BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1790
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Date of Hearing: April 12, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Susan Bonilla, Chair
AB 1790
(Weber) - As Amended April 6, 2016
SUBJECT: CalWORKs: welfare-to-work
SUMMARY: Prohibits sanctions for adult California Work
Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program
recipients who are meeting federal work requirements.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires that an adult CalWORKs recipient who meets the
minimum average per-week federal welfare-to-work participation
requirements is deemed to be in compliance with state CalWORKs
welfare-to-work requirements, as specified.
2)Requires that necessary supportive services be provided to
recipients meeting federal welfare-to-work requirements, as
specified.
3)Prohibits sanctioning of adults who are meeting federal work
participation but who fail or refuse to comply with specified
CalWORKs program requirements, as specified.
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4)Prohibits the provisions of this bill from entitling a person
to a corrective payment, as specified, prior to the effective
date of those provisions.
5)Requires the provisions of this bill to be implemented by the
Department of Social Services (DSS) via all-county letter or
similar instruction issued no later than January 1, 2018, as
specified.
6)Provides that no appropriation, as specified, shall be made
for purposes of implementing this bill.
EXISTING LAW:
1)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 California Work
Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program.
(42 U.S.C. 601 et seq., WIC 11200 et seq.)
2)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 around 40% of the Federal
Poverty Level. (WIC 11150 to 11160, 11450 et seq.)
3)Establishes a 48-month lifetime limit of CalWORKs benefits for
eligible adults, including 24 months during which a recipient
must meet federal work requirements in order to retain
eligibility. (WIC 11454, 11322.85)
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4)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)
5)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)
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 11323.2)
7)Requires an individual participating in CalWORKs to be subject
to sanctions whenever he or she has failed or refused to
comply with program requirements without good cause and
refuses to agree to or fails, without good cause, to comply
with a compliance plan, as specified. (WIC 11327.4)
8)Requires the county to make a corrective payment equal to the
full amount of underpayment when an underpayment or denial of
public social service occurs and results in an applicant or
recipient not receiving the amount to which he or she is
entitled, as specified.
(WIC 11004 (k))
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown.
COMMENTS:
CalWORKs: The California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to
Kids (CalWORKs) program provides monthly income assistance and
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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 2016-17 monthly cash
grant is $497.35, 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 DSS,
around 497,000 families rely on CalWORKs, including over one
million children
Maximum grant amounts in high-cost counties of $704 per month
for a family of three, with no other income, means $23.46 per
day, per family, or $7.82 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 $8,448 per year, or
42% of poverty. Federal Poverty Guidelines for 2016 show that
100% of poverty for a family of three is $20,160 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.
Federal work requirements and the work participation rate: In
order to receive federal TANF monies (California receives an
annual TANF block grant of $3.7 billion), states programs are
assessed using the "work participation rate" (WPR). To
determine the WPR, the number of "Work Eligible Individuals" who
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are meeting federal work requirements is divided by the total
number of Work Eligible Individuals subject to those federal
requirements. Fifty percent (50%) of all families, and 90% of
two-parent families, must be participating in countable federal
work activities (although states can get a caseload reduction
credit that reduces the overall target percentage to be
reached). If a state fails to meet the WPR requirements, it
could face penalties. California has not complied with WPR
requirements since 2007, and has as a result submitted
corrective compliance plans over that time period (some have
been accepted, others are pending; the state has not yet paid a
federal fiscal penalty).
Key to meeting the WPR is recipient compliance with federal work
requirements. CalWORKs has two main categories of work
requirements: CalWORKs federal standards, and CalWORKs minimum
standards. The minimum standards include activities that are
allowable for up to 24 months of the total 48 months an adult
may participate in CalWORKs - this is often referred to as the
"24 month clock," and consists of a broader range and
flexibility of allowable activities. CalWORKs federal standards
are more restricted and, while not identical to, closely align
with federal TANF requirements. Recipients must participate in
welfare to work activities for an average minimum number of
hours per week.
Sanctions for noncompliance: If a CalWORKs participant fails or
refuses to comply with program requirements without good cause,
he or she may be subject to financial sanctions which involve
removing his or her portion of aid from the CalWORKs grant
received by the household. Reasons an individual may be
sanctioned include not agreeing to a welfare-to-work plan, not
showing satisfactory progress in a welfare-to-work activity, or
quitting or refusing a job without sufficient reason.
Participants facing potential sanction have the opportunity to
claim good cause or enter into a compliance plan; failure to
comply with that plan or show good cause results in sanction.
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In Federal Fiscal Year 2014, the average CalWORKs monthly grant
for a single-parent-headed household was $519, compared to an
average grant of $399 for a sanctioned (no aided adult)
household.
Need for this bill: According to the author, "[This bill] would
prohibit the imposition of financial sanctions against a family
receiving the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to
Kids (CalWORKs) program when adults in the family are meeting
the federal work participation requirement. This bill
streamlines the process between the federal work participation
requirement and the CalWORKs program and ensures families are
not penalized."
Suggested amendments: In order to clarify the ways in which
recipient compliance with federal work requirements would be
identified - i.e., through self-reporting on the part of the
recipient or discovery by the county when, for example, sampling
for WPR compliance - and in order to explicitly provide for
county verification of compliance, committee staff recommends
the following amendments starting on line 3 of page 2 of the
bill:
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11322.81. (a) Notwithstanding any other law, if an adult
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recipient reports and the county verifies, or the county
otherwise discovers, that the recipient is meeting who meets
the federally required minimum federal
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average number of hours per week of welfare-to-work
participation
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requirements as set forth in Section 607 of Title 42 of the
United
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States Code, Code , that recipient shall be deemed to be in
compliance with
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Section 11322.8. Necessary
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
California Immigrant Policy Center (CIPC)
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Children's Defense Fund
Coalition of California Welfare Rights Organizations, Inc. -
sponsor
Courage Campaign
Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
Legal Services for Prisoners with Children (LSPC)
National Association of Social Workers, CA Chapter (NASW-CA)
Western Center on Law and Poverty
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:Daphne Hunt / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089
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