BILL ANALYSIS Ó Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary Senator Kevin de León, Chair SB 252 (Liu) - CalWORKs and unemployment and paid family leave. Amended: April 15, 2013 Policy Vote: Human Services 6-0 Urgency: No Mandate: No (See Staff Comments) Hearing Date: May 6, 2013 Consultant: Jolie Onodera This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File. Bill Summary: SB 252 would: Require the Department of Social Services (DSS) to work with the Employment Development Department (EDD) to ensure each applicant and recipient of CalWORKs, Kin-GAP, and Foster Care is provided with information about paid family leave (PFL), unemployment insurance (UI), and pregnancy disability leave benefits (SDI). Require the EDD to permit employees of the DSS and county human services agencies to participate in training and informational sessions regarding PFL offered by EDD and shall make training materials and information available to them for use with applicants or recipients. Clarify that a pregnant woman unable to secure medical verification who is otherwise eligible for an exemption from welfare-to-work requirements, including for good cause for temporary illness related to the pregnancy, shall be exempt from participation. Require the DSS to apply hours that a pregnant woman participates in an approved voluntary maternal, infant, and early childhood home visiting program or another home visiting program to her welfare-to-work participation hours for a period no longer than one year, pending approval of a federal waiver. Fiscal Impact: Minor and absorbable costs to the EDD to provide information to the DSS, to the extent information from the EDD website and utilization of existing publications and fact sheets meet the DSS' needs. Unknown, potentially significant ongoing costs for training requirements not clearly outlined in the bill. Costs would be dependent on the frequency, depth, and number of participants requiring access to EDD training services SB 252 (Liu) Page 1 and materials. Potential ongoing state-reimbursable local costs in the hundreds of thousands to low millions of dollars (General Fund) to the extent county eligibility workers are required to provide information to all applicants and recipients of CalWORKs, Kin-GAP and Foster Care. Potential one-time significant automation costs (General Fund) to the extent enhancements are required for the allowance of participation in a maternal home visiting program as countable work participation hours. Subject to waiver approval, increase in ongoing CalWORKs grant costs potentially in excess of $150,000 (General Fund) resulting from reduced sanctions to the extent the hours spent participating in a maternal, infant, and early childhood home visiting program are countable towards a recipient's required monthly work participation hours. Additional administrative costs to collect and verify program participation hours could also be incurred. Background: The CalWORKs program provides cash assistance to nearly 600,000 needy families, including approximately 1.2 million children. Most of these families include adults who are engaged in job training, education and other work preparation activities. The overall average grant for a family of three is $467 per month. All CalWORKs recipients are required to participate in welfare-to-work activities as a condition of aid, unless the recipient is exempt. State law requires counties to sanction individuals for noncompliance of welfare-to-work program requirements. When a family, without good cause, does not comply with program requirements, the family's grant is reduced to remove support for the noncompliant adult (or adults). Adults in a one-parent CalWORKs case are required to participate in Welfare-to-Work activity or activities for at least 20 hours per week, unless exempt. In general, CalWORKs recipients have a 24-month time limit for receiving assistance. Months the recipient has been excused from participation for a specified exemption or for good cause do not count toward the 24-month time limit. A specific exemption from welfare to work activities may be applied for a woman who is pregnant and for whom it has been medically verified that the pregnancy impairs her ability to be SB 252 (Liu) Page 2 regularly employed or participate in welfare-to-work activities or the county has determined that, at that time, participation will not readily lead to employment or that a training activity is not appropriate. A good cause exemption from welfare-to-work activities may be applied when medical verification cannot be obtained. A good cause exemption may be applied to exempt the pregnant woman from welfare to work activities for any other reason that temporarily prevents or significantly impairs a recipient's ability to work regularly or go to welfare to work activities. According to DSS, the total number of pregnancy exemptions during 2012 was 10,301 (out of a total 499,525 clients who were on CalWORKs for at least one month in 2012), or roughly 2 percent of CalWORKs recipients. The 2012 monthly average number of clients receiving a pregnancy exemption was 2,553. According to the California Department of Public Health, which administers the program, there were 50 clients receiving CalWORKs out of 450 total MIECHV clients in the state of California, as of February 1, 2013. The program funds communities, not counties within Local Health Jurisdictions (LHJs). Currently, 22 at-risk communities in 21 LHJs are awarded funds. Sacramento has two communities, Los Angeles has three and the counties of Del Norte, Humboldt, and Siskiyou comprise a single LHJ. Proposed Law: See Bill Summary. Staff Comments: Although not keyed as a local mandate, to the extent the DSS releases a notice requiring county eligibility workers to provide information about the various EDD programs, this could include not only the provision of information in the form of written fact sheets and applications but additional time to explain the programs to applicants and recipients as well as respond to questions about the information provided. Given the significant number of applicants and recipients of the CalWORKs, Kin-GAP, and Foster Care programs, the potential workload could be significant, as well as a state-mandated local cost subject to reimbursement by the state. The EDD regularly conducts outreach and marketing of its programs and services, including its two large benefit programs, Unemployment Insurance (UI) and State Disability Insurance SB 252 (Liu) Page 3 (SDI), which includes Disability Insurance and Paid Family Leave (PFL). The EDD has UI and SDI information on its website, including online applications for UI and SDI benefits. A number of publications and fact sheets that could be made available to applicants/recipients are also available. Assuming these existing resources are utilized to provide information, the costs to EDD are likely minor. The provision requiring the EDD to permit DSS employees and county human services employees to participate in training and informational sessions could result in costs to the EDD. It is unclear if the intent is to provide a general overview of the programs or more in-depth training similar to what is provided for EDD employees. It is also unknown what the frequency of training to be provided will be required. The depth and frequency of training that DSS and the county human services agencies request, which is unknown at this time, would drive the EDD's costs. The EDD has indicated a high-level overview provided once or on an infrequent basis would result in minor and absorbable costs, as it is current practice for EDD staff to provide general program overviews to various stakeholders upon request. It is unknown the extent to which an increase in UI and SDI benefits will result from increased outreach of these programs. It is estimated that over 25,000 applicants every month have earnings. Each program has its own unique eligibility requirements and benefit amounts. Both programs require a certain amount of prior earnings in specified employment to establish a valid claim, which would exclude some of the applicants identified under the provisions of this bill. In addition to monetary requirements, each program has certain non-monetary eligibility requirements that must be met to collect benefits. For these reasons, it is unknown how many of the applicants would file for UI or SDI benefits, and of those, how many would be eligible to collect benefits. This bill requires the DSS to apply hours that a pregnant woman participates in an approved voluntary maternal, infant, and early childhood home visiting program or another home visiting program to her welfare-to-work participation hours for a period no longer than one year, pending approval of a federal waiver. To the extent the hours participating in these types of programs reduces the rate of sanction for eligible cases, increased SB 252 (Liu) Page 4 ongoing CalWORKs grant costs potentially in excess of $150,000 (General Fund) per year could result. Additional administrative costs to collect and verify program participation hours could also be incurred.