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Minutes for HB2179 - Committee on Welfare Reform
Short Title
Removing non-cooperation with child support from disqualifications for child care assistance.
Minutes Content for Tue, Mar 14, 2023
Chairman Awerkamp called the meeting to order at 2:54 p.m. and opened the hearing on HB2179.
Jessie Pringle, Office of the Revisor of Statutes, briefed the Committee on the bill (Attachment 1). She stated that the bill removes provisions from the statutes that determine eligibility for child-care assistance through the Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF). Current law disqualifies an individual from food assistance when the person is deemed non-cooperative.
Tanya Keys, Deputy Secretary, DCF, testified as a proponent for the bill (Attachment 2). She explained that the bill is a response to a federal notification that DCF was non-compliant with federal regulations related to childcare; non-compliance would result in a loss of federal funds. Federal law requires that even if an individual is found to be non-compliant, the food assistance benefits must continue for a full 12 months; state law removes the benefits immediately. She said the bill eliminates the cooperation with Child Support Services requirement and brings the agency back into compliance with the federal regulations, a change which allows the agency to avoid up to a 4% penalty. She added that the one-time cost of $500,000 for modifying the Kansas Economic and Employment Services system will be borne by federal funds.
Ms. Keys responded to members' questions:
- The federal letter included other items; the non-compliance issue is the only one addressed by this bill.
- Federal policy allows time for the legislature to correct the non-compliance.
The Chair noted the following written-only testimony in support of the bill:
- Daniel Klaassen, Education Policy Director, Kansas Action for Children (Attachment 3);
- Kelly Davydov, ChildCare Aware (Attachment 4);
- Paula Neth, President and CEO, The Family Conservancy (Attachment 5);
- Julie Brewer, Executive Director, United Community Services of Johnson County (Attachment 6); and
- Gail Cozadd, CEO, Kansas Children's Service League (Attachment 7).
Steve Greene, Opportunity Solutions Project, spoke in opposition to the bill (Attachment 8). He reported that the federal regulations offer three options for correcting non-compliance: 1) eliminate the non-cooperative regulation altogether; 2) DCF's choice reflected in the bill; or 3) assessing the penalty for non-cooperation after the full 12 months of eligibility. He recommended the third option so that the non-cooperation information remains in place.
The Chair closed the hearing on HB2179.
