Committee approves bill to let more low-income Arkansans access WorkPays workforce services

The Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee voted to approve Senate Bill 89, which would expand eligibility for Arkansas’ WorkPays workforce-incentive program by removing a current requirement that participants be enrolled in the Transitional Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.

Phil Harris, assistant director for the TANF program at the Arkansas Division of Workforce Services, described WorkPays as a workforce incentive and post-employment program created by Act 1705 (2005) to help TANF recipients transition to employment. Harris said the division wants to remove the TANF enrollment prerequisite so able-bodied low-income families who are not on TANF but who participate in Medicaid, SNAP or other means-tested programs can access WorkPays services. Harris told the committee TANF caseloads are currently down, which limits the program’s ability to serve eligible but non-TANF households.

Charice Childers, director of the Division of Workforce Services, echoed that the change would allow more individuals to enter employment programs without first enrolling in TANF. Senator Sullivan ran the bill for the committee; the sponsor closed and moved passage, and the committee approved the bill by voice vote.

The committee did not request additional fiscal details in this hearing. Implementation would involve the Division of Workforce Services updating eligibility procedures to include non-TANF recipients who meet other means-tested program criteria.