(a) The Governor of the State must certify in writing to the Secretary that:

(1) The applicable policies have been continually applied in operating the TANF program, as described in § 260.72(c);

(2) The inconsistencies claimed by the State are within the scope of the approved waivers, as described in § 260.72(b);

(b) The certification must identify the specific inconsistencies that the State chooses to continue with respect to work and time limits.

(1) If the waiver inconsistency claim includes work provisions, the certification must specify the standards that will apply, in lieu of the provisions in subparts B and C of part 261 of this chapter, to determine:

(i) The number of two-parent and all-parent cases that are exempt from participation, if any, for the purpose of determining the denominator of the work participation rate;

(ii) The number of nonexempt two-parent and all-parent cases that are participating in work activities for the purpose of determining the numerator of the work participation rate, including standards applicable to;

(A) Countable work activities; and

(B) Required hours of work for participation for individual participants; and

(iii) The penalty against an individual or family when an individual refuses to work.

(2) If the waiver inconsistency claim includes time-limit provisions, the certification must include the standards that will apply, in lieu of the provisions in § 264.1 of this chapter, in determining:

(i) Which families are counted toward the Federal time limit; and

(ii) Whether a family is eligible for an extension of its time limit on federally funded assistance.

(3) If the State is continuing policies for evaluation purposes in accordance with § 260.76:

(i) The certification must specify any special work or time-limit standards that apply to the control group and experimental group cases; and

(ii) The State may choose to exclude cases assigned to the experimental and control groups, which are not otherwise exempt, for the purpose of calculating the work participation rate or determining State compliance related to limiting assistance to families including adults who have received 60 months of Federal TANF assistance. In doing so, the State may effectively exclude all experimental group cases and/or control group cases, not otherwise exempt, but may not exclude individual cases on a selective basis.

(c) The certification may include a claim of inconsistency with respect to hours of required participation in work activities only if the State has written evidence that, when implemented, the waiver policies established specific requirements related to hours of work for nonexempt individuals.

(d)(1) The Governor's certification must be provided no later than October 1, 1999.

(2) If a State modifies its waiver policies in a way that has a substantive effect on the determination of its work sanctions, or the calculation of its work participation rates or its time-limit exceptions, it must submit an amended certification no later than the end of the fiscal quarter in which the modifications take effect.