TANF 60-Month Lifetime Limit

A cumulative 60-month lifetime limit is imposed on the receipt of TANF (federal) cash assistance received from any state by:

Any aided adult, including a stepparent or caretaker relative of an aided child, or
An aided minor who is the head of a household or married to a head of household.

This includes the aided parent or aided caretaker relative of an SSI child or a Foster Care child. This means an individual who is an adult (18 years of age or older), or a minor who is the head of household or married to the head of household is only eligible for TANF for a cumulative total of 60 months during his/her lifetime unless that individual meets the necessary criteria to have that month be “exempt.” Refer to Exempt TANF Months.

Start Date of TANF 60-Month Period

The TANF federal 60-month lifetime limit started with the date each state implemented TANF. Any month in which the individual received TANF from any state counts towards his/her TANF federal 60-month lifetime limit. ALL months, including partial months, count towards the TANF federal 60-month lifetime limit.

The implementation date of TANF for each state is as follows:

STATE	TANF IMPLEMENTATION DATE	STATE	TANF IMPLEMENTATION DATE
Alabama	November 15, 1996	Alaska	July 1, 1997
Arizona	October 1, 2002	Arkansas	July 1,1997
California	November 26, 1996 (TANF funding was issued on December 1,1996.)	Colorado	July 1, 1997
Connecticut	October 1, 1996	Delaware	March 10, 1997
District of Columbia	March 1, 1997	Florida	October 1, 1996
Georgia	January 1, 1997	Hawaii	July 1, 1997
Idaho	July 1, 1997	Illinois	July 1, 1997
Indiana	October 1, 1996	Iowa	January 1, 1997
Kansas	October 1, 1996	Kentucky	October 18, 1996
Louisiana	January 1, 1997	Maine	November 1, 1996
Maryland	December 9, 1996	Massachusetts	September 30, 1996
Michigan	September 30, 1996	Minnesota	July 1, 1997
Mississippi	October 1, 1996	Missouri	December 1, 1996
Montana	February 1, 1997	Nebraska	December 1, 1996
Nevada	December 3, 1996	New Hampshire	October 1, 1996
New Jersey	February 1, 1997	New Mexico	July 1, 1997
New York	December 2, 1996	North Carolina	January 1, 1997
North Dakota	July 1, 1997	Ohio	October 1, 1996
Oklahoma	October 1, 1996	Oregon	October 1, 1996
Pennsylvania	March 3, 1997	Rhode Island	March 1, 1997
South Carolina	October 12, 1996	South Dakota	December 1, 1996
Tennessee	October 1, 1996	Texas	November 5, 1996
Utah	October 1, 1996	Vermont	September 20, 1996
Virginia	February 1, 1997	Washington	January 10, 1997
West Virginia	January 11, 1997	Wisconsin	September 30, 1996
Wyoming	January 1, 1997

Federal Definition of Cash Aid

The definition of cash aid is very broad and includes cases which are receiving:

A Special Need payment only,
A Stage 1 Child Care payment, while receiving cash aid,
Child care or other supportive services (no cash aid) IF THE RECIPIENT IS NOT EMPLOYED (unemployed)
A Zero Basic Grant (ZBG) due to:
o   Penalty: A payment not issued due to a penalty which reduced the payment to zero, or
o   Overpayment: The grant for the assistance unit (AU) is reduced to zero to adjust for a prior overpayment, or
o   Grant Under $10: The actual grant amount is less than $10 and does not include any adjustments due to penalties or overpayment recoupments, or
o   Wage Subsidy: The grant based on On-The-Job Training is diverted to the employer as a wage subsidy to offset the participant's wages.

Exempt TANF Months

If any one of the following conditions is met during any month, that month does NOT count towards an individual’s TANF federal 60-month lifetime limit.

The AU is receiving ZBG and
o does not receive supportive services, or
o receives supportive services while the family is employed.
The AU is receiving CalWORKs Homeless Assistance (HA) or any nonrecurring, short-term benefits that:
o are designed to deal with a specific crisis or episode of need,
o are not intended to meet recurrent ongoing needs, and
o will not extend beyond four months.
The individual is living in Indian country, as defined by federal law, or an Alaskan native village, in which at least 50 percent of the adults living in the Indian country or in the village are not employed.
The individual is an adult or minor who is NOT the head of household or married to the head of household AND who is receiving federal funded aid in his/her parent’s AU.
The individual is REMOVED from the AU as the result of a sanction.
Note: If an individual is penalized (i.e. he/she remains in the AU but his/her needs are not allowed), the penalized month counts towards the federal 60-month time limit.

TANF 60-Month Lifetime Limit

Start Date of TANF 60-Month Period

Federal Definition of Cash Aid

Exempt TANF Months

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