Social Services Hb 861

• Jurisdiction: Georgia,United States
• Publication year: 2010
• Citation: Vol. 29 No. 1

Georgia State University Law Review

Volume 29 j n

Issue 1 Fall 2012

4-3-2013

Social Services HB 861

Georgia State University Law Review

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Recommended Citation

Georgia State University Law Review (2013) "Social Services HB 861," Georgia State University Law Review: Vol. 29: Iss. 1, Article 11. Available at: http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/gsulr/vol29/iss1/11

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SOCIAL SERVICES

Public Assistance: Provide a Short Title; Provide a Statement of Legislative Intent; Amend Article 9 of Chapter 4 of Title 49 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, Relating to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, so as to Define Certain Terms; Provide that the Department of Human Services Shall Create an Established Drug Test to be Administered to Each Applicant for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families; Provide Requirements; Provide that Each Applicant Shall Undergo a Drug Test in Order to Qualify for Benefits; Provide That Any Person Who Fails Such Drug Test Shall be Ineligible to Receive Benefits; Provide for Reapplication; Provide for Children's Benefits; Provide for Confidentiality of Records; Provide for Related Matters; Repeal

Conflicting Laws; and for Other Purposes

agencies to report drug related arrests to the Department of Human Services. The Act requires drug testing for applicants and recipients of state administered TANF benefits. Those who test positive for drugs become ineligible for TANF benefits for a certain period of time. When a parent of a dependent child tests positive for drugs, a protective payee shall be designated to receive benefits on behalf of the child.

Code Sections: Bill Number: Act Number: Georgia Laws: Summary:

O.C.G.A. § 49-4-193 (new)

HB 861

583

2012 Ga. Laws 91

The Act requires law enforcement

Effective Date:

July 1, 2012

2012] LEGISLATIVE REVIEW 225

History

In 1972, Governor Jimmy Carter created the Georgia Department of Human Resources as part of an ongoing effort to consolidate state government services.¹ This department contributed to the economic independence of Georgia residents, substantially reducing the number on welfare rolls.² Georgia's children benefitted from the creation of the department as well; today, the State places fewer children in foster care than in previous years.³ Further, Georgia reduced the recurrence of child maltreatment to less than 3%, a figure lower than the 5.4% national average in 2009. ⁴ Recently, the Georgia Department of Human Resources was renamed the Georgia Department of Human Services, for which temporary assistance for needy families is a paramount concern.⁵ The stated mission of the Georgia Department of Human Services is to "provid[e] individuals and families access to services that promote self-sufficiency, independence, and protect Georgia's vulnerable children and adults."⁶

Georgia enacted the "Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Act"⁷ (TANF) as an important part of its efforts to shift residents from entitlement programs to a temporary assistance program.⁸ Federal welfare guidelines galvanized the enactment of this legislation by conditioning the receipt of block federal grants on compliance with federal guidelines.⁹ In keeping with other initiatives of the Department of Human Services, TANF's purpose was to

1. Ga. Dept. of Hum. Resources, Joint Appropriations Committee Presentation 2 (2009), available at http://dhs.georgia.gov/sites/dhs.georgia.gov/files/imported/DHR/DHR_File/JointAppropriations MeetingJan23-09.pdf [hereinafter Committee Presentation].

2. Id. at 3.

3. Id. at 4.

4. Id.

5. O.C.G.A. § 49-4-3; About Us, Georgia Department of Hum. Services, http://dhs.georgia.gov/about-us-0 (last visited August 8, 2012).

6. Mission & Core Values, Georgia Department of Hum. Services, http://dhs.georgia.gov/portal/site/DHS/menuitem.24259484221d3c0b50c8798dd03036a0/?vgnextoid=2 db8e1d09cb4ff00VgnVCM100000bf01010aRCRD (last visited August 8, 2012).

7. O.C.G.A. §§ 49-4-180 to -192 (1998).

8. Christine A. Sullivan, Social Services Public Assistance: Extending Aid to Qualified Aliens Under The "Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Act," 15 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 232, 232 (1998).

9. Margaret Ann Shannon, Public Assistance: Repeal "Aid to Dependent Children Act"; Create "Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Act," 14 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 284, 285 (1997).

encourage needy families with children to become self-sufficient by providing temporary assistance. ¹⁰ TANF requires recipients to participate in work activity "no later than 24 months after first receiving cash assistance,"¹¹ and caps the maximum assistance one may receive to forty-eight months.¹²

Shortly after TANF's enactment, commentators praised Georgia as having a model program in light of its 80% decline in TANF caseloads between 2004 and 2006.¹³ Federal law requires states to meet a certain "work participation rate" in their TANF programs.¹⁴ This rate is "the ratio of the number of adult TANF recipients who are working or in specified work-related activities to the number of families with adults receiving cash assistance through TANF-related programs." ¹⁵ In 2004, when Georgia experienced its precipitous reduction in TANF caseloads, former Department of Human Resources Commissioner B.J. Walker's goal was raising the work participation rate above 50% by 2005.¹⁶ The rate increased from 11% in 2003 to 65% by 2006.¹⁷ However, some critics have attributed this "success" in increasing the work participation rate to "new application procedures that, by increasing denials for procedural reasons unrelated to need, cut application approval rates in half."¹⁸ These detractors note that "one-third of Georgia's TANF denials are due to withdrawal of application and another third are due to failure to cooperate in new application procedures."¹⁹

10. Id. at 290.

11. O.C.G.A. § 49-4-182(a) (2011).

12. Id. § 49-4-182(b).

13. Tara J. Melish, Maximum Feasible Participation of the Poor: New Governance, New Accountability, and a 21st Century War on the Sources of Poverty, 13 Yale Hum. Rts. & Dev. L.J. 1, 39

n. 161 (2010).

14. Liz Schott, Ctr. on Budget and Pol'y Priorities Georgia's Increased TANF Work Participation Rate is Driven by Sharp Caseload Decline: Available Data Raise Questions About Whether Georgia Should Be Labeled as a Model for the Nation 1 (2007), available at http://www.cbpp.org/files/3-6-

07tanf.pdf.

15. Id.

16. TANF Work Participation Program Ends 2004 on a High Note, Ga. Department of Hum. Services, (Dec. 16, 2004), http://dhs.georgia.gov/portal/site/DHS/menuitem.3d43c0fad7b3111b50c879 8dd03036a0/?vgnextoid=1cf03343cc2e0010VgnVCM100000bf01010aRCRD&vgnextchannel=08cec92 d86aa1010VgnVCM100000bf01010aRCRD.

17. Schott, supra note 14, at 1.

18. Melish supra, note 13, at 39 n.161.

19. Schott, supra note 14, at 3.

2012] LEGISLATIVE REVIEW 227

The latest amendment to TANF, O.C.G.A. §§ 49-4-9, -10, and -11 (Supp. 2012), imposes what some consider an additional hurdle over which TANF applicants must pass in order to receive the benefits: a mandatory drug screening test. ²⁰ One sponsor of the bill, Representative Michael Harden (R-28th), noted that a central purpose of the legislation is to ensure tax dollars go to needy children rather than drug-addicted parents, who would presumably use the funds to support their expensive addiction. ²¹ In his view, the legislation protects Georgia taxpayers while also encouraging drug addicts to address their...