BILL NUMBER: AB 1613 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Stone
FEBRUARY 6, 2014
An act to amend Section 11004 of the Welfare and Institutions
Code, relating to CalWORKs.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1613, as introduced, Stone. CalWORKs: benefits overpayment.
Existing law establishes various social services programs that
provide cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income
families and individuals, including the California Work Opportunity
and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program. Existing law requires
applicants for, and recipients of, public social services programs to
accurately report facts material to eligibility and grant payment
determinations. Existing law authorizes current and future grants
payable to an assistance unit to be reduced because of prior
overpayments, and requires grant payments to be reduced by 5% of the
maximum aid payment when the overpayment was caused by agency error.
Existing law prohibits a county from attempting, if an individual is
no longer receiving cash aid, to recover overpayments when the
outstanding overpayments are less than $35, and requires reasonable
cost-effective efforts at collection to be implemented if the
overpayment amounts owed are $35 or more. Under existing law,
however, a county is prohibited from establishing a CalWORKs
overpayment based on any differences between the amount of income the
county prospectively determined for the recipient and the income the
recipient actually received, if the recipient's report was complete
and accurate.
This bill would specify that these overpayment provisions apply
only to grants of CalWORKs cash aid. The bill would instead require
grant payments to be reduced by 5% of the monthly payment in cases
where the overpayment was caused by agency error and the amount to be
collected is greater than an established minimum cost-effectiveness
threshold or if the recipient would not be able to claim an equitable
estoppel defense. The bill would prohibit the attempt to recover
overpayment if the costs of collecting the outstanding overpayments
are expected to exceed the amount to be recovered by the county. The
bill would require reasonable cost-effective efforts to be
implemented in all cases of recovering overpayments and authorizes
the State Department of Social Services to establish an annual
minimum cost-effectiveness threshold for collecting overpayments of
cash aid. By increasing the duties of county agencies, this bill
would create a state-mandated local program.
Existing law continuously appropriates moneys from the General
Fund to defray a portion of county costs under the CalWORKs program.
This bill would instead provide that the continuous appropriation
would not be made for purposes of implementing the bill.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these
statutory provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 11004 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is
amended to read:
11004. (a) The provisions of this code
relative to public social services for which state
grants-in-aid are made to the counties cash aid
provided pursuant to Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200)
shall be administered fairly to the end that all persons who are
eligible and apply for such public social services
cash aid shall receive the assistance to which they are
entitled promptly, with due consideration for the needs of applicants
and the safeguarding of public funds.
(a) Any
(b) An applicant for, or
recipient or payee of, such public social services
cash aid provided pursuant to Chapter 2 (commencing with
Section 11200) shall be informed as to the provisions of
eligibility and his or her responsibility for reporting facts
material to a correct determination of eligibility and grant.
(b) Any
(c) An applicant for, or
recipient or payee of, such public social services
cash aid provided pursuant to Chapter 2 (commencing with
Section 11200) shall be responsible for reporting accurately
and completely within his or her competence those facts required of
him or her pursuant to subdivision (a) (b)
and to report promptly any changes in those facts.
(c)
(d) Current and future grants payable to an assistance
unit may be reduced because of prior overpayments , unless the
agency is prohibited from requiring the collection of, or
establishing, the overpayment pursuant to subdivision (h) of this
section or subdivision (b) of Section 11004.1 . In cases where
the overpayment was caused by agency error, and the amount to be
recovered is greater than the minimum cost-effectiveness threshold
established pursuant to subdivision (h) or if the recipient would not
be able to claim an equitable estoppel defense, grant payments
shall be reduced by 5 percent of the maximum aid
monthly payment of the assistance unit. Grant payments to
be adjusted because of prior overpayments because of
for any other reason shall be reduced by 10
percent of the maximum aid payments for the assistance unit. A
recipient may have an overpayment adjustment in excess of the amounts
allowable under this section if the recipient requests it.
(d) No
(e) A determination of
ineligibility shall not be made retrospectively so as to
result in an assessment of an overpayment in circumstances
where when there is a failure on the part of an
applicant or recipient to perform an act constituting a condition of
eligibility, if the failure is caused by an error made by a state
agency or a county welfare department, and if the amount of the grant
received by the applicant or recipient would not have been different
had the act been performed.
(e)
(f) Prior to effectuating any reduction of current
grants to recover past overpayments, the recipient shall be advised
of the proposed reduction and of his or her
entitlement to a hearing on the propriety of the reduction.
(f)
(g) If the department determines after a hearing that
an overpayment has occurred, the county providing the public
social services cash aid pursuant to Chapter 2
(commencing with Section 11200) shall seek to recover in
accordance with subdivision (c) (d) the
full amount of the overpayment to the assistance unit, including any
amount paid while the hearing process was pending. Such
This adjustment shall be permitted concurrently
with any suit for restitution, and recovery of overpayment by
adjustment shall reduce by the amount of such
the recovery the extent of liability for restitution.
(g) If
(h) Regardless of whether the
individual is no longer currently
receiving aid under Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200) ,
recovery of overpayments received under that chapter shall not
be attempted where the if the cost of
collecting the outstanding overpayments are less than
thirty-five dollars ($35). Where the overpayment amounts owed are
thirty-five dollars ($35) or more, expected to exceed
the amount to be recovered by the county, unless otherwise required
in this section. In all cases, reasonable cost-effective
efforts at collection shall be implemented. Reasonable
efforts shall include notification of the amount of the overpayment
and that repayment is required. The department shall define
reasonable cost-effective collection methods.
methods, and may esta blish an annual minimum cost
-effectiveness threshold for collecting overpayments of
cash aid. In cases involving fraud, every effort shall be made
to collect the overpayments regardless of the amount.
(h)
(i) If the individual responsible for the overpayment
to the assistance unit is no longer eligible for public
social services cash aid provided pursuant to Chapter
2 (commencing with Section 11200), or if he or she becomes a
member of another assistance unit, recoupment of overpayments shall
be made against the individual or his or her present assistance unit,
or both.
(i) Where
(j) When an overpayment has been
made to an assistance unit which that
is no longer receiving public social services,
cash ai d provided pursuant to Chapter 2 (commencing
with Section 11200), recovery shall be made by appropriate
action under state law against the income or resources of the
individual responsible for the overpayment or against the family.
(j)
(k) No civil or criminal action may be commenced
against any person based on alleged unlawful application for or
receipt of public social services, where cash
aid provided pursuant to Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200),
if the case record of such that
person has been destroyed after the expiration of the
four-year three-year retention period
pursuant to specified in Section 10851.
(k)
(l) (1) When an underpayment or
denial of public social service cash aid
provided pursuant to Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200)
occurs and as a result the applicant or recipient does not receive
the amount to which he or she is entitled, the county shall provide
public social services cash aid equal
to the full amount of the underpayment unless prohibited by federal
law. In cases that have both an underpayment and an overpayment, the
underpayment shall be offset against the overpayment prior to
correcting any remaining underpayment.
Any
(2) Any corrective payments made
pursuant to this subdivision shall be disregarded in determining the
income of the family and shall be disregarded in determining the
resources of the family in the month the corrective payment is made
and in the following month.
(l)
(m) This subdivision shall be applicable only to
applicants, recipients and payees under Chapter 2 (commencing with
Section 11200) of Part 3 of Division 9 . Any suits
to recover overpayments described in subdivision (f)
(g) shall be brought on behalf of the county by
the county counsel unless the board of supervisors delegates
such this duty to the district attorney by
ordinance or resolution.
SEC. 2. No appropriation pursuant to Section 15200 of the Welfare
and Institutions Code shall be made for purposes of this act.
SEC. 3. If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this
act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local
agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant
to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of
the Government Code.