HBA-CDB S.B. 1095 76(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisS.B. 1095
By: Zaffirini
Human Services
4-30-1999
Engrossed



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Federal legislation passed in 1996 denied food stamp benefits to most legal
permanent residents.  This legislation also made most of the elderly,
children, and disabled legal immigrants who arrived in this county after
August 22, 1996 ineligible for food stamp benefits.  Despite the recent
partial restoration of federal food stamps to selected legal immigrants,
92,600 legal immigrants in Texas, more than 75 percent of those legal
immigrants receiving food stamps prior to welfare reform, lost their
benefits. A profile of legal permanent residents developed by the Texas
Department of Human Services (department) shows that almost 50 percent of
legal permanent resident immigrant households contain a family member who
works.  National data further demonstrates 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.  S.B. 1095 allows the
department to establish a state immigrant food assistance program to meet
these needs. 

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.