BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 743
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
743 (Eggman)
As Amended June 1, 2015
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes |Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+--------------------+----------------------|
|Human Services |5-2 |Chu, Calderon, |Mayes, Maienschein |
| | |Lopez, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Mark Stone, | |
| | |Thurmond | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+--------------------+----------------------|
|Appropriations |12-5 |Gomez, Bonta, |Bigelow, Chang, |
| | |Calderon, Daly, |Gallagher, Jones, |
| | |Eggman, |Wagner |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Eduardo Garcia, | |
| | |Gordon, Holden, | |
| | |Quirk, Rendon, | |
| | |Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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AB 743
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SUMMARY: Establishes the California Work Opportunity and
Responsibility to Kids (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
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.
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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.
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 a schedule approved by a college counselor to be
deemed sufficient verification for the purpose of determining
eligibility for, and need of, child care.
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.
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14)Prohibits subjecting an individual who is currently
participating in a self-initiated program that is reflected in
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 United States Code (U.S.C.) Section 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. Section 601 et seq., Welfare
and Institutions Code (WIC) Section 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 Sections11450 and 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 Section
11250.8)
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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
federal work requirements in order to retain eligibility. (WIC
Sections 11454 and 11322.85)
6)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 Section 11323.2)
7)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 Section 11323.2
(a)(1)(A))
8)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 Section 11325.21)
9)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
Section 11325.22)
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10)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
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
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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 Section11325.23)
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
1)On-going costs in the range of $ 60,786 to $300,900 (Federal
funds/General Fund) for CalWORKs caseload increases and
increased grant amounts for those already receiving aid, due to
the expanded exemption of veterans' benefits from consideration
as income for CalWORKs eligibility purposes. The average grant
amount for a family of three is $6,078 per year. A portion of
new recipients will likely qualify for additional services as
well, such as child care, which will increase these costs
further.
2)Minor administrative costs to the Department of Social Services
(DSS) resulting from other provisions in the bill.
COMMENTS:
CalWORKs: The 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 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, 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
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rely on CalWORKs, including over one million children. Nearly 80%
of the children are under age 12 and almost 40% are under age
five.
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.
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
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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 United States (US) Department of Veterans 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
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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
poverty reduction is being recognized nationally as a strategy
that works."
Analysis Prepared by:
Myesha Jackson / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089 FN:
0000770
AB 743
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