Title 42 — The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-73
§1314a Measurement and reporting of welfare receipt
Title 42 › Chapter CHAPTER 7— - SOCIAL SECURITY › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER XI— - GENERAL PROVISIONS, PEER REVIEW, AND ADMINISTRATIVE SIMPLIFICATION › Part Part A— - General Provisions › § 1314a
Summary
Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services, working with the Agriculture Secretary, to create and track simple, public measures that show how often and how much families rely on welfare, and how long they stay on it. The Secretary must make predictors of who may go on welfare and check what data are needed. An Advisory Board on Welfare Indicators of 12 members (appointed equally by the House, the Senate, and the President) will advise the Secretary. Board members are unpaid but get travel pay. The Secretary will provide HHS staff to help the Board. The Secretary must write reports about people getting means-tested benefits, including aid to families with dependent children (part A), the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and state or local general assistance. Each report must show the indicators, trends, predictors, causes, patterns of people getting more than one program, other relevant facts, and any legislative recommendations (but not proposals to cut eligibility or make access harder). An interim report is due not later than 2 years after October 31, 1994. The first full report is due not later than 3 years after October 31, 1994, and then yearly after that, each sent within the first 60 days of each regular session of Congress.
Full Legal Text
Title 42, §1314a
The Public Health and Welfare — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)The Congress hereby declares that—
(1)it is the policy and responsibility of the Federal Government to reduce the rate at which and the degree to which families depend on income from welfare programs and the duration of welfare receipt, consistent with other essential national goals;
(2)it is the policy of the United States to strengthen families, to ensure that children grow up in families that are economically self-sufficient and that the life prospects of children are improved, and to underscore the responsibility of parents to support their children;
(3)the Federal Government should help welfare recipients as well as individuals at risk of welfare receipt to improve their education and job skills, to obtain child care and other necessary support services, and to take such other steps as may be necessary to assist them to become financially independent; and
(4)it is the purpose of this section to provide the public with generally accepted measures of welfare receipt so that it can track such receipt over time and determine whether progress is being made in reducing the rate at which and, to the extent feasible, the degree to which, families depend on income from welfare programs and the duration of welfare receipt.
(b)The Secretary of Health and Human Services (in this section referred to as the “Secretary”) in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture shall—
(1)develop—
(A)indicators of the rate at which and, to the extent feasible, the degree to which, families depend on income from welfare programs and the duration of welfare receipt; and
(B)predictors of welfare receipt;
(2)assess the data needed to report annually on the indicators and predictors, including the ability of existing data collection efforts to provide such data and any additional data collection needs; and
(3)not later than 2 years after October 31, 1994, provide an interim report containing conclusions resulting from the development and assessment described in paragraphs (1) and (2), to—
(A)the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives;
(B)the Committee on Education and Labor of the House of Representatives;
(C)the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives;
(D)the Committee on Commerce of the House of Representatives;
(E)the Committee on Finance of the Senate;
(F)the Committee on Labor and Human Resources of the Senate; and
(G)the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate.
(c)(1)There is established an Advisory Board on Welfare Indicators (in this subsection referred to as the “Board”).
(2)The Board shall be composed of 12 members with equal numbers to be appointed by the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the President. The Board shall be composed of experts in the fields of welfare research and welfare statistical methodology, representatives of State and local welfare agencies, and organizations concerned with welfare issues.
(3)Any vacancy occurring in the membership of the Board shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointment for the position being vacated. The vacancy shall not affect the power of the remaining members to execute the duties of the Board.
(4)Duties of the Board shall include—
(A)providing advice and recommendations to the Secretary on the development of indicators of the rate at which and, to the extent feasible, the degree to which, families depend on income from welfare programs and the duration of welfare receipt; and
(B)providing advice on the development and presentation of annual reports required under subsection (d).
(5)Members of the Board shall not be compensated, but shall receive travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, at rates authorized for employees of agencies under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 5 for each day the member is engaged in the performance of duties away from the home or regular place of business of the member.
(6)The Secretary shall detail, without reimbursement, any of the personnel of the Department of Health and Human Services to the Board to assist the Board in carrying out its duties. Any detail shall not interrupt or otherwise affect the civil service status or privileges of the Federal employee.
(7)Notwithstanding section 1342 of title 31, the Board may accept the voluntary services provided by a member of the Board.
(8)The Board shall be terminated at such time as the Secretary determines the duties described in paragraph (4) have been completed, but in any case prior to the submission of the first report required under subsection (d).
(d)(1)The Secretary shall prepare annual reports on welfare receipt in the United States.
(2)The report shall include analysis of families and individuals receiving assistance under means-tested benefit programs, including the program of aid to families with dependent children under part A of subchapter IV of this chapter, the supplemental nutrition assistance program under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.), and the Supplemental Security Income program under subchapter XVI of this chapter, or as general assistance under programs administered by State and local governments.
(3)Each report shall set forth for each of the means-tested benefit programs described in paragraph (2)—
(A)indicators of—
(i)the rate at which and, to the extent feasible, the degree to which, families depend on income from welfare programs, and
(ii)the duration of welfare receipt;
(B)trends in indicators;
(C)predictors of welfare receipt;
(D)the causes of welfare receipt;
(E)patterns of multiple program receipt;
(F)such other information as the Secretary deems relevant; and
(G)such recommendations for legislation, which shall not include proposals to reduce eligibility levels or impose barriers to program access, as the Secretary may determine to be necessary or desirable to reduce—
(i)the rate at which and the degree to which families depend on income from welfare programs, and
(ii)the duration of welfare receipt.
(4)The Secretary shall submit such a report not later than 3 years after October 31, 1994, and annually thereafter, to the committees specified in subsection (b)(3). Each such report shall be transmitted during the first 60 days of each regular session of Congress.
(e)This section may be cited as the “Welfare Indicators Act of 1994”.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
References in Text
The Food and Nutrition Act of 2008, referred to in subsec. (d)(2), is Pub. L. 88–525, Aug. 31, 1964, 78 Stat. 703, which is classified generally to chapter 51 (§ 2011 et seq.) of Title 7, Agriculture. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see
Short Title
note set out under section 2011 of Title 7 and Tables. Codification Pub. L. 110–234 and Pub. L. 110–246 made identical
Amendments
to this section. The
Amendments
by Pub. L. 110–234 were repealed by section 4(a) of Pub. L. 110–246. Section was enacted as part of the Social Security Act
Amendments
of 1994, and not as part of the Social Security Act which comprises this chapter.
Amendments
2008—Subsec. (d)(2). Pub. L. 110–246, § 4002(b)(1)(A), (B), (2)(X), substituted “supplemental nutrition assistance program” for “food stamp program” and “Food and Nutrition Act of 2008” for “Food Stamp Act of 1977”. 1998—Subsec. (b)(3)(D). Pub. L. 105–200, § 410(h)(1), struck out “Energy and” before “Commerce”. Subsec. (d)(4). Pub. L. 105–200, § 410(h)(2), substituted “subsection (b)(3)” for “subsection (b)(3)(C)”.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Change of Name
Committee on Education and Labor of House of Representatives changed to Committee on Education and the Workforce of House of Representatives by House Resolution No. 5, One Hundred Eighteenth Congress, Jan. 9, 2023. Committee on Commerce of House of Representatives changed to Committee on Energy and Commerce of House of Representatives, and jurisdiction over matters relating to securities and exchanges and insurance generally transferred to Committee on Financial Services of House of Representatives by House Resolution No. 5, One Hundred Seventh Congress, Jan. 3, 2001. Committee on Labor and Human Resources of Senate changed to Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of Senate by Senate Resolution No. 20, One Hundred Sixth Congress, Jan. 19, 1999.
Effective Date
of 2008 AmendmentAmendment of this section and repeal of Pub. L. 110–234 by Pub. L. 110–246 effective May 22, 2008, the date of enactment of Pub. L. 110–234, except as otherwise provided, see section 4 of Pub. L. 110–246, set out as an
Effective Date
note under section 8701 of Title 7, Agriculture. Amendment by section 4002(b)(1)(A), (B), (2)(X) of Pub. L. 110–246 effective Oct. 1, 2008, see section 4407 of Pub. L. 110–246, set out as a note under section 1161 of Title 2, The Congress.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
42 U.S.C. § 1314a
Title 42 — The Public Health and Welfare
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73