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Minnesota Family Investment Program Minnesota House Research Department Page 27 In general, for the first occurrence of noncompliance, the family’s monthly grant is reduced by an amount that is equal to 10 percent of the transitional standard for a family of that size. (See page 17 for a table listing the MFIP transitional standard by family size.) For a second, third, fourth, fifth, or sixth occurrence of noncompliance, the family’s shelter costs are vendor paid up to the amount of the family’s cash portion of their MFIP grant. (A county may opt to also vendor pay the family’s utilities as part of this sanction.) Any remaining cash portion of the grant, and the food portion of the family’s MFIP grant, is reduced by an amount equal to 30 percent of the applicable standard for a family of that size. Once a family’s cash portion is being vendor paid as a result of a sanction, the vendor payments stay in effect until six months after the participant returns to compliance with MFIP requirements. For a seventh occurrence of noncompliance by a participant in an assistance unit, or when the participants in a two-parent assistance unit have a total of seven occurrences of noncompliance, the county agency is required to close the MFIP case, both the cash and food portions, and redetermine the family’s continued eligibility for food support payments. The case must remain closed for a minimum of one full month. Sanctions for participants who are receiving an extension for hard-to-employ or employed participants follow the same sequence, except the family is disqualified for a fourth occurrence of noncompliance. The disqualified family may reapply for MFIP after the participant is in compliance for up to one month, but no assistance is paid during that month. If a disqualified participant reapplies for MFIP and has a second occurrence of noncompliance, the participant is permanently disqualified. The MFIP law provides for slightly different levels of sanctions if the participant is being sanctioned for refusing to cooperate with child support requirements, or if the participant faces a dual sanction for refusing to cooperate with child support requirements as well as failing to comply with other program requirements. In all cases, each month that a participant does not follow a program requirement is considered a separate occurrence of noncompliance. Funding and Expenditures MFIP is funded with a combination of federal funds and state appropriations. The TANF block grant for each state is based on the state’s historical expenditures for AFDC, JOBS (the old AFDC work and training program), and AFDC emergency assistance. Minnesota received approximately $268 million49 annually in TANF block grant funding in federal fiscal years 1998 to 2023. The state legislature must appropriate federal TANF funds before the state can spend them. Under the federal TANF law, a state must also spend its own resources to provide assistance to needy families. The federal law includes a maintenance of effort (MOE) provision that requires

49 Minnesota’s TANF block grant amount is $267.358 million each year. Of this amount, $4,550,816 is allocated directly to the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe and $2,980,612 goes directly to the Red Lake Nation of Chippewa Indians for the Tribal TANF programs. This leaves the state with an effective annual block grant of $259.826 million.