§261.20. How will we hold a State accountable for achieving the work objectives of TANF?

Each State must meet two separate work participation rates in FY 2006 and thereafter, one—the two-parent rate based on how well it succeeds in helping work-eligible individuals in two-parent families find work activities described at § 261.30, the other—the overall rate based on how well it succeeds in finding those activities for work-eligible individuals in all the families that it serves.

Each State must submit data, as specified at § 265.3 of this chapter, that allows us to measure its success in requiring work-eligible individuals to participate in work activities.

If the data show that a State met both participation rates in a fiscal year, then the percentage of historic State expenditures that it must expend under TANF, pursuant to § 263.1 of this chapter, decreases from 80 percent to 75 percent for that fiscal year. This is also known as the State's TANF “maintenance-of-effort” (MOE) requirement.

If the data show that a State did not meet a minimum work participation rate for a fiscal year, a State could be subject to a financial penalty.

Before we impose a penalty, a State will have the opportunity to claim reasonable cause or enter into a corrective compliance plan, pursuant to §§ 262.5 and 262.6 of this chapter.