The Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services has notified the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that it would like to proceed with the state's welfare reform initiatives that have been on hold because of expected welfare reform at the federal level.

In a letter sent to HHS last week, SRS Secretary Rochelle Chronister said Kansas would like to proceed with Actively Creating Tomorrow (ACT) for Children and Families." The welfare reform initiative involves waiver" requests to the federal government for changes in federal regulations in several public assistance programs, including Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and Food Stamps.

ACT makes changes that strongly emphasize employment for public assistance clients, including an added provision involving KansasWorks which focuses on moving public assistance recipients quickly into employment. Waiver requests also seek to simplify and make more consistent federal regulations now governing public assistance programs.

As it appears federal welfare reform will not occur this year as anticipated, Kansas would like to proceed with its welfare reform package which is still pending with your office," Chronister wrote to HHS.

Eligibility requirements for most SRS-administered programs such as AFDC, Food Stamps, Child Support Enforcement, Employment Preparation Services, Medicaid and Child Care are primarily set by the federal government. If federal reform had become law, many of the requested changes in ACT would not have required federal approval. Most federal welfare reform proposals involved block grants to states, allowing states to design their own programs.

SRS originally submitted ACT to HHS in July, 1994, following modification and approval by the 1994 Kansas Legislature. SRS staff and the Legislature reviewed the rules of programs, their similarities, contradictions and inconsistencies. It was found that many program requirements did not encourage work or promote parental and personal responsibility and were hard for clients and staff to understand.

Among goals of Actively Creating Tomorrow for Children and Families:

*make work pay;

*strengthen child support enforcement to supplement the earnings of poor families, many single-parent households headed by women;

*expand welfare-to-work programs; and,

*strengthen work experience in the public and private sector.

The waivers we have requested all strongly emphasize employment and program simplification," Chronister said.

In the letter, SRS requested a number of modifications to ACT as it was originally submitted to HHS. Many of the modifications involve uniform application of penalties such as program disqualification for a period of time for clients who fail to meet requirements in programs.

The original welfare reform request also was amended to include a provision involving KansasWorks, a new initiative focusing on moving public assistance recipients quickly into public or private-sector employment. The KansasWorks waiver requests would extend the number of hours AFDC and Food Stamp recipients could search for jobs and allow parents of children under age six work more than 20 hours per week.

SRS is also asking for reconsideration of several waivers originally rejected by the United States Department of Agriculture, the agency that runs the Food Stamp program. Under these proposals, SRS asked that program requirements in the Food Stamp program be simplified and made similar to requirements of other programs, especially AFDC.

Since the time these waivers were originally denied, USDA has expressed a desire to be more flexible in considering waivers and work in partnership with states," Chronister said. In this spirit of collaboration, it is our hope USDA will grant approval to these waivers which promote program simplification and coordination as well as personal accountability on the part of recipients."

Chronister said the Kansas reform proposal would greatly enhance efforts by the USDA to increase accountability and error reduction. She said no purpose is served by having different work requirements, exemptions, or sanctions for AFDC and Food Stamp recipients."

SRS also asked in its letter to HHS that Kansas be exempt from waiver requirements that a state maintain a control group" to evaluate cost effectiveness. Under waiver regulations, the state must maintain a portion of recipients in the current program to test the cost effectiveness of the waiver. Maintaining such a control group is expensive because of necessary computer system enhancements.

In the letter, Chronister pointed out that many states are already evaluating similar waivers and questioned why Kansas needs to spend the money to do the same thing.

The major reforms being sought in Kansas have proven to be successful in other states and are in such widespread use that they have become standard," Chronister wrote. No purpose is served by requiring that each state invest in an extensive and costly evaluation.

An evaluation of the Kansas proposals could cost almost $2 million per year without lending any new information to that which is already being gathered in other states," she concluded.

SRS would like to begin implementing ACT in October, 1996.

Page Last Updated: May 29, 2001