BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2054
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Date of Hearing: April 20, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
2054 (Thurmond) - As Introduced February 17, 2016
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY: This bill directs the California Health and Human
Services Agency to design and implement the Summer Electronic
Benefits Transfer for Children (SEBTC). Specifically, this bill:
1)Defines "SEBTC," to mean a program, pilot, or demonstration
project that provides nutrition assistance when school is out
of session via electronic benefits transfer (EBT) to
households with children eligible for free and reduced price
meals, as specified.
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2)Requires the California Department of Health and Human
Services Agency, in conjunction with other agencies as
specified, and pursuant to federal approval and/or
authorization, to design and implement the SEBTC to provide
nutrition assistance benefits to eligible households.
3)Requires the SEBTC system to be compatible with the State's
existing EBT system, comply with any federal laws and
regulations governing SEBTC, and comply with any and all
privacy and confidentiality procedures, as specified.
FISCAL EFFECT:
1)Unknown costs, but likely in the hundreds of millions of
dollars, to fund the benefit level provided to eligible
households. The bill does not specify a benefit level but, for
example, if the monthly benefit was $45 per child (as proposed
in the Federal budget), the annual cost to fund the benefit
level would be approximately $918.5 million, based on an
estimated caseload of 1.7 million eligible children. If the
proposed federal program is in place, this cost would be 100%
federally funded. Absent the program, the program would be
entirely state funded.
2)Unknown, but potentially significant costs for automation,
design, implementation and operation of a Summer EBT program.
If a Federal program is in place, such as is proposed in the
2017 federal budget, these costs would be a shared
federal/state/county cost (50/35/15). Otherwise, these costs
would be entirely state funded.
COMMENTS:
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1)Purpose. According to the author, "Research and common sense
tell us that children need year-round access to nutritious
meals in order to learn, grow, and achieve at their full
potential?Research also shows that food insecurity increases
during the summer months. Currently, federally funded summer
meal programs operate in a number of communities across
California. While summer meal programs provide valuable
resources when and where they are able to reach children,
nearly 90% of low-income school-age children in California are
not served by these programs?Complex problems like child
hunger need multiple solutions. Fortunately, one clear
solution has already been rigorously tested and proven
effective: Summer Electronic Benefits for Children. SEBTC
provides nutrition assistance for the purchase of groceries
when school is out of session and children lose access to
school meals. This bill will prepare California to implement
SEBTC, which has been successfully serving children in other
areas of the country since 2011."
2)Background. Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) is an electronic
system that automates the delivery, redemption, and
reconciliation of issued public assistance benefits such as
CalWORKs. EBT is also the method for distributing Cal Fresh
benefits (formerly known as Food Stamps and currently known
federally as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
(SNAP)). EBT is currently used in all 50 states. In
California, CalWORKs and CalFresh recipients access their
benefits via what has been named the Golden State Advantage
EBT card. Like a bank-issued automated teller machine (ATM)
card, the cardholder slides this card through a point-of-sale
(POS) device, or uses the card at an ATM.
In 2011, as part of its efforts to end child hunger, the
United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food and
Nutrition Service (FNS) created the Summer Electronic Benefits
Transfer for Children program to study the use of SNAP and
Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) EBT technology by providing
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children and their families with more resources to use at food
stores during the summer months. In 2011, the USDA began
"proof-of concept" demonstrations in two states, Michigan and
Texas, for the WIC model, and in three states, Connecticut,
Missouri, and Oregon, for the SNAP model. Each state provided
benefits to 2,500 children in the summer of 2011. In 2012,
each of the five proof-of-concept states increased operations
to reach 5,000 children in new parts of their states. In
addition to this, in 2012, five new states and Tribal
Organizations implemented SEBTC projects: Cherokee Nation
(WIC), Chickasaw Nation (WIC), Nevada (WIC), Delaware (SNAP),
and Washington (SNAP).
3)Federal Budget. The President's FY 2017 proposed budget
invests $12 billion over 10 years to create a permanent,
universal Summer EBT program. Specifically, the proposal
includes a $45 monthly benefit per child during the summer
months for school-aged children eligible for free and reduced
price meals through the National School Lunch Program (NSLP).
The monthly benefit can be redeemed for food purchases at
grocery stores and would be annually adjusted for inflation
going forward. The program would be phased in over ten years
with 10% of states participating by 2017 and serving almost
one million low-income children. By 2026, when all states are
expected to participate, nearly 20 million children will
receive SEBTC benefits
4)Prior Legislation. AB 1542 (Ducheny), Chapter 270, Statutes of
1997, implemented federal welfare reform and established the
CalWORKs program, and conformed to federal law in establishing
the Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) Act.
Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916)
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