BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 672 Page 1 Date of Hearing: August 21, 2013 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Mike Gatto, Chair SB 672 (Leno) - As Amended: August 5, 2013 Policy Committee: Human ServicesVote:5 - 2 Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: SUMMARY This bill requires the Department of Social Services (DSS) to issue guidance to counties to simplify the verification of dependent care expense deductions for purposes of determining a household's eligibility for, or amount of, CalFresh benefits. That guidance must establish a process whereby dependent care expenses can be considered verified upon receipt of a self-certified statement of monthly dependent care expenses. FISCAL EFFECT 1)Costs associated with this legislation should be minor and absorbable within existing resources. Self-certification of dependent care expenses is already allowable under current law. 2)To the extent this bill increases the number of applicants and recipients who utilize the dependent care deductions, increases in federal CalFresh (Federal SNAP funds) benefits (and a related, but much smaller increase in CFAP (GF) benefits) could be received. Additional administrative costs for newly eligible cases would be offset in part by an increase in sales tax revenue. COMMENTS 1)Purpose . Existing federal law and guidance already provide states with flexibility in how they verify certain factors that influence a household's SNAP program eligibility or benefit levels. Within this flexibility, states are allowed to simplify their verification processes by permitting SB 672 Page 2 self-certification of certain income deduction information from applicants or recipients, such as out-of-pocket dependent care costs. However, the author and supporters of this bill assert that because the DSS Manual of Policies and Procedures allows each county to choose to mandate verification of dependent care expenses, there is inconsistency throughout the state in how the verification requirements are applied. By standardizing a simplified verification process in state law, the author hopes to prevent counties from implementing requirements that are more stringent than federal requirements. 2)Background . Under existing law, CalFresh households are eligible to deduct the full amount of eligible dependent care costs incurred, resulting in higher benefits for program recipients and newly eligible cases. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities report, The Food Stamp Dependent Care Deduction: Help for Families with Child Care Costs (2010), the percentage of single-adult working households with young children claiming the dependent care deduction in 2008 was only 37% nationally (the figure for California was 10%, but based on a sample of fewer than 40 households). Analysis Prepared by : Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916) 319-2081