BILL ANALYSIS �
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1094|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1094
Author: Brown (D), et al.
Amended: 5/24/13 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE : 6-0, 6/25/13
AYES: Yee, Berryhill, Emmerson, Evans, Liu, Wright
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-0, 8/30/13
AYES: De Le�n, Walters, Gaines, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 77-0, 5/30/13 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : CalWORKs: eligibility
SOURCE : Coalition of California Welfare Rights Organizations
Western Center on Law and Poverty
DIGEST : This bill expands the definition of disability-based
unearned income to include veterans disability compensation for
purposes of the income disregard under the California Work
Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Establishes the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
(TANF) program as a block-grant program to support needy
children and families, and permits each state to implement
CONTINUED
AB 1094
Page
2
the program under its own state plan.
2. Provides in California statute for the allocation of funds
for cash assistance and other social services for low-income
families through the CalWORKs program. Under this program,
each county provides assistance through a combination of
state, county funds and federal TANF funds.
3. Establishes the maximum monthly aid benefits provided under
CalWORKs.
4. Defines "disability-based unearned income" as state
disability insurance benefits, private disability insurance
benefits, temporary workers' compensation benefits, and
social security disability benefits.
5. Establishes a method to calculate an income disregard
pertaining to disability-based unearned income, as specified.
This bill:
1. Expands the definition of disability-based unearned income to
include any veteran's disability compensation.
2. Requires the Department of Social Services (DSS) to implement
the changes by means of an all-county letter or similar
instruction without taking regulatory action, on or before
July 1, 2014.
Background
CalWORKs . The CalWORKs program is supervised by DSS and
administered by the counties, which determine eligibility.
CalWORKs provides cash assistance to nearly 600,000 needy
families, including approximately 1.2 million children.
Income disregard certain types of unearned income which are
provided to disabled persons are calculated separately from
other unearned income. Income in this category gets a special
disregard in the recipient income test and the grant
computation. This has the effect of increasing a recipient's
grant. The current disability disregard allows families
receiving CalWORKs benefits to maintain some or all of their
disability payment, as well as a small amount of their earned
CONTINUED
AB 1094
Page
3
income, in addition to their CalWORKs grant. However, not all
types of "disability-based" unearned income are included in this
category.
Current statute does not include veteran's disability
compensation within the CalWORKs definition of disability-based
unearned income for purposes of calculating grants. Therefore,
poor disabled veterans with families are not able to maintain
the same amount of monthly income, before the monthly grant is
calculated, as a CalWORKs recipient who receives disability
benefits that are unrelated to military service.
Veterans in California . According to September 2012 estimates
from the California Department of Veterans Affairs, California
is home to nearly two million veterans, or about 8% of the
national veterans population of 22.3 million.
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs reports that as
of the end of November 2010, 251,937 veterans were receiving
monthly disability compensation benefits in California. It is
unknown how many veterans are also recipients of CalWORKs.
Veterans' Disability Compensation . Veteran Disability
Compensation is a tax-free monetary benefit paid to veterans who
have disabilities that are the result of a disease or injury
incurred or aggravated during active military service.
Compensation also may be paid for post-service disabilities that
are considered related or secondary to disabilities occurring in
service and for disabilities presumed to be related to
circumstances of military service, even though they may arise
after service. Generally, the degrees of disability specified
are also designed to compensate for considerable loss of working
time from exacerbations or illnesses.
Compensation rates are not income-based - they are determined by
the level of impairment as set forth in accordance with the
Schedule for Rating Disabilities (38 CFR, Part 4). There are
eleven possible levels of disability assignable for any
condition, from 0% to 100%, in 10% increments. The Veterans
Administration provides compensation to Veterans who are at
least 10% disabled because of injuries or diseases that occurred
or were aggravated during active military service.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
CONTINUED
AB 1094
Page
4
Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, unknown,
potential increase in annual CalWORKs grant costs in the range
of $500,000 to $1.2 million (General Fund). It is unknown how
many existing CalWORKs families include a veteran receiving
disability compensation though it is known that 0.2% of CalWORKs
households report unearned income. Based on the average
disability compensation benefit of $1,270 and the maximum income
disregard of $225, this estimate reflects the assumption that
10% to 25% of CalWORKs cases reporting unearned income represent
veterans receiving disability compensation.
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/30/13)
Coalition of California Welfare Rights Organizations (co-source)
Western Center on Law and Poverty (co-source)
Asian Law Alliance
California Association of Food Banks
California Catholic Conference
California Communities United Institute
Cuesta College CalWORKs
Disability Rights California
National Association of Social Workers
St. Anthony Foundation
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
existing law establishes a $225 disability-based unearned income
disregarded when computing the individual's CalWORKs benefits.
Unfortunately, veterans' disability compensation is not among
the categories of unearned income that is currently eligible for
the $225 disregard. In order to fix this discrepancy, the
author's office argues, veteran benefits need to be treated in
the same way disability benefits are.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 77-0, 5/30/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,
Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown,
Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Conway,
Cooley, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox,
Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon,
Gorell, Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hern�ndez,
Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal,
CONTINUED
AB 1094
Page
5
Maienschein, Mansoor, Medina, Melendez, Mitchell, Morrell,
Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V.
Manuel P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner,
Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk,
Williams, Yamada, John A. P�rez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Holden, Patterson, Vacancy
JL:d 8/30/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
**** END ****
CONTINUED