Relating to work requirements for the Iowa health and wellness plan, public assistance programs, an information technology fund, the public assistance modernization fund, and the Medicaid for employed people with disabilities program, and including effective date provisions

HHS shall exempt certain individuals from the work requirement who are under years of age, years of age or older, determined to be disabled by the United States social security administration, medically frail or medically exempt under Medicaid, a caretaker of a child under years of age, experiencing a high-risk pregnancy, receiving unemployment compensation, participating in substance use disorder treatment, or exempt for good cause as determined by the director of HHS. The division requires that any exemption applied under IHAWP shall be substantially similar to the exemptions applied under other public assistance programs. The division requires that upon HHS’s receipt of federal approval and HHS’s operationalizing of a system to facilitate recipient reporting and HHS evaluation efforts, HHS shall implement and adopt rules to administer work requirements as a condition of maintaining eligibility for IHAWP. HHS may resubmit a request for federal approval under the division if the initial request is denied or withdrawn for any reason. If federal law or regulations exclude work requirements for IHAWP, HHS shall discontinue IHAWP or implement an alternative plan as described in the bill. The division takes effect upon enactment. DIVISION II. This division requires HHS to work with the United States department of health and human services and the United States department of agriculture to align the department’s work rules and requirements for participants of public assistance programs, including but not limited to rules and requirements related to employment and training for the supplemental nutrition assistance program. DIVISION III. This division creates an information technology fund in the state treasury under the control of HHS. All moneys in the fund shall be appropriated to HHS to be used for information technology systems and related modernization initiatives. The division repeals the public assistance modernization fund, and transfers any unobligated and unencumbered moneys in the fund on June 30, 2025, to the information technology fund created in the division. DIVISION IV. Currently, for the purposes of determining the resources of an individual to meet the eligibility requirements for the Medicaid for employed people with disabilities program (MEPD) program, a maximum of $10,000 of available resources is disregarded, in addition to any additional resources held in a retirement account, in a medical savings account, or in any other account approved under rules adopted by HHS. The bill maintains the maximum amount of $10,000 in available resources disregarded for an individual, but provides that for the purposes of determining the resources of a couple, a maximum amount of $21,000 of available resources is disregarded.