H. B. 2247
(By Delegates Caputo and Manchin)
[Introduced January 15, 2003; referred to the
Committee on Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section three, article nine, chapter
nine of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, relating to excluding as income of a
student parent the loan proceeds and grant moneys received by
the parent for education.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section three, article nine, chapter nine of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 9. WEST VIRGINIA WORKS PROGRAM.
§9-9-3. Definitions.
In addition to the rules for the construction of statutes in
section ten, article two, chapter two of this code and the words
and terms defined in section two, article one of this chapter,
unless a different meaning appears from the context:
(a) "At-risk family" means a group of persons living in the
same household, living below the federally designated poverty
level, lacking the resources to become self-supporting and
consisting of a dependent minor child or children living with a
parent, stepparent or caretaker-relative; an "at-risk family" may
include an unmarried minor parent and his or her dependent child or
children who live in an adult-supervised setting;
(b) "Beneficiary" or "participant" means any parent or
caretaker-relative in an at-risk family who receives cash
assistance for himself or herself and family members;
(c) "Cash assistance" means temporary assistance for needy
families;
(d) "Challenge" means any fact, circumstance or situation that
prevents a person from becoming self-sufficient or from seeking,
obtaining or maintaining employment of any kind, including physical
or mental disabilities, lack of education, testing, training,
counseling, child care arrangements, transportation, medical
treatment or substance abuse treatment;
(e) "Community or personal development" means activities
designed or intended to eliminate challenges to participation in
self-sufficiency activities. These activities are to provide
community benefit and enhance personal responsibility, including,
but not limited to, classes or counseling for learning life skills
or parenting, dependent care, job readiness, volunteer work, participation in sheltered workshops or substance abuse treatment;
(f) "Department" means the state department of health and
human resources;
(g) "Education and training" means any hours spent regularly
attending and preparing for classes in any approved course of
schooling or training, including job training, high school
equivalency, literacy, English as a second language or vocational
or post-secondary program, including two-year and four-year
programs;
(h) "Income" means money received by any member of an at-risk
family which can be used at the discretion of the household to meet
its basic needs: Provided, That income does not include:
(1) Supplemental security income paid to any member or members
of the at-risk family;
(2) Earnings of minor children;
(3) Payments received from earned income tax credit or tax
refunds;
(4) Earnings deposited in an individual development account
approved by the department; or
(5) Any moneys specifically excluded from countable income by
federal law; or
(6) Any moneys received by the parent as school loans,
scholarships or grants.
(i) "Personal responsibility contract" means a written agreement entered into by the department and a beneficiary which
establishes the responsibilities and obligations of the
beneficiary;
(j) "Secretary" means the secretary of the state department of
health and human resources;
(k) "Subsidized employment" means employment with earnings
provided by an employer who receives a subsidy from the department
for the creation and maintenance of the employment position;
(l) "Support services" includes, but is not limited to, the
following services: Child care; medicaid; transportation
assistance; information and referral; resource development services
which includes assisting families to receive child support
enforcement and supplemental security income; family support
services which includes parenting, budgeting and family planning;
relocation assistance; and mentoring services;
(m) "Unsubsidized employment" means employment with earnings
provided by an employer who does not receive a subsidy from the
department for the creation and maintenance of the employment
position;
(n) "Work" means unsubsidized employment, subsidized
employment, work experience, community or personal development, and
education and training; and
(o) "Work experience" means unpaid structured work activities
that are provided in an environment where performance expectations are similar to those existing in unsubsidized employment and which
provide training in occupational areas that can realistically be
expected to lead to unsubsidized employment.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to permit the head of an
at-risk family to accept school loans, grants and scholarships
without losing assistance while in school.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.