A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT DIRECTING THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES TO MAKE CHANGES TO the WORK FIRST PROGRAM FOR STANDARD AND ELECTING COUNTIES AND TO direct the department to exempt only one vehicle per household when considering resources for the purposes of eligibility for public assistance.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  Except where prohibited by federal law, the Department of Health and Human Services (Department) shall make the following changes to the Work First Program, applicable to Standard and Electing counties:
(1)	All Mutual Responsibility Agreements (MRAs) shall contain the requirement that all Work Eligible Individuals participate in four hours per month of Community Service activity or the maximum amount of Community Service hours allowable under the Fair Labor Standards Act, whichever is less. Any recipient that meets the definition of disabled under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) shall be provided reasonable accommodations, which may include exemption from the Community Service requirement.
(2)	Any individual participating in Job Search/Job Readiness for four consecutive weeks shall be required to participate in the Community Service work activity above the mandatory four hours per month included in the recipient's MRA. The amount of additional Community Service work activity shall be determined by the Standard or Electing county and shall not exceed the maximum number of hours allowable under the Fair Labor Standards Act. This additional Community Service requirement shall cease when Job Search/Job Readiness activities terminate.
(3)	Job Search/Job Readiness activities shall be limited as State countable activities to no more than 12 weeks in a year. Of these 12 weeks, no more than eight weeks may be consecutive.
SECTION 2.  Except where prohibited by federal law, the Department of Health and Human Services, when considering resources that can readily be converted to cash for purposes of the financial rules for eligibility for all public assistance programs, shall exempt only one vehicle owned or leased per household. This exemption shall not exceed fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000), and any vehicle with a fair market value greater than fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000) shall have the amount in excess of the fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000) considered as a resource that can be readily converted to cash.
SECTION 3.  Section 1 of this act becomes effective October 1, 2011, and applies to Mutual Responsibility Agreements entered into on or after that date. All changes which necessitate a change in the Work First Program State Plan shall be effected by temporary rule until the next State Plan is approved by the General Assembly.  Section 2 of this act becomes effective October 1, 2011. The remainder of this act is effective when it becomes law.