Page 12

Minnesota Family Investment Program Minnesota House Research Department Page 12 noncitizen’s sponsor and the sponsor’s spouse in determining the noncitizen’s eligibility for MFIP.16 Second, in cases where a noncitizen’s benefits are funded entirely with state money, the MFIP law also requires that, unless exempted, a legal adult noncitizen receiving MFIP who is under 70 years of age and has been a lawful permanent resident for at least four years must make specified efforts to pursue English literacy, English as a Second Language proficiency, or U.S. citizenship in order to remain eligible for MFIP.17 Child Support Eligible families must assign rights to child and spousal support, child care support, and medical support. MFIP participants must assign all rights to child support, spousal support, and child care support, if applicable, to the state. Families who fail to assign these rights are not eligible for MFIP.18 The state distributes, or passes through, all current child support and maintenance collections to MFIP participants. The child support payments are treated as unearned income when calculating MFIP eligibility and benefit amounts. Up to $100 in child support payments for an assistance unit with one child and up to $200 for an assistance unit with two or more children is excluded from income.19 (For more information about child support, see Minnesota’s Child Support Laws, House Research Department, December 2024.) MFIP participants must also cooperate with county child support enforcement efforts. Unless the participant has a good cause exemption from cooperating, noncooperation makes the participant subject to sanctions. (See Sanctions, page 26.) Time Limits Eligible families must have received fewer than 60 months of AFDC or MFIP assistance since July 1, 1997. The federal TANF law sets a lifetime limit of 60 months for assistance units that include an adult who receives assistance using federal TANF money.20 The state MFIP law specifies several situations where time spent on MFIP does not count towards the 60-month lifetime limit on assistance. MFIP caregivers who are age 60 or over are exempt from the 60-month lifetime limit on assistance. For an adult who is receiving MFIP and

16 See Minn. Stat. § 142G.31, subd. 4. 17 See Minn. Stat. § 142G.11, subd. 3. 18 If an MFIP participant fails to assign rights to medical support, if applicable, to the state, the participant is not eligible for Medical Assistance (MA) benefits. 19 See Minn. Stat. § 256P.06, subd. 3, clause (2). 20 Minnesota began counting participants’ time on assistance towards this 60-month limit in July 1997. Most of the first families started to reach this time limit in July 2002. Some families may have reached the time limit before July 2002 because they accrued months of TANF assistance in a state that implemented time limits earlier than Minnesota.