BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 982
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Date of Hearing: May 6, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
982 (Eggman) - As Amended April 21, 2015
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY: This bill enhances the process for identifying
homeless youth for subsidized child care services. Specifically,
this bill:
1)Adds local educational agency liaisons for homeless children
and youths, Head Start programs, and emergency and
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transitional shelters to the list of entities that may
identify a child, and thereby confer eligibility, for
subsidized child development services.
2)Adds "being homeless" as a criterion for which a child may be
identified as needing subsidized child care services by
specified entities.
FISCAL EFFECT:
Negligible state fiscal impact.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author's office, research indicates
that parents who are homeless face greater barriers to
accessing child care subsidies compared to other low-income
families, and mothers who have experienced homelessness
receive child care subsidies much less frequently than those
who are at risk of homelessness or who have stable housing.
The author states that, "Despite their extreme need and
documented lack of access, homeless families do not currently
receive priority for child care and development services in
California. This bill would help increase homeless families'
access to federal and state subsidized child care and
development services."
2)Subsidized Child Care. Families are eligible for non-CalWORKs
subsidized child care if they meet at least one requirement in
each of two areas:
a) Eligibility criteria include currently receiving aid,
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being income-eligible, being homeless, or having children
who are recipients of protective services or who have been
identified as being, or are at risk of being, abused,
neglected, or exploited.
b) Need requirements include either the child has been
identified as being a recipient of protective services or
being, or at risk of being, abused, neglected or exploited,
or the parents are employed or seeking employment, engaged
in vocational training, seeking permanent housing for
family stability, or incapacitated.
First priority for non-CalWORKs subsidized child care is given
to abused or neglected children who are receiving protective
services, or children who are at risk of abuse or neglect who
are referred from a legal, medical or social services agency.
Second priority is given to families with the lowest gross
monthly income relative to family size.
1)Homeless Children and Youth. The federal McKinney-Vento
Homeless Assistance Act of 2001 defines homeless children and
youths as individuals who "lack a fixed, regular, and adequate
nighttime residence," and it includes children and youths who:
have to share housing with others due to loss of housing or
economic hardship; are living in motels, hotels, trailer
parks, or camp grounds because they lack other accommodations;
are living in emergency or transitional shelters; are awaiting
foster placement; or have a primary nighttime residence that
is not designed as a regular sleeping accommodation for human
beings.
Over 520,000 children in the state were estimated to be
homeless in 2012-13, prompting the National Center on Family
Homelessness at American Institutes for Research to rank
California the 48th worst in the nation with regards to the
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extent of child homelessness (adjusted for state population).
Nationally, it is estimated that approximately 51% of all
homeless children in the United States are under the age of 6,
34% are between the ages of 6 and 12, and 15% are between 13
and 17.
Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916)
319-2081