SECOND REGULAR SESSION
94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES WILSON (130) (Sponsor), NIEVES, SMITH (150), SILVEY, WELLS, PORTWOOD, PRATT, PEARCE, FISHER, ERVIN, KRAUS, YATES, RUESTMAN, FRANZ, NOLTE, FUNDERBURK, EMERY, RICHARD, KASTEN AND JETTON (Co-sponsors).
Read 1st time March 4, 2008 and copies ordered printed.
D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To repeal section 208.040, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof three new sections relating to drug testing.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Section 208.040, RSMo, is repealed and three new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 21.433, 208.038, and 208.040, to read as follows:
21.433. 1. Beginning January 1, 2009, the Missouri general assembly shall implement a program of random drug testing of all members of the general assembly. Such random drug testing program shall be conducted in such a manner as to assure that every member of the general assembly is tested at least once every two years.
2. Refusal to submit to a drug test as authorized under this section is an admission that the member of the general assembly has taken a controlled substance without legal authorization. A member who refuses to submit to a drug test under this section shall be subject to any sanction authorized by law or rule of the respective house of the general assembly.
3. A member who tests positive for drugs that have not been lawfully prescribed or based on the testing has been shown to have abused the use of drugs that were otherwise lawfully prescribed shall participate in a drug treatment program. A member who tests positive for drugs under such circumstances and who fails to participate in a drug treatment program shall be subject to any sanction authorized by law or rule of the respective house of the general assembly.
4. For purposes of this section, "drug" means marijuana, any narcotic drug or controlled substance as defined in chapter 195, RSMo, or the metabolite of any such substance.
208.038. 1. Beginning January 1, 2009, the department of social services shall implement a program of random drug testing of all persons who receive temporary assistance for needy families benefits under section 208.040 and who are work eligible. As used in this section, "work eligible" means parents able to receive benefits under section 208.040 who are not exempt or excluded from the requirement to participate in work activities.
2. A recipient who tests positive for drugs that have not been lawfully prescribed or based on the testing has been shown to have abused the use of drugs that were otherwise lawfully prescribed shall participate in a drug treatment program. A recipient who tests positive for drugs under such circumstances and who fails to participate in a drug treatment program shall not be eligible to receive temporary assistance for needy families benefits under section 208.040.
3. For purposes of this section, "drug" means marijuana, any narcotic drug or controlled substance as defined in chapter 195, RSMo, or the metabolite of any such substance.
4. If a recipient fails or refuses to submit to testing, any application for benefits shall be denied or any benefits currently being received shall be terminated.
5. On or before February 1, 2010, and every year thereafter that the program established in this section is in operation, the department of social services shall submit an evaluation of such program to the governor, the speaker of the house of representatives, and the president pro tem of the senate. The evaluation shall include the following:
(1) The number of individuals tested, the drug tested for, the results of the testing, and the number of referrals for treatment;
(2) The cost of the testing and the resulting treatment;
(3) The number of recipients who tested positive for drugs and who were denied assistance for failure to comply with a drug treatment program.
6. The department shall promulgate rules to implement the provisions of this section. Any rule or portion of a rule, as that term is defined in section 536.010, RSMo, that is created under the authority delegated in this section shall become effective only if it complies with and is subject to all of the provisions of chapter 536, RSMo, and, if applicable, section 536.028, RSMo. This section and chapter 536, RSMo, are nonseverable and if any of the powers vested with the general assembly pursuant to chapter 536, RSMo, to review, to delay the effective date, or to disapprove and annul a rule are subsequently held unconstitutional, then the grant of rulemaking authority and any rule proposed or adopted after August 28, 2008, shall be invalid and void.
208.040. 1. Temporary assistance benefits 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 family support 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 family support 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 family support 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 family support 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 family support 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] family support division 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] family support division 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; and
(6) Shall participate in any program of random drug testing established by the department under section 208.038.
3. The division shall require as a condition of eligibility for temporary assistance 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 temporary assistance 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 family support 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, including the following:
(1) The department shall increase 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 October 1, 1999. The expanded earned income disregard shall apply only to recipients of cash assistance who obtain employment but not to new applicants for cash assistance who are already working. Once the individual has received the two-thirds disregard for twelve months, the individual would not be eligible for the two-thirds disregard until the individual has not received temporary assistance benefits for twelve consecutive months. The department shall promulgate rules pursuant to chapter 536, RSMo, to implement the expanded earned income disregard provisions;
(2) The department shall permit a recipient's enrollment in educational programs beyond secondary education to qualify as a work activity for purposes of receipt of temporary assistance for needy families. Such education beyond secondary education shall qualify as a work activity if such recipient is attending and according to the standards of the institution and the family support division [of family services], making satisfactory progress towards completion of a postsecondary or vocational program. Weekly classroom time and allowable study time shall be applied toward the recipient's weekly work requirement. Such recipient shall be subject to the sixty-month lifetime limit for receipt of temporary assistance for needy families unless otherwise excluded by rule of the family support division [of family services];
(3) Beginning January 1, 2002, and every two years thereafter, the department of social services shall make a detailed report and a presentation on the temporary assistance for needy families program to the house appropriations for social services committee and the house social services, Medicaid and the elderly committee, and the senate aging, families and mental health committee, or comparable committees;
(4) Other policies designed to reduce a family's dependence on welfare may include supplementing wages for recipients for the lesser of forty-eight months or the length of the recipient's employment by diverting the temporary assistance grant.
The provisions of this subsection shall be subject to compliance by the department with all applicable federal laws and rules regarding temporary assistance for needy families.
6. The work history requirements and definition of "unemployed" shall not apply to any parents in order for these parents to be eligible for assistance pursuant to section 208.041.
7. The department shall continue to apply uniform standards of eligibility and benefits, excepting pilot projects, in all political subdivisions of the state.
8. Consistent with federal law, the department shall establish income and resource eligibility requirements that are no more restrictive than its July 16, 1996, income and resource eligibility requirements in determining eligibility for temporary assistance benefits.
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