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 AB 433 Page B 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 AB 433 Page C 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 AB 433 Page D 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 AB 433 Page E 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 AB 433 Page F 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. AB 433 Page G 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 Page H None on File. Analysis Prepared by:Myesha Jackson / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089