Amended in Senate April 23, 2015

Senate Bill No. 521

Introduced by Senator Liu

February 26, 2015

An act to add Sections 11327.10, begin delete 18901.11, end delete begin insert 18901.65, end insert 18901.12, and 18901.13 to the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to public social services.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 521, as amended, Liu. CalFresh employment and training program.

Existing federal law provides for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly the Food Stamp Program, under which nutrition assistance benefits, formerly referred to as food stamps, are allocated to each state by the federal government. That program, as administered in California, is known as CalFresh. Under existing state law, pursuant to CalFresh, California’s federal allocation is distributed to eligible individuals by each county. Existing law establishes eligibility and benefit level requirements for receipt of CalFresh benefits.

Existing law authorizes counties to participate in the CalFresh Employment and Training (CalFresh E&T) program, established with the purpose of assisting members of CalFresh households to obtain regular employment, and requires participating counties to screen CalFresh work registrants to determine whether they will participate in, or be exempt from, the CalFresh E&T program.

The bill would require the State Department of Social Services to request a waiver from the federal government to allow county human services agencies to serve CalFresh E&T recipients for up to 5 months, to match the length of services of transitional CalFresh benefits begin delete with the post-employment services of the CalFresh E&T program, for a period of up to 5 months end delete . By imposing additional duties on local agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

This bill would require the department, in order to improve employment opportunities and increase wages of CalFresh recipients by increasing access to adult and begin delete post-secondary end delete begin insert postsecondary end insert education and vocational training programs at California community colleges, annually issue guidance through all county letters for county human services agencies wishing to partner with a community college in the administration of its CalFresh E&T program, as specified.

Existing federal law provides for allocation of federal funds through the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant program to eligible states. Existing law provides for the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program for the allocation of federal funds received through the TANF program, under which each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families.

Under existing law, when an individual fails or refuses to comply with specified components of the CalWORKs program without good cause, the individual is subject to prescribed financial sanctions.

This bill would provide that when a CalWORKs recipient has been sanctioned due to noncompliance with his or her welfare-to-work plan, the recipient shall not be assigned a CalFresh penalty until the county has determined that the individual does not qualify for an exemption to the CalFresh work requirement and has not registered for work, the county has notified the recipient that the recipient is not eligible for an exemption, and has instructed the recipient about how to comply with the requirements or verify an exemption to the CalFresh work requirements. The bill would also require that if the CalFresh recipient complies with the requirement during the notice of adverse action period and has registered for work with the Employment Development Department, the proposed penalty would be canceled and would not count as an occurrence for the purposes of determining the length of future CalFresh disqualification periods. By imposing additional duties on local agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The bill would require the CalFresh E&T program to be included in the state’s Workforce Investment and Opportunity Act state plan in order to improve coordination between established workforce training programs.

begin delete

The bill would state findings and declarations by the Legislature relative to unemployment rates and CalFresh recipients.

end delete

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: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.

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

begin delete

SECTION 1.  

The Legislature finds and declares the following:

(a) According to the Employment Development Department,
Labor Market Information Division, there were over 600,000
long-term unemployed in California in February of 2014, well
above pre-Great Recession levels.

(b) Counting people who are out of work and have stopped
searching, California had the highest “U6” unemployment rate in
the country, 15.8 percent, in late 2014.

(c) The federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
Employment and Training Program offers a dollar for dollar federal
match of allowable expenses to fund employment training and
post-employment support for CalFresh recipients for the purposes
of increasing future earnings in order to reduce their dependence
on CalFresh.

end delete

begin delete SEC. 2. end delete
begin insert SECTION 1. end insert   

Section 11327.10 is added to the Welfare and
Institutions Code, to read:

11327.10.  

begin insert (a) end insert begin insert   end insert When a CalWORKs recipient has been
sanctioned due to noncompliance with his or her welfare-to-work
plan, pursuant to Section 11327.4, the recipient shall not be
assigned a CalFresh penalty until the county has begin delete determined end delete
begin insert completed all of the following: end insert

begin insert (1) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert Determined end insert that the individual does not qualify for an
exemption to the CalFresh work requirement and has not registered
for work, begin insert and end insert the county has notified the recipient that the recipient
is not eligible for an begin delete exemption, and has instructed end delete begin insert exemption. end insert

begin insert (2) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert I end insert begin insert nstructed end insert the recipient about how to comply with the
requirements or verify an exemption to the CalFresh work
requirements. begin delete If end delete

begin insert (b) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert If end insert the recipient complies with the requirements during the
notice of adverse action period and has registered for work with
the Employment Development Department, the proposed penalty
shall be canceled and shall not count as an occurrence for the
purposes of determining the length of future CalFresh
disqualification periods. begin delete If a county elects to administer a CalFresh
E&T program pursuant to Section 18926.5, it shall screen these
recipients pursuant to paragraph (b) of Section 18926.5 before
placement into the program. Receipt end delete

begin insert (c) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert A CalFresh recipient also receiving CalWORKs cash aid or
CalWORKs postemployment services is ineligible to participate
in the CalFresh E&T program, but the receipt end insert of CalWORKs cash
aid by another person in the recipient’s household does not impact
the eligibility of a CalFresh recipient to participate in a CalFresh
E&T program.

begin delete SEC. 3. end delete
begin insert SEC. 2. end insert   

Section 18901.65 is added to the Welfare and
Institutions Code, to read:

18901.65.  

The department shall seek a federal waiver to allow
county human services agencies to serve CalFresh E&T program
recipients for up to five months, to match the length of service for
transitional CalFresh benefits, established in Section begin delete 18901.6, with
the post-employment services of the CalFresh E&T program,
established in Section 18926.5, for a period of up to five months. end delete
begin insert 18901.6. end insert

begin delete SEC. 4. end delete
begin insert SEC. 3. end insert   

Section 18901.12 is added to the Welfare and
Institutions Code, to read:

18901.12.  

The state shall include the CalFresh E&T program
in the state’s Workforce Investment and Opportunity Act state
plan in order to improve coordination between established
workforce training programs.

begin delete SEC. 5. end delete
begin insert SEC. 4. end insert   

Section 18901.13 is added to the Welfare and
Institutions Code, to read:

18901.13.  

(a) The department shall, in order to improve
employment opportunities and increase wages of CalFresh
recipients by increasing access to adult and begin delete post-secondary end delete
begin insert postsecondary end insert education and vocational training programs at
California Community Colleges, annually issue guidance through
all-county letters for county human services agencies wishing to
partner with a community college in the administration of its
CalFresh E&T begin delete program, and support any county seeking approval
by the United States Department of Agriculture to include a
community college component in its approved CalFresh E&T
program plan. end delete begin insert program. end insert

(b) The guidance provided for in this section begin insert may be issued with
other employment and training guidance not specific to community
colleges and end insert shall include:

(1) A begin delete list of approved sources of end delete begin insert description of requirements
for a end insert state share match begin delete for end delete begin insert that is specific to end insert community college
CalFresh E&T programs.

(2) A list of education courses begin delete that would be approved end delete begin insert known
by the department to qualify end insert under Section 4007 of the Agricultural
Act of 2014 (7 U.S.C. Sec. 2015(e)(3)(B)), which are either:

(A) Part of a program of career and technical education, as
defined in the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education
Act of 2006 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 2302) that may be completed within
four years at an institution of higher education, as defined in
Section 102 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. Sec.
1002).

(B) Limited to remedial courses, basic adult education, literacy,
or English as a second language.

(3) The additional outcomes that are required to be reported
beyond those required by subdivision (c) of Section 18926.5, when
a county’s CalFresh E&T program includes a community college
component.

(4) The process for verifying that a student is eligible to
participate in the CalFresh E&T program at a community college.
A student is eligible to be assigned to participate in the program
by the county human services agency or designee of the agency
only as a volunteer, not as a mandatory participant. A CalFresh
recipient also receiving CalWORKs cash aid begin insert or CalWORKs
postemployment services end insert is ineligible to participate in the CalFresh
E&T program, but the receipt of CalWORKs cash aid by other
people in his or her household shall not impact his or her eligibility
for the CalFresh E&T program.

(c) Nothing in this section requires a county to offer a particular
component as a part of its CalFresh E&T plan or restricts the use
of federal funds for the financing of CalFresh E&T programs.

begin delete SEC. 6. end delete
begin insert SEC. 5. 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.