BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 433
Page A
Date of Hearing: April 28, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Kansen Chu, Chair
AB 433
(Chu) - As Amended March 26, 2015
SUBJECT: Public social services: CalWORKs
SUMMARY: Temporarily maintains CalWORKs eligibility and grant
levels for a parent who experiences the loss of a child.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Prohibits applying a sanction for a grieving parent's failure
or refusal to comply with program requirements during the
month in which a child in the CalWORKs assistance unit dies
and the following month.
2)Requires a county, upon receiving notification of the death of
a child in the assistance unit, to assist a grieving parent in
accessing other services for which the parent may be eligible
and provide information to the parent about mental health
services, including services provided by the county human
services agency, if appropriate.
3)Defines grieving parent, for purposes of this bill, as an
aided adult who is required to participate in welfare-to-work
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activities and who experiences the death of a child in the
assistance unit.
4)Maintains an assistance unit's CalWORKs grant amount for the
month in which a child in the assistance unit dies and the
following month. Provides that aid continued for an
assistance unit under these circumstances shall not be deemed
an overpayment unless the county determines that the
assistance unit would have otherwise been subject to
overpayment recovery, as specified, if the child hadn't died.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes under federal law 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 around 40% of the Federal
Poverty Level. (WIC 11450, 11150 et 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)Requires all individuals over 16 years of age, unless they are
otherwise exempt, to participate in welfare-to-work activities
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as a condition of eligibility for CalWORKs. (WIC 11320.3,
11322.6)
5)Establishes the number of weekly hours of welfare-to-work
participation necessary to remain eligible for aid, including
requirements for an unemployed parent in a two-parent
assistance unit, as specified. (WIC 11322.8)
6)Requires a county to excuse a CalWORKs recipient from
welfare-to-work participation for good cause when the county
has determined the recipient has a condition or is faced with
a circumstance that temporarily prevents or significantly
impairs the recipient's ability to be regularly employed or to
participate in welfare-to-work activities. Further requires a
county welfare department to review a good cause determination
to establish its continuing appropriateness, as specified, no
less than every three months, and requires a recipient that
has been granted good cause to provide information to the
county, including written documentation, as required, to
complete the review. (WIC 11320.3(f))
7)Subjects an individual receiving CalWORKs benefits to a
financial sanction, as specified, when he or she does not meet
program requirements without good cause, and establishes a
corrective action process, which includes communication
between the county and the individual. (WIC 11327.4, 11327.5)
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS:
CalWORKs: The California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to
Kids (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 average 2015-16 monthly cash
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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. 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.
Maximum grant amounts in high-cost counties of $704 per month
for a family of three with no other income means $23.46 per day,
per family, or $7.82 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 $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 and services
for up to a maximum of 24 months, adults without an exemption
must work in unsubsidized employment or participate in community
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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.
Good cause exemptions: Currently, counties are required to
excuse CalWORKs recipients from participation in a
welfare-to-work activity or from meeting certain program
requirements if the county determines that a condition or other
circumstance exists that temporarily prevents or significantly
impairs a recipient's ability to be regularly employed or to
participate in welfare-to-work activities. Some of the
circumstances that may cause a county to grant a good cause
exemption, which are defined in statute, include a lack of
necessary supportive services, the recipient's status as a
victim of domestic violence if meeting certain program
requirements would put that recipient or children in the family
at risk of harm, and the lack of access to child care, including
a lack of suitable care for a child with special needs. Because
statute does not limit the reasons for an exemption to what is
on this list, counties could potentially grant good cause today
for a parent who has suffered the loss of a child. However,
because statute only requires the good cause exemption to be
granted upon determination by the county that a particular
condition or circumstance exists that limits a recipient's
ability to work, counties currently have the ability to not
grant an exemption after a parent has experienced this kind of
tragedy if they don't believe the parent's ability to work is
limited.
Furthermore, because there is no automatic exemption provided
for in law when a parent is unable to participate in
welfare-to-work activities due to the death of a child, parents
are required to request an exemption through filling out a
standard, statewide form. While the form might help the county
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maintain a record of the request, it requires a parent who has
just suffered the loss of a child to reach out to the county
office to request an exemption, without knowing whether one will
be granted, and to confirm that they are physically or mentally
incapable of working by checking a box on the form.
Need for this bill: According to the author, this bill is a
necessary step toward assisting a relatively small number of
families with a temporarily consistent level of resources that
will help them remain as stable as possible during a time of
family tragedy. Without a guaranteed exemption, a parent in
fear of risking aid and services for the rest of his or her
family could be required to continue in a work activity without
time to grieve, ultimately diminishing the parent's mental
health and his or her ability to continue to work in the future,
as well as the overall stability of the family.
A 2005 research study published in The New England Journal of
Medicine, cited a correlation between the risk of first
psychiatric hospitalization among parents, especially mothers,
who lost a child that was under 18 years old. For mothers, the
study revealed that the risks were highest in the first year
after losing a child, and the risk decreased with an increased
number of children in the family.<1> By requiring that grieving
parents receive information from their counties about mental
health services available to them, this bill seeks to address
families' mental health needs as quickly as possible and
decrease some of the long-term impacts families will undoubtedly
face.
---------------------------
<1> Jiong Li, M.D., Ph.D., Thomas Munk Laursen, M.Sc., Dorthe
Hansen Precht, M.D., Ph.D., Jørn Olsen, M.D., Ph.D., and Preben
Bo Mortensen, M.D., Dr.Med.Sc. "Hospitalization for Mental
Illness among Parents after the Death of a Child." New England
Journal of Medicine 2005; 352:1190-1196.
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Western Center on Law and Poverty - sponsor
California Alternative Payment Program Association (CAPPA)
California Catholic Conference of Bishops
California Immigrant Policy Center
Coalition of California welfare Rights Organization
Courage Campaign
Friends Committee on Legislation
National Association of Social Workers, CA Chapter (NASW-CA)
Opposition
AB 433
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None on File.
Analysis Prepared by:Myesha Jackson / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089