By Dave Ranney

The Kansas Department for Children and Families won’t be dropping 350 families from the state’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families rolls on July 1.

Instead, these families — all of whom have been on TANF for at least 36 months — will have a six-month “grace period” to figure out how to make ends meet without their TANF benefits.

The new cutoff date for these families will be Jan. 1.

“It is our goal to help individuals adjust to this new policy by working closely with them during the transition period to assess their situation, address their circumstances and achieve self-sufficiency before they exhaust their TANF eligibility,” Theresa Freed, a DCF spokesperson, said in an email.

The shift in policy comes on the heels of legislators last month passing — and Gov. Sam Brownback signing into law — a bill that lowered families’ lifetime TANF eligibility from 48 months to 36 months.

The new law, Brownback said, is meant to strengthen families by lessening their dependence on government programs. The 350 families that already have passed 36 months on TANF, according to DCF estimates, include approximately 700 children.

The total number of Kansas families on TANF as of April was 6,015. In Kansas, the average TANF cash assistance benefit is $111 per person per month. Generally, a family is not eligible for TANF if the household’s income exceeds 26 percent of the federal poverty level, which is roughly $435 a month for a family of three.

Families that reach the 48-month threshold after July 1 will be dropped from the program. DCF will begin enforcing the 36-month lifetime limit on Jan. 1. S

andra Kimmons, economic and employment services director at DCF, said the department will begin sending letters in late June or early July to the families it expects to be affected by the 36-month cap on eligibility.

Parents in these families, she said, will be encouraged to meet with their DCF case managers, who will help them follow through on their plans for “moving off of TANF assistance and into self-sufficiency.”

These plans, she said, are in place, having been developed shortly after the parent signed up for TANF. Some families, Kimmons said, may be eligible for a “hardship exemption” that will allow them to remain on TANF for up to an additional 12 months.

The exemption is limited to parents who are recovering from domestic violence or sexual assault, caring for a severely disabled child, coping with a long-term disability that’s likely to lead to eligibility for Social Security benefits or heeding DCF-sanctioned plans to retrieve their children from the state’s foster care system. Families in sudden, catastrophic circumstances — a house fire, for example — may be eligible for an exemption as well.

Last year, DCF granted fewer than 40 hardship exemptions. Families that are no longer eligible for TANF, Freed said, will be made aware of other resources — a food pantry, for example — that may be available in their communities. They will remain eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, Medicaid and, perhaps, help in paying for child care and for utilities.

The average TANF family, Freed said, spends a total of 18 months on the cash-assistance program. Advocates for the poor have panned the new law and DCF’s shift in policy.

The 36-month cap on TANF eligibility will harm families that already are among the state’s most vulnerable, said Jeanette Collier, who runs NEK-CAP Inc., a 20-county anti-poverty program based in Hiawatha.

“I know there’s a mindset out there that says 36 months (lifetime limit) is plenty long enough for people to get their acts together,” she said. “And for some people it is.

But for the people who are going to be affected by this, it’s not. “On the community level,” Collier said, “neither the resources nor the systems are in place to ensure that these families are going to remain housed or be fed.”

Dave Ranney is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.

WAYNE PARRY, Associated Press

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — The casino market in the northeastern United States is saturated, yet that’s not stopping some states from approving gambling legislation and companies from building new gambling halls.

That’s the consensus from participants at a major casino conference in Atlantic City.

Eugene Johnson of Spectrum Gaming Group says by the end of this year, there will be 60 casinos in the northeast.

That figure will rise to 65 by 2018, according to his colleague Joe Weinert.

In Kansas, casinos now operate in Dodge City, Mulvane and Kansas City, Kansas.   Three investor groups are interested in developing a southeast Kansas casino and have met the minimum financial and management requirements according to the Kansas Lottery Commission.

Atlantic City has lost half its casino revenue and thousands of jobs to competition from Pennsylvania, which is now under pressure itself from casinos in Ohio and Maryland.

More casinos are planned soon for Philadelphia, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maryland and New York.

And New Jersey is considering allowing a casino in the Meadowlands, just outside New York City.

JOHN HANNA, AP Political Writer
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has a new plan for raising taxes to close a projected budget shortfall.

But he wouldn’t discuss the details Friday evening.

Republicans who control the Legislature have been divided over how to raise new revenues to erase the $406 million shortfall for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

They are considering increasing sales, tobacco and business taxes but can’t agree on specific proposals.

The Republican governor called a news conference for Friday evening to announce his new plan but canceled it less than 40 minutes later, just before the event was to start. He met privately with top legislators instead.

The state’s budget problems arose after lawmakers slashed personal income taxes in 2012 and 2013 at Brownback’s urging as an economic stimulus.

 

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JOHN HANNA, AP Political Writer

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has canceled a news conference he called to outline a new proposal for raising taxes to close a projected budget shortfall.

Brownback spokeswoman Eileen Hawley said the governor was instead meeting with legislative leaders Friday evening.

Republicans who control the Legislature have been divided over how to raise new revenues to erase the $406 million shortfall for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

They are considering increasing sales, tobacco and business taxes but can’t agree on specific proposals.

The Republican governor called a news conference for Friday evening but canceled it less than 40 minutes later, just before the event was to start.

The state’s budget problems arose after lawmakers slashed personal income taxes in 2012 and 2013 at Brownback’s urging as an economic stimulus.

SALINA – A Kansas man suffered only minor injuries after an accident on Friday in Salina.

Police say a medical condition was responsible for the accident in which a truck crashed into a Salina church.

Captain Mike Sweeney said that a 2006 GMC Canyon driven by Jeremy Lawson, 35, Salina, was southbound in the 800 Block of South Ohio just before 1:15 p.m. when the medical emergency occurred.

Lawson lost control of his vehicle, veered left into the oncoming lane of traffic and struck a curb, a tree, a light post, and then struck the south side of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Sweeney said that Lawson suffered only minor injuries in the accident, and was primarily being treated for his medical condition.

Damage to the church has been estimated at $2,000.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas has collected $6 million less in taxes this month than anticipated, and disappointing sales tax collections are a key reason.

The state Department of Revenue reported Friday that the state took in $536 million in taxes during May, when the official forecast predicted $542 million. The shortfall was 1.1 percent.

Since the fiscal year began in July 2014, state tax collections have fallen short of the official prediction of $5 billion by about $10 million, or 0.2 percent.

Sales tax collections in May were $175 million, or about $8 million less than expected. The shortfall was about 4.3 percent.

But personal income tax collections exceeded expectations by about $12 million for the month. They were $278 million, about 4.6 percent more than the predicted $266 million.

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors and Subaru are adding vehicles to the growing list of models being recalled by 11 automakers due to potentially exploding air bags.

GM is adding about 375,000 GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado heavy-duty pickup trucks from 2007 and 2008 to the recall in North America. Dealers will replace passenger air bag inflators.

Subaru is adding about 60,000 Impreza small cars from the 2004 and 2005 model years plus the 2005 Saab 9-2X made by Subaru. The recall also covers passenger air bags.

The U.S. government’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released the model information on Friday. The vehicles are equipped with air bag inflators made by Takata Corp. of Japan that can inflate with too much force, spewing shrapnel into the passenger compartment.

GARDEN CITY- A Kansas boy was injured in an accident just after 3 p.m. on Friday in Finney County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2008 Chevy passenger vehicle driven by Linda Mead, 33, Dodge City, was westbound on West Jones Avenue and rear-ended a 2004 Pontiac that stopped to make a left turn on Holly Road.

A passenger in the Pontiac Hunter Stroup, 11, Garden City was transported to St. Catharine’s Medical Center.

Mead and the driver of the Pontiac Brooke Stroup, 17, Garden City, were not injured.

All were properly restrained at the time of the accident according to the KHP.