforts to coordinate services and offer programs which maximize resources to meet Missouri's workforce needs while recognizing various agency roles and responsibilities.]

[620.530. 1. The division of job development and training shall provide professional, technical and clerical staff support and resources to the Missouri training and employment council; administer training programs authorized under the federal Job Training Partnership Act; administer programs authorized under sections 620.470 to 620.481; and administer such other federal or state job development and training programs as are assigned to the division.

2. The division shall promulgate rules and regulations necessary to carry out its responsibility to the Missouri training and employment council and to develop the plans and policies adopted by the council. No rule or portion of a rule promulgated under the authority of sections 620.470 to 620.570 shall become effective unless it has been promulgated pursuant to the provisions of section 536.024, RSMo.]

[620.537. 1. The department of economic development shall commission a new targeted industries study to identify those general areas of the Missouri economy where growth and increased employment is likely to occur in the next decade, and to ascertain necessary, associated work force skills and requirements. The completed study shall be distributed to all Missouri state agencies which provide job training services in order to promote collaboration in the development of employment projections and in the delivery of training services, and to any local economic development agency requesting a copy of such study.

2. The Missouri training and employment council, in conjunction with the state's private industry councils, the state's community colleges, the state's area vocational technical schools, community action agencies, as defined in section 660.370, RSMo, the department of economic development, the department of elementary and secondary education, the department of labor and industrial relations, the department of social services, and the Missouri state council on vocational education shall initiate a study regarding the value of a clustered or regional focus on job training, including the establishment of customized, technical training centers and utilization of portable equipment. Emphasis will be placed on the determination of broad occupational training needs.]