Parental Accountability for Reducing Child Poverty Act

Parental Accountability for Reducing Child Poverty Act - Amends part A (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) (TANF) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSA) to prohibit a state receiving a TANF grant from using any part of it to provide assistance to a parent, caretaker relative, or legal guardian of a child age 6 to 19 who is not attending school for at least the state-required number of days per year. Makes a similar requirement for home schooled children.

Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to reduce the grant to a state which fails to comply with this Act.

[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3434 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3434

  To amend part A of title IV of the Social Security Act to require a 
 State to deny assistance under the program of block grants to States 
  for temporary assistance for needy families to a parent, caretaker 
  relative, or legal guardian of a child who is not attending enough 
                    school, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 30, 2013

   Mr. Reed (for himself, Mr. Southerland, and Mr. Young of Indiana) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                             Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend part A of title IV of the Social Security Act to require a 
 State to deny assistance under the program of block grants to States 
  for temporary assistance for needy families to a parent, caretaker 
  relative, or legal guardian of a child who is not attending enough 
                    school, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Parental Accountability for Reducing 
Child Poverty Act''.

SEC. 2. DENIAL OF TANF ASSISTANCE TO PARENT, CARETAKER RELATIVE, OR 
              LEGAL GUARDIAN OF CHILD NOT ATTENDING ENOUGH SCHOOL.

    (a) Prohibition.--Section 408(a) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 608(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(13) No assistance for parent, caretaker relative, or 
        legal guardian of child not attending enough school.--
                    ``(A) In general.--A State to which a grant is made 
                under section 403 shall not use any part of the grant 
                to provide assistance to an individual who is a parent, 
                caretaker relative, or legal guardian of a child who 
                has attained 6 years of age but has not attained 19 
                years of age, unless, in the most recently completed 
                school year--
                            ``(i) in the case of a child not referred 
                        to in clause (ii), the child attended school 
                        for at least the number of days that 
                        constituted the minimum school attendance then 
                        required under applicable State law for 
                        children who were then within the State's 
                        compulsory school attendance age range 
                        (regardless of whether the age of the child was 
                        within that age range); or
                            ``(ii) in the case of a child who attended 
                        a school that was treated as a home school 
                        under State law, the child met all applicable 
                        State requirements with respect to such a 
                        school.
                    ``(B) Exceptions.--A State may elect to not apply 
                subparagraph (A) to a child--
                            ``(i) who is enrolled, and making 
                        satisfactory progress, in a vocational 
                        education institution or an institution of 
                        higher education (as defined in section 101(a) 
                        of the Higher Education Act of 1965); or
                            ``(ii) whose failure to attend school for 
                        at least the number of days referred to in 
                        subparagraph (A) of this paragraph in a school 
                        year is attributable to--
                                    ``(I) medical reasons (including 
                                quarantine), as certified by the 
                                administrator of the school attended by 
                                the child; or
                                    ``(II) a natural disaster in the 
                                United States, or a major disaster or 
                                emergency designated by the President 
                                under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 
                                Relief and Emergency Assistance Act.''.
    (b) Penalty.--Section 409(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 609(a)) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(17) Failure of state to deny assistance to parent, 
        caretaker relative, or legal guardian of child not attending 
        enough school.--The Secretary shall reduce the grant payable to 
        a State under section 403(a)(1) for a fiscal year by the amount 
        of any assistance paid by the State in violation of section 
        408(a)(13) in the preceding fiscal year.''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall take 
effect on October 1, 2015, and shall apply to attendance in school 
years beginning on or after August 1, 2014.
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