BILL NUMBER: AB 1584 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Brown
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Thurmond)
JANUARY 6, 2016
An act to amend Section 12201 of, and to add Section 12200.16 to,
the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to public social
services, and making an appropriation therefor.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1584, as introduced, Brown. Public social services: SSI/SSP.
Existing law provides for the State Supplementary Program for the
Aged, Blind and Disabled (SSP), which requires the State Department
of Social Services to contract with the United States Secretary of
Health and Human Services to make payments to SSP recipients to
supplement Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments made available
pursuant to the federal Social Security Act.
Under existing law, benefit payments under SSP are calculated by
establishing the maximum level of nonexempt income and federal SSI
and state SSP benefits for each category of eligible recipient. The
state SSP payment is the amount required, when added to the nonexempt
income and SSI benefits available to the recipient, to provide the
maximum benefit payment. Existing law prohibits, for each calendar
year, commencing with the 2011 calendar year, any cost-of-living
adjustment from being made to the maximum benefit payment unless
otherwise specified by statute, except for the pass along of any
cost-of-living increase in the federal SSI benefits. Existing law
continuously appropriates funds for the implementation of SSP.
This bill would reinstate the cost-of-living adjustment beginning
July 1 of the 2017 calendar year. The bill would successively
increase aid grants for specified applicants and recipients by the
amount of $21 on January 1 in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.
By reinstating the cost-of-living adjustment and by increasing the
amount of benefits paid under the SSP, this bill would make an
appropriation.
Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 12200.16 is added to the Welfare and
Institutions Code, to read:
12200.16. Notwithstanding any other law, on the following dates
the maximum aid payments in accordance with subdivision (c) of
Section 12200 for an applicant or recipient who is not entitled to an
allowance pursuant to subdivision (e) of Section 12200 shall be
increased by twenty-one dollars ($21) per month:
(a) January 1, 2017.
(b) January 1, 2018.
(c) January 1, 2019.
(d) January 1, 2020.
SEC. 2. Section 12201 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is
amended to read:
12201. (a) Except as provided in subdivision (d),
(d) or (g), the payment schedules set forth in
Section 12200 shall be adjusted annually to reflect any increases or
decreases in the cost of living. Except as provided in subdivision
(e), (f), or (g), (g), or (h) these
adjustments shall become effective January 1 of each year. The
cost-of-living adjustment shall be based on the changes in the
California Necessities Index, which as used in this section shall be
the weighted average of changes for food, clothing, fuel, utilities,
rent, and transportation for low-income consumers. The computation of
annual adjustments in the California Necessities Index shall be made
in accordance with the following steps:
(1) The base period expenditure amounts for each expenditure
category within the California Necessities Index used to compute the
annual grant adjustment are:
Food............................... $ 3,027
Clothing (apparel and upkeep)...... 406
Fuel and other utilities........... 529
Rent, residential.................. 4,883
Transportation..................... 1,757
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Total............................ $10,602
(2) Based on the appropriate components of the Consumer Price
Index for All Urban Consumers, as published by the United States
Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, the percentage
change shall be determined for the 12-month period which ends 12
months prior to the January in which the cost-of-living adjustment
will take effect, for each expenditure category specified in
paragraph (1) within the following geographical areas: Los
Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, San Francisco-Oakland, San Diego, and, to
the extent statistically valid information is available from the
Bureau of Labor Statistics, additional geographical areas within the
state which include not less than 80 percent of recipients of aid
under this chapter.
(3) Calculate a weighted percentage change for each of the
expenditure categories specified in paragraph (1) using the
applicable weighting factors for each area used by the Department of
Industrial Relations to calculate the California Consumer Price Index
(CCPI).
(4) Calculate a category adjustment factor for each expenditure
category in paragraph (1) by (1) adding 100 to the applicable
weighted percentage change as determined in paragraph (2) and (2)
dividing the sum by 100.
(5) Determine the expenditure amounts for the current year by
multiplying each expenditure amount determined for the prior year by
the applicable category adjustment factor determined in paragraph
(4).
(6) Determine the overall adjustment factor by dividing (1) the
sum of the expenditure amounts as determined in paragraph (4) for the
current year by (2) the sum of the expenditure amounts as determined
in paragraph (4) for the prior year.
(b) The overall adjustment factor determined by the preceding
computational steps shall be multiplied by the payment schedules
established pursuant to Section 12200 as are in effect during the
month of December preceding the calendar year in which the
adjustments are to occur, and the product rounded to the nearest
dollar. The resultant amounts shall constitute the new schedules for
the categories given under subdivisions (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f),
and (g) of Section 12200, and shall be filed with the Secretary of
State. The amount as set forth in subdivision (h) of Section 12200
shall be adjusted annually pursuant to this section in the event that
the secretary agrees to administer payment under that subdivision.
The payment schedule for subdivision (i) of Section 12200 shall be
computed as specified, based on the new payment schedules for
subdivisions (a), (b), (c), and (d) of Section 12200.
(c) The department shall adjust any amounts of aid under this
chapter to ensure that the minimum level required by the Social
Security Act in order to maintain eligibility for funds under Title
XIX of that act is met.
(d) (1) No adjustment shall be made under this section for the
1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2004, 2006, 2007,
2008, 2009, and 2010 calendar years to reflect any change in the cost
of living. Elimination of the cost-of-living adjustment pursuant to
this paragraph shall satisfy the requirements of Section 12201.05,
and no further reduction shall be made pursuant to that section.
(2) Any cost-of-living adjustment granted under this section for
any calendar year shall not include adjustments for any calendar year
in which the cost-of-living adjustment was suspended pursuant to
paragraph (1).
(e) For the 2003 calendar year, the adjustment required by this
section shall become effective June 1, 2003.
(f) For the 2005 calendar year, the adjustment required by this
section shall become effective April 1, 2005.
(g) (1) For the 2011 calendar year and each calendar year
thereafter, to the 2016 calendar year, inclusive,
no adjustment shall be made under this section unless otherwise
specified by statute.
(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), the pass along of federal
benefits provided for in Section 12201.05 shall be effective on
January 1 of each calendar year.
(h) For the 2017 calendar year, the adjustment required by this
section shall become effective July 1, 2017.