BILL ANALYSIS �
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 672|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 672
Author: Leno (D)
Amended: 8/5/13
Vote: 21
SENATE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE : 6-0, 4/9/13
AYES: Yee, Berryhill, Emmerson, Evans, Liu, Wright
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 5-2, 5/23/13
AYES: De Le�n, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
NOES: Walters, Gaines
SENATE FLOOR : 33-6, 5/29/13
AYES: Beall, Berryhill, Block, Calderon, Cannella, Corbett,
Correa, De Le�n, DeSaulnier, Emmerson, Evans, Galgiani,
Hancock, Hernandez, Hill, Hueso, Huff, Jackson, Lara, Leno,
Lieu, Liu, Monning, Padilla, Pavley, Price, Roth, Steinberg,
Torres, Wolk, Wright, Wyland, Yee
NOES: Anderson, Fuller, Gaines, Knight, Nielsen, Walters
NO VOTE RECORDED: Vacancy
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 54-23, 9/3/13 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : CalFresh: eligibility: guidelines
SOURCE : San Francisco Living Wage Coalition
Western Center on Law and Poverty
DIGEST : This bill requires the Department of Social Services
(DSS) to issue guidance to simplify the verification of
CONTINUED
SB 672
Page
2
dependent care expense deductions necessary to determine
eligibility for, or the benefit level of, CalFresh.
Assembly Amendments require DSS to adopt regulations to
implement the changes to the process for considering dependent
care expenses by January 1, 2015; authorize DSS, until
regulation are adopted, to implement these changes by all-county
letters or similar instructions; and make clarifying changes.
ANALYSIS : Existing federal law provides for the federal
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), under which
nutrition assistance benefits are allocated to each state by the
federal government.
Existing state law:
1. Provides that the CalFresh program, California's federal
allocation is distributed to eligible individuals by each
county.
2. Requires that the eligibility of households be determined to
the extent permitted by federal law, and requires the DSS to
establish a program of categorical eligibility for CalFresh
in accordance with federal law.
3. Requires each county welfare DSS to carry out the local
administrative responsibilities of this program, subject to
the supervision of the DSS and to rules and regulations
adopted by the DSS.
This bill:
1. States the Legislature's intent to support an increase in
CalFresh benefits to low-income working families by
simplifying the verification of their dependent care
expenses.
2. Requires 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.
3. Requires the guidance from DSS to establish that dependent
care expenses shall be considered verified upon receipt of a
CONTINUED
SB 672
Page
3
self-certified statement of monthly dependent care expenses
unless federal law or guidance requires additional
documentation.
4. Provides that a county agency may request additional
documentation to verify dependent care expenses if the
verification received is questionable.
5. Requires DSS to adopt regulations to implement the changes
to the process for considering dependent care expenses by
January 1, 2015, and authorizes DSS, until regulation are
adopted, to implement these changes by all-county letters or
similar instructions.
Background
Approximately 1.9 million households in the state receive
CalFresh, California's name for the national SNAP, which
provides benefits to low-income households to alleviate hunger
and to improve nutrition and health by helping individuals meet
their nutritional needs. The state also provides benefits
through the California Food Assistance Program to about 47,000
eligible legal immigrants who are not eligible for federal
nutrition assistance.
The CalFresh application process includes completing and filing
an application, being interviewed, and providing information
subject to verification, such as earned income and dependent
care expenses in order to determine eligibility and benefit
level. County human services departments are required to act
promptly on all applications and provide CalFresh benefits
retroactive to the month of application to those households that
have completed the application process and have been determined
eligible.
Federal laws and regulations provide states the flexibility to
define the scope of allowable expenses for the dependent care
deduction. This bill proposes to simplify the process of
verification of dependent care expenses and earned income to
enable more applicants and recipients of CalFresh to receive the
increased monthly benefits for which they are eligible.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
CONTINUED
SB 672
Page
4
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
One-time, minor increased workload to DSS to issue guidance
to counties. Potential additional costs of about $150,000
(General Fund) to the extent the development and adoption of
revised regulations are required to implement the provisions
of this bill.
Potential near-term state-reimbursable costs to county
agencies for costs associated with implementation of the
revised eligibility process of verification of dependent care
expenses. Potential administrative cost savings in future
years to the extent the provisions of this bill result in
administrative efficiencies.
Significant local costs to implement the process and
notification requirements related to verification of income.
Additional, unknown, potentially significant one-time costs
for automation changes required to implement the new
processes.
Annual increase in CalFresh and CalWORKs payments due to new
process requiring notification prior to negative actions
being taken.
Streamlining the application process could increase
participation and benefit levels for low-income families,
significantly increasing the amount of CalFresh (Federal)
benefits received, potentially in the hundreds of thousands
to millions of dollars. For example, if 500 households
claimed the dependent care deduction and experienced a
benefit increase of $118 per month, benefits would increase
by over $700,000 annually. Increased administration
(Federal/General Fund) costs for newly eligible (not
existing) cases would be offset in minor part by increased
sales tax revenue on the sales of taxable goods.
SUPPORT : (Verified 9/3/13)
San Francisco Living Wage Coalition (co-source)
Western Center on Law and Poverty (co-source)
AFSCME
Alameda County Food Bank
CONTINUED
SB 672
Page
5
Asian Law Alliance
California Alliance for Retired Americans
California Association of Food Banks
California Catholic Conference
California Coalition of Welfare Rights Organizations
California Food Policy Advocates
California National Organization for Women
California WIC Association
First Five Los Angeles
Hunger Action Los Angeles
Laborers International Union of North America Locals 777 and 792
Low Income Families' Empowerment through Education
National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter
Professional Association for Childhood Education
San Diego Hunger Coalition
San Francisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee
St. Anthony Foundations
Violence Prevention Coalition of Greater Los Angeles
OPPOSITION : (Verified 9/3/13)
Department of Finance
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : San Francisco Living Wage Coalition
writes:
According to the Public Policy Institute of California, the
majority (63.4%) of poor families in California are working
families. According to the Food Research and Action Center,
monthly child care expenses the amount that working families
spend on food. For these families, work supports programs
like CalFresh can help prevent the indignity of hunger when a
paycheck falls short in meeting basic needs. Unfortunately,
though an overwhelming majority of CalFresh recipients who can
work do, many low-income California workers miss out on this
food help. This is because most families who work at jobs
with low-wages do not get paid days off to attend to the
paperwork required to verify income or deductions for the
program.
Federal law makers, concerned about the lasting impact of
childhood hunger on working families with low-wages, addressed
this by adding flexibility to the federal rules governing the
childcare deductions and gross income requirements in the 2008
CONTINUED
SB 672
Page
6
Farm Bill. Still, low-income workers in California face more
stringent and dated income requirements and reporting and
verification requirements than many other states.
Life for low-wage workers is difficult. Few have paid time
off or reliable transportation, making getting to the County
Human Services Office to submit paperwork a struggle. For
this reason, many low-income workers go without CalFresh
benefits they are eligible to receive and that could help them
to stave off hunger for their family. While policy makers
should prioritize improving living wage employment
opportunities for California's working families in an economy
still struggling to recover from the economic downturn, they
should also make sure that these families and their children
do not suffer long-lasting effects of hunger due to overly
burdensome paperwork requirements in our state's most
important nutrition program.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The Department of Finance states:
The Department of Finance is opposed to this bill because it
is unnecessary. The CalFresh dependent care expense
verification guidelines can be issued administratively by DSS
through clarifying instructions to counties.
DSS previously issued an All County Information Notification
in 2011, clarifying CalFresh income and expense verification
requirements and enabling counties to use verification
reduction strategies, including self-certification, to improve
the timeliness of the CalFresh application process. In
addition, the department is already in the process of issuing
clarifying guidance to counties that self-certification may be
used to verify the dependent care expenses of an applicant or
recipient.
According to DSS, some counties may currently require CalFresh
applicants or recipients to provide additional dependent care
expense documentation. The intent of this bill is to clarify
CalFresh verification requirements, specifically allowing
dependent care expenses to be self-certified.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 54-23, 09/03/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Ammiano, Atkins, Bloom, Bocanegra,
Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon,
CONTINUED
SB 672
Page
7
Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Cooley, Daly, Dickinson,
Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez,
Gordon, Gray, Roger Hern�ndez, Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Levine,
Lowenthal, Medina, Mitchell, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian,
Pan, Perea, V. Manuel P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon,
Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Weber, Wieckowski, Williams,
Yamada, John A. P�rez
NOES: Allen, Bigelow, Conway, Dahle, Donnelly, Beth Gaines,
Gorell, Grove, Hagman, Harkey, Jones, Linder, Logue,
Maienschein, Mansoor, Melendez, Morrell, Nestande, Olsen,
Patterson, Wagner, Waldron, Wilk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Hall, Vacancy, Vacancy
AL/RM:k 9/3/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
**** END ****
CONTINUED