Sec. 31.0126.  EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS.  (a)  The Texas Workforce Commission by rule shall develop the following programs to assist recipients of financial assistance and services under this chapter and nonrecipient parents in finding and retaining employment:
(1)  a work first program that provides a participant job readiness training and employment information and services that will motivate the participant to find and apply for a job through job clubs, job readiness activities, and job search activities;
(2)  a business internship program that provides a participant the opportunity to obtain marketable job skills through an internship in a participating business;
(3)  a Texas works program that:
(A)  is operated by a nonprofit group or local governmental entity;
(B)  provides to a participant motivational and job readiness training by placing the participant in a job for a period of several months;
(C)  ensures that the participant is visited at work and receives counseling and help in resolving any work-related or personal problems; and
(D)  receives funding on the basis of participants who are successfully hired for employment;
(4)  a community work experience program that provides a participant job training and work experience through a temporary job in the public sector;
(5)  a subsidized employment program that provides to a participant job training and work experience through a job in the private sector that pays the participant a subsidized salary; and
(6)  a self-employment assistance program that provides to a participant entrepreneurial training, business counseling, and technical and financial assistance so that the participant can establish a business and become self-employed.
(b)  The Texas Workforce Commission shall develop the programs prescribed by this section in accordance with federal law as a part of a Temporary Assistance for Needy Families employment program established under Part A, Subchapter IV, Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. Section 601 et seq.).
(c)  In adopting rules governing a program prescribed by this section, the executive commissioner shall:
(1)  establish the criteria for determining which recipients and nonrecipient parents who are eligible to participate in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families employment programs established under Part A, Subchapter IV, Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. Section 601 et seq.), may be required to participate in a particular program; and
(2)  ensure that a recipient or a nonrecipient parent who is incapable of participating in a particular program is not required to participate in that program.
(d)  A local workforce development board may implement in a workforce development area one or more programs prescribed by this section.
(e)  The Texas Workforce Commission shall submit a waiver application or a renewal waiver application that a federal agency may require before a local workforce development board can implement one or more of the programs prescribed by this section in a workforce development area.
(f)  In this section, a "local workforce development board" means a local workforce development board created under Chapter 2308, Government Code.
Added by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 655, Sec. 4.03, eff. Sept. 1, 1995.  Amended by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 818, Sec. 6.08, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.
Amended by: 
Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1300 (S.B. 589), Sec. 6, eff. June 15, 2007.
Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1 (S.B. 219), Sec. 4.058, eff. April 2, 2015.