BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2058
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 12, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Susan Bonilla, Chair
AB 2058
(Mayes) - As Amended April 4, 2016
SUBJECT: CalWORKs: education incentives
SUMMARY: Creates the California Work Opportunity and
Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) Educational Opportunity and
Attainment Program to offer education grants to eligible
CalWORKs participants who complete certain educational programs.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Makes certain Legislative findings and declarations regarding,
among other things, the correlation between postsecondary
education and employment and economic mobility.
2)Permits a CalWORKs recipient to apply to receive an education
grant, which constitutes an ongoing adjustment to a
participant's monthly CalWORKs cash grant, awarded as follows:
a) $100 per month for completion of high school or its
equivalent;
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b) $200 per month for completion of an associate's degree;
and
c) $300 per month for completion of a bachelor's degree.
3)Stipulates that grant amounts are not cumulative, and that a
participant shall receive, on an ongoing basis, the highest
monthly bonus for which he or she is eligible.
4)Requires a participant to submit evidence of completion of an
educational program to the county when applying for the
education grant.
5)Requires a participant to complete an educational program that
meets all of the following criteria in order to be eligible
for an education grant:
a) Is included in the participant's welfare-to-work plan
approved by the county;
b) Is offered by an accredited educational institution; and
c) Is completed by the participant while he or she is
receiving CalWORKs assistance.
6)Requires the county to, upon verification of completion of an
educational program, certify that a participant is eligible
for an education grant and to ensure that the participant's
monthly cash grant is increased, as specified.
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7)Prohibits a participant who was receiving an education grant
and then ceased to receive CalWORKs assistance from being
eligible to receive the same education grant if he or she
begins receiving CalWORKs assistance again in the future, but
permits the participant to be eligible to receive a different
education grant if he or she attains a higher level of
education while receiving CalWORKs assistance.
8)Makes a CalWORKs participant permanently ineligible for an
education grant if the recipient has done any of the
following:
a) Exhausted his or her CalWORKs benefits;
b) Been sanctioned; or
c) Committed public assistance fraud, as specified.
9)Appropriates $20 million from the General Fund to the Board of
Governors of the California Community Colleges to fund
services provided under the CalWORKs Recipients Education
Program, as specified and including, but not limited to,
education and career counseling services, employment
development services, including job development staff
positions, and work study positions.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes under federal law the Temporary Assistance for
Needy Families (TANF) program to provide aid and
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welfare-to-work services to eligible families and, in
California, provides that TANF funds for welfare-to-work
services are administered through the 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)
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)States that there is, in the California Community Colleges,
the CalWORKs Recipients Education Program, the intent of which
is to assist CalWORKs recipients prepare for employment.
Further requires, as specified and to the extent that funding
is appropriated in the annual Budget Act, a community college
to receive funds for curriculum development or redesign aimed
at, among other things, linking CalWORKs courses to job
placement through work experience and internships. (EDC 79200
-79203)
7)Requires that, as specified and to the extent funding is
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provided in the annual Budget Act, a community college receive
funds in addition to those allotted for curriculum development
and redesign to provide special services for CalWORKs
recipients, including, but not limited to job placement, child
care and workstudy, coordination with county welfare offices
and other agencies, postemployment skills training and related
skills training. (EDC 79204-79206)
8)Requires, as a condition for receiving funds for special
services, community college districts and colleges to submit a
report, as specified, to the Chancellor of the California
Community Colleges that includes data on the use of the moneys
and other factors, including, but not limited to, the number
of workstudy hours provided, the number of students receiving
case management, and the hourly salaries and types of jobs in
which CalWORKs recipients were placed. (EDC 79207)
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown.
COMMENTS:
CalWORKs: The CalWORKs program provides monthly income
assistance and employment-related services aimed at moving
children out of poverty and helping families meet basic needs.
Federal funding for CalWORKs comes from the TANF block grant.
The average 2016-17 monthly cash grant for a family of three on
CalWORKs (one parent and two children) 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 the California Department
of Social Services (DSS), around 497,000 families rely on
CalWORKs, including over one million children. Nearly 60% of
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cases include children under 6 years old.
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.
Unless they are exempt, single parent adults must participate
for at least 30 hours per week in welfare-to-work activities,
whereas the minimum participation requirement for two-parent
families is 35 hours per week. After receiving aid for up to a
maximum of 24 months, adults without an exemption must meet
federal work requirements, with more restrictive employment
settings and allowable employment activities. If a CalWORKs
recipient who is not exempt from participation does not meet his
or her welfare-to-work requirements, the recipient is sanctioned
for noncompliance, and that recipient's portion of the family's
grant is subtracted from the amount provided to the family to
meet basic needs.
CalWORKs time limits: Passage of the Personal Responsibility
and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), which
was the final piece of federal welfare reform legislation,
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marked the end of the previous Aid to Families with Dependent
Children (AFDC) program and the beginning of the block-granted
TANF program, under which CalWORKs was established in California
state law. Among the numerous programmatic changes included
within the TANF program was a requirement that eligible parents
work or participate in work training or other activities that
lead to employment. The TANF program provides a great deal of
flexibility in how states implement their respective programs,
including the ability for states to establish more truncated
time limits than the 60-month lifetime limit on aid for adult
recipients authorized within it. As of 2011, California has
limited aid to adult CalWORKs recipients to a lifetime limit of
48 months.
California Community College CalWORKs Program: The California
Community Colleges CalWORKs program was created in 1997 when the
state established the CalWORKs program in response to the
federal welfare reform of 1996. Today, there are CalWORKs
programs in all 113 of the state's community colleges, as well
as in one adult education center. Over 31,000 CalWORKs
participants are enrolled in community colleges across the
state.
The individual community college CalWORKs programs coordinate
with local county human services offices and deliver case
management and a number of services to participants, including:
on- and off-campus subsidized work study placements; academic,
career, and personal counseling involving intensive case
management, career exploration, coordination of child care
services, and collaboration with on-campus student services and
off-campus community based organizations for emergency
assistance. Importantly, English language learners and
individuals seeking to complete a high school equivalency
program can also access educational and other services through
the California Community College CalWORKs program.
When originally established, the California Community Colleges
CalWORKs program had an annual budget of approximately $81
million ($65 million in Prop 98 dollars, and $16 million in
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federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families [TANF] monies).
This budget was cut significantly - by 46% - in 2002-03 as the
state struggled with a budget deficit. Other cuts and
augmentations have taken place since then; the budget for the
California Community Colleges CalWORKs program is currently
approximately $43 million ($35 million Prop 98, and $8 million
TANF).
Educational attainment of CalWORKs participants: DSS reports
that, in Federal Fiscal Year 2013, 52.3% of heads-of-household
in single-parent CalWORKs families had completed high school or
the equivalent, and 56.1% of heads-of-household in two-parent
families had. In each of fiscal years 2013-14 and 2014-15, DSS
reports that approximately 19,000 associate's degrees were
earned by CalWORKs recipients (note that one individual may have
received more than one degree in given year). During those same
fiscal years, the California Community Colleges Chancellor's
Office reports that approximately 31,000 CalWORKs participants
were enrolled in community college in the state.
Need for this bill: According to the author, "The goal of [this
bill] is to encourage and support those on CalWORKs to get the
education they need to become self-sufficient and to thrive. It
is also intended to change the life trajectory of children in
low-income households-not only would their immediate needs be
better met, they would have a greater chance of achieving
successful and fulfilling lives as adults. [This bill] will
provide supports and incentives to help CalWORKs recipients
pursue education, improving the well-being of low-income
California families and helping break the cycle of poverty."
Staff comments: The correlation between educational attainment
and employment and income is well-documented. For example, the
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that, in 2015 for adults
ages 25 and over with full-time jobs, those without a high
school diploma or equivalent saw median weekly earnings of $493,
compared to their counterparts with a high school diploma whose
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median weekly earnings were $678. Among the same population,
the unemployment rate for those without a high school diploma
was 8.0%, compared to 5.4% for those with a high school diploma.
According to the same data, acquisition of an associate's
degree only improves outcomes: median weekly earnings were $798
and the unemployment rate was 2.8%. For those with a bachelor's
degree, median weekly earnings were $1,137, and the unemployment
rate was 2.4%.
This bill seeks to facilitate CalWORKs recipient attainment of
education by offering grants upon completion of various degrees.
Ultimately, the hope is that educational attainment leads to
acquisition of better-paying jobs leads to family
self-sufficiency. These are important goals, and the CalWORKs
program is designed to support families as they work to achieve
them. However, many families can face barriers along the way:
mental health issues, learning disabilities, physical
disabilities, substance use disorders, domestic violence, and
other factors and circumstances can hinder participation in and
progress towards educational and career goals.
Recent changes in the CalWORKs program - including intensive
up-front assessment of family circumstances using the Online
CalWORKs Appraisal Tool (OCAT) and provision of family
stabilization services - recognize the need to identify and
address barriers many families face, barriers which can get in
the way of attending school or finding a job, and which can also
result in adults being sanctioned and the household CalWORKs
grant amount being reduced. The CalWORKs Educational
Opportunity and Attainment Program proposed by this bill may be
better integrated into the CalWORKs program as a whole if it
also took the approach of providing supports and barrier-removal
services to participants en route to obtaining a diploma or
degree, ensuring that any underlying causes that may be standing
in the way of educational and career success are themselves
addressed. The restoration of funding to the California
Community Colleges CalWORKs program proposed by this bill may
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help to provide some of these supports and services, but no
mechanism is currently proposed to measure the impact of this
increased funding. Should this bill move forward, the author
may wish to consider further refining the proposed CalWORKs
Educational Opportunity and Attainment Program to better support
students as they work to obtain diplomas and degrees. The
author may also wish to request an annual report to the
Legislature from the California Community Colleges CalWORKs
program on the additional impacts seen on enrollment and
graduation rates resulting from the increased funding proposed
by this bill.
Suggested amendments: In order to ensure that CalWORKs
participants who have cured any sanctions are not unduly
prohibited from participating in the CalWORKs Education
Opportunity and Attainment Program, and to make a technical
amendment to remove findings and declarations from State Code,
committee staff recommends the following amendments:
1)Strike line 18 on page 5 of the bill.
2)After line 20 on page 5 of the bill, insert:
(c) A CalWORKs recipient shall not receive an education
incentive grant in any month during which he or she is
sanctioned.
3)After line 7 on page 3 of the bill, insert:
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1) In California's high-skill economy, it is very difficult to
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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.
4)Strike lines 10 through 34 on page 3, and lines 1 through 10
on page 4 of the bill.
RELATED LEGISLATION:
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AB 1994 (Lopez), 2016, creates the CalED program to provide a
one-time $500 supplement to eligible CalWORKs participants upon
successful completion of a high school equivalency examination.
This bill is referred to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
AB 2448 (Burke), 2016, changes CalWORKs requirements regarding
permissible welfare-to-work activities to facilitate a
recipient's completion of a high school equivalency program.
This bill is referred to the Assembly Floor.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Coalition of California Welfare Rights Organization (CCWRO)
County Welfare Directors Association of California
Western Center on Law & Poverty
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Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:Daphne Hunt / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089