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
          
















































          _________________________________________________________________
          ____
          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. 
          _________________________________________________________________
          ____
                            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.
          _________________________________________________________________
          ____

          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 








          AB 69 (Beall)
          Page 3


          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 








          AB 69 (Beall)
          Page 4


          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.