Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
House Finance panel advances bill to set aside foster youths' federal benefits into ABLE accounts
Summary
The House Finance Committee adopted an amendment to House Bill 661 to place Social Security/disability benefits for certain foster children into separate ABLE-style accounts so funds can follow youth when they age out of care; proponents said it helps transitions, opponents pushed for further study. The committee voted to report the bill as 'ought to pass' with a minority report expected.
Representative Mooney, speaking for Division 3, moved and explained an amendment to House Bill 661 that would create separate, interest-bearing accounts (referred to in the amendment as ABLE accounts) to hold federal Social Security and disability benefits paid on behalf of certain children in foster care. "House bill 6 61 may look familiar to you," Mooney said, and described four years of committee work to reach the current, more limited approach. He said the bill would move the roughly 250 of about 1,500 foster children who receive federal benefits into accounts so that "when those children leave foster care, they can take an account with them." (Representative Mooney)
Why it matters: Mooney and Division 3 framed the change as a way to give youth resources at emancipation and reduce longer-term demand on…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
