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Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) I. TANF Purpose This document outlines and updates the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s plan for providing assistance to families with children from funds provided under Title I of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunities Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 (P.L. 104-193), and the TANF Final Rules published in the Federal Register on April 12, 1999. The Act amends Section 402 of the Social Security Act to require that states submit a plan to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that outlines how the state will provide TANF benefits. Implementation was effective March 3, 1997. Submission of this State Plan renewal commits Pennsylvania to continue operation of its TANF State Program. Implementation was effective October 1, 2024. II. Introduction On May 6, 1996, P.L. 175, No. 35 (Act 35) was signed into law. It was a dramatic welfare reform plan designed to move families off the welfare rolls and into the work force. The provisions of the Act encourage personal and parental responsibility, emphasize self-sufficiency through employment, strengthen child support requirements, and increase penalties for welfare fraud. It is a common-sense approach that provides Pennsylvania with the core components for reform of our welfare system. The TANF provisions of PRWORA provided the opportunity to make that reform a reality. When signed into law on August 22, 1996, PRWORA ended the 60-year federal welfare entitlement program known as Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and the Federal Job Opportunity and Basic Skills employment and training program. In its place, each state was provided with a block grant for designing and operating its own assistance program within broad TANF requirements. These requirements include stringent work activity participation rates and a lifetime limit of five years for the receipt of benefits. The TANF Block Grant and the Final Rules published in the Federal Register on April 12, 1999, provided Pennsylvania with the opportunity to build on the core components of Act 35 to create a system that makes the best use of TANF dollars. The Final Rule for reauthorization of TANF, published in the Federal Register on February 5, 2008, added definitions for each accountable core activity, defined a work- eligible individual, changed the base year for determining caseload reduction from FY 1995 to FY 2005 and required states to submit a Work Verification Plan explaining how hours of participation are documented for each core activity. Pennsylvania’s changes to the work requirements in this State Plan were necessitated by the Final Rule. The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 (H.R. 3746) changes the base year for measuring caseload change for the caseload reduction credit. Effective in FY 2026, the base year is to be 2015. For FY 2026 work standards, the caseload reduction credit is to be based on changes in the number of families receiving assistance from FY 2015 to FY 2025. For the FY 2027 credit, the change in the number of families receiving assistance is to be FY 2015 to FY 2026, and so on. Based on currently available data (through FY