No. HB 385
Filed under Healthcare.
Economic Hardship Grant Program; Creates People's Relief Program within DCF; requires program to provide assistance in form of grants to certain residents under specified conditions; provides program eligibility requirements for individuals; requires DCF to adopt specified rules.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDCreates the "People's Relief Program" within the Department of Children and Families to give grants, subject to legislative appropriation, to state residents facing economic hardship from utility costs, insurance premiums, unemployment, economic decline, or a declared emergency.
Requires applicants to have lived in Florida for at least a year, show a change in circumstances preventing them from meeting pending utility, property insurance, childcare, or health care obligations, and document those expenses.
Directs the department to adopt rules setting the specific thresholds that trigger eligibility, an online application, grant award and disbursement procedures, and restrictions on how grant funds may be used.
Makes the entire program contingent on the Legislature appropriating money for it, so no grants are available unless and until lawmakers separately fund the program.
AIThe bill creates a brand-new grant program inside the Department of Children and Families to help residents cover everyday expenses like housing, childcare, and health care during economic hardship.
AIGrants become available to residents only when one of several statewide conditions occurs: a rise in utility costs or insurance premiums past a threshold, a rise in unemployment, a broader economic decline, or a declared state of emergency after a natural disaster.
AIAn individual must have lived in Florida for at least a year before applying, and must show both a change in circumstances hindering payment of specified bills and documentation of the relevant expenses.
AIThe department, not the Legislature, sets the actual thresholds that trigger eligibility through rulemaking, along with the application, award and disbursement procedures, and restrictions on how grant funds may be used.
AINo grants can actually be paid out unless the Legislature separately appropriates money for the program in the budget; creating the program by itself does not fund it.