BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 596
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          Date of Hearing:   March 30, 2011

                           ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
                                Julia Brownley, Chair
                 AB 596 (Carter) - As Introduced:  February 16, 2011
           
           ÝNote: This bill has been double referred to the Assembly Human 
          Services Committee and will be heard as it relates to issues 
          under its jurisdiction.]
           
          SUBJECT  :   Child care:  CalWORKs recipients:  rights

           SUMMARY  :  Requires the California Department of Education (CDE) 
          to collaborate with welfare rights and legal services advocates 
          to develop and adopt regulations and other policy statements to 
          provide California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids 
          (CalWORKs) program recipients of child care the same level of 
          due process protections and procedural protections that are 
          afforded to public assistance recipients pursuant to specified 
          sections in the Welfare and Institutions Code (WIC) and their 
          corresponding regulations.  

           EXISTING LAW  :

          1)Establishes an appeals process for recipients of public social 
            service programs administered by the Department of Social 
            Services (DSS).  Requires that upon filing a request with the 
            DSS, an applicant or recipient of public social service 
            programs is provided with an opportunity for a state hearing 
            (WIC Section 10950).

          2)Provides that a hearing shall be conducted by an 
            administrative law judge employed by the DSS, the director of 
            DSS, or the Office of Administrative Hearings (WIC Section 
            10953).

          3)Specifies a process and timeline by which the hearings shall 
            be conducted, including the requirement that the proceedings 
            at the hearing shall be reported by a phonographic reporter or 
            otherwise perpetuated by mechanical, electronic, or other 
            means capable of reproduction or transcription (WIC Sections 
            10950 et seq.).

          4)Establishes eligibility for child care services and child 
            development programs administered by the CDE and requires the 








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            Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) to adopt rules and 
            regulations on eligibility, enrollment and priority of 
            services needed for implementation (Education Code (EC) 
            Section 8263).

           FISCAL EFFECT  :   Unknown

           COMMENTS  :   Background  .  In fiscal year (FY) 2010-11, $2.669 
          billion was provided for child care and development programs 
          from state and federal funds, enrolling an estimated 415,715 
          children from birth through age 12.  The proposed FY 2011-12 
          budget decreases the total funding by $500.7 million.  
          Eligibility is based on eligibility for the CalWORKs program or 
          income (75% of state median income).  CalWORKs is a temporary 
          cash aid program for families with children.  Recipients are 
          required to engage in work or education/training as a condition 
          for aid and receive subsidized child care services to assist 
          them in this endeavor.  According to the DSS, the child care 
          program is administered in three stages to help a family 
          transition from immediate, short-term child care needs to 
          stable, long-term child care as a family becomes stable and is 
          no longer reliant on CalWORKs aid.  The three stages of CalWORKs 
          child care is as follows:

          Stage 1:  Stage 1 is provided upon receipt of CalWORKs benefits 
          and may last approximately six months or until a family's 
          situation is considered stable.  

          Stage 2:  A family transfers to Stage 2 once the work situation 
          is stable.  Families are eligible for subsidized child care for 
          up to two years after they are no longer eligible for CalWORKs 
          aid.  

          Stage 3:  Once a family stops receiving CalWORKs grants and has 
          received the maximum two years of child care services under 
          Stage 2, it can maintain child care benefits if it meets income 
          eligibility and if there are slots available under Stage 3 child 
          care.    

           Administration of child care  :  Stage 1 child care is 
          administered by county welfare departments and overseen by the 
          DSS, while Stages 2 and 3 are administered by the CDE through a 
          voucher system that enables recipients to choose the child care 
          arrangements that work best for them, including licensed 
          centers, licensed family child care homes, or license-exempt 








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          care (e.g., care by a relative).  The voucher program is 
          administered by Alternative Payment Programs (APPs) selected by 
          the CDE.

           Appeals Processes  :  Because CalWORKs child care benefits are 
          administered by both the DSS and the CDE, there are two 
          different processes for appeals, depending on which stage of 
          benefits a recipient wishes to appeal.  

          The process for DSS appeals is specified in the WIC (Chapter 7, 
          Part 2, Division 9) and DSS regulations.  WIC Section 10950 
          specifies that an applicant is provided an opportunity for a 
          state hearing upon filing a request within 90 days of an action 
          if any applicant is "dissatisfied with any action of the county 
          department relating to his or her application for or receipt of 
          public social services, if his or her application is not acted 
          upon with reasonable promptness or if any person who desires to 
          apply for public social services is refused the opportunity to 
          submit a signed application therefore, and is dissatisfied with 
          that refusal."  Existing law requires the hearings to be 
          conducted by an administrative law judge employed by the DSS, 
          the director of DSS, or the Office of Administrative Hearings.  
          Existing law also specifies a timeline for the appeal and 
          requires the hearings to be reported by a phonograhic reporter 
          or other mechanical, electronic or other means capable of 
          reproduction or transcription.  

          The CDE appeals process is specified through Title 5 
          regulations, established through authority in the EC authorizing 
          the SPI to adopt regulations to implement the child care and 
          development program.  Title 5 Section 18120 specifies that a 
          parent may file a request for a hearing with the contractor 
          within 14 calendar days s/he receives notification of an action 
          from the contractor, called the Notification of Action (NOA).  
          The hearing is conducted by an administrative staff person 
          called the "hearing officer", who is a staff of the contractor 
          in a higher level of authority than the staff person who made 
          the contested decision.  The regulations do not require the 
          hearing to be transcribed or recorded.  If the recipient 
          disagrees with the written decision from the hearing officer 
          (contractor), s/he has 14 calendar days to file an appeal with 
          the CDE's Child Development Division (CDD) to conduct a second 
          level of review.  The regulations authorize the CDD to get 
          copies of the basic data file from the contractor and conduct 
          any investigations, interviews or mediation necessary to resolve 








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          the appeal.  According to the CDE, the appeal coordinator 
          contacts the recipients to provide CDD contact information and 
          to answer any questions about the process.  The CDD coordinator 
          then reviews parent statements and information in the file 
          provided by the contractor and makes a determination based on 
          the regulations and statutes related to the NOA.  In 2009-10, 
          838 CDD appeals were filed.  Of the appeals that received a 
          ruling, the CDD upheld a local decision to deny a claim in 86% 
          of the cases and granted the appeal in 14% of the cases.  There 
          is no data on the number of hearings conducted by the local 
          contractors, although the CDE estimates the number to be 10 
          times the number of appeals received by the CDD.  

           Need for the bill  .  The author states, "Current law does not 
          address due process or procedural protections for Stage 2 and 3 
          child care recipients and they must use an appeal process that 
          fails to include basic due process protections afforded to Stage 
          1 recipients.  This un-equitable policy has resulted with 
          numerous complaints from legal services providers throughout the 
          state about the lack of due process afforded to Stage 2 and 3 
          child care recipients."  

          This bill requires the CDE to collaborate with welfare rights 
          and legal services advocates to develop and adopt regulations 
          and other policy statements to provide CalWORKs recipients of 
          child care the same level of due process protections and 
          procedural protections that are afforded to public assistance 
          recipients as specified in the WIC.  This would require the CDE 
          to utilize administrative law judges similar to that used by the 
          DSS for all Stage 2 and 3 appeals, including first level appeals 
          currently handled by contractors.  Legal advocates familiar with 
          both processes have expressed concerns that the CDE process is 
          too casual in nature and lacks protections afforded by the DSS 
          process, particularly with the review being conducted by the 
          same agency that issued the NOA and not by an impartial entity 
          with legal background.  Legal advocates also say that not having 
          transcripts of the hearing conducted by the contractor is 
          another problem.  There is less accountability and no 
          documentation that the hearing was conducted fairly.  Advocates 
          state that the burden of proof in the DSS process is with the 
          decision maker whereas the burden of proof in the CDE process is 
          with the recipient.  The DSS process allows the recipients to 
          bring support witnesses to the hearings whereas the CDE process 
          allows only the person affected by the hearing to attend.  
          Another area of concern is in the number of days a recipient is 








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          given to file an appeal once s/he receives the NOA.  The DSS 
          process allows appeals to be submitted within 90 days whereas 
          the CDE process allows only 14 calendar days.  

          In order to ensure that the DSS and the CDE appeals processes 
          are equal, the CDE would have to hire ALJs or contract with the 
          Office of Administrative Hearings, which may not be possible 
          during difficult budget times.  Instead, the author may wish to 
          consider requiring the CDE to work with welfare rights and legal 
          services advocates to identify and implement features of the DSS 
          process that can be done with no or low costs (e.g., expanding 
          the appeal window from 14 to 90 days, allowing recipients to 
          bring witnesses to the hearings, etc.).

          The bill would institute the new appeals process only for 
          CalWORKs cases.  However, CDE regulations apply to all 
          CDE-administered programs, including the State Preschool 
          Program.  The bill should be amended to broaden the application 
          of the appeal process to all CDE-administered child care and 
          development programs.  
           
          Arguments in Support  .  The Western Center on Law and Poverty 
          states, "CalWORKs is one of the most effective programs operated 
          by the State of California.  In the past 13 years, the program 
          has helped tens of thousands of families move from poverty to 
          self-sufficiency while reducing the caseload by nearly fifty 
          percent.  CalWORKs not only encourages families to go to work by 
          helping adults improve their employment skills and seek 
          employment, it allows them to do this by providing child care.  
          The due process and procedural protections offered a CalWORKs 
          recipient placed in Stage 2 are not as rigorous as those placed 
          in Stage 1, even though the result of losing one's child care 
          would be the same, their inability to meet CalWORKs requirements 
          and likely loss of basic needs cash assistance."
           
          REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :   

           Support 
           
          Coalition of California Welfare Rights Organizations (sponsor)
          American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
          California Communities United Institute
          Western Center on Law and Poverty

           Opposition 








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          None on file
           
          Analysis Prepared by  :    Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087