HBA-RBT H.B. 2702 76(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2702
By: Chavez
Human Services
3/30/1999
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Federal legislation in 1996 denied food stamp benefits to most legally
present immigrants.  Even after the recent partial restoration of federal
food stamps to selected legal immigrants, 92,600 legal immigrants in Texas,
more than 75 percent of those receiving food stamps prior to welfare
reform, lost their benefits.  A profile of legal permanent residents
developed by the Texas Department of Human Services shows that almost 50
percent of legal permanent resident immigrant households contain a family
member who works.  National data shows that food stamps can account for as
much as 20 percent of a household's income and that these benefits play an
important role in lifting people out of poverty.  Most of the elderly,
children, and disabled legal immigrants who arrived in this county after
August 22, 1996, are ineligible for food stamp benefits.  H.B. 2702
improves the health and well-being of legal immigrant families in Texas and
lessens the burden hunger and malnutrition place on Texas communities and
health care organizations by providing food assistance for legal immigrants
who are elderly, are children, or have disabilities and who are ineligible
for food stamps under federal law. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking
authority is expressly delegated to the Texas Department of Human Services
in SECTION 1 (Section 33.0024, Human Resources Code) of this bill. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Chapter 33, Human Resources Code, by adding Section
33.0024, as follows: 

Sec.  33.0024.  STATE IMMIGRANT FOOD ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.  Requires the
department by rule to develop and implement a state immigrant food
assistance program to provide nutritional assistance to a lawfully present
immigrant who meets specified criteria. Requires the state immigrant food
assistance program to be administered using the same rules with respect to
eligibility procedures and benefit levels that are used in administering
the food stamp program under this chapter. 

SECTION 2.  Provides that the state immigrant food assistance program
required by Section 33.0024, Human Resources Code, as added by this Act, is
intended to replace a similar food program providing assistance to certain
immigrants ineligible for the federal food stamp program that was
authorized by the Texas Board of Human Services, implemented under rules of
the Texas Department of Human Services, and in effect immediately before
the effective date of this Act. 

SECTION 3.  Effective date: September 1, 1999.

SECTION 4.  Emergency clause.