BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 252
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 252 (Liu)
As Amended August 5, 2013
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :34-4
HUMAN SERVICES 5-2 APPROPRIATIONS 12-5
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|Ayes:|Stone, Ammiano, Ian |Ayes:|Gatto, Bocanegra, |
| |Calderon, Garcia, | |Bradford, |
| |Dickinson | |Ian Calderon, Campos, |
| | | |Eggman, Gomez, Hall, |
| | | |Holden, Pan, Quirk, Weber |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Maienschein, Grove |Nays:|Harkey, Bigelow, |
| | | |Donnelly, Linder, Wagner |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Clarifies that pregnant women who are California Work
Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) recipients and
who do not have medical verification of a pregnancy-related
illness shall be considered for other welfare-to-work exemptions
that are applied under current law for non-pregnant CalWORKs
recipients, and includes home visit program participation within
welfare-to-work activities. Specifically, this bill :
1)States legislative findings and declarations related to the
advantages to breastfeeding for mothers and their children.
2)Restates current law allowing a woman to breastfeed in a
public area where the mother and child are authorized to be
present and explicitly includes a county welfare department or
other county office in within the description of public area.
3)Exempts a pregnant woman from CalWORKs welfare-to-work
requirements if she is unable to secure medical verification
of a pregnancy-related illness but is otherwise eligible for
another welfare-to-work exemption, including good cause for
temporary illness related to her pregnancy.
4)Allows a pregnant woman to satisfy CalWORKs work requirements
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through participation in a voluntary maternal, infant, and
early childhood home visiting program or another voluntary
home visiting program for low-income Californians, and allows
the hours spent in the home visiting program to be applied to
her required work participation hours for no more than a
10-month period.
5)Provides that the authorization for voluntary home visiting
program hours to count toward work participation hours shall
only be granted if a waiver of compliance is received from the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as specified.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, costs should be minor and absorbable within existing
resources.
COMMENTS : The CalWORKs program provides monthly income
assistance and employment-related services aimed at moving
children out of poverty and helping families meet basic needs.
Federal funding for CalWORKs comes from the Temporary Assistance
for Needy Families (TANF) block grant. The current average
monthly cash grant for a family of three on CalWORKs (one parent
and two children) is $460. According to data from the
California Department of Social Services, 555,324 families rely
on CalWORKs, including over one million children. Nearly half
of the children are under age six.
Average grants of $460 per month for a family of three means
$15.33 per family, per day, or $5.11 per family member, per day
to meet basic needs, including rent, clothing, utility bills,
food, and anything else a family needs to ensure children can be
cared for at home and safely remain with their families. This
grant amount puts the annual household income at $5,520 per
year. Federal Poverty Guidelines show that 100% of poverty for
2013 is three and a half times that at $19,530 per year. In
addition to aiding eligible needy families with children,
CalWORKs provides assistance to eligible pregnant women, without
other children in the household qualified to receive aid, who
are in their third trimester of pregnancy and have provided
verification of pregnancy to the county office. The maximum
monthly grant for a pregnant woman on CalWORKs who is the sole
recipient in the household is $317.
Welfare-to-Work activities : Welfare-to-work activities within
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the CalWORKs program include public or private sector subsidized
or unsubsidized employment; on-the-job training; community
service; secondary school, adult basic education and vocational
education and training when the education is needed for the
recipient to become employed; specific mental health, substance
abuse, domestic violence services if they are necessary to
obtain or retain employment; and a number of other activities
necessary to assist a recipient in obtaining unsubsidized
employment. If a CalWORKs recipient who is not exempt from
participation does not meet his or her welfare-to-work
requirements, the recipient is sanctioned for noncompliance, and
that recipient's portion of the family's grant is removed. This
means that in a typical family of three with one parent and two
children, the parent's sanction would reduce the family's
average monthly grant from $460 to $338.
Welfare-to-Work exemptions : Under current law, CalWORKs
recipients over 16 years of age are required to participate in
county-approved welfare-to-work activities as a condition of
receiving aid while on the program unless they are eligible for
a welfare-to-work exemption. Included among the list of
exempted individuals are recipients with an enduring disability
that prevents them from being able to regularly participate in
welfare-to-work activities; recipients of advanced age;
recipient caretakers of disabled family members, or children at
risk of placement in foster care, whose care needs impair the
CalWORKs recipient's ability to be regularly employed or to
participate in welfare-to-work activities; and pregnant women
who can provide medical verification that their pregnancy
impairs their ability to participate in welfare-to-work
activities or otherwise be regularly employed. Exemptions from
welfare-to-work requirements can also be granted to parents or
other relative caretakers with personal responsibility to care
for children from zero to six months of age, the duration of
which can be reduced to 12 weeks or increased to 12 months at a
county's discretion. As a result of SB 1041 (Budget Committee)
Chapter 47, Statutes of 2012, which restricts the applicability
of certain welfare-to-work activities and support services to a
24-month period within a recipient's lifetime limit of 48 months
of aid, state law includes a one-time young child exemption from
welfare-to-work requirements that can be applied to a parent or
relative caretaker caring for a child under two years of age.
Counties can also excuse recipients from participation in
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welfare-to-work activities for good cause if a county has
determined that a recipient's condition or other circumstances
temporarily prevent him or her from being able to participate in
welfare-to-work activities or to be regularly employed. Under
good cause, a victim of domestic violence must be excused if
participation in welfare-to-work would be detrimental to the
victim or his or her family. Pregnant women who experience
temporary illness due to their pregnancy but are not able to
provide medical verification can also be excused under good
cause, provided that the county determines that the expectant
mother is not able to participate in welfare-to-work activities
or engage in regular employment. However, unlike the specific
aforementioned exemptions from welfare-to-work requirements,
good cause is granted at the county's discretion based on a
county's determination that a condition or circumstance meets
specified criteria.
Because recipients who are determined to be exempt or excused
from welfare-to-work activities have been deemed by the county
to be incapable of fully participating in available work
activities or other employment, these recipients cannot be
sanctioned for noncompliance and are eligible to continue to
receive their grants during the period of exemption.
Additionally, state law explicitly allows any recipient who is
exempt from welfare-to-work participation to voluntarily
participate, and that recipient can choose to end his or her
voluntary participation without losing eligibility for aid as
long as he or she continues to meet the exemption criteria.
This allows new mothers who are exempt, for example, to remain
engaged in the workforce without penalizing them for choosing to
discontinue or lessen participation in their work activity to
spend time caring for their infants.
Home visit programs : The Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood
Home Visiting Program (MIECHV) was established within the
federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) to
provide grants to states to enhance evidence-based home visiting
program models for at-risk pregnant women and young children.
In California, the Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health
Division was established within the California Department of
Public Health (DPH) to be the single state entity designated to
apply for and administer MIECHV funds for the state. There are
two home visiting programs providing services to low-income
parents and their children in California; the Nurse Family
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Partnership and Healthy Families America. Both programs have
shown proven effectiveness in strengthening parent-child
relationships, increasing language and literacy skills, and
reducing child abuse and neglect. There are currently 22
MIECHV-funded home visiting sites throughout the state within 21
local health jurisdictions, including communities in Los
Angeles, Kern, San Diego, Siskiyou, Sacramento, Merced, and
Fresno counties.
Breastfeeding : According to an American Academy of Pediatrics
(AAP) policy statement titled "Breastfeeding and the Use of
Human Milk" (2012), scientific studies show that breastfeeding
is directly linked to positive infant health outcomes, including
a lowered risk of infections, leukemia, asthma, obesity, and
lowered hospitalization and overall mortality rates. The AAP
also cites a correlation between breastfeeding and positive
neurodevelopmental outcomes for children, as well as short- and
long-term health benefits for mothers who breastfeed.
Need for the bill : This bill seeks to enhance opportunities for
pregnant women on CalWORKs to engage in appropriate and
meaningful welfare-to-work activities while improving long term
outcomes for themselves and their children. By screening
pregnant women in the CalWORKs program for the same
welfare-to-work exemptions as other applicants and recipients
who are not pregnant, this bill seeks to ensure a greater degree
of fairness in the application of work requirements and sanction
policies. Currently, a pregnant woman who cannot obtain medical
verification of a condition that makes her unable to work can be
sanctioned, but the moment her child is born, she is eligible
for the 24-month young child exemption from welfare-to-work.
This practice likely results in unnecessary administrative costs
and unfairly penalizes pregnant women who are focused on
maintaining their unborn babies' health. The denial of basic
needs aid during pregnancy can greatly increase stress levels
for a pregnant woman, worsen her financial situation, and
threaten her physical and psychological well-being, thereby
increasing health risks for her baby.
Additionally, this bill allows the time-limited inclusion of
government-approved home visiting programs on the list of
welfare-to-work activities for pregnant women, provided the
state is granted the appropriate waiver. This policy would
allow women who are pregnant and able to participate in
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welfare-to-work activities, or who are exempt but choose to
volunteer, to be aided while they interact with nurses and other
professionals who can help guide them through the initial stages
of parenting, thereby increasing promising outcomes for
themselves and their children. Like many other welfare-to-work
activities, evidence-based home visiting programs increase soft
skills for parents that help them have healthy and successful
transitions into the workforce, as well as introduce parents to
a broader spectrum of support services that will help eliminate
future dependency on programs like CalWORKs. Lastly,
acknowledging the benefits of bonding between mothers and their
children and the health benefits of breastfeeding, this bill
will help to ensure a mother will not be penalized for
responding to her child's needs while meeting her CalWORKs
obligations.
Analysis Prepared by : Myesha Jackson / HUM. S. / (916)
319-2089
FN: 0001703