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  








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              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  








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          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  








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          (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  








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          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.