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LB 359 LB 359 impacted by the provisions of this subsection. (2) (3) In determining the rate or rates to be paid by the department for child care as defined in section 43-2605, the department shall adopt a fixed-rate schedule for the state or a fixed-rate schedule for an area of the state applicable to each child care program category of provider as defined in section 71-1910 which may claim reimbursement for services provided by the federal Child Care Subsidy program, except that the department shall not pay a rate higher than that charged by an individual provider to that provider’s private clients. The schedule may provide separate rates for care for infants, for children with special needs, including disabilities or technological dependence, or for other individual categories of children. The schedule may also provide tiered rates based upon a quality scale rating of step three or higher under the Step Up to Quality Child Care Act. The schedule shall be effective on October 1 of every year and shall be revised annually by the department. Sec. 4. Section 68-1713, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska, is amended to read: 68-1713 (1) The Department of Health and Human Services shall implement the following policies: (a) Permit Work Experience in Private for-Profit Enterprises; (b) Permit Job Search; (c) Permit Employment to be Considered a Program Component; (d) Make Sanctions More Stringent to Emphasize Participant Obligations; (e) Alternative Hearing Process; (f) Permit Adults in Two-Parent Households to Participate in Activities Based on Their Self-Sufficiency Needs; (g) Eliminate Exemptions for Individuals with Children Between the Ages of 12 Weeks and Age Six; (h) Providing Poor Working Families with Transitional Child Care to Ease the Transition from Welfare to Self-Sufficiency; (i) Provide Transitional Health Care for 12 Months After Termination of ADC if funding for such transitional medical assistance is available under Title XIX of the federal Social Security Act, as amended, as described in section 68-906; (j) Require Adults to Ensure that Children in the Family Unit Attend School; (k) Encourage Minor Parents to Live with Their Parents; (l) Establish a Resource Limit of $4,000 for a single individual and $6,000 for two or more individuals for ADC; (m) Exclude the Value of One Vehicle Per Family When Determining ADC Eligibility; (n) Exclude the Cash Value of Life Insurance Policies in Calculating Resources for ADC; (o) Establish the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program as a Continuous Benefit with Eligibility Reevaluated with Yearly Redeterminations; (p) Establish a Budget the Gap Methodology Whereby Countable Earned Income is Subtracted from the Standard of the Need and Payment is Based on the Difference or Maximum Payment Level, Whichever is Less. That this Gap be Established at a Level that Encourages Work but at Least at a Level that Ensures that Those Currently Eligible for ADC do not Lose Eligibility Because of the Adoption of this Methodology; (q) Adopt an Earned Income Disregard of Twenty Percent of Gross Earnings in the ADC Program, and One Hundred Dollars in the Related Medical Assistance Program, and Income and Assets Described in section 1 of this act; (r) Disregard Financial Assistance Received Described in section 1 of this act and Other Financial Assistance Intended for Books, Tuition, or Other Self-Sufficiency Related Use; (s) Culture: Eliminate the 100-Hour Rule, The Quarter of Work Requirement, and The 30-Day Unemployed/Underemployed Period for ADC-UP Eligibility; and (t) Make ADC a Time-Limited Program. (2) The Department of Health and Human Services shall (a) apply for a waiver to allow for a sliding-fee schedule for the population served by the caretaker relative program or (b) pursue other public or private mechanisms, to provide for transitional health care benefits to individuals and families who do not qualify for cash assistance. It is the intent of the Legislature that transitional health care coverage be made available on a sliding-scale basis to individuals and families with incomes up to one hundred eighty-five percent of the federal poverty level if other health care coverage is not available. Sec. 5. Section 68-1726, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska, is -3-