The department must disregard part of a TANF recipient’s earnings when calculating the household benefit, if the recipient is in an approved work activity.
§460.5. Earned income disregards for certain TANF recipients NOTE: Subsection A eff. until Oct. 1, 2027. See Acts 2025, No. 478. A. In order to promote self-sufficiency, the Department of Children and Family Services shall disregard a recipient's first six months of earnings up to nine hundred dollars of gross earnings per month in determining the amount of his household's benefit under Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, provided that such recipient is engaged in a work activity which has been approved by the department as part of his work participation requirement under TANF. NOTE: Subsection A as amended by Acts 2025, No. 478, eff. Oct. 1, 2027. A. In order to promote self-sufficiency, Louisiana Works shall disregard a recipient's first six months of earnings up to nine hundred dollars of gross earnings per month in determining the amount of his household's benefit under Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, provided that the recipient is engaged in a work activity which has been approved by the department as part of his work participation requirement under TANF. B. This provision shall apply to a household only one time. C. Months in which a recipient receives the statutory earned income disregard pursuant to Subsection A of this Section shall not count toward the state twenty-four-month limit provided in R.S. 46:231.6(A)(1). D. For purposes of this Section, "Temporary Assistance for Needy Families" or "TANF" means the federal block grant program established under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, Public Law 104-193. E. The department shall promulgate rules and regulations to implement the provisions of the earned income disregard program provided in Subsection A of this Section, in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act. Acts 1997, No. 733, §1, eff. July 1, 1997; Acts 1997, No. 859, §1, eff. July 10, 1997; Acts 1999, No. 572, §1, eff. July 1, 1999; Acts 2003, No. 58, §1; Acts 2004, No. 675, §1; Acts 2025, No. 478, §13, eff. Oct. 1, 2027.