Amended in Assembly April 20, 2016

Amended in Assembly April 4, 2016

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 2058

Introduced by Assembly Member Mayes

(Principal coauthor: Senator Bates)

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Bigelow and Mathis)

February 17, 2016

An act to add Article 3.7 (commencing with Section 11340) to Chapter 2 of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to CalWORKs, and making an appropriation therefor.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 2058, as amended, Mayes. CalWORKs: education incentives.

Existing law requires each county to provide cash assistance and other social services to needy families through the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program using federal, state, and county funds. Under existing law, a recipient of CalWORKs is required to participate in welfare-to-work activities for a specified number of hours each week as a condition of eligibility for aid. Existing law authorizes certain welfare-to-work participants to engage in adult basic education in satisfaction of these work requirements.

Existing law establishes the Cal-Learn Program, under which a recipient of CalWORKs aid who is under 19 years of age and who does not have a high school diploma or its equivalent is required to participate in the program as a student attending school on a full-time basis. Existing law provides for a supplement to, or a reduction in, a Cal-Learn participant’s aid grant based on his or her performance in school.

This bill would create the CalWORKs Educational Opportunity and Attainment Program to provide CalWORKs recipients with a monthly education incentive grant of $100 for attainment of a high school diploma or its equivalent, $200 for attainment of an associate’s degree, or $300 for attainment of a bachelor’s degree, if the diploma or degree was earned while the recipient was receiving CalWORKs assistance. The bill would require the education incentive grant to be provided on an ongoing basis if the recipient meets certain eligibility criteria. The bill would require a recipient, when applying for an education bonus, to submit evidence of completion of the educational program to the county. The bill would require the county, upon verification of completion of the educational program, to certify that the recipient is eligible for an education incentive grant and ensure that the recipient’s monthly cash grant is increased. By imposing additional administrative duties on counties, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

Existing law establishes the CalWORKs Recipients Education Program in the California Community Colleges. Existing law requires, to the extent that funding is provided in the annual Budget Act, a community college district to receive funding for purposes of providing special services for CalWORKs recipients, including job placement and workstudy.

This bill would appropriate $20,000,000 from the General Fund to the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges to fund services provided under that program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.

Vote: ²⁄₃. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

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begin insert SECTION 1. end insert   

end insert begin insert

The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:

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(a) In California’s high-skill economy, it is very difficult to get
a good, middle-class job without vocational education or a college
degree, let alone a high school diploma.

end insert begin insert

(b) This is a significant barrier to socioeconomic mobility for
California’s highly vulnerable CalWORKs recipients, because as
many as 65 percent of CalWORKs recipients do not have a high
school education.

end insert begin insert

(c) Research has consistently shown that postsecondary
education boosts social mobility, particularly for those at the
bottom of the income distribution scale, and that a parent’s level
of education has positive effects on his or her child’s level of
success into middle adulthood.

end insert begin insert

(d) California has the seventh-largest federal Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families cash grant in the nation, and the
second largest among the 10 largest states.

end insert begin insert

(e) Poverty remains a persistent problem.

end insert begin insert

(f) This act is intended to provide incentives for CalWORKs
recipients to pursue education, thereby improving the opportunities
and outcomes for adults and children in the CalWORKs program.

end insert

begin delete SECTION 1. end delete

begin insert SEC. 2. end insert   

Article 3.7 (commencing with Section 11340) is added
to Chapter 2 of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions
Code, to read:

 

Article 3.7.  CalWORKs Educational Opportunity and
Attainment Program

 

11340.  

begin delete (a) end delete begin delete   end delete This article shall be known, and may be cited, as
the CalWORKs Educational Opportunity and Attainment Program.

begin delete

(b) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(1) In California’s high-skill economy, it is very difficult to get
a good, middle-class job without vocational education or a college
degree, let alone a high school diploma.

(2) This is a significant barrier to socioeconomic mobility for
California’s highly vulnerable CalWORKs recipients, because as
many as 65 percent of CalWORKs recipients do not have a high
school education.

(3) Research has consistently shown that postsecondary
education boosts social mobility, particularly for those at the
bottom of the income distribution scale, and that a parent’s level
of education has positive effects on his or her child’s level of
success into middle adulthood.

(4) California has the seventh-largest federal Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families cash grant in the nation, and the
second largest among the 10 largest states.

(5) Poverty remains a persistent problem.

(6) This act is intended to provide incentives for CalWORKs
recipients to pursue education, thereby improving the opportunities
and outcomes for adults and children in the CalWORKs program.

end delete

11341.  

(a) A CalWORKs recipient may apply to receive an
education incentive grant in the following amounts:

(1) One hundred dollars ($100) per month for completion of begin insert a end insert
high school begin insert diploma end insert or its equivalent.

(2) Two hundred dollars ($200) per month for completion of
an associate’s degree.

(3) Three hundred dollars ($300) per month for completion of
a bachelor’s degree.

(b) The amounts listed in subdivision (a) are not cumulative. A
recipient shall receive, on an ongoing basis, the highest monthly
bonus to which he or she is entitled.

(c) The amounts listed in subdivision (a) constitute ongoing
adjustments to the recipient’s monthly cash grant.

11342.  

(a) When applying for an education incentive grant, a
recipient shall submit evidence of completion of the educational
program to the county. A recipient is not eligible unless all of the
following criteria are satisfied:

(1) The recipient completed an educational program included
in the recipient’s begin delete welfare to work end delete begin insert welfare-to-work end insert plan approved
by the county.

(2) The recipient completed an educational program offered by
an accredited educational institution.

(3) The recipient completed the educational program while
receiving CalWORKs assistance.

(b) Upon verification of completion of the educational program,
the county shall certify that the recipient is eligible for an education
incentive grant, and shall ensure that the recipient’s monthly cash
grant is increased as prescribed in Section 11341.

11343.  

(a) A CalWORKs recipient who is receiving an
education incentive grant and then ceases to receive CalWORKs
assistance shall not be eligible for the same education incentive
grant if he or she begins receiving CalWORKs assistance in the
future. The recipient is eligible, however, to receive a different
education incentive grant if he or she attains a higher level of
education while receiving CalWORKs assistance.

(b) A CalWORKs recipient is permanently ineligible for an
education incentive grant under begin delete all end delete begin insert either end insert of the following
circumstances:

(1) The recipient has exhausted his or her CalWORKs benefits.

begin delete

(2) The recipient has been sanctioned.

(3)

end delete

begin insert (2) end insert  The recipient has committed public assistance fraud, as
described in Article 7 (commencing with Section 11475.2).

begin insert

(c) A CalWORKs recipient shall not receive an education
incentive grant in any month during which he or she is sanctioned.

end insert

begin delete SEC. 2. end delete

begin insert SEC. 3. end insert   

The sum of twenty million dollars ($20,000,000) is
hereby appropriated from the General Fund to the Board of
Governors of the California Community Colleges to fund services
provided under the CalWORKs Recipients Education Program
(Article 5 (commencing with Section 79200) of Chapter 9 of Part
48 of Division 7 of Title 3 of the Education Code), including, but
not limited to, education and career counseling services,
employment development services, including job development
staff positions, and workstudy positions.

begin delete SEC. 3. end delete

begin insert SEC. 4. end insert   

If the Commission on State Mandates determines that
this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to
local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made
pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division
4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.