1. (a) Establishment. Subject to appropriations, the Department shall establish and maintain a data system to track intergenerational poverty.

2. (b) System requirements. The system shall have the ability to do all of the following:

   1. (1) Identify groups that have a high risk of experiencing intergenerational poverty.
   2. (2) Identify incidents, patterns, and trends that explain or contribute to intergenerational poverty.

   3. (3) Gather and track available local, State, and national data on all of the following:

      1. (i) Official poverty rates.
      2. (ii) Child poverty rates.
      3. (iii) Years spent by an individual in childhood poverty.
      4. (iv) Years spent by an individual in adult poverty.
      5. (v) Related poverty information.

3. (c) Duties of the Department. The Department shall do all of the following:

   1. (1) Use available data in the system, including public assistance data, census data, and other data made available to the Department, to track intergenerational poverty.
   2. (2) Develop and implement methods to integrate, compare, analyze, and validate the data for the purposes described under subsection (b).
   3. (3) Protect the privacy of an individual living in poverty by using and distributing data within the system in compliance with federal and State laws.
   4. (4) Include, in the report required under Section 95-304, a summary of the data, findings, and potential additional uses of the system.

(Source: P.A. 101-636, eff. 6-10-20; 102-558, eff. 8-20-21.)