BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 1232 Page 1 Date of Hearing: August 3, 2016 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Lorena Gonzalez, Chair SB 1232 (Leno) - As Amended June 30, 2016 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Human Services |Vote:|7 - 0 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No SUMMARY: This bill requires counties that use information contained in consumer credit reports to determine eligibility or benefit amounts for CalWORKs or CalFresh to provide certain information to applicants and recipients, as specified, and prohibits SB 1232 Page 2 counties from requiring applicants or recipients to submit hard-copy documentation that is duplicative of the information verified using the credit report. Specifically, this bill: 1)Requires a county to do all of the following if that county's human services agency uses information from consumer credit reports to determine eligibility for, and benefit level of, CalFresh or CalWORKs assistance: a) Obtain written authorization from an applicant or recipient before obtaining the credit report. b) Provide a recipient, in writing and in accordance with federal law, if the county determines that recipient is ineligible or will have benefits or services reduced for CalFresh or CalWORKs, with a federally required notice indicating that verification or eligibility determination was based in whole or in part upon the information contained in the consumer credit report. c) Make the information available to an applicant or recipient who requests a copy of his or her case file, or who appeals a negative action based in whole or in part on information the county obtained from the consumer credit report. 2)Specifies that the written authorization and notice required by this bill may be provided through electronic means. 3)Prohibits a county, if its county human services agency elects to use information contained in a consumer credit report for the determination of benefit level, from requiring the applicant or recipient to submit hard-copy documentation that SB 1232 Page 3 is duplicative of the information verified using the credit report. FISCAL EFFECT: Negligible state fiscal impact. The Department of Social Services recently issued an all-county letter specifying county notification requirements relative to this issue. COMMENTS: 1)Purpose. According to the author, "This bill will facilitate eligibility and enrollment in the CalFresh and CalWORKs Program for California's families by streamlining the application process. According to the Public Policy Institute of California, 78% of poor families in California are working families. For these families, support programs like CalFresh and CalWORKs can help prevent the indignity of hunger in meeting basic needs. Low wage workers face significant barriers to participation in the CalFresh Program. Few have paid time off or reliable transportation to get to the county welfare department for the application process. [This bill] will prohibit county agencies that use electronic databases to administer the CalFresh and CalWORKs programs from requiring applicants to submit hard copy documentation that is duplicative of information obtained from the database. It also will require notice to recipients about their federal right to receive free employment data reports and to correct inaccurate information in employment and income verification SB 1232 Page 4 databases. It also will empower low-income Californians to correct errors in their consumer reports." 2)Background. County welfare departments must obtain certain employment and income information from applicants for, and recipients of, CalFresh and CalWORKs. In some cases, government-administered databases and consumer reports can be used in this process, while other situations can still warrant the submission of hard-copy materials. In January of this year, DSS entered into an agreement through September 2017 with Equifax/TALX Corporation to provide an online employment and wage verification service called The Work Number (WN) through the department at no cost to participating counties. Counties can elect, but are not required, to participate. DSS reports that 30 counties are currently using WN, and another 9 are completing Memoranda of Understanding to participate. Across the 30 counties currently participating, in the month of May, over 23,000 verifications were ordered. Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081 SB 1232 Page 5