The Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) was created pursuant to Chapter 436 of the Laws of 1997. OTDA, along with the Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS), are the successor agencies to the Department of Social Services (DSS). OTDA is responsible for the administration of public assistance programs including: Family Assistance; Safety Net Assistance; Supplemental Security Income (SSI); the Federal Food Stamp Program; the State Food Assistance Program; the Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP); child support services; refugee assistance programs; and homeless shelter and service programs. Through its Division of Disability Determinations, OTDA evaluates the medical eligibility claimants for Federal SSI and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits. OTDA works closely with OCFS and the Department of Labor, which administers employment-training programs to enable participants to transition from public assistance to unsubsidized employment.

The Executive recommends merging the Office of the Welfare Inspector General into the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) within the Audit and Control Unit. The functions of the Office of Welfare Inspector General are to prevent, investigate, and prosecute public assistance fraud. The responsibilities would now be handled by the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance with assistance from local social service offices, the Office of Children and Family Services, the Department of Law, and others to prevent fraudulent activity in the welfare system. The stated purpose of this move is to provide the Welfare Inspector General with access to OTDA's administrative support and computer capabilities.

The Executive requests All Funds appropriations totaling $4,799,688,000 in State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2003-04. This represents an increase of $688,921,600 or approximately 16.8 percent from the SFY 2002-03 level.

The office is included in the Education, Labor, and Family Assistance appropriation bill.

State Operations

The Executive projects the number of Public Assistance recipients (including Safety Net recipients) to increase by 5.3 percent in SFY 2003-04. However, since the enactment of Welfare Reform in 1997, the Executive has been claiming that public assistance caseloads have significantly dropped. In SFY 2002-03, the Executive projected a 1.0 percent increase in caseloads. To date, OTDA has not provided evidence that such an increase has occurred and the Agency's published data actually reflects a decrease in caseloads during calendar year 2002 of 48,135 recipients.

The Executive recommends an All Funds State Operations appropriation totaling $467,352,500, which represents an increase of approximately $2.171,100 above SFY 2002-03.

The Executive proposes a $13,100,000 Special Revenue Fund - Other appropriation for Systems Support and Information Services for the development and implementation of new automated client notification system for case closeouts and enhancements to the welfare to work case management system. This appropriation represents a 92 percent increase from SFY 2002-03.

Aid To Localities

The Executive proposes an All Funds Aid to Localities appropriation totaling $4,302,335,500 in SFY 2003-04, which reflects an increase of $686,750,500 or 19 percent from SFY 2002-03. This increase is attributable to the Executive's projection of a more than 5 percent increase in the Public Assistance caseload which includes a greater than 10 percent Safety Net caseload increase. The Executive further proposes a nearly 3 percent increase in the monthly average payment (MAP). These increases are reflected in the $682,144,000 increase in the appropriations for the Temporary and Disability Assistance programs.

Areas which provide funding to local social service districts drastically affected by the Executive's proposal include administration (reduced by 100 percent or $30 million); the Community Projects Fund (reduced by 100 percent or approximately $3 million); the Food Assistance Program (reduced by $1.6 million or 73 percent); and other Legislative Initiatives.

The Executive includes the existing shelter allowance schedule in the Temporary and Disability Assistance appropriation. This is an attempt to undermine one of the issues in the most recent judicial decision against the State regarding the adequacy of those shelter schedules, Jiggett v. Grinker.

A $2,000,000 Contingency appropriation is included in the Executive's proposal for the Shelter and Supported Housing Program.

Capital Projects

The Executive proposes a Capital Projects appropriation totaling $30,000,000 for the Homeless Housing Assistance Program (HHAP) which is the same level as the appropriation for SFY 2002-03.

Article VII Proposals

The Executive proposes Article VII legislation that would amend the statutorily prescribed adequacy requirements with respect to public assistance shelter allowances, thereby essentially rendering the ongoing Jiggetts v. Grinker litigation moot.

The Executive also proposes legislation to limit the pass through of Federal Social Security Income cost of living adjustments (COLA) to SSI recipients which are scheduled to occur on January 1, 2004. Instead, the legislation would authorize the State to utilize the funds to offset its financial commitment to the Program. This piece of Article VII legislation is stated to save the State $25.7 million in SFY 2003-04. Finally, the Executive has included Article VII legislation to allow the merger of the Office of the Welfare Inspector General (OWIG) with the Audit and Control Unit of the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance.

Federal TANF Block Grant

SFY 2003-04 will be the seventh year in which New York has received its federal public assistance funding through the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) Block Grant. Federal Authorization of the TANF Block Grant expired on January 11, 2003, with spending authority extended until the end of SFY 2002-03. Congressional reauthorization, or at the very least a continuation of the TANF Block Grant at current funding levels, is envisioned in the Executive proposal. The Executive's recommended SFY 2003-04 budget is predicated on Congressional reauthorization of the TANF Block Grant at the current $2.44 billion allocation for New York.

New York's caseload and expenditures were significantly higher in FFY 1995 than in the subsequent years. As a result of the change in the number of New Yorkers being served in the TANF program, the State has annually experienced Federal TANF funding above the amount needed to support the Federal share of the Family Assistance Program. This funding overage is referred to as the "TANF Surplus". The Executive's budget projects the TANF Surplus to be $1,823,410,000 for SFY 2003-04.

The Executive proposes to use the TANF Surplus in the following manner for SFY 2003-04:

Child Care (Includes CAP and EAF)*	$408,000,000
Earned Income Tax Credit	$382,000,000
Title XX	$241,000,000
Tuition Assistance Program	$225,000,000
Supports to Foster Stable Families	$225,000,000
Child Welfare EAF	$140,000,000
Child and Dependent Care Credit	$107,000,000
Local JD/PINS	$105,000,000
Employment and Transitional Initiatives	$ 50,000,000
NY Foster Care Tuition	$ 41,000,000
Advantage Schools	$ 20,200,000
Home Visiting	$ 16,000,000
Food Pantries	$ 12,000,000
OCFS Juvenile Delinquent Programs	$ 12,000,000
Pregnancy Prevention	$ 10,000,000
Systems	$ 10,000,000
Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention (APPS)	$ 7,700,000
PINS and Preventive Services	$ 7,000,000
YEETP	$ 4,300,000
Alternatives to Incarceration	$ 4,000,000
School Based Health Centers	$ 3,500,000
Title XX - WIC	$ 3,000,000
Displaced Homemakers	$ 2,800,000
Child Welfare Quality	$ 2,000,000
WIC	$ 2,000,000
Green Teams	$ 1,010,000
OCFS Community Based JD Services	$ 1,000,000

The Executive's budget proposal does not include TANF funding for Pre-kindergarten programs, Summer Youth Employment, Extended Day programs, Blueprint, Wage Subsidy, Technology Training, VESID/LIVES, Language Emerging and ESL training, Homeless Assistance, Skills Development, Basic Education, ACCESS - Welfare to Careers, and Supportive Housing for Families, Kinship/PINS/Caretaker, (Disability Advocacy Program (DAP), Emergency Homeless Programs, and Adults and Family Literacy.

*CAP - Childcare Assistance Program and EAF - Emergency Assistance for Families