SCR7

THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	7
TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2002
STATE OF HAWAII

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SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

EXPRESSING SUPPORT FOR THE TANF REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2001.

 

 

WHEREAS, the United States Congress enacted the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, Public Law 104-192, 1996, commonly referred as the Federal Welfare Reform Act, to change the basic operation of the welfare system in the United States; and

WHEREAS, the most fundamental changes were made to the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program, which placed a five-year time limit on receiving benefits and emphasized work and work training; and

WHEREAS, Congresswoman Patsy T. Mink has introduced H.R. 3113, entitled the "TANF Reauthorization Act of 2001", presently pending in the House Committee on Ways and Means, to direct work efforts to permanent, sustainable, high wage employment opportunities through education, training, and targeting high wage jobs; and

WHEREAS, H.R. 3113 also focuses on providing work supports like child care and addressing barriers to economic self-sufficiency such as domestic violence, mental or physical disability, and substance abuse, and restoring full access to benefits for qualified immigrants; and

WHEREAS, the purposes of H.R. 3113 are to:

(1) Support caregivers so that their children may be cared for in their own homes;

(2) Promote education, training, work supports, and access to jobs that pay a living wage;

(3) Assure access to Medicaid, food stamps, child care, and other such assistance;

(4) Assure access to services that address barriers such as mental illness, physical disability, substance abuse, and domestic and sexual violence; and

(5) Reduce poverty of families with children;

and

WHEREAS, H.R. 3113 retains the five-year lifetime limit on federal assistance, but the measure remains true to its central goal of working with recipients to reach self-sufficiency by refusing to cut off assistance to individuals who are following the rules by stopping the clock from running while an individual is in compliance with the program requirements, such as engaging in work; and

WHEREAS, H.R. 3113 is beneficial and fair to the welfare recipient and to the State, because it strikes a reasonable balance and compromise between the competing considerations of making a living and costs to the State in paying for its share of welfare support; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-First Legislature of the State of Hawaii, the House of Representatives concurring, that it supports H.R. 3113, introduced by Representative Patsy T. Mink, the "TANF Reauthorization Act of 2001"; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Hawaii's Congressional Delegation is urged to vote in favor of H.R. 3113; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Honorable Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, is requested to expedite the passage of H.R. 3113; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be forwarded to Representative Patsy T. Mink, Representative Neil Abercrombie, Senator Daniel K. Akaka,

Senator Daniel K. Inouye, and Representative Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

Temporary Assistance to Needy Families