46-294

46-294. Duration of assistance

A. A needy family is ineligible for a cash assistance grant awarded under this
article, except in case of hardship, if any of the following apply:

1. The needy family includes a head of household or the spouse of the head of
household who has received cash assistance for himself for a total of thirty-six months.

2. The needy family includes a cash assistance ineligible parent or the spouse of
the ineligible parent who has received cash assistance on behalf of an eligible dependent
child for a total of thirty-six months.

3. The needy family includes an adult nonparent relative head of household or the
spouse of the adult nonparent relative head of household who has received cash assistance
on behalf of an eligible dependent child for a total of thirty-six months.

B. The time limit prescribed in subsection A applies retroactively to cash
assistance received under this article or the Arizona works program on or after October
1, 2002. The time limit applies regardless of:

1. Whether the thirty-six months are consecutive.

2. The source of funding for the program.

C. The thirty-six month time limit prescribed in this section does not apply to
child only cases.

D. In determining the number of months that assistance has been received, the
department shall disregard any month during which assistance is received by:

1. A foster parent, an unrelated adult or a nonparent relative, in a child only
case.

2. An assistance unit during the time in which the assistance unit resides on an
Indian reservation in which the unemployment rate of the adults residing on the Indian
reservation exceeds fifty per cent.

3. An assistance unit if the cash assistance grant is less than the full monthly
amount of cash assistance for which the assistance unit qualifies based on the date of
the application.

4. An adult recipient who as a minor child was not a head of household or married
to a head of household.

E. Except in case of hardship, an assistance unit in which any adult or minor
parent of a dependent child who is a head of household or married to a head of household
has received sixty months of assistance funded in whole or in part by the temporary
assistance for needy families block grant in this or any other state or United States
territory or from a tribal temporary assistance for needy families program shall not be
eligible to receive under any circumstances more than sixty months of such assistance.

F. Cash assistance shall terminate on the first day of the first month following
the effective date of this section for any family, without regard to whether the family
meets the financial criteria established for a needy family, who has received thirty-six
or more months of cash assistance as of that date.