(a) The TFAP must include the Tribe's proposal for:

(1) Time limits for the receipt of Tribal TANF assistance;

(2) Any exceptions to these time limits; and

(3) The percentage of the caseload to be exempted from the time limit due to hardship or if the family includes an individual who has been battered or subjected to extreme cruelty.

(b) The Tribe must also include the rationale for its proposal in the plan. The rationale must address how the proposed time limits are consistent with the purposes of TANF and with the economic conditions and resources of the Tribe.

(1) Examples of the information that could be included to illustrate the Tribe's proposal include, but are not limited to: Poverty, unemployment, jobless and job surplus rates; education levels of adults in the service area; availability of and/or accessibility to resources (educational facilities, transportation) to help families become employable and find employment; and employment opportunities on and near the service area.

(c) We may require that the Tribe submit additional information about the rationale before we approve the proposed time limits.

(d) Tribes must not count towards the time limit:

(1) Any month of receipt of assistance to a family that does not include an adult head-of-household;

(2) A family that does not include a pregnant minor head-of-household, minor parent head-of-household, or spouse of such a head-of-household; and

(3) Any month of receipt of assistance by an adult during which the adult lived in Indian country or in an Alaskan Native Village in which at least 50 percent of the adults were not employed.

(e) A Tribe must not use any of its TFAG to provide assistance (as defined in §286.10) to a family that includes an adult or minor head-of-household who has received assistance beyond the number of months (whether or not consecutive) that is negotiated with the Tribe.