BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 743
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Date of Hearing: April 14, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Kansen Chu, Chair
AB 743
(Eggman) - As Amended April 9, 2015
SUBJECT: CalWORKs: eligibility: work activities
SUMMARY: Establishes the CalWORKs Self-Sufficiency through
Education and GI Bill Exemption Act of 2015.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Ensures education, training, vocation or rehabilitation
benefits, and related allowances provided through the United
States Department of Veterans Affairs, as specified, are not
considered as income or property for purposes of determining
CalWORKs eligibility or grant levels.
2)Provides that individuals participating in a self-initiated
program leading to employment, as specified, are not required
to participate in job search activities.
3)Requires a county, upon determining that a welfare-to-work
plan assessment is necessary for a person participating in an
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approved self-initiated program, as specified, to schedule the
assessment at a time that does not interfere in any way with
the person's self-initiated program, employment, or child care
obligations, and requires supportive services to continue for
that person until the assessment has been completed.
4)Provides that satisfactory progress in an assigned education
or training activity shall be defined by the institution
administering the education or training activity.
5)Provides that satisfactory progress in an undergraduate degree
or certificate program that leads to employment shall be
defined by the educational institution.
6)Exempts a person enrolled in postsecondary school, as
specified, from CalWORKs job club and job search requirements,
as defined.
7)Provides that either a county welfare department or a local
education agency or provider can identify a self-initiated
program as leading to employment. Deletes the requirement
that a county annually agree to a list of such activities, and
instead requires a county to approve the list, annually.
8)Establishes a statewide standard for allowable activities
identified as leading to employment by aligning the list of
allowable activities used at the county level with the list
used by the Employment Development Department.
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9)Allows study time, as defined by the educational institution a
person is attending, to be counted toward the minimum number
of hours of welfare-to-work participation that are required,
as specified.
10)Deletes language that only authorizes supportive services
reimbursement for participation in a self-initiated training
or education program when no other source of funding for those
costs is available.
11)Requires child care supportive services to be continued, for
a period not to exceed six weeks, when hours of educational or
vocational training are reduced due to a break in instruction
at an institution and an individual is eligible to continue in
the educational or vocational program following the break in
instruction.
12)Excludes any hours of participation in a self-initiated
education or training program from the work activity
limitations of the CalWORKs 24-month time clock.
13)Removes self-initiated programs from consideration among
assigned program activities when determining whether a person
has failed or refused to comply with program requirements.
14)Prohibits subjecting an individual who is currently
participating in a self-initiated program that is reflected in
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his or her welfare-to-work plan from being subject to
sanctions on the basis of failure or refusal to sign a new
welfare-to-work plan if the individual is making satisfactory
progress in that program, as defined by the institution
administering the program.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes several education programs available to military
veterans, including post-9/11 educational assistance, as
specified. (38 U.S.C. 3313)
2)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 CalWORKs program. (42
U.S.C. 601 et seq., WIC 11200 et seq.)
3)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 approximately 40% of the Federal
Poverty Level. (WIC 11450, 11150 et seq.)
4)Prohibits a CalWORKs applicant or recipient's educational
expenses from being applied to any educational loans or grants
he or she receives that are exempt from consideration as
income for purposes of determining CalWORKs eligibility. (WIC
11250.8)
5)Establishes a 48-month lifetime limit of CalWORKs benefits for
eligible adults, including a CalWORKs welfare-to-work 24-month
time clock, upon exhaustion of which a recipient must meet
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federal work requirements in order to retain eligibility.
(WIC 11454, 11322.85)
6)Authorizes a recipient subject to the welfare-to-work 24-month
time clock to request an extension of those 24 months to
continue in an activity in which he or she is engaged,
including a self-initiated program that would increase the
likelihood of employment, as specified. (WIC 11322.87)
7)Exempts specified categories of recipients from participation
in welfare-to-work activities, including a parent or other
adult CalWORKs recipient with primary responsibility for
personally providing care to one child from birth to 23
months, as specified. (WIC 11320.3(b))
8)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)
9)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)
10)Requires necessary supportive services, including child care,
transportation, ancillary costs and personal counseling, as
specified, to be available to every CalWORKs participant in
order to facilitate his or her participation in the CalWORKs
program activity to which he or she is assigned or acceptance
of employment. (WIC 11323.2)
11)Makes paid child care available as a supportive service to
every CalWORKs participant with a dependent child in the
assistance unit who needs paid child care and is under 10
years of age or requires child care due to a physical, mental,
or developmental disability, or is under court supervision.
(WIC 11323.2 (a)(1)(A))
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12)Requires payments for supportive services to be advanced to
CalWORKs participants, as specified, so that a participant
does not need to use his or her funds to pay for the
supportive services. (WIC 11323.4)
13)Requires any individual required to participate in
welfare-to-work activities to enter into a written
welfare-to-work plan with the county welfare department after
an assessment is conducted, as specified. (WIC 11325.21)
14)Requires all welfare-to-work participants, except those
participating in the Cal-Learn Program or engaged in obtaining
a high school diploma or its equivalent, to be assigned to
participate in job search activities for a period of up to
four consecutive weeks following the initial CalWORKs
appraisal. (WIC 11325.22)
15)Establishes the following provisions pertaining to
participation in self-initiated education and training
programs:
a) Permits a student enrolled in any undergraduate degree
or certificate program that leads to employment to continue
in that program upon commencing CalWORKs aid, provided he
or she is making satisfactory progress in the program, the
county determines that continuing in the program is likely
to lead to self-supporting employment for that recipient,
and the welfare-to-work plan reflects that determination;
b) Provides that a program shall only be determined to lead
to employment if it is on a list of programs that the
county welfare department and local education agencies or
providers agree lead to employment, and requires the list
to be agreed to annually. Further requires the county to
determine whether a program leads to employment if it is
not included in the agreed upon list;
c) Requires concurrent participation in additional work
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activities if participation in educational or vocational
training, as determined by the number of hours required for
classroom, laboratory, or internship activities, does not
fulfil the weekly 30 or 20 hour work requirement, as
specified;
d) Requires participation in a self-initiated education or
vocational training program to be reflected in a
recipient's welfare-to-work plan;
e) Authorizes a person whose previously approved
self-initiated education or training program is interrupted
for reasons that meet good cause criteria, as specified, to
resume participation in the same program if the participant
maintained good standing in the program and the program
continues to meet the county approval criteria; and
f) Requires supportive services reimbursement to be
provided for any participant in a self-initiated
educational or training program provided that no other
source of funding for those services is available. (WIC
11325.23)
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
grant for a family of three on CalWORKs (one parent and two
children) is $506.55. 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 40% are under age
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five.
Average grant amounts of $506.55 per month for a family of three
means $16.88 per day, per family, or $5.62 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 $6,078 per
year. Federal Poverty Guidelines for 2015 show that 100% of
poverty for a family of three is over three times that at
$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
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.
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Self-initiated programs: While most parents applying for
CalWORKs assistance have gaps in their education or minimal
prior job experience, the recent recession resulted in numerous
college students and people who had been laid off from their
jobs showing up for the first time in county offices to figure
out how to make ends meet for their families. Under current
law, a person applying for CalWORKs aid that is already enrolled
in an undergraduate or certificate program that will lead to
self-sustaining employment can remain in that program provided
he or she is making satisfactory progress in the program. Such
programs are referred to as "self-initiated programs" because
they are the result of the applicant or recipient engaging in an
education or training program without first needing to go
through a CalWORKs assessment in order to gauge his or her
employment skills and abilities. While individuals
participating in self-initiated programs should be able to
develop their welfare-to-work plans in a way that accommodates
their current approved activities, the flow of statutory
requirements designed to help CalWORKs recipients obtain and
maintain employment includes job search activities for a period
of up to four weeks for most participants. Job search
activities can provide beneficial, gradual exposure to new
working environments for many welfare-to-work participants, but
this requirement often interferes with education and training
schedules for self-initiated program participants.
GI Bill: Originally signed in 1944 and envisioned, in part, as
a means to aid in the transition back to civilian life, GI Bill
benefits have been increasingly relied upon to ensure a pathway
to education for active military personnel and veterans. In
2008, the GI Bill was updated to give veterans with active duty
service on or after September 11, 2001 enhanced educational
benefits that provide additional funding for educational
expenses, money for books, and a living allowance. Another
feature of the Post-9/11 GI bill is the ability for veterans to
transfer any unused educational benefits to their spouses or
children, provided they meet certain US Department of Veterans
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Affairs requirements. According to September 2014 estimates
from the US Department of Veterans Affairs, California is home
to over 1.8 million veterans, which accounts for 12% of the
national veteran population of 22 million. A report prepared
for the US Department of Defense revealed that in 2012, there
were 155,985 active duty military personnel in California.
Need for this bill: This bill seeks to encourage educational
options for low-income parents that will lead to long-term,
improved outcomes for themselves and their families. By
removing unnecessary disruptions and barriers to continuing in
an education or training program in which a CalWORKs applicant
or recipient is making satisfactory progress, this bill will
grant more parents access to the education options and support
already available to them while avoiding damaging setbacks.
Additionally, this bill ensures that statute is clear relative
to not factoring GI Bill benefits, including the housing
stipend, into income or property calculations for CalWORKs
applicants. By doing so, this bill allows military service
members, their spouses and their children to utilize earned
benefits without having to forgo receipt of those benefits if
they happen to need additional assistance to stabilize their
families.
According to the author, "This bill seeks to help some of our
most hard-working students that are fighting to improve their
lives as well as their families. There are over 30,000 parents
who are improving their future earning potential and the life
opportunities of their children by seeking a certificate or
degree while participating in welfare-to-work. Research shows
that securing post-secondary degree will improve the likelihood
of exiting poverty and reduce reliance on safety net programs.
Supporting the success of low-income parents in their academic
and employment and training goals not only improves the economic
opportunities, but research has shown that it makes their
children more likely to finish high school and to seek college
opportunities for themselves. This two-generation approach to
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poverty reduction is being recognized nationally as a strategy
that works."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Coalition of California Welfare Rights Organizations, Inc.
(CCWRO) - sponsor
Western Center on Law & Poverty (WCLP) -sponsor
California Alternative Payment Program Association (CAPPA)
California School Employees Association (CSEA)
National Association of Social Workers (NASW)-California Chapter
Opposition
None on file.
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Analysis Prepared by:Myesha Jackson / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089