BILL ANALYSIS Ó
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 433|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 433
Author: Chu (D)
Amended: 3/26/15 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE: 5-0, 7/14/15
AYES: McGuire, Berryhill, Hancock, Liu, Nguyen
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 8/27/15
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza, Nielsen
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 74-0, 5/22/15 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Public social services: CalWORKs
SOURCE: Western Center on Law and Poverty
DIGEST: This bill requires that CalWORKs benefits be continued
for a child who dies until the end of the month following the
death, and prohibits sanctions from being applied in that time
period for a grieving parent's failure to comply with program
requirements. This bill also requires a county to assist a
grieving parent in accessing appropriate services and to provide
information to the grieving parent about mental health services,
as specified.
ANALYSIS:
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, administers TANF funds through the CalWORKs
AB 433
Page 2
program (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 percent of the federal
poverty level (FPL). (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
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)Subjects an individual receiving CalWORKs benefits to a
financial sanction, as specified, when he or she does not meet
the 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)
7)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. 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))
AB 433
Page 3
8)Requires a family's aid be calculated based on the number of
needy of family members, as specified, including aid for a
pregnant, childless woman. (WIC 11450 et seq.)
This bill:
1)Prohibits the levying of sanctions for a grieving parent's
failure or refusal to comply with the program requirements
during the month in which a child in the assistance unit died,
or the following month.
2)Requires a county upon receiving notification of the death of
a child in a CalWORKs assistance unit to do the following:
a) Assist a grieving parent in accessing services for which
the parent may be eligible. These services may include, but
are not limited to, nutrition supplement programs, housing
assistance, and other cash aid programs.
b) Provide information to the grieving parent about mental
health services, including, but not limited to, information
about, and a referral to, services provided by the county
human services agency, if appropriate.
3)Defines "grieving parent" to mean an aided adult who is
required to participate in welfare-to-work activities and who
experiences the death of a child in his or her assistance
unit.
4)Requires that, for purposes of determining a family's MAP, the
number of needy persons in the same family shall not be
decreased because of the death of a child in the assistance
unit for the month in which the death occurred, or the
following month.
5)Requires that any aid paid to a family experiencing a death of
a child shall not be deemed an overpayment unless the county
determines, as specified, that the assistance unit would have
been subject to overpayment recovery, and the county would
have sought recovery, even if the child had not died.
6)Requires the state to reimburse local agencies if the
AB 433
Page 4
Commission on State Mandates determines this bill contains
state-mandated costs, as defined.
Background
TANF and CalWORKs. California has the highest poverty rate in
the nation - just under one-quarter of residents are living at
or below FPL. 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 one million children. Nearly 80 percent of
the children are under age 12 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 FPL. This grant translates to $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.
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. At the same time the
value of the grant has decreased, the program has changed adult
eligibility from a 60-month lifetime limit to a 48-month limit,
with strict requirements on work participation to remain in the
program after 24 months.
Assistance calculation. Benefits for the CalWORKs program are
established in statute, and calculated based on the number of
needy family members, special needs of any family members,
income and assets. Statute requires that benefits be paid to a
pregnant woman, who qualifies for aid and prohibits benefits be
paid for a child who was born within 10 months of a family's
commencement of benefits, per the Maximum Family Grant rule.
AB 433
Page 5
Sanctions and good cause exemptions. Sanctions can be imposed if
a participant fails or refuses to comply with a CalWORKs
requirement, to agree to a welfare-to-work plan, show proof of
satisfactory progress in an agreed-upon activity, or to quit or
refuse a job without a good reason for doing so. If efforts at
conciliation are unsuccessful, one or both parents can be
excluded from the assistance budget for a specified time.
Counties are required to excuse CalWORKs recipients from
participation in a welfare-to-work activity 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. Counties may grant good cause
exemption for a number of reasons, including a lack of necessary
supportive services, a lack of access to child care or that the
recipient is a victim of domestic violence. Because statute does
not limit the reasons for an exemption, counties could grant a
good cause exemption for a parent who has suffered the loss of a
child.
Child deaths. The California Department of Social Services does
not have data on the number of children who die each year while
participating in the CalWORKs program. However, the Assembly
Appropriations Committee projected an estimate based on
California's child mortality rate of 14/100,000, and studies
that indicate that low-income children die at higher rates than
other children. Assuming a mortality rate of up to twice the
state rate, up to 280 children would die each year.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, this bill will
result in 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. There are likely minor, if any, increased
CalWORKs grant costs (General Fund) due to the prohibition on
AB 433
Page 6
sanctioning a grieving parent in the month of the child's death
and the month thereafter. As counties can currently provide a
good cause exemption to avoid imposing sanctions, it is
estimated that sanctions occur infrequently under existing law.
This bill also will result in one-time minor, absorbable costs
(General Fund) associated with any automation changes necessary
to effectuate the provisions of this bill, and potentially state
reimbursable, but likely minor, administration and services
costs (General Fund) to counties associated with assisting these
families as prescribed in this bill.
SUPPORT: (Verified 8/28/15)
Western Center on Law and Poverty (source)
California Alternative Payment Program Association
California Black Health Network
California Catholic Conference of Bishops
California Communities United
California Immigrant Policy Center
Coalition of California Welfare Rights Organizations
Courage Campaign
Friends Committee on Legislation in California
March of Dimes Foundation
National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter
St. Anthony Foundation
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/28/15)
Department of Finance
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: The bill's sponsor, Western Center on
Law and Poverty, writes in support that "when a parent lacks
time to grieve or to care for the deceased child's sibling(s),
AB 433
Page 7
it can be destabilizing and lead to long-term mental health and
behavioral health challenges for those children. ? There may be
nothing more difficult than losing a child. AB 433 aims to make
CalWORKs more responsive, accommodating and accountable to
families experiencing the profound grief of having lost a child
by automatically exempting the adult in the household from the
work requirement for a short period and extending their CalWORKs
grant at the prior level for one month."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: The Department of Finance opposes
this bill because "it unnecessarily imposes a new state mandate
on counties. Counties currently have the ability to provide
CalWORKs recipients a good cause exemption from welfare-to-work
activities and information to various supportive services when a
child in an assistance unit dies. In addition, this bill results
in increased CalWORKs grant costs to provide families an
additional month of benefits in the event the household
experiences a child death. Because the budget fully allocates
available federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block
grant funds, all costs resulting from this bill will be borne by
the General Fund."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 74-0, 5/22/15
AYES: Achadjian, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla,
Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau,
Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly,
Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina
Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez,
Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden,
Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low,
Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin,
Nazarian, Obernolte, Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Rendon,
Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark
Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins
NO VOTE RECORDED: Alejo, Jones, O'Donnell, Olsen, Waldron,
Weber
Prepared by:Mareva Brown / HUMAN S. / (916) 651-1524
8/30/15 19:42:12
AB 433
Page 8
**** END ****