AB 386

The Department of Health Services (DHS) and the Department of Children and

Families (DCF) administer a number of programs that provide services, benefits,

and other types of assistance to eligible persons, usually persons with low incomes,

who need assistance to obtain such necessities as food, health care, or child care.

These programs are known as public assistance programs. Some examples are

Wisconsin Works, including Wisconsin Shares; the food stamp program; the Medical

Assistance program; the program that provides eligible persons with assistance in

establishing the paternity of a child, establishing or modifying child support

obligations, enforcing child support or maintenance (alimony) obligations, and

locating persons who owe child support or children taken by parents in violation of

court orders; the programs that provide state supplemental payments to persons

receiving federal supplemental security income; the program that pays funeral,

burial, and cemetery expenses for persons whose estates are insufficient to pay those

expenses; and the disease aids program that provides assistance in paying the costs

of medical treatment for eligible persons with cystic fibrosis, hemophilia, or chronic

renal disease. For some public assistance programs, a person is not eligible for

assistance unless he or she has a specified relationship or arrangement with a child.

This bill provides that, if a person's eligibility for a public assistance program

depends on his or her relationship or arrangement with a child and that relationship

or arrangement is set out in a court order, DHS or DCF, whichever department

administers the program, must verify the information the person provides about his

or her relationship or arrangement with a child by accessing the applicable court

order. The bill specifies that, for purposes of the requirement, a person's relationship

or arrangement with a child includes whether the person has legal custody of a child;

whether a child resides with the person; whether the person is a child's parent or

caretaker relative; whether the person exercises primary responsibility for a child's

care and control; and any other relationship or arrangement that is relevant to

eligibility for a public assistance program.