TANF-ACF-PI-2010-09 (Q & A on the TANF Contingency Fund for Fiscal Years (FY) 2011 and 2012)

Publication Date: November 12, 2010
Current as of:

TO:

States operating Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs and other interested parties.

SUBJECT:

Questions and Answers on the TANF Contingency Fund for Fiscal Years (FY) 2011 and 2012.

REFERENCES:

Section 403(b) of the Social Security Act, Section 409(a)(10) of the Social Security Act, 45 CFR 260.30, 45 CFR 264.0, and 45 CFR 264.70 — 264.77. PURPOSE:

To respond to questions about the Contingency Fund, particularly with respect to depletion of the Fund before the end of a fiscal year.

BACKGROUND:

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 (P.L.104-193, as amended) created a Contingency Fund to assist States in meeting the need for welfare assistance during periods of economic downturn.  PRWORA initially authorized the TANF program through FY 2002.  When the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (P.L. 109-171) reauthorized the TANF program through FY 2010, it extended the Contingency Fund.  The Continuing Appropriations Act of 2011 (P.L. 111-242) provided Federal funding for the Contingency Fund for FY 2011 (up to $506 million can be awarded) and FY 2012 (up to $612 million can be awarded).

TANF Program Instruction TANF-ACF-PI-97-8, dated October 27, 1997, provided the initial guidance to States on the requirements for receiving contingency funds and instructions for applying for these funds.  That Program Instruction (PI) has been superseded by the Contingency Fund requirements in the TANF regulations at 45 CFR 264, Subpart B.

TANF Program Instruction TANF-ACF-PI-2008-04, dated May 6, 2008, addressed questions from States about receiving contingency funds, including application procedures and the basic requirements for receiving, retaining, and remitting contingency funds.  That PI provided a basic application form and a table that shows each State’s 100 percent Contingency Fund Maintenance-of-Effort (MOE) requirement.

TANF Program Instruction TANF-ACF-PI-2009-06, dated September 21, 2009, provided responses to questions about how various Contingency Fund requirements would apply when the Fund is depleted before the end of a fiscal year.

We have received questions about how the various Contingency Fund provisions will be applied in the event the Fund is depleted before the end of a fiscal year.

POLICY:

Contingency funds are additional Federal funds available to States, at their request, when unfavorable economic conditions exist. They are considered provisional payments, according to section 403(b)(3)(A) of the Social Security Act. This is because the exact amount of contingency funds that the State may actually keep is not determined until after the fiscal year ends. A State that receives a provisional payment must meet specific spending requirements to keep some or all of the contingency funds.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS:  

Application Date

Question: When can a State apply for contingency funds for FY 2011 and FY 2012?

Answer: A State may apply up to one month before the month for which it is requesting contingency funds, e.g., December 1, 2010, for the January 2011 Contingency Fund award.  As under current practice, a State can request a payment for the full fiscal year or for specific months.

Frequency of Contingency Fund Provisional Payments

Question: How will Contingency Fund provisional payments be distributed, given the possibility that the Fund may run out during a particular month in FY 2011 and FY 2012?

Answer: Once we determine a State’s eligibility, we will make provisional payments on a monthly basis.  Otherwise, it would be possible for some States to receive a payment for all three months of a quarter, while other States that become eligible for or apply later in the quarter would not receive funds, because we had advanced some States up to three months in payments.

Making Payments "in the Order in which the Secretary Receives Requests for Such Payments"

Question: The statute specifies that the Secretary shall make payments “in the order in which the Secretary receives requests for such payments.”  How will the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) make this determination?

Answer: For States requesting Contingency Fund awards for October and/or November 2010, all applications received before November 24, 2010, shall be considered to have been submitted at the same time.  Thereafter, all applications that are received before the first day of a month for which funds are being requested shall be considered to have been submitted at the same time.  For example, an application for the month of January 2011 received on December 10, 2010, and one received December 20, 2010, will be deemed to have been received at the same time.  Once a month for which funds are being requested begins, the order will be based on the date in which we receive the application.  The application may be sent electronically or by mail.

If a State has applied for the full fiscal year or for specific months in advance, we will deem such a request to be a new application before the beginning of each month and it will be given the same priority as any other application that arrives in the one-month period before the beginning of each new month.

Requirements in the Event the Fund is Depleted

Question: If the Contingency Fund does not have enough money to make all the payments that have been requested for the year, how will the funds be distributed?

Answer: In the event the Fund is depleted before the end of the year, we will follow the procedures described in Program Instruction TANF-ACF-PI-2009-06, dated September 21, 2009, with respect to how various requirements apply when the Fund is depleted before the end of a fiscal year.

APPLICATION PROCEDURES::

Once a State is eligible for Contingency Funds, it must submit a written request in the form of a letter signed by the Governor or his/her legal designee.  We have attached a request form which we recommend using for this purpose.

Please send the written request to the Director of the Division of Mandatory Grants, Office of Grants Management with a copy to the Director, Office of Family Assistance (OFA) at the following address:

Administration for Children and Families
370 L'Enfant Promenade, SW
Washington, DC 20447

INQUIRIES:

Inquiries about this document should be directed to the appropriate OFA Regional Office TANF Program Manager.

ATTACHMENTS:

Table showing each State's current Contingency Fund MOE Requirement, sample application form

 

/s/
Earl S. Johnson
Director
Office of Family Assistance

 

 

 

State Maintenance of Effort Levels Required Under P.L. 104-193
Updated TANF MOE Table for FY 2011
10/13/2010
 

 

FY 1994 State

Contingency MOE

State

Expenditures 1/

 Less TCC/At Risk

 100% Level

Alabama

52,285,491

6,491,477

45,794,014

Alaska 2/

46,432,569

2,739,161

43,693,408

Arizona 2/

114,012,310

8,126,895

105,885,415

Arkansas

27,785,269

1,326,507

26,458,762

California 2/

3,563,379,995

85,593,217

3,477,786,778

Colorado

110,494,527

8,253,354

102,241,173

Connecticut

244,561,409

15,205,787

229,355,622

Delaware

29,028,092

4,202,050

24,826,042

District of Columbia

93,931,934

3,730,194

90,201,740

Florida

491,151,302

29,654,671

461,496,631

Georgia

231,158,036

20,907,166

210,250,870

Hawaii

94,866,459

3,208,804

91,657,655

Idaho 2/

17,367,172

1,175,819

16,191,353

Illinois

573,450,924

35,452,829

537,998,095

Indiana

151,367,364

11,634,938

139,732,426

Iowa 2/

82,307,033

3,814,458

78,492,575

Kansas

82,332,787

6,673,025

75,659,762

Kentucky

89,891,250

6,851,668

83,039,582

Louisiana

73,886,837

3,845,465

70,041,372

Maine

50,031,924

1,590,027

48,441,897

Maryland

235,953,925

23,046,642

212,907,283

Massachusetts

478,596,697

38,078,212

440,518,485

Michigan

624,691,167

18,221,127

606,470,040

Minnesota 2/

235,590,527

18,201,073

217,389,454

Mississippi

28,965,744

1,092,511

27,873,233

Missouri

160,161,033

13,576,624

146,584,409

Montana 2/

17,505,466

1,210,851

16,294,615

Nebraska 2/

37,833,820

6,498,999

31,334,821

Nevada 2/

33,931,649

2,330,238

31,601,411

New Hampshire

42,820,004

4,313,648

38,506,356

New Jersey

400,213,342

18,883,940

381,329,402

New Mexico 2/

43,664,402

2,895,261

40,769,141

New York

2,291,437,926

63,738,970

2,227,698,956

North Carolina

205,567,684

32,375,499

173,192,185

North Dakota

12,092,381

1,017,036

11,075,345

Ohio

521,108,327

33,574,796

487,533,531

Oklahoma 2/

80,159,619

9,041,027

71,118,592

Oregon 2/

122,181,732

11,150,859

111,030,873

Pennsylvania

542,834,133

37,668,865

505,165,268

Rhode Island

80,489,394

4,901,082

75,588,312

South Carolina

47,902,320

2,357,350

45,544,970

South Dakota 2/

11,371,029

731,623

10,639,406

Tennessee

110,413,171

15,858,013

94,555,158

Texas

314,301,005

30,533,484

283,767,521

Utah 2/

33,185,380

4,343,962

28,841,418

Vermont

34,066,533

2,666,323

31,400,210

Virginia

170,897,560

16,974,339

153,923,221

Washington 2/

341,407,360

30,759,039

310,648,321

West Virginia

43,058,053

2,291,490

40,766,563

Wisconsin 2/

223,022,273

11,748,501

211,273,772

Wyoming 2/

12,078,426

1,474,218

10,604,208

State Total

13,757,224,766

722,033,114

13,035,191,652

1/ The State share of expenditures for AFDC benefits, administration, EA, IV-A child care and JOBS in FY 1994.
2/ State MOE has been adjusted proportionally to reduce the States share by the amount of the TANF allocation provided to the Tribes

 

 


REQUEST FOR FEDERAL TANF CONTINGENCY FUNDS

 

State:

Months eligible as a Needy State:

Trigger Satisfied:             _____________      Food Stamp Unemployment    ___________________

Funds requested for fiscal year  _____________

Indicate Below Request Method Option 1 or Option 2:

  • Option 1   _____________

I hereby request payment for all months of the fiscal year that my State meets the Unemployment or Food Stamp Trigger.

  • Option 2   _____________

I hereby request payment just for the months indicated below.

October:     _____________     November:     _____________      December:     _____________

January:     _____________     February:       _____________      March:            _____________

April:          _____________      May:              _____________      June:               _____________

July:           _____________      August:         _____________      September:     _____________
 

CERTIFICATION:

In requesting the above-indicated Federal TANF Contingency payments, I certify the following:

  1. The State will meet our 100 percent Contingency Fund maintenance-of-effort (MOE) spending requirement.
  2. State matching funds are available to spend in excess of our required Contingency Fund MOE spending level.
  3. State funds and Federal Contingency funds will be used only for allowable expenditures under the TANF program.
  4. I understand that the Federal TANF contingency funds are provisional payments. Accordingly, upon completion of the annual reconciliation process, the State will remit the amount (if any) determined as a result of this process, within one year after the State has failed to meet either the Food Stamp trigger or the Unemployment Trigger for three consecutive months.


Date:    ________________________               Signature of Governor or legal Designee     ________________________