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 individuals participating in Job Search/Job Readiness shall, as part of the individual's Mutual Responsibility Agreement (MRA), 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. Any individual participating in Job Search/Job Readiness for four consecutive weeks shall be required to participate in additional Community Service hours to 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.
(2)	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 all vehicles owned or leased by all individuals within a household. For purposes of determining the vehicle exemption, the fair market value shall be determined for all vehicles owned or leased by all individuals within a household.  The total of the vehicle exemption shall not exceed fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000). If the total fair market value of all vehicles owned or leased by all individuals within a household exceeds fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000), the amount in excess of the fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000) shall be 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.