Poverty Law
SS SCS HCS HB 73 & 47 – Temporary Assistance Benefits for Needy Families Program Requires
the Department of Social Services to develop a program to screen
applicants or for recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
(TANF) Program benefits and test each person whom the department has
reasonable cause to believe engages in the illegal use of a controlled
substance.
An applicant or recipient who test positive for the illegal use of a
controlled substance which has not been prescribed by a licensed health
care provider or who refuses to submit to a test must, after an
administrative hearing by the department, be declared ineligible for
TANF benefits for three years from the date of the administrative
hearing decision and must be referred to an appropriate substance abuse
treatment program approved by the Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse
within the Department of Mental Health. An applicant or recipient who
enters and successfully completes a substance abuse treatment program
and does not test positive for the illegal use of a controlled substance
for six months from the date of entry into the program, will continue
to receive benefits while participating in the program.
Case workers of applicants or recipients are required to report or
cause a report to be made to the Children’s Division within the
department of any suspected child abuse as a result of drug abuse when
an applicant or recipient has tested positive for the illegal use of a
controlled substance or has refused to be tested. Any member of a
household, which includes a person who has been declared ineligible for
TANF benefits, if otherwise eligible, will continue to receive benefits
as protective or vendor payments to a third-party payee. (Signed
7/12/11)
SS#2 SCS HCS HB 111 – Judicial procedures (See Judicial Administration)
*SCS HB 256 – Basic civil legal services fund Extends
the expiration date of the provisions regarding the Basic Civil Legal
Services Fund from December 31, 2012, to December 31, 2018. Drafted by The Missouri Bar’s Delivery of Legal Services Committee (Vetoed 7/8/11, on the basis that this bill was duplicative of S.B. 165, which was signed on 7/8/11)
CCS/HCS/SB 48 – Utilities (See Utilities Law)
SCS HB 661 – Debt adjusters (See Commercial Law)
*SB 165 – Basic civil legal services fund Extends the expiration date of the provisions regarding the Basic Civil Legal Services Fund from December 31, 2012, to December 31, 2018. Drafted by The Missouri Bar’s Delivery of Legal Services Committee (Signed 7/8/11)