BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 371
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB
371 (Mullin)
As Amended September 1, 2015
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |79-0 |(June 2, 2015) |SENATE: |40-0 | (September 9, |
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Original Committee Reference: HUM. S.
SUMMARY: Streamlines California Work Opportunity and
Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) eligibility standards for
two-parent families. Specifically, this bill:
1)Eliminates the deprivation standard used to determine CalWORKs
eligibility for needy two-parent families by deleting the
following eligibility requirements for CalWORKs benefits:
a) That either parent be unemployed;
b) That a child be considered deprived of parental
support due to the unemployment of his or her parent or
parents; and
c) That a parent work less than 100 hours per month.
2)Removes consideration of the state deprivation standard for
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determining a minor dependent or nonminor dependent's
eligibility for Aid to Families with Dependent Children-Foster
Care funds, and instead ties eligibility to standards in
federal regulations, as specified.
3)Defines parent as a natural or adoptive parent with whom an
eligible child is living.
4)Eliminates the eligibility requirement that a child must be
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, as specified.
5)Requires that CalWORKs aid, services, or both be granted,
subject to the regulations of the Department of Social
Services, to families with related children under 18 years of
age, with exemptions already stated in statute, if the family
meets the eligibility requirements specified in this chapter,
which include income and work requirements.
6)Requires a parent to be excluded from the 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.
Provides that, if these conditions exist, the parent may be
absent for any reason, and may have left only recently or some
time previously.
7)Establishes a July 1, 2016, implementation date for the
provisions of this bill.
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The Senate amendments:
1)Clarify that the work requirement is 20 hours per week for a
pregnant woman receiving CalWORKs benefits during the 24-month
welfare-to-work time clock.
2)Establish a July 1, 2016, effective date for the provisions of
this bill.
3)Make other non-substantive, technical changes.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, this bill may have the following fiscal impact:
1)Ongoing major increase in CalWORKs grant, services, and
administrative costs of $15.7 million to $18.5 million
(General Fund) per year to the extent removing the child
deprivation rule results in additional eligible cases and
fewer cases discontinued from the CalWORKs program.
2)One-time costs potentially in excess of $150,000 (General
Fund) for automation changes required to effectuate the
eligibility changes imposed under this measure.
3)Unknown net increase/decrease in CalWORKs program costs
(General Fund) resulting from the changes to hourly work
requirements for assistance units with two adults, which could
result in increased employment services costs, offset to some
degree by grant cost savings resulting from increased earnings
or higher rates of sanction.
COMMENTS:
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CalWORKs: The CalWORKs program, which is funded, in part,
through the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
(TANF) block grant, provides monthly income assistance and
employment-related services aimed at moving children out of
poverty and helping families meet basic needs. According to
recent data from the California Department of Social Services,
over 540,000 families rely on CalWORKs, including over one
million children. Nearly 80% of the children are under age
twelve and almost 40% are under age five.
The average 2015 to 2016 monthly cash grant for a family of
three on CalWORKs (one parent and two children) is $506.55, and
the maximum monthly grant amount for a family of three, if the
family has no other income and lives in a high-cost county, is
$704. This grant amount puts the annual household income at
$8,448 per year, or 42% of poverty. (Federal Poverty Guidelines
for 2015 show that 100% of poverty for a family of three is
$20,090 per year.)
Welfare-to-Work requirements: Welfare-to-work activities within
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, or 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.
Unless they are exempt, single parent adults must participate
for at least 30 hours per week in welfare-to-work activities,
whereas the minimum participation requirement for two-parent
families is 35 hours per week. 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
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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 subtracted from the amount provided to the
family to meet basic needs.
Need for this bill: The Personal Responsibility and Work
Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), which was the
final piece of federal welfare reform legislation, repealed the
Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program and
created the block-granted TANF program. The new approach
emphasized integrating parents into the workforce, and one of
the resulting four core purposes of the federal TANF program is
to encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent
families. However, current state law prevents a poor two-parent
family from receiving aid if the primary wage earner has worked
more than 100 hours in a month. This policy mirrors AFDC
provisions included in the Code of Federal Regulations, which
haven't been updated since before PRWORA was implemented, making
California one of only eight states that still implements this
standard.
While the 100-hour policy is based on the assumption that an
average of 25 hours of work per week can generate enough income
for a parent to provide for his or her family and set the
family's income above the eligibility threshold for CalWORKs,
this is often not the case. In direct conflict with the TANF
goal of two-parent family maintenance, this policy encourages
parents to split, as the same family would be eligible for aid
if the primary wage earner left the home. This bill repeals the
100-hour standard while maintaining all resource and income
eligibility requirements, all of which reveal a CalWORKs
applicant family's need for assistance.
According to the author, "The CalWORKs Family Unity Act of 2015
is a modest effort to strengthen the safety net for low-income
working families of California, who today endure the highest
poverty rate in the Nation. By improving economic opportunities
for low-income two-parent homes, we will also strengthen family
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unit."
Analysis Prepared by:
Myesha Jackson / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089 FN: 0002026