BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Senator McGuire, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 371
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Author: |Mullin |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|----------+-----------------------+-----------+-----------------|
|Version: |February 17, 2015 |Hearing | June 23, 2015 |
| | |Date: | |
|----------+-----------------------+-----------+-----------------|
|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Consultant|Mareva Brown |
|: | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: CalWORKs Family Unity Act of 2016
SUMMARY
This bill deletes the statutory requirement that a child's
eligibility for CalWORKs benefits in a two-parent household be
based upon the child's "deprivation," defined as a parent's
unemployment or a parent working fewer than 100 hours per month.
This bill would prohibit an absent parent from being included in
the family's assistance unit for purposes of determining
eligibility or computing the amount of aid to be paid.
ABSTRACT
Existing law:
1) Establishes in federal statute the Temporary Assistance
for Needy Families (TANF) program to provide aid and
welfare-to-work services to eligible families and, in
California, provides that TANF funds for welfare-to-work
services are administered through the California Work
Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program.
(42 U.S.C. 601 et seq., WIC 11200 et seq.)
2) Establishes income, asset and real property limits used
to determine eligibility for the program, including net
income below the Maximum Aid Payment (MAP), based on family
size and county of residence, which is approximately 40
percent of the Federal Poverty Level. (WIC 11450, 11150 et
AB 371 (Mullin) PageB
of?
seq.)
3) Establishes a 48-month lifetime limit of CalWORKs
benefits for eligible adults, including 24 months during
which a recipient must meet federal work requirements in
order to retain eligibility. (WIC 11454, 11322.85)
4) Establishes that a child is deprived of parental support
for the purposes of receiving CalWORKs benefits due to the
unemployment of his or her parent(s) when the parent has
worked less than 100 hours in the preceding four weeks, and
meets specified federal definitions of an unemployed
parent. (WIC 11201)
5) Establishes that a family receiving CalWORKs benefits
with a child who is considered to be deprived of parental
support due to unemployment may continue to receive
assistance regardless of the number of hours his or her
parent works provided the family does not exceed the
applicable gross or net income limits and is otherwise
eligible for assistance. (WIC 11201 (c))
6) Establishes that a family is eligible for CalWORKs
benefits and services if their related children under the
age of 18 years, have been deprived of parental support or
care due to the death, physical or mental incapacity or
incarceration of a parent, the unemployment of one or both
parents or the continued absence of a parent from the home
due to divorce, separation, desertion, or any other reason,
except absence occasioned solely by reason of the
performance of active duty in the uniformed services of the
United States, as defined. (WIC 11250)
7) Defines "continued absence" to exist when the nature of
the absence is such as either to interrupt or to terminate
the parent's functioning as a provider of maintenance,
physical care, or guidance for the child, and the known or
indefinite duration of the absence precludes counting on
the parent's performance of the function of planning for
the present support or care of the child. If these
conditions exist, the parent may be absent for any reason,
and may have left only recently or some time previously.
WIC 11250 (c))
AB 371 (Mullin) PageC
of?
8) Requires that in a family eligible for CalWORKs aid due
to the unemployment of the principal wage earner, the
exemption criteria for an adult caring for a young child
may be applied only to one parent. (WIC 11320.3 (b)(6)(B))
9) Requires the payment of CalWORKs assistance to nonparent
caregivers who are caring for a foster child, ward of the
court, or child at risk of foster care placement, as
defined. (WIC 11401)
10) Specifies weekly number of hours required of
welfare-to-work participation for adults to remain eligible
for CalWORKs benefits in households of different sizes,
including for those households with "unemployed parents."
(WIC 11322.8)
This bill:
1) Eliminates the requirement that a child must be
"deprived of parental support or care" in order to be
eligible for CalWORKs benefits in a two-parent family by
deleting the following requirements:
a) That either parent be unemployed;
b) That a child must be considered deprived of parental
support; and
c) That a parent must work less than 100 hours per
month to be considered unemployed.
1) Replaces those statutory definitions, for the purposes
of this chapter, with the definition of a "parent" to mean
a natural or adoptive parent with whom an eligible child is
living.
2) Deletes the eligibility requirement that a child must be
deprived of parental support or care due to one of the
following:
a) A parent's death, physical or mental incapacity or
incarceration,
b) The unemployment of one or both parents,
AB 371 (Mullin) PageD
of?
c) The continued absence of a parent from the home due
to divorce, separation, desertion, or any other reason,
as specified.
1) Deletes the eligibility requirement to establish the
continued absence of a parent, and the definition of
continued absence of a parent and replaces that language
with the requirement that CalWORKs aid, services, or both
shall be granted to families with related children, as
defined, if the family meets specified eligibility
requirements.
2) Replaces the statutory citation for "deprived of
parental support or care," which this bill deletes, with
a deprivation citation in federal law in California
statute pertaining to children in the child-welfare
system.
3) Specifies that a parent shall not be included in the
benefit calculation for an assistance unit if he or she
is absent from the home due to divorce, separation,
desertion, or any other reason, if his or her absence
interrupts or terminates the parent's functioning as a
provider of maintenance, physical care, or guidance for
the child, and the known or indefinite duration of the
absence precludes counting on the parent's performance of
the function of planning for the present support or care
of the child. If these conditions exist, the parent may
be absent for any reason, and may have left only recently
or some time previously.
4) Requires the California Department of Social Services
(CDSS) to implement the new statutory requirements in an
all-county letter or similar instruction no later than
March 1, 2016 and to adopt implementing regulations no
later than July 1, 2018.
AB 371 (Mullin) PageE
of?
FISCAL IMPACT
According to the Assembly Appropriations committee, this bill
would result in an ongoing increase in CalWORKs grant, services,
and administrative costs in the range of $1 million to $2
million (General Fund) to the extent this bill results in
additional eligible cases and fewer cases discontinued from the
CalWORKs program. This will be partially offset to the extent
the newly eligible cases will no longer receive a CalFresh
stipend available only to non-assistance households.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
Purpose of the bill:
According to the author, the current CalWORKs program maintains
a provision that is an outdated holdover from the old Aid to
Family with Dependent Children Program (AFDC), known as the
deprivation test. The deprivation test requires a family to show
absence of parental support in addition to proving that they
have met income and asset tests in order to receive assistance
through the program.
According to the author, the most harmful impact of this rule is
that it results in a denial of aid to two-parent families when
parents are employed, even if their income and assets qualify
them for aid. AB 371 will even out the rules for two-parent
households, and simplify CalWORKs program eligibility
requirements to align them with CalFresh and Medi-Cal, according
to the author.
CalWORKs
California has the highest poverty rate in the nation - just
under one-quarter of residents are living at or below the
federal poverty level (FPL) according to the national
Supplemental Poverty Measure. These families earn no more than
$20,090 per year for a family of three. One of California's most
essential anti-poverty strategies is the CalWORKs program, which
provided cash assistance to approximately 540,000 families in
2014, including more than 1 million children. Nearly 80 percent
AB 371 (Mullin) PageF
of?
of the children are under age twelve and almost 40 percent are
under age five. Federal funding for CalWORKs comes from the TANF
block grant.
A grant to a family of three in a high-cost California county is
$704 per month, or $8,448 per year, which is approximately 42
percent of the federal poverty level (FPL). This grant
translates to $23.46 per day, per family 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.
In 1989, a similar CalWORKs grant was worth about 81 percent of
FPL, and 55 percent in 1997. Part of the reason for this decline
has been a series of changes over the past five years including
significant grant cuts, the elimination of a Cost of Living
Adjustment, and a major restructuring of the Welfare to Work
activities, requirements and time limits. Adults in the program
have gone from a 60-month lifetime limit on CalWORKs aid to a
48-month limit, with strict requirements on work participation
to remain in the program after 24 months.
Deprivation standard
The state's deprivation standards were originally enacted to
comply with federal Aid to Families with Dependent Children
(AFDC) rules, which required that two-parent families take
additional steps to prove deprivation in order to receive aid.
The AFDC statute was replaced in 1996 with the Temporary
Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program, which emphasized
work preparation in conjunction with receipt of the grant. One
of the four core purposes of the TANF program is to encourage
the formation and maintenance of two-parent families.
California's CalWORKs program is framed around the TANF program
and its block grant. With the TANF program, the federal
government gave states the ability to modify program eligibility
and requirements.
The deprivation test prohibits a two-parent family from
qualifying for CalWORKs if the primary wage earner is working
over 100 hours a month, regardless of their income. It also
AB 371 (Mullin) PageG
of?
requires a county human services agency to verify parental
absence in order to assist a family with two parents. The
100-hour work limit is a remnant of the prior AFDC law, which
was based on the assumption that an average of 25 hours per week
would put a family above the threshold to receive cash benefits.
Many states have modified or removed special requirements for
two-parent units, but California remains one of just six states
that maintains the 100-hour limit.<1> This bill would modify
eligibility criteria to simply require families meet income and
asset tests, regardless of how many hours they work or how many
parents are in the home.
Welfare-to-Work requirements
Adult benefits in the CalWORKs program are contingent upon
participation in welfare-to-work activities, which can include
job finding, job training, educational pursuits, subsidized
employment or unsubsidized employment, as defined and within
specific parameters. Federal and state requirements may vary
slightly.
Single parent adults are required to participate for at least 30
hours per week in welfare-to-work activities, and two-parent
families are required to work a minimum of 35 hours per week,
unless participants are exempted. After receiving aid for up to
a maximum of 24 months, adults without an exemption must work in
unsubsidized employment or participate in community services
activities for the minimum number of hours listed above. 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 subtracted from the amount provided to the
family to meet basic needs.
Related legislation:
AB 1502 (Mullin, 2014) was substantially similar to this bill.
---------------------------
<1> The Urban Institute's Welfare Rules Database, 2012
AB 371 (Mullin) PageH
of?
It was held in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION
The Department of Finance writes that it is opposed to this bill
because it expands eligibility for the CalWORKs program. "Under
current law, one factor of CalWORKs eligibility is child
deprivation. To meet the requirements of child deprivation, a
child must be deprived of parental support or care due to a
deceased parent, parental incapacity, an absent parent, or an
unemployed parent. This bill seeks to simplify CalWORKs
eligibility by removing the child deprivation criteria from
benefit determination."
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT
The California Coalition of Welfare Rights Organizations (CCWRO)
argues that the deprivation test inappropriately penalizes
two-parent working families, who are poor enough to qualify for
CalWORKs benefits. "The deprivation test is estimated to impact
thousands poor, two-parent working families throughout the
state, denying them CalWORKs assistance simply because the
primary wage earner worked too many hours. This rule is contrary
to the stated goals of the program to encourage work and family
unity. AB 371 would level the playing field for two-parent
households whose primary wage earner is working for a low-wage
by allowing these families to qualify for the program if their
income and assets are below the thresholds for their family
size."
COMMENTS
California's adherence to the deprivation standard - along with
Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee and several other states -
is at odds with the current federal law which states a primary
goal is to maintain two-parent families for needy children.
While this bill repeals the 100-hour standard, it maintains the
income eligibility requirements, ensuring that a family's need
is based on income and resource measurements. This bill differs
from AB 1502 (Mullin), which was held in Senate Appropriations
last year. The current bill does not include language related to
changes in work requirements for relative caretakers in the
CalWORKs program. AB 371 only addresses the deprivation test.
AB 371 (Mullin) PageI
of?
To conform existing statute to the changes in this bill, staff
recommends the following amendments:
1.Page 3, line 12:
11201. For purposes of this chapter, "parent" means a natural
or adoptive parent with whom an eligible child is living.
2.Additionally, amend Section 11320.3.(b) of the Welfare and
Institutions Code to read:
(6) A parent or other relative who meets the criteria in
subparagraph (A) or (B).
(A) (i) The parent or other relative has primary
responsibility for personally providing care to a child six
months of age or under, except that, on a case-by-case basis,
and based on criteria developed
by the county, this period may be reduced to the first 12
weeks after the birth or adoption of the child, or increased
to the first 12 months after the birth or adoption of the
child. An individual may be exempt only once under this
clause.
(ii) An individual who received an exemption pursuant to
clause (i) shall be exempt for a period of 12 weeks, upon the
birth or adoption of any subsequent children, except that this
period may be extended on a case-by-case basis to six months,
based on criteria developed by the county.
(iii) In making the determination to extend the period of
exception under clause (i) or (ii), the following may be
considered:
(I) The availability of child care.
(II) Local labor market conditions.
(III) Other factors determined by the county.
(iv) Effective January 1, 2013, the parent or other
relative has primary responsibility for personally providing
care to one child from birth to 23 months, inclusive. The
exemption provided for under this clause shall be available in
addition to any other exemption provided for under this
subparagraph. An individual may be exempt only once under this
clause.
(B) In a family eligible for aid under this chapter due to
the unemployment of the principal wage earner , the exemption
criteria contained in subparagraph (A) shall be applied to
AB 371 (Mullin) PageJ
of?
only one parent.
3.Additionally, amend Welfare and Institutions Code Section
11322.8 to read:
11322.8. (a) For a recipient required to participate in
accordance with paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section
11322.85, unless the recipient is otherwise exempt, the
following shall apply:
(1) (A) An adult recipient in a one-parent an assistance unit
that includes only one adult or two adults in which one adult
is disabled as defined in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (3) of
subdivision (b) of Section 11320.3, and does not include a
child under six years of age shall participate in
welfare-to-work activities for an average of at least 30 hours
per week during the month.
(B) An adult recipient in a one parent assistance unit an
assistance unit that includes only one adult, or two adults in
which one adult is disabled as defined in subparagraph (A) of
paragraph (3) of subdivision (b) of Section 11320.3 , and a
child under six years of age , or an assistance unit that
consists only of a pregnant woman, shall participate in
welfare-to-work activities for an average of at least 20 hours
per week during the month.
(2) An adult recipient who is an unemployed parent , as defined
in Section 11201 , Except as provided in paragraph (1), an
assistance unit that includes two adults shall participate for
an average of at least 35 total hours of welfare-to-work
activities per week during the month. However, both parents in
a two-parent assistance unit adults may contribute to the 35
hours
(b) For a recipient required to participate in accordance
with paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of Section 11322.85, the
following shall apply:
AB 371 (Mullin) PageK
of?
(1) Unless otherwise exempt, an adult recipient in an
assistance unit that includes only one adult or two adults in
which one adult is disabled as defined in subparagraph (A) of
paragraph (3) of subdivision (b) of Section 11320.3, or an
assistance unit that consists only of a pregnant woman , shall
participate in welfare-to-work activities for an average of at
least 30 hours per week during the month, subject to the
special rules and limitations described in Section
607(c)(1)(A) of Title 42 of the United States Code as January
1, 2013.
(2) Unless otherwise exempt, an adult recipient in a
one-parent assistance unit an assistance unit that includes
only one adult and that includes a child under six years of
age shall participate in welfare-to-work activities for an
average of at least 20 hours per week during the month, as
described in Section 607(c)(2)(B) of Title 42 of the United
States Code as of January 1, 2013.
(3) Unless otherwise exempt, an adult recipient an unemployed
parent, as defined in Section 11201 , and except as provided in
paragraph (1), an assistance unit that includes two adults
shall participate in welfare-to-work activities for an average
of at least 35 total hours per week during the month, subject
to the special rules and limitations described in Section
607(c) (1) (B) of Title 42 of the United States Code as of
January 1, 2013.
4. Page 8, line 6.
SEC. 8. (a) This act shall be operative nine months after
it is approved by the Governor, or July 1, 2016, whichever
is later.
(b) Notwithstanding the Administrative Procedure Act
(Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of
Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code), the State
Department of Social Services shall implement this act
through an all-county letter or similar instructions from
the director no later than March 1, 2016 .
AB 371 (Mullin) PageL
of?
(b) (c) The department shall adopt regulations as necessary
to implement this act no later than July 1, 2018.
PRIOR VOTES
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Assembly Floor: |79 - |
| |0 |
|-----------------------------------------------------------+-----|
|Assembly Appropriations Committee: |17 - |
| |0 |
|-----------------------------------------------------------+-----|
|Assembly Human Services Committee: |7 - |
| |0 |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
POSITIONS
Support:
AFSCME
California Catholic Conference of Bishops
California State PTA
LIUNA Locals 777 & 792
National Association of Social Workers
San Mateo County Board of Supervisors
St. Anthony Foundation
Western Center on Law and Poverty
2 individuals
Oppose:
None received.
-- END --
AB 371 (Mullin) PageM
of?