BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
AB 69 (Beall)
Hearing Date: 07/11/2011 Amended: 05/27/2011
Consultant: Jolie Onodera Policy Vote: Human Services 7-0
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BILL SUMMARY: AB 69 would require the Department of Social
Services (DSS), to the extent permitted by federal law, to allow
counties to utilize existing information maintained by the
Social Security Administration (SSA) regarding low-income social
security benefit recipients to simplify enrollment into
CalFresh. This bill would require DSS to support enrollment
efforts through various activities, as specified.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Fund
Programming/automation Unknown; potential costs in the
hundredsGen/Fed
changes of thousands to millions of dollars to
DSS
Increased CalFresh Unknown; benefit and
administrativeFed*/Gen/Loc
participation costs potentially in the millions of
dollars annually
Development of streamlined One-time costs potentially in
excess of Gen/Fed
application process $100 to DSS
*CalFresh benefits are 100 percent federally funded.
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STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Existing federal law provides for the Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP), known in California as CalFresh,
under which nutrition assistance benefits are provided to
eligible individuals. This bill would require DSS, to the extent
permitted by federal law, waiver, demonstration project, or
other federal authority, to allow counties to utilize existing
information maintained by the SSA in order to streamline and
simplify enrollment into CalFresh provided that an interested
county has either the existing capacity to receive the
information, or the ability to adapt its existing automation
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systems without costs or significant changes.
This bill would require the DSS to support enrollment efforts by
doing all of the following:
1) Working with the SSA to target social security
recipients 60 years of age and older whose income and
other factors are likely to qualify them for aid;
2) Developing a streamlined application and simplified
enrollment process for likely eligible recipients, which
may include strategies used by other states to reduce
paperwork and increase federal nutrition benefits,
including self certification of key eligibility factors,
standardization of benefits and deductions, and
automation of the application process;
3) Seek waivers, grants, or other federal authority and
support necessary to implement this section.
The supportive enrollment efforts required under the provisions
of this would result in increased workload to DSS of an unknown,
but potentially significant amount in excess of $100,000 to work
with the SSA, develop a streamlined application and enrollment
process for SSA recipients, and seek the appropriate federal
authority to implement the new process.
Although counties are authorized to implement this process
subject to the capacity to receive the information, or the
ability to adapt its existing automation systems without costs
or significant changes, there could be significant costs to the
State in programming and automation changes required to enable
the secure and proper sharing of data between the SSA and
existing automation systems. Although combined application
projects have been implemented in other states utilizing data
matching for SSI recipients in order to increase SNAP
participation, extending the data sharing concept to social
security recipients (while excluding SSI recipients) has not
been tested to date. The potential ongoing costs to the State to
enter into an agreement with SSA to provide this information are
also unknown.
Recent data suggests that there are over 440,000 CalFresh
eligible households containing recipients of social security
benefits. To the extent counties opt to utilize the new
application and enrollment process could result in additional
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CalFresh benefits in the millions of dollars (100 percent
federal). The associated intake and ongoing administrative costs
would also be significant (50 percent federal, 35 percent
state), and would be dependent upon the number of newly enrolled
seniors. For every 10 percent of potentially eligible households
(44,000 households), additional administrative costs of $9.6
million ($3.3 million General Fund) could result. To the extent
the application and enrollment process is simplified and/or
streamlined could result in lower estimated administrative costs
for this population.
Additional federal CalFresh benefits received will likely result
in increased sales tax revenue to the State. Studies show that
low-income individuals spend a significant portion of their
money on food, and increasing CalFresh access would allow them
to spend that money on taxable items.