BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1462
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Date of Hearing: April 28, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY
Mark Stone, Chair
AB 1462
(Gonzalez) - As Amended March 26, 2015
As Proposed to be Amended
SUBJECT: UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS: LEGAL SERVICES
KEY ISSUE: should select state agencies contract with nonprofit
or community-based organizations to provide legal services to
immigrants to help them, subject to availability of funding in
the budget, to apply for relief under the daca and dapa programs
announced last year by president obama?
SYNOPSIS
According to the author, the Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals (DACA) and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans
(DAPA) programs announced by President Obama last year offer
great potential social, economic, and health-related benefits to
California if eligible immigrants were to be granted deferred
action under those programs. Recent academic research cited by
the author estimates that under DAPA and DACA, up to 500,000
Californians in need of health insurance could be eligible for
comprehensive Medi-Cal coverage, and average family wages could
increase by 8.5%. Accordingly, this bill seeks to expand the
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availability of legal services to immigrants who may need help
applying for deferred action under DACA and DAPA, reflecting the
author's efforts to ensure that a large number of eligible
applicants benefit from the programs here in California.
Specifically, the bill would require select state departments or
agencies, as determined by the Governor, to contract with
qualified nonprofit or community-based organizations to provide
legal services to DACA and DAPA applicants in this state,
subject to the availability of funding in the annual Budget Act.
Proposed amendments to the bill clarify key definitions and
also clarify that these provisions become operative only if DACA
and DAPA are ultimately implemented, since there is currently an
injunction against their implementation while a federal court in
Texas decides a case challenging authority for the programs.
There is no known opposition to this bill.
SUMMARY: Provides for state agencies to contract with nonprofit
or community-based organizations to provide legal services to
immigrants applying for relief under the DACA and DAPA programs.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires state departments or agencies, as determined by the
Governor, to contract with qualified nonprofit or
community-based organizations to provide legal services to
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Deferred
Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) applicants in this
state, subject to availability of funding in the annual Budget
Act.
2)Provides that the state department or agency so designated by
the Governor shall create, oversee, and implement regulations
for the granted contracts awarded to qualified nonprofit or
community-based organizations providing legal services to DACA
and DAPA applicants in this state.
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3)Defines "qualified nonprofit or community-based organization"
to mean an organization recognized and accredited by the Board
of Immigration Appeals that has at least one immigration
attorney on staff and prior experience either in assisting
DACA applicants in this state, or participating in a
collaborative to provide immigrant assistance.
4)Defines "DACA applicant" to mean an undocumented immigrant
seeking to attain lawful immigration status under either of
the following:
a) The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program,
announced by the President on June 15, 2012 and implemented
on August 15, 2012; or
b) The Expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
program that includes revised eligibility criteria
announced by the President on November 20, 2014.
5)Defines "DAPA applicant" to mean an undocumented immigrant
seeking to attain lawful immigration status under the Deferred
Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent
Residents, announced by the President on November 20, 2014.
6)Clarifies that "legal services" provided in accordance with
this bill shall be culturally and linguistically appropriate
and for the sole purpose of assisting DACA and DAPA applicants
with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services
application.
7)Clarifies that these provisions shall become operative upon a
final judicial order authorizing implementation of the DAPA
and Expanded DACA programs announced by the President on
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November 20, 2014.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Provides that the Department of Social Services, subject to
the availability of funding from the annual Budget Act, shall
contract with qualified nonprofit legal services organizations
to provide legal services to unaccompanied undocumented minors
who are transferred to the care and custody of the federal
Office of Refugee Resettlement and who are present in this
state. (Welfare and Institutions Code Section 13300(a).)
2)Specifies several requirements for contracts awarded pursuant
to the above provision, including, among other things, that
the contract be executed with a nonprofit legal services
organization that has minimum specified levels of experience
handling such matters and is accredited by the Board of
Immigration Appeals or is eligible to receive funding from the
Trust Fund Program administered by the State Bar of
California. (Welfare and Institutions Code Section 13301(a).)
3)Defines "immigration reform act services" as services offered
in connection with an immigration reform act that are
necessary in the preparation of an application and other
related initial processes in order for an undocumented
immigrant, as specified, to attain lawful status under the
immigration reform act. (Business and Professions Code
Sections 6240 and 22442.5.)
4)Provides that it is unlawful for an attorney or immigration
consultant to demand, or accept advance payment of, any funds
from a person for immigration reform act services before the
enactment of an immigration reform act. Further provides that
any funds received after October 5, 2013 but before the
enactment of an immigration reform act must be promptly
refunded to the client, as specified. (Business and
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Professions Code Sections 6242 and 22442.6.)
FISCAL EFFECT: As currently in print this bill is keyed fiscal.
COMMENTS: This bill seeks to ensure the state will contract
with nonprofit and community-based organizations to provide
legal services to undocumented immigrants for the limited
purpose of helping them apply for relief under the DACA and DAPA
programs announced last year by President Obama through
executive action. According to the author, there are
approximately 1.5 million people in California eligible for the
DACA and DAPA programs, and the White House estimates that
California will experience an $11.7 billion increase in its GDP
and $27.5 billion over the next ten years from the President's
deferred action programs. The author states: "Under AB 1462,
the Deferred Action Integration Services Fund will increase
service bandwidth as a way to ensure a large population of
eligible applicants benefit from the DACA and DAPA programs in
California. As a result, this fund will provide financial
resources to assist in the implementation of DACA and DAPA. In
California, we need to adopt a funding model that will address
the increased demand of legal services."
Background on Recent Immigration Reform Efforts. On November
20, 2014, President Obama announced a series of executive
actions on immigration. According to the United States
Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the primary agency
responsible for implementing them, these initiatives include:
1)Expanding the population eligible for the Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to people of any current age
who entered the United States before the age of 16 and lived
in the United States continuously since January 1, 2010, and
extending the period of DACA and work authorization from two
years to three years.
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2)Allowing parents of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent
residents to request deferred action and employment
authorization for three years, in a new Deferred Action for
Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA)
program, provided they have lived in the United States
continuously since January 1, 2010, and pass required
background checks.
3)Expanding the use of provisional waivers of unlawful presence
to include the spouses and sons and daughters of lawful
permanent residents and the sons and daughters of U.S.
citizens. (See http://www.uscis.gov/immigrationaction )
On February 16, 2015, however, a federal court in Texas issued a
preliminary injunction to temporarily prevent the federal
government from implementing the DAPA and expanded DACA programs
pursuant to the November 20 executive actions. USCIS had
planned to begin accepting applications for the expanded DACA
program on February 18, 2015, while the DAPA program was
expected to begin taking applications sometime in May 2015. At
the time of this analysis, the Department of Homeland Security
was not accepting requests for either DAPA, or the expanded DACA
programs, pending an appeal of the case. (See "Federal Court
Halts DAPA and Expanded DACA Programs", Center for Migration
Studies, 2/17/15, located at
http://cmsny.org/federal-court-halts-dapa-and-expanded-daca-progr
ams .)
Studies show significant potential benefits to California if
large numbers of eligible immigrants apply for and gain relief
through DACA and DAPA. According to the author, the President's
deferred action programs, DACA and DAPA, offer great potential
social, economic, and health-related benefits to California if
eligible immigrants were to gain relief from deportation and
work authorization under those programs. For example, according
to the President's Council of Economic Advisors, implementation
of DAPA would result in a six to ten percent increase in average
family wages at the national level. (Executive Office of the
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President, Council of Economic Advisors, The Economic Effect of
Administrative Action on Immigration, 2014.) The Center for
American Progress (CAP) estimated an 8.5 percent increase in
earnings for those moving from the informal to the formal labor
market, in part because they would be able to find jobs that
better match their skills and would have a larger incentive to
invest in job training. (Patrick Oakford, Administrative Action
on Immigration Reform: The Fiscal Benefits of Temporary Work
Permits. Center for American Progress, 2014.) Using the CAP
figure of 8.5%, researchers at the USC Dornsife Center for the
Study of Immigrant Integration estimated that DAPA families in
California will see their total earnings increase by around $1.6
billion. They estimate that 17% of minors in California have at
least one DAPA-eligible parent, which means an estimated 40,000
children in these families could be lifted over the official
poverty line by the increase in family earnings.
Overall health care coverage in California also stands to
improve if large numbers of eligible immigrants gain relief
under DACA and DAPA. These immigrants are not eligible for
health insurance options under the Affordable Care Act, but
those who are granted deferred action under DACA or DAPA become
eligible for comprehensive Medi-Cal coverage under state policy
if otherwise eligible based on income. A report co-authored by
the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education and the
UCLA Center for Health Policy Research estimated that between
360,000 and 500,000 Californians who currently lack health
insurance could be eligible for comprehensive Medi-Cal if
between 50% and 70% of Californians eligible for DACA and DAPA
are granted deferred action. (Lucia, Chen, et al. Health
Insurance and Demographics of California Immigrants Eligible for
Deferred Action. UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and
Education and UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, March
2015.)
For these reasons, this bill seeks to expand the availability of
legal services to immigrants who may need help applying for
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deferred action under DACA and DAPA, reflecting the author's
efforts to ensure that a large number of eligible applicants
benefit from the programs here in California. The author notes
that after DACA was first announced in 2012, the city and county
of San Francisco were one of the first jurisdictions in the
state to allocate funds to community-based organizations to be
used for, among other things, providing legal assistance to
DACA-eligible applicants.
Author's amendments to clarify key terms. As proposed to be
amended, the bill clarifies the definition of several key terms,
including "DACA applicant," "DAPA applicant," and "qualified
nonprofit or community-based organization." This last term is
defined to mean "an organization recognized and accredited by
the Board of Immigration Appeals that has at least one
immigration attorney on staff and prior experience either in
assisting DACA applicants in this state or participating in a
collaborative to provide immigrant assistance." These minimum
criteria ensure that any nonprofit or CBO selected to contract
with the state to provide legal services for immigrants are
competent and qualified in helping immigrants.
The proposed amendments also clarify that legal services
provided in accordance with this bill shall be culturally and
linguistically appropriate, and for the sole purpose of
assisting immigrants complete applications for DACA and DAPA.
According to the author, ensuring the funding of quality legal
assistance will relieve eligible immigrants from potentially
falling victim to immigration services fraud provided by
unscrupulous attorneys and consultants, which is also important
in furthering the interest of this bill and the state's
investments in consumer protection.
Author's amendment to clarify contingent operation. As proposed
to be amended, the bill clarifies that these provisions shall
become operative only upon the courts authorizing implementation
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of DAPA and Expanded DACA. Without implementation of the
deferred action programs, it is understood that no obligation to
provide legal services would exist because there would be no
authorized program to which an immigrant may apply, nor any
relief available. At the time of this analysis, the federal
injunction against implementation of the deferred action
programs was still in effect and it is not known when resolution
of the matter in the federal court in Texas is expected.
Pending Related Legislation. AB 60 (Gonzalez) prohibits
attorneys and immigration consultants from demanding or
accepting advance payment of any funds from a person for
immigration reform act services in connection with requests for
expanded DACA and requests for DAPA before the date the United
States Citizenship and Immigration Services begins accepting
those requests, as specified. This bill is currently in Senate
Rules Committee pending referral.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
None on file
Opposition
None on file
AB 1462
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Analysis Prepared by:Anthony Lew / JUD. / (916) 319-2334