TANF Emergency Fund: State Applications Approved as of August 19
Aug 19, 2010 | Elizabeth Lower-Basch and Elizabeth Kenefick
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Section 2101 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) created a new TANF Emergency Fund, funded at $5 billion. This federal fund provides states 80 percent of the funding for spending increases in certain categories of TANF-related expenditures in FYs 2009 or 2010 over FYs 2007 or 2008. Each state can receive no more than 50 percent of its annual block grant over the two-year period from the combination of the new Emergency Fund and the regular Contingency Fund.
In the most recent data available on the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) website, as of August 19, 2010, 48 states (plus the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico) have been awarded a total of $4.234 billion from the Emergency Fund.[i] This figure represents a lower bound on state use of the Emergency Fund, as a number of states still have applications pending before HHS. Indiana and Wyoming are the only states that have not been approved for Emergency Funds. States may submit initial applications for funding from the Emergency Fund for federal fiscal years 2009 and 2010 at any point until September 1, 2010.
Figure 1 shows the percent of the total allocation each state has received from the Emergency Fund so far.
Figure 2 shows the percent of the total allocation each state has received from a combination of the Emergency Fund and the Contingency Fund. Eighteen states received funds from the Contingency Fund in FY 2009 and 15 (plus DC) received funds during FY 2010, though Michigan has since returned its FY 2010 Contingency Fund allocation in order to increase its eligibility for Emergency Funds. The regular Contingency Fund ran out of money in December 2009. However, as states return money from the Contingency Fund in order to become eligible for increased Emergency Funds, the returned funds will be reallocated to other states that had applied for Contingency Funds, assuming that those states have not already reached their maximum Emergency and Contingency Fund allocation.
As of August 19, states have received the most money based on increased spending on short-term non-recurrent benefits. Forty-three states (plus DC, VI, and PR) have received $1.407 billion based on increased cash assistance caseloads, 40 (plus DC) have received $1.789 billion based on increased spending on short-term non-recurrent assistance, and 35 (plus DC and VI) have received $1.039 billion based on increased spending on subsidized employment[ii].
The states that have received the largest amounts of funding to date are California and New York. The majority of California's award is for increased basic assistance; California has received more in this category as well as in subsidized employment than any other state. New York has received more for non-recurrent short-term benefits than any other state. As of August 19, Colorado and New Jersey joined New York, Michigan, Delaware, New Mexico, Nevada, North Carolina, and Washington as the only states to have drawn down their entire allocations . The rate of drawdown is accelerating, with over $2.9 billion in funding approved since February 18, 2010. In the most recent quarter, the majority of approved funds were for subsidized employment.
For a detailed breakdown of the total amount that each state has drawn down and the categories in which each state has had applications approved, see the PDF version of this fact sheet.
[i] All Emergency and Contingency Fund data from HHS, Approved TANF Emergency Fund Applications by Category, August, 2010. http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ofa/tanf/apprTANFemerfund.html In addition, 19 tribes have been awarded $9.189 million. http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ofa/tanf/apprTANFemerfund_tribe.html
[ii] Survey data indicates that 36 states have subsidized jobs programs, including West Virginia whose application has not yet been approved by ACF.