This bill (Senate Bill 5311) amends several sections of Title 74 RCW to change TANF/WorkFirst rules and state food assistance law. It creates a permanent disqualification from TANF for any adult who has been terminated for WorkFirst noncompliance sanctions three or more times since March 1, 2007, when the most recent termination occurs after the section’s effective date; a household that includes such an adult is made ineligible. It also suspends subsections (2)–(6) of RCW 74.08A.260 for a recipient personally caring for a child under age two (with both parents in a two-parent family barred from using the suspension in the same month). The act includes an effective date of February 1, 2026 and a severability clause. The bill adds procedural requirements for WorkFirst: the department must assess each recipient after eligibility determination and before job-search referral using a uniform, transferable format, and must create an individual responsibility plan that sets employment goals, considers education and training, obligates participation, moves recipients into full-time activities as quickly as possible, and describes services to obtain or retain employment and advance wages. Recipients not engaged in work activities and not qualifying for a statutory good-cause exemption must engage in self-directed service as described in RCW 74.08A.330. Refusing required work activities triggers a reduction of the family grant by the recipient’s share, a two-month cure period after departmental notice, and termination of the grant after two months of continuous noncompliance, although the department may waive penalties for good cause. The department or a contractor must place recipients into local work activities in consultation with them. The bill aligns state food assistance rules with federal food stamp rules except for immigrant status provisions and any suspension of work requirements. It authorizes the department to establish a state food assistance program for legal immigrants and victims of human trafficking who are ineligible for federal food stamps, with benefit levels set in the legislature’s biennial operating budget, and allows contracting with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to use the federal coupon system or issuing vouchers if contracting is not possible. The bill requires assessments to consider financial literacy and permits the department to authorize up to ten hours of financial literacy activities as a WorkFirst activity. The text repeatedly refers to “the department” without naming it explicitly, and does not define “recipient’s share,” the specific nature of WorkFirst noncompliance sanctions, the content of “good cause” under RCW 74.08A.270, or the specific content of “self-directed service” under RCW 74.08A.330.

If enacted, adults who have been terminated from TANF for failing to follow WorkFirst rules three or more times since March 1, 2007, and whose most recent termination happens after February 1, 2026, would be permanently barred from receiving TANF and their whole household would lose eligibility. Recipients will face quicker, clearer work expectations: everyone will get a formal assessment and an individual responsibility plan before job-search referrals, may be moved into full-time WorkFirst activities faster, can be required to do up to ten hours of financial literacy as part of activities, and families can see benefit reductions and a two‑month deadline leading to grant termination if an adult refuses required work without an approved “good cause.” The one clear exemption is that a person personally providing care for a child under two can suspend several WorkFirst requirements (but both parents in a two‑parent household cannot use that suspension in the same month). The department (and its contractors) would have added responsibilities to perform standardized assessments, create and enforce individual plans, place people into local work activities, and potentially run a state food assistance program for legal immigrants and victims of human trafficking or contract with USDA to use federal systems; eligible benefit levels for any state food program would be set by the legislature. Key details are unclear in the text provided—such as which department is meant, how “recipient’s share,” the specific sanctions that count as prior terminations, and what qualifies as “good cause” or the exact content of self‑directed services—so how strictly these disqualifications and penalties will be applied in practice could vary.