BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 433 (Chu) - Public social services: CalWORKs
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|Version: March 26, 2015 |Policy Vote: HUMAN S. 5 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: Yes |
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|Hearing Date: August 17, 2015 |Consultant: Jolie Onodera |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: AB 433 would maintain CalWORKs grant levels for up to
two months for a parent who experiences the loss of a child in
the assistance unit, as specified.
Fiscal
Impact:
Ongoing increase in CalWORKs grant costs, potentially in the
range of $60,000 to $110,000 (General Fund) annually, to
provide grant aid to affected families in the month of the
child's death and one month thereafter, that otherwise would
not have been provided and/or recovered through the
overpayment collection process.
Likely minor, if any, increased CalWORKs grant costs (General
Fund) due to the prohibition on sanctioning a grieving parent
in the month of the child's death and the month thereafter. As
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counties can currently provide a good cause exemption to avoid
imposing sanctions, it is estimated that sanctions occur
infrequently under existing law.
One-time minor, absorbable costs (General Fund) associated
with any automation changes necessary to effectuate the
provisions of this measure.
Potentially state reimbursable, but likely minor,
administration and services costs (General Fund) to counties
associated with assisting these families as prescribed in this
measure.
Background: Existing federal law establishes the Temporary Assistance for
Needy Families (TANF) program to provide cash aid and
welfare-to-work services to eligible low-income families and, in
California, administers TANF funds through the California Work
Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program.
Under existing law, cash assistance under the CalWORKs program
is paid to each qualified family, which includes all eligible
brothers and sisters of each eligible applicant or recipient
child and the parents of the children.
CalWORKs program requirements include participation in specified
welfare-to-work activities unless certain circumstances are
present. When an individual fails or refuses to comply with
specified components of the program without good cause, the
individual is subject to prescribed sanctions such as reduction
in the CalWORKs family grant amount.
Under existing law, an aided parent may be eligible for a good
cause exemption from welfare-to-work requirements upon the death
of a child in the family, however, such an exemption must be
requested and is applicable at the discretion of the county.
This bill seeks to ensure all families are exempt from sanction
and potential loss of grant aid until the end of the month
following the death of the child.
Proposed Law:
This bill would provide for the following benefits to a
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CalWORKs recipient who experiences the loss of a child in the
assistance unit:
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, or the following month.
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.
Defines "grieving parent" as an aided adult who is
required to participate in welfare-to-work activities and
who experiences the death of a child in the assistance
unit.
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.
Prohibits a county from establishing an overpayment for
aid granted under the provisions of this bill unless the
county would have sought recovery even if the child had not
died.
Related
Legislation: None applicable.
Staff
Comments: By maintaining CalWORKs grant levels for up to two
months for recipient families in which a child death has
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occurred and prohibiting counties from deeming such aid as
overpayments, this bill could result in an increase in CalWORKs
program costs. For those families consisting of more than one
aided child in the assistance unit, this bill would result in
additional costs applicable to the grant level associated with
the deceased child. For families consisting of only one aided
child in the household, this bill could result in maintenance of
the full family grant and administration costs, as the entire
family would have otherwise been discontinued from CalWORKs
eligibility in the absence of an eligible child in the
assistance unit, and any grant payments issued would have been
subject to overpayment recovery.
Staff notes that while the provisions of this bill do not
directly extend eligibility for the CalWORKs program under the
specified circumstances (as a family is not eligible to maintain
benefits under federal TANF and state rules in the absence of an
eligible child), prohibiting the ability of a county to
establish and collect overpayments for these cases will result
in increased CalWORKs program costs.
While the exact number of child deaths that occur within
CalWORKs families on an annual basis is unknown, it is estimated
that the number is not large. Based on an estimated child
mortality rate of 14 deaths per 100,000 children (The Henry J.
Kaiser Family Foundation, Rate of Child Deaths (1-14) per
100,000 Children, 2011), assuming 140 CalWORKs families (based
on an estimated 1 million aided children in the CalWORKs
program) were provided with an additional two months of grant
costs would result in annual grant costs ranging from $60,000 to
$110,000 (General Fund), assuming 54 percent of impacted cases
would also otherwise be discontinued from CalWORKs eligibility
due to the absence of an eligible child. To the extent the
number of CalWORKs families affected each year by the provisions
of this measure is higher or lower would impact costs
accordingly.
This bill 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,
or the following month. As counties can currently provide a good
cause exemption to avoid imposing sanctions, it is estimated
that sanctions occur infrequently under existing law and
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therefore, this provision would likely result in minor, if any,
increase in CalWORKs program costs.
The Department of Social Services has indicated any costs
associated with automation changes required to effectuate the
provisions of this measure would be minor and absorbable.
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