Virginia TANF

[hua7450]

Summary

Implements Virginia Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, including both regular TANF and TANF-UP (Unemployed Parent) benefits.

Closes #7134

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Virginia TANF Income Rules

Regulatory Authority

• Virginia TANF Manual Section 300 (Financial Eligibility)
• Virginia TANF Manual Section 700 (TANF-UP Program)
• 22 VAC 40-295 (TANF Administrative Code)

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1. INCOME ELIGIBILITY TESTS

Two-Step Income Test (Section 305.1)

Step 1 - Gross Income Test:

• Limit: Need Standard
• Definition: Gross earned income + countable unearned income (after disregards only)

Step 2 - Net Income Test:

• Limit: Grant Standard (or UP Grant Standard for TANF-UP)
• Definition: Countable income after all deductions applied

Source: Virginia TANF Manual Section 305.1

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2. INCOME DEDUCTIONS & EXEMPTIONS

A. Flat Earned Income Deduction

Assistance Unit Size	Monthly Deduction
1-3 persons	$167
4 persons	$178
5 persons	$209
6+ persons	$240

Source: Virginia TANF Manual Section 302.6

B. Earned Income Disregard

20% of remaining earned income (after flat deduction) is disregarded.

Source: Virginia TANF Manual Section 302.6

C. Dependent Care Expense Deduction

Care Recipient	Full-Time (30+ hrs)
Under age 2	$200/month
Age 2+ or disabled adult	$175/month

Source: Virginia TANF Manual Section 302.6

D. Child Support Disregard

• Amount: First $100/month excluded from unearned income

Source: Virginia TANF Manual Section 302.7

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3. INCOME STANDARDS BY FAMILY SIZE

Standards use July 2020 base values with a multiplier parameter for annual increases.

Multiplier History:

Date	Cumulative Multiplier
Pre-2016	0.769
Jul 2020	1.0 (base values)
Jul 2021	1.1
Jul 2022	1.155
Jul 2023	1.2705

Need Standard (Base Values - July 2020)

Family Size	Group II	Group III
1	$453	$631
2	$663	$842
3	$836	$1,017
4	$997	$1,178
5	$1,178	$1,403
6	$1,317	$1,534
7	$1,473	$1,696
8	$1,645	$1,868
9+	+$162/person	+$162/person

Source: Virginia TANF Manual Section 302.4

Grant Standard (Base Values - July 2020)

Family Size	Group II	Group III
1	$226	$316
2	$332	$422
3	$417	$508
4	$499	$589
5	$589	$701
6	$658	$767
7	$736	$847
8	$822	$933

Source: Virginia TANF Manual Section 302.4

TANF-UP Grant Standard (Base Values - July 2020)

Family Size	Group II	Group III
1	$197	$275
2	$289	$367
3	$363	$442
4	$434	$513
5	$513	$610
6	$573	$667
7	$640	$737
8	$715	$812

Source: Virginia TANF Manual Section 702

Locality Groups

• Group III (26 localities):
  • Counties (13): Albemarle, Arlington, Augusta, Caroline, Fairfax, Fauquier, James City, King George, Montgomery, Prince William, Spotsylvania, Stafford, York
  • Cities (13): Alexandria, Charlottesville, Colonial Heights, Fairfax, Falls Church, Fredericksburg, Hampton, Manassas, Manassas Park, Newport News, Poquoson, Staunton, Waynesboro
• Group II: All other Virginia localities

Source: Virginia TANF Manual Section 302.4

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4. BENEFIT CALCULATION

Formula:

Benefit = min(Grant Standard − Countable Income, Maximum Payment)

Where Countable Income = Countable Earned + Countable Unearned

Countable Earned:

max(max(Gross Earned − Flat Deduction, 0) × 0.8 − Childcare, 0)

Countable Unearned:

Gross Unearned − Child Support Disregard

Maximum Payment (Base Values - July 2020)

Program	Group II	Group III
Regular TANF	$625	$745
TANF-UP	$544	$648

Source: Virginia TANF Manual Section 302.4

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5. NOT IMPLEMENTED

• Part-time childcare deduction rates - Implementation assumes full-time work (30+ hrs)
• Unemployment compensation disregard - TANF-UP only, 100% excluded

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🤖 Generated with Claude Code

Co-Authored-By: Claude noreply@anthropic.com

[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 100.00%. Comparing base (60c5dcc) to head (7e781d3).
⚠️ Report is 61 commits behind head on main.

Additional details and impacted files

@@             Coverage Diff              @@
##             main     #7135       +/-   ##
============================================
+ Coverage   73.76%   100.00%   +26.23%     
============================================
  Files        3666        12     -3654     
  Lines       52712       205    -52507     
  Branches      263         0      -263     
============================================
- Hits        38882       205    -38677     
+ Misses      13815         0    -13815     
+ Partials       15         0       -15     

Flag	Coverage Δ
unittests	100.00% <100.00%> (+26.23%)	⬆️

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[PavelMakarchuk]

PR Review - Virginia TANF Implementation

🟡 Should Address

1. Potential Loudoun County Missing from Group III - The PR description states Group III includes "Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William counties" but LOUDOUN_COUNTY_VA does not appear in localities/group3.yaml. Please verify against Virginia TANF Manual Section 302 whether Loudoun County should be included. If so, this would affect benefit calculations for Loudoun County residents.

2. Test Comment Accuracy - In integration test "Family with earned and unearned income (child support)", the comment describes Step 1 as "$500 + $100 = $600" but the code uses gross income ($500 + $200 gross child support = $700). While the test passes either way, the comment should match the actual calculation.

3. PR Description Correction - The description states need standard addition is "+$160/person" for Group II and "+$162/person" for Group III, but both parameter files show $162. Consider updating the description for accuracy.

🟢 Suggestions

1. Consider adding tests for very large families (size > 12) to verify the addition logic works correctly beyond the lookup table.

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Validation Summary

Check	Result
CI Status	✅ All checks passing
Code Patterns	✅ Follows PolicyEngine standards
Parameter Metadata	✅ All have descriptions, labels, references with page numbers
Vectorization	✅ Uses where(), max_(), min_() correctly
adds / add() Usage	✅ Correct patterns
Period Handling	✅ Uses period.this_year correctly
Test Coverage	✅ 78 tests across 11 test files

What's Well Done

• Comprehensive implementation covering regular TANF, TANF-UP, and all income deductions
• Well-documented PR description with regulatory citations and calculation formulas
• Creative base-year multiplier approach for handling annual benefit increases
• Thorough test coverage with detailed calculation comments
• Proper parameter structure with separate files for each locality group
• Good use of PolicyEngine patterns (adds, add(), where(), defined_for)

Overall Assessment: COMMENT (Non-blocking)

The implementation is well-structured and ready for merge pending verification of the Loudoun County question. The code follows PolicyEngine standards and has comprehensive test coverage.

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To auto-fix issues: /fix-pr 7135

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[PavelMakarchuk]

@hua7450 could you take a look at the missing county

[hua7450]

@hua7450 could you take a look at the missing county

The PR description is wrong, I have edited the PR Description.