Purpose


The new rules set forth in this Notice of Proposed Rule implement emergency assistance under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program. The United States Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5) to provide emergency assistance to qualifying states during the country’s economic downturn. Subtitle B of the Act creates the Emergency Contingency Fund for State Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program (“Emergency Fund”), and authorizes states that have an increase in assistance caseloads to request federal grant money in fiscal year 2009 and fiscal year 2010. The Emergency Fund provides grants equal to 80 percent of a state’s increased TANF and maintenance-of-effort expenditures on basic assistance, non-recurrent short-term benefits, and subsidized employment to help families unable to find jobs or to help families with low earnings during this difficult economic time. Florida is receiving grant money from the United States Department of Health and Human Services to, among other things, create subsidized employment projects. Participants must satisfy eligibility criteria to engage in the subsidized employment projects. Therefore, a need exists to adopt a new rule which sets forth these eligibility criteria.