July 27, 2025

About two weeks ago (around July 10) the NYS Council spotted a Notice in the Federal Register with a new HHS Rule related to the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA).  We quickly notified our members regarding the Rule, shared several Client Alerts from our attorneys at Feldesman, and then we hosted a Members Only Webinar featuring Feldesman attorneys who shared information and analysis of the reinterpretation.  The amended definition will prohibit programs funded under the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics Program, Community Mental Health Services Block Grant, Substance Use Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery Services Block Grant, including grant programs administered by SAMHSA, to be provided to individuals who are not U.S. citizens or “qualified aliens.” At the same time, PRWORA exempts nonprofit charitable organizations from any requirement to determine, verify, or otherwise require proof of eligibility of any applicant for benefits. 

You can find a recording of the Webinar and the slide deck used by our consultants on our Website at:   www.nyscouncil.org in the section called ‘Events’ and more specifically, in the Archived Events section of the site.  You will need a UserName and Password to access this information as well as additional recordings and slides from prior Webinars we’ve recently hosted to assist our members.  If you need a UserName and Password contact Cindy at:  cindy@nyscouncil.org.

See below that just arrived from our wonderful attorney Adam Falcone at Feldesman.  Remember:  We learned through our attorneys about a day after the Rule was published that nonprofit charitable organizations are not currently required to ask the individuals we serve about their immigration status; however, the chilling effect of the reinterpretation of ‘federal public benefit’ combined with the expected impact on the targeted population, remains a very serious access to care issue for these individuals.  As such it is somewhat helpful that the Federal Government has agreed to ‘stay’ (pause) enforcement of application of the challenged Notice – see below.

If you have questions I would be happy to gather them and request assistance from Adam and the team at Feldesman.  Just let me know.

Please do not share this information outside of your agency.  Thank you.

———- Forwarded message ———
From: Falcone, Adam J. <AFalcone@feldesman.com>
Date: Sun, Jul 27, 2025 at 9:37 AM
Subject: Client Alert: PWRORA Litigation Update – Government Agrees to Short Pause
To: Lauri Cole <lauri@nyscouncil.org>

Lauri,

Here is our latest client alert on the PRWORA litigation in which the Federal Government agreed to stay (or pause) any enforcement and application of the challenged Notices (and their contents) in Plaintiff States (which include: New York, Washington, Rhode Island, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont and Wisconsin), through September 3, 2025. 

As of 6 pm EDT on July 25, 2025, the Court has not issued an order endorsing this proposed stipulation but we have no reason to believe it will be denied.

Below is a link to the Feldesman Client Alert:

PRWORA Litigation Update – Government Agrees to Short Pause