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Division J — Support for Essential Workers, At-Risk Individuals, Families, and Communities

H.R. 6800 · 116th Congress · May 20, 2020 · Lineage

J Support for Essential Workers, At-Risk Individuals, Families, and Communities

I Family Care for Essential Workers

Sec. 100101 Family care for essential workers

(a)
Increase in funding—
(1)
In general— The amount specified in subsection (c) of section 2003 of the Social Security Act for purposes of subsections (a) and (b) of such section is deemed to be $12,150,000,000 for fiscal year 2020, of which $850,000,000 shall be obligated by States during calendar year 2020 in accordance with subsection (b) of this section.
(2)
Appropriation— Out of any money in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated, there are appropriated $850,000,000 for fiscal year 2020 to carry out this section.
(b)
Rules governing use of additional funds—
(1)
In general— Funds are used in accordance with this subsection if—
(A)
the funds are used for—
(i)
child care services for a child of an essential worker; or
(ii)
daytime care services or other adult protective services for an individual who—
(I)
is a dependent, or a member of the household of, an essential worker; and
(II)
requires the services;
(B)
the funds are provided to reimburse an essential worker for the cost of obtaining the services (including child care services obtained on or after the date the Secretary of Health and Human Services declared a public health emergency pursuant to section 319 of the Public Health Service Act on January 31, 2020, entitled “Determination that a Public Health Emergency Exists Nationwide as the Result of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus”), to a provider of child care services, or to establish a temporary child care facility operated by a State or local government;
(C)
eligibility for the funds or services, and the amount of funds or services provided, is not conditioned on a means test;
(D)
the funds are used subject to the limitations in section 2005 of the Social Security Act, except that, for purposes of this subparagraph—
(i)
paragraphs (3), (5), and (8) of section 2005(a) of such Act shall not apply; and
(ii)
(I)
the limitation in section 2005(a)(7) of such Act shall not apply with respect to any standard which the State involved determines would impede the ability of the State to provide emergency temporary care to a child, dependent, or household member referred to in subparagraph (A) of this paragraph; and
(II)
if the State determines that such a standard would be so impeding, the State shall report the determination to the Secretary, separately from the annual report to the Secretary by the State;
(E)
the funds are used to supplement, not supplant, State general revenue funds for child care assistance; and
(F)
the funds are not used for child care costs that are—
(i)
covered by funds provided under the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 or section 418 of the Social Security Act; or
(ii)
reimbursable by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
(2)
Essential worker defined— In paragraph (1), the term essential worker means—
(A)
a health sector employee;
(B)
an emergency response worker;
(C)
a sanitation worker;
(D)
a worker at a business which a State or local government official has determined must remain open to serve the public during the emergency referred to in paragraph (1)(B); and
(E)
any other worker who cannot telework, and whom the State deems to be essential during the emergency referred to in paragraph (1)(B).

II Pandemic Emergency Assistance and Services

Sec. 100201 Funding to States, localities, and community-based organizations for emergency aid and services

(a)
Funding for States—
(1)
Increase in funding for Social Services Block Grant Program—
(A)
Appropriation— Out of any money in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated, there are appropriated $9,600,000,000, which shall be available for payments under section 2002 of the Social Security Act.
(B)
Deadline for distribution of funds— Within 45 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall distribute the funds made available by this paragraph, which shall be made available to States on an emergency basis for immediate obligation and expenditure.
(C)
Submission of Revised Pre-Expenditure Report— Within 90 days after a State receives funds made available by this paragraph, the State shall submit to the Secretary a revised pre-expenditure report pursuant to title XX of the Social Security Act that describes how the State plans to administer the funds.
(D)
Obligation of funds by States— A State to which funds made available by this paragraph are distributed shall obligate the funds not later than December 31, 2020.
(E)
Expenditure of funds by States— A grantee to which a State (or a subgrantee to which a grantee) provides funds made available by this paragraph shall expend the funds not later than December 31, 2021.
(2)
Rules governing use of additional funds— A State to which funds made available by paragraph (1)(B) are distributed shall use the funds in accordance with the following:
(A)
Purpose—
(i)
In general— The State shall use the funds only to support the provision of emergency services to disadvantaged children, families, and households.
(ii)
Disadvantaged defined— In this paragraph, the term disadvantaged means, with respect to an entity, that the entity—
(I)
is an individual, or is located in a community, that is experiencing material hardship;
(II)
is a household in which there is a child (as defined in section 12(d) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act) or a child served under section 11(a)(1) of such Act, who, if not for the closure of the school attended by the child during a public health emergency designation and due to concerns about a COVID–19 outbreak, would receive free or reduced price school meals pursuant to such Act;
(III)
is an individual, or is located in a community, with barriers to employment; or
(IV)
is located in a community that, as of the date of the enactment of this Act, is not experiencing a 56-day downward trajectory of—
(aa)
influenza-like illnesses;
(bb)
COVID-like syndromic cases;
(cc)
documented COVID–19 cases; or
(dd)
positive test results as a percentage of total COVID–19 tests.
(B)
Pass-through to local entities—
(i)
In the case of a State in which a county administers or contributes financially to the non-Federal share of the amounts expended in carrying out a State program funded under title IV of the Social Security Act, the State may pass at least 50 percent of all funds so made available through to—
(I)
the chief elected official of the city or county that administers the program; or
(II)
local government and community-based organizations.
(ii)
In the case of any other State and any State to which clause (i) applies that does not pass through funds as described in that clause, the State shall—
(I)
pass at least 50 percent of the funds through to—
(aa)
(AA)
local governments that will expend or distribute the funds in consultation with community-based organizations with experience serving disadvantaged families or individuals; or
(BB)
community-based organizations with experience serving disadvantaged families and individuals; and
(bb)
sub-State areas in proportions based on the population of disadvantaged individuals living in the areas; and
(II)
report to the Secretary on how the State determined the amounts passed through pursuant to this clause.
(C)
Methods—
(i)
In general— The State shall use the funds only for—
(I)
administering emergency services;
(II)
providing short-term cash, non-cash, or in-kind emergency disaster relief;
(III)
providing services with demonstrated need in accordance with objective criteria that are made available to the public;
(IV)
operational costs directly related to providing services described in subclauses (I), (II), and (III);
(V)
local government emergency social service operations; and
(VI)
providing emergency social services to rural and frontier communities that may not have access to other emergency funding streams.
(ii)
Administering emergency services defined— In clause (i), the term administering emergency services means—
(I)
providing basic disaster relief, economic, and well-being necessities to ensure communities are able to safely observe shelter-in-place and social distancing orders;
(II)
providing necessary supplies such as masks, gloves, and soap, to protect the public against infectious disease; and
(III)
connecting individuals, children, and families to services or payments for which they may already be eligible.
(D)
Prohibitions—
(i)
No individual eligibility determinations by grantees or subgrantees— Neither a grantee to which the State provides the funds nor any subgrantee of such a grantee may exercise individual eligibility determinations for the purpose of administering short-term, non-cash, in-kind emergency disaster relief to communities.
(ii)
Applicability of certain social services block grant funds use limitations— The State shall use the funds subject to the limitations in section 2005 of the Social Security Act, except that, for purposes of this clause, section 2005(a)(2) and 2005(a)(8) of such Act shall not apply.
(iii)
No supplantation of certain State funds— The State may use the funds to supplement, not supplant, State general revenue funds for social services.
(iv)
Ban on use for certain costs reimbursable by FEMA— The State may not use the funds for costs that are reimbursable by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, under a contract for insurance, or by self-insurance.
(b)
Funding for federally recognized Indian Tribes and Tribal organizations—
(1)
Grants—
(A)
In general— Within 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall make grants to federally recognized Indian Tribes and Tribal organizations.
(B)
Amount of grant— The amount of the grant for an Indian Tribe or Tribal organization shall bear the same ratio to the amount appropriated by paragraph (3) as the total amount of grants awarded to the Indian Tribe or Tribal organization under the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Act of 1981 and the Community Service Block Grant for fiscal year 2020 bears to the total amount of grants awarded to all Indian Tribes and Tribal organizations under such Act and such Grant for the fiscal year.
(2)
Rules governing use of funds— An entity to which a grant is made under paragraph (1) shall obligate the funds not later than December 31, 2020, and the funds shall be expended by grantees and subgrantees not later than December 31, 2021, and used in accordance with the following:
(A)
Purpose—
(i)
In general— The grantee shall use the funds only to support the provision of emergency services to disadvantaged households.
(ii)
Disadvantaged defined— In clause (i), the term disadvantaged means, with respect to an entity, that the entity—
(I)
is an individual, or is located in a community, that is experiencing material hardship;
(II)
is a household in which there is a child (as defined in section 12(d) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act) or a child served under section 11(a)(1) of such Act, who, if not for the closure of the school attended by the child during a public health emergency designation and due to concerns about a COVID–19 outbreak, would receive free or reduced price school meals pursuant to such Act;
(III)
is an individual, or is located in a community, with barriers to employment; or
(IV)
is located in a community that, as of the date of the enactment of this Act, is not experiencing a 56-day downward trajectory of—
(aa)
influenza-like illnesses;
(bb)
COVID-like syndromic cases;
(cc)
documented COVID–19 cases; or
(dd)
positive test results as a percentage of total COVID–19 tests.
(B)
Methods—
(i)
In general— The grantee shall use the funds only for—
(I)
administering emergency services;
(II)
providing short-term, non-cash, in-kind emergency disaster relief; and
(III)
tribal emergency social service operations.
(ii)
Administering emergency services defined— In clause (i), the term administering emergency services means—
(I)
providing basic economic and well-being necessities to ensure communities are able to safely observe shelter-in-place and social distancing orders;
(II)
providing necessary supplies such as masks, gloves, and soap, to protect the public against infectious disease; and
(III)
connecting individuals, children, and families to services or payments for which they may already be eligible.
(C)
Prohibitions—
(i)
No individual eligibility determinations by grantees or subgrantees— Neither the grantee nor any subgrantee may exercise individual eligibility determinations for the purpose of administering short-term, non-cash, in-kind emergency disaster relief to communities.
(ii)
Ban on use for certain costs reimbursable by FEMA— The grantee may not use the funds for costs that are reimbursable by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, under a contract for insurance, or by self-insurance.
(3)
Appropriation— Out of any money in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated, there are appropriated to the Secretary of Health and Human Services $400,000,000 to carry out this subsection.

Sec. 100202 Emergency Assistance to older foster youth

(a)
Funding increases—
(1)
General program— The dollar amount specified in section 477(h)(1) of the Social Security Act for fiscal year 2020 is deemed to be $193,000,000.
(2)
Education and training vouchers— The dollar amount specified in section 477(h)(2) of such Act for fiscal year 2020 is deemed to be $78,000,000.
(b)
Programmatic flexibility— With respect to the period that begins on March 1, 2020, and ends January 31, 2021:
(1)
Elimination of age limitations on eligibility for assistance— Eligibility for services or assistance under a State program operated pursuant to section 477 of the Social Security Act shall be provided without regard to the age of the recipient.
(2)
Suspension of work and education requirements under the education and training voucher program— Section 477(i)(3) of the Social Security Act shall be applied and administered without regard to any work or education requirement.
(3)
Authority to waive limitation on percentage of funds used for housing assistance— The Secretary of Health and Human Services (in this subsection referred to as the “Secretary”) may apply and administer section 477 of the Social Security Act without regard to subsection (b)(3)(B) of such section.
(4)
Elimination of education and employment requirements for certain foster youth— The Secretary may waive the applicability of subclauses (I) through (IV) of section 475(8)(B)(iv) of the Social Security Act.
(c)
State defined— In subsection (a), the term State has the meaning given the term in section 1101(a) of the Social Security Act for purposes of title IV of such Act, and includes an Indian tribe, tribal organization, or tribal consortium with an application and plan approved under section 477(j) of such Act for fiscal year 2020.

Sec. 100203 Emergency assistance to families through home visiting programs

(a)
In general— For purposes of section 511 of the Social Security Act, during the period that begins on February 1, 2020, and ends January 31, 2021—
(1)
a virtual home visit shall be considered a home visit;
(2)
funding for, and staffing levels of, a program conducted pursuant to such section shall not be reduced on account of reduced enrollment in the program; and
(3)
funds provided for such a program may be used—
(A)
to train home visitors in conducting a virtual home visit and in emergency preparedness and response planning for families served;
(B)
for the acquisition by families enrolled in the program of such technological means as are needed to conduct and support a virtual home visit;
(C)
to provide emergency supplies (such as diapers, formula, non-perishable food, water, hand soap and hand sanitizer) to families served; and
(D)
to provide prepaid debit cards to an eligible family (as defined in section 511(k)(2) of such Act) for the purpose of enabling the family to meet the emergency needs of the family.
(b)
Virtual home visit defined— In subsection (a), the term virtual home visit means a visit that is conducted solely by electronic means.
(c)
Authority to delay deadlines—
(1)
In general— The Secretary of Health and Human Services may extend the deadline by which a requirement of section 511 of the Social Security Act must be met, by such period of time as the Secretary deems appropriate.
(2)
Guidance— The Secretary shall provide to eligible entities funded under section 511 of the Social Security Act information on the parameters used in extending a deadline under paragraph (1) of this subsection.
(d)
Supplemental appropriation— In addition to amounts otherwise appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated, there are appropriated to the Secretary of Health and Human Services $100,000,000, to enable eligible entities to conduct programs funded under section 511 of the Social Security Act pursuant to this section, which shall remain available for obligation not later than January 31, 2021.

III Program Flexibility During the Pandemic

Sec. 100301 Emergency flexibility for child welfare programs

(a)
In general— With respect to the period that begins on March 1, 2020, and ends January 31, 2021:
(1)
Authority of States to determine how daily activities may be conducted remotely— The Secretary of Health and Human Services may allow a State to determine how daily activities under the State plan developed under part B of title IV of the Social Security Act and the State program funded under section 477 of such Act may be conducted through electronic means to comply with public health guidelines relating to social distancing, including conducting any required court proceedings pertaining to children in care. In making any such determination, the State shall work to ensure that the safety and health of each child in care remains paramount.
(2)
Counting of remote caseworker visits as in-person visits— In the case of a foster child who has attained 18 years of age and with respect to whom foster care maintenance payments are being made under a State plan approved under part E of title IV of the Social Security Act, caseworker contact with the child that includes visual and auditory contact and which is conducted solely by electronic means is deemed an in-person visit to the child by the caseworker for purposes of section 424(f)(1)(A) of such Act if the child is visited by the caseworker in person not less than once every 6 months while in such care.
(b)
State defined— In subsection (a), the term State has the meaning given the term in section 1101(a) of the Social Security Act for purposes of title IV of such Act, and includes an Indian tribe, tribal organization, or tribal consortium with an application and plan approved under this section 477(j) of such Act for fiscal year 2020.

Sec. 100302 Emergency flexibility for child support programs

(a)
In general— With respect to the period that begins on March 1, 2020, and ends January 31, 2021:
(1)
Sections 408(a)(2), 409(a)(5), and 409(a)(8) of the Social Security Act shall have no force or effect.
(2)
Notwithstanding section 466(d) of such Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services (in this subsection referred to as the “Secretary”) may exempt a State from any requirement of section 466 of such Act to respond to the COVID–19 pandemic, except that the Secretary may not exempt a State from any requirement to—
(A)
provide a parent with notice of a right to request a review and, if appropriate, adjustment of a support order; or
(B)
afford a parent the opportunity to make such a request.
(3)
The Secretary may not impose a penalty or take any other adverse action against a State pursuant to section 452(g)(1) of such Act for failure to achieve a paternity establishment percentage of less than 90 percent.
(4)
The Secretary may not find that the paternity establishment percentage for a State is not based on reliable data for purposes of section 452(g)(1) of such Act, and the Secretary may not determine that the data which a State submitted pursuant to section 452(a)(4)(C)(i) of such Act and which is used in determining a performance level is not complete or reliable for purposes of section 458(b)(5)(B) of such Act, on the basis of the failure of the State to submit OCSE Form 396 or 34 in a timely manner.
(5)
The Secretary may not impose a penalty or take any other adverse action against a State for failure to comply with section 454A(g)(1)(A)(i) of such Act.
(6)
The Secretary may not disapprove a State plan submitted pursuant to part D of title IV of such Act for failure of the plan to meet the requirement of section 454(1) of such Act, and may not impose a penalty or take any other adverse action against a State with such a plan that meets that requirement for failure to comply with that requirement.
(7)
To the extent that a preceding provision of this section applies with respect to a provision of law applicable to a program operated by an Indian tribe or tribal organization (as defined in subsections (e) and (l) of section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b)), that preceding provision shall apply with respect to the Indian tribe or tribal organization.
(b)
State defined— In subsection (a), the term State has the meaning given the term in section 1101(a) of the Social Security Act for purposes of title IV of such Act.

Sec. 100303 Emergency flexibility for State TANF programs

(a)
State programs— Sections 407(a), 407(e)(1), and 408(a)(7)(A) of the Social Security Act shall have no force or effect during the applicable period, and paragraphs (3), (9), (14), and (15) of section 409(a) of such Act shall not apply with respect to conduct engaged in during the period.
(b)
Tribal programs— The minimum work participation requirements and time limits established under section 412(c) of the Social Security Act shall have no force or effect during the applicable period, and the penalties established under such section shall not apply with respect to conduct engaged in during the period.
(c)
Penalty for noncompliance—
(1)
In general— If the Secretary of Health and Human Services finds that a State or an Indian tribe has imposed a work requirement as a condition of receiving assistance, or a time limit on the provision of assistance, under a program funded under part A of title IV of the Social Security Act or any program funded with qualified State expenditures (as defined in section 409(a)(7)(B)(i) of such Act) during the applicable period, or has imposed a penalty for failure to comply with a work requirement during the period, the Secretary shall reduce the grant payable to the State under section 403(a)(1) of such Act or the grant payable to the tribe under section 412(a)(1) of such Act, as the case may be, for fiscal year 2021 by an amount equal to 5 percent of the State or tribal family assistance grant, as the case may be.
(2)
Applicability of certain provisions— For purposes of section 409(d) of the Social Security Act, paragraph (1) of this subsection shall be considered to be included in section 409(a) of such Act.
(d)
Definitions— In this section:
(1)
Applicable period— The term applicable period means the period that begins on March 1, 2020, and ends January 31, 2021.
(2)
Work requirement— The term work requirement means a requirement to engage in a work activity (as defined in section 407(d) of the Social Security Act)or other work-related activity as defined by a State or tribal program funded under part A of title IV of such Act.
(3)
Other terms— Each other term has the meaning given the term in section 419 of the Social Security Act.