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Legislative Fiscal Division 3 of 3 October, 2016

Montana TANF funds also support administrative costs, subsidized employment programs, job training, employment readiness services as well as some support for childcare for parents or working caretaker relatives, and for some child welfare needs. TANF funds may also support nutritional efforts through food banks and computerized systems for data reporting. THE FUTURE OF TANF As noted, states have the flexibility to use TANF funds to support a variety of programs and services to assist needy families. States can determine which families qualify as well as which services will be funded. Through the ebb and flow of TANF caseloads and associated cash assistance costs, DPHHS adjusts or discontinues funding to some programs in order to have adequate funds available to provide cash assistance benefits.

TRIBAL TANF In accordance with the federal TANF regulations, a tribe may choose to have its members receive services through the state TANF plan or a tribe may choose to operate its own TANF plan. In Montana, four tribes, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai, the Fort Belknap Indian Community, the Blackfeet, and the Chippewa Cree at Rocky Boy, have chosen to implement a tribal TANF plan.

When a tribe implements a TANF plan the state’s federal grant and maintenance of effort requirement are reduced. Section 53-4-210, MCA governs the provision of a portion of the state maintenance of effort funds to tribes operating tribal TANF plan, which is dependent on their targeted population, and provides that $100,000 general fund from existing appropriations be transferred to new tribal TANF plans each fiscal year of the biennium following implementation of the tribal TANF plan.