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Sponsors
Senator · Senate District 57
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to social services
- Delivered to assembly
- Passed senateVote 51–10
- Ordered to third reading cal.1671
- Reported and committed to rules
- Print number 1983a
- Amend and recommit to finance
- Reported and committed to finance
- Referred to social services
- Returned to senate
- Died in assembly
- Referred to social services
Show 6 earlier actions
- Delivered to assembly
- Passed senateVote 54–8
- Ordered to third reading cal.1521
- Committee discharged and committed to rules
- Reported and committed to finance
- Referred to social services
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Relates to additional options for local social services districts to implement effective welfare-to-work programs; repealer
In Assembly Committee · Social Services · Sponsor Andrew Goodell
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the social services law, in relation to additional options for local social services districts to implement effective welfare-to-work programs; and to repeal section 341 of such law relating thereto
Purpose or general idea of bill
The purpose of this legislation is to provide local social services districts with additional flexibility to maximize the successful participation of welfare recipients in employment or training opportunities by enabling the social services district to quickly re-engage the welfare recipient in job training or work experience.
Summary of specific provisions
The bill rewrites section 341 of the Social Services Law to allow local social services districts, at their option, to immediately contact a welfare recipient who fails to comply with job training or work experience requirements, provide the recipient with a verbal notice of the failure to comply with a written confirmation letter (rather than a ten day written notice) and to immediately conduct a verbal conciliation effort in an effort to resolve any good faith issues needed to re-engage the recipient in job training or work experience with a minimum of delay. If the conciliation process is successful, no further action will be taken.
Read the full memo (642 words)
Conforming amendments are added to section 341-a of the social services law to authorize NYC to co-ordinate verbal notices of on-compliance which conciliation efforts and to authorize the use of video conferencing in fair hearings.
If the conciliation process is not successful, then the local social services district would be required to provide the recipient with a written notice of its intent to terminate benefits for noncompliance and a written notice of the recipient's right to request a fair hearing. The fair hearing could be conducted using video conferencing equipment.
Justification
Under the current statutory procedure contained in section 341 of the social services law, the local social services district is required to send a ten day written of a right to request conciliation in the event of the recipient fails to comply with employment or job training requirements. Sometimes the recipient has an excellent reason for the failure to comply that can be resolved by the local social services district, such as lack of child care or transportation. Even if these issues can be resolved, however, the extensive delay inherent in the current process often results in the loss of the job training or employment opportunity because these job training classes or employment opportunities cannot wait for several days for these issues to be resolved.
By allowing the local social services districts the right to immediately conduct conciliation efforts, the local social services district can maximize the likelihood that the underlying issues can be quickly resolved so that the participant can successful participate in the employment experience or job training program.
If the recipient does not have a reasonable basis for the failure to participate in employment or job training, then the social services district must provide the recipient with a ten day notice of the right to request a fair hearing. Unfortunately, it may take several weeks before the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) schedules the fairing hearing because of scheduling issues, during which time many recipients continue to receive welfare benefits. It is estimated that current delays in scheduling these fair hearings cost the State over $10 million a year. In an effort to reduce this delay, this bill would enable the fair hearing to be held using video conference equipment, where all parties can see and hear each other.
Prior legislative history
2015: S.1983/A.5119 Passed Senate 2014: S.7091-A/A.9180 Referred to Social Services
Fiscal implications
Per the New York State Division of Budget (NYSDOB), there are no fiscal costs or savings associated with this legislation.
Effective date
The bill would become effective 120 days after enactment.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.