[PavelMakarchuk]

Summary

From July 2021, PolicyEngine's Virginia TANF standards of assistance and maximum payment were up to $1.59 a month below the amounts printed in the TANF Manual, Section 304, Appendix 2. PE stored only the July 2020 table and multiplied it by a cumulative multiplier (1.1 from July 2021, 1.155 from July 2022). The manual instead prints a new table for each increase. Transmittal 71 (July 1, 2021), PDF page 1:

The Appropriations Act of 2021 authorized increases in payments of 10%. The new payment standards are included in Appendix II to Section 304.

This PR stores the printed 7/21 and 7/22 Appendix 2 tables as dated values: the standard of assistance for units of 1 to 10, the amount for each person above 10, and the maximum reimbursable payment, for Groups II and III. va_tanf_grant_standard and the TANF maximum in va_tanf read them for the period. The tables used (pdftotext -layout; all 72 values were checked against the extracted text by script):

• 7/20: Transmittal 68, PDF pages 35 (Group II) and 36 (Group III). Already in PE.
• 7/21: 10/21 complete manual, PDF pages 146 and 147, marked "TANF Transmittal 71".
• 7/22: current Chapter 300, PDF pages 29 and 30, marked "TANF Transmittal 74".

Group II, 7/22 (Chapter 300, PDF page 29), as extracted:

                    Size of                           Standards of
                Assistance Unit                        Assistance
                       1                                 $262
                       2                                  385
                       3                                  482
                       ...
                       8                                  951
                       9                                 1035
                      10                                 1127
              Each person above 10                        $95
              MAXIMUM REIMBURSABLE PAYMENT               $723
                                                            TANF Transmittal 74

The full 7/20, 7/21 and 7/22 tables for both groups are in #10450.

Design. The multiplier still covers what has no printed table here. For periods before July 2020, the formulas scale the July 2020 table by standard_multiplier as before (min_(p.standard_multiplier, 1) is below 1 only before July 2020 and 1 from then on). The need standard (va_tanf_need_standard) and the separate TANF-UP schedule (va_tanf_up_grant_standard, not in effect since #10253) still use the multiplier in every period. The need standard was not checked against its printed chart, so this PR leaves it unchanged. A comment in standard_multiplier.yaml records this split.

spm_unit_size 12 is one adult and eleven children; Pittsylvania is a Group II county and Arlington a Group III county (Section 304, Appendix 1).

Variable	Month	Group	Unit size	main	branch	Appendix 2
va_tanf_grant_standard	January 2022	II	1	248.60	249	$249
	January 2022	II	12	1,250.70	1,253	$1,073 + 2 × $90
	January 2025	II	3	481.635	482	$482
	January 2025	II	8	949.41	951	$951
	January 2025	II	12	1,313.235	1,317	$1,127 + 2 × $95
	January 2025	III	2	487.41	489	$489
	January 2025	III	8	1,077.615	1,079	$1,079
va_tanf, no income	January 2025	II	12	722	723	min($1,317, $723)
	January 2022	II	12	688	688	min($1,253, $688)

The standard sets the payment for units below the maximum (va_tanf) and the step-2 income screen (va_tanf_income_eligibility), so both now read the printed amounts. Results before July 2021 do not change.

Tests

Added to va_tanf_grant_standard.yaml (expectations from the printed tables):

• 2021 Group II, size 3: 6 × $417 (7/20) + 6 × $459 (7/21) = $5,256 (main $5,254.20). Checks the July 2021 switch.
• 2022 Group II, size 3: 6 × $459 + 6 × $482 (7/22) = $5,646 (main $5,642.01). Checks the July 2022 switch.
• January 2022: Group II size 1 $249, size 12 $1,073 + 2 × $90 = $1,253, Group III size 10 $1,194.
• January 2025: Group II size 1 $262, size 8 $951, size 12 $1,127 + 2 × $95 = $1,317; Group III size 2 $489, size 8 $1,079, size 11 $1,254 + $95 = $1,349.

Added to va_tanf.yaml:

• January 2025, Group II unit of 12, no income: grant standard $1,317, va_tanf $723 (the 7/22 maximum; main $722).
• January 2025, Group II unit of 3, no income: $482 (main $481.635).
• January 2022, Group II unit of 12, no income: $688 (the 7/21 maximum; unchanged).
• January 2019 control: the maximum still scales the 7/20 maximum, ceil(625 × 0.8282) = $518 (unchanged behavior before July 2020).

Changed:

• va_tanf_grant_standard.yaml, January 2023 Group III size 1: $364.98 (316 × 1.155) → $366, the 7/22 printed amount.
• va_tanf.yaml, 2023 Group II cap: 12 × $722 = $8,664 → 12 × $723 = $8,676, the 7/22 printed maximum. Comments in the TANF-UP cap cases now cite the printed maximums; their values ($688, $820, $861) do not change.

Results: tests/policy/baseline/gov/states/va/dss/: 436 passed. With main's code, 16 of the new or changed cases fail, with the values in the table above. tests/code_health/: 503 passed; 2 failed (test_selective_test_batches.py, the with_coverage=True variants), because the local environment has no pytest_cov; they do not read VA files.

This branch merges cleanly with #10261 (the $10 minimum payment) in va_tanf.py. #10261 already conflicts with main in va_tanf.yaml because of #10253; this branch adds no new conflict.

Fixes #10450

axiom: TheAxiomFoundation/rulespec-us#1921 queued (open, pe-parity; its plan encodes the 7/20, 7/21 and 7/22 Section 304, Appendix 2 standards and maximums by group "as printed", and the 10/21 manual and transmittals must be ingested into the corpus first)

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 100.00%. Comparing base (909176a) to head (2321b93).
⚠️ Report is 706 commits behind head on main.

Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff            @@
##              main    #10503   +/-   ##
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  Coverage   100.00%   100.00%           
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  Files            4         2    -2     
  Lines           76        49   -27     
  Branches         2         0    -2     
=========================================
- Hits            76        49   -27     

Flag	Coverage Δ
unittests	100.00% <100.00%> (ø)

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[hua7450]

Approving at 2321b93. Thanks, Pavel.

I checked every new 7/21 and 7/22 value against the printed Section 304, Appendix 2 tables: the standards for sizes 1 to 10, the amount for each person above 10, and the maximum, for Groups II and III. They all match. Transmittals 71 and 74 date them July 1, 2021 and July 1, 2022. The current Chapter 300 still prints the 7/22 tables, so no later increase is missing. min_(p.standard_multiplier, 1) is below 1 only before July 2020, so earlier results don't change. I recomputed every new and edited case in va_tanf_grant_standard.yaml and va_tanf.yaml, including the 2021 and 2022 annual cases across the July switches, and they match. Main's floor and $10 minimum (merged since this branch was cut) leave the new expectations unchanged.

Optional nits:

1. January 2019 control case. "In January 2019 the maximum still scales the 7/20 maximum" asserts $518. The manual in force then (10/18 Chapter 300, 7/17 Appendix 2, Transmittal 62) prints a Group II maximum of $516. The case pins model behavior, which is fine, but its comment could say the printed 7/17 maximum is $516, so the $518 isn't read as the law's value. See the first follow-up.
2. standard_multiplier description and label. These still say it applies to the standards of assistance. Only the new YAML comment records the split. A user who raises the multiplier for a new increase would see the need standard and TANF-UP move but not the grant or maximum, because of the min_(..., 1). The description could name what it now scales.
3. Live Chapter 300 URL. The 7/22 references point to the live file, which VDSS will overwrite with the next table. The archived Transmittal 74, or a dated Wayback copy, would keep supporting the 2022-07-01 values.
4. "Up to $1.59 a month". The changelog and body say this, but for units over 10 the shortfall reaches $3.77 (the per-person amount went from 93.555 to $95). For example, "by up to a few dollars a month".
5. Stale test text.
   • va_tanf.yaml still says "max payment = ceil(base_max * standard_multiplier)" in the cap-section header, and the two 2023 cases are named "capped at scaled max payment", though they now test the printed 7/22 maximums. Line 110 keeps "(ceil(625 * 1.155) = 722)".
   • The 2025 TANF-UP integration case's comment still derives both values from the multiplier.
6. Tests.
   • The two va_tanf.yaml cases repeat va_tanf_grant_standard assertions that the grant-standard file already pins.
   • No case pins the July dates of max.yaml. For example, a 2022 annual case with no income in Pittsylvania: 6 × 688 + 6 × 723 = 8,466.
7. PR body. It says 10261 conflicts with main, but 10261 is now merged, and the "main" column predates its floor.

Follow-ups, outside this PR:

• Before July 2020 the standards and maximums still scale the 7/20 table. They differ from the printed 7/17 tables (Group II maximum $518 vs $516; Group III $618 vs $614). For 7/19, the standards differ (Group II size 3: 362.62 vs 363), though the maximums match. Storing the 7/17 and 7/19 tables would retire the multiplier for standards.
• va_tanf_need_standard still scales the 7/20 Maximum Income Chart. It falls below the printed 7/21 and 7/22 charts by up to about $1.69 for units of 1 to 10, and more for larger units.
• va_tanf_grant_standard, va_tanf and max_unit_size.yaml cite a tanfx2fview URL that returns 404. In the live Chapter 300, #page=51 is Section 305.3, not the standards.