BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 1339
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 28, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Susan Bonilla, Chair
SB
1339 (Monning) - As Amended June 16, 2016
SENATE VOTE: 39-0
SUBJECT: Public social services: intercounty transfers
SUMMARY: Clarifies the process counties must follow when a
recipient of public assistance benefits, including CalWORKs,
CalFresh, and Medi-Cal, moves between counties.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires a recipient of public assistance benefits who is
changing residence from one county to another to notify either
the county from which he or she moves, or the county to which
he or she is moving, of the change of residence.
2)Grants recipients of CalWORKs, CalFresh, or Medi-Cal benefits
the right to report a change of residence in person, in
writing, telephonically, or electronically if the technology
is available, and requires recipients to be made aware of this
right at the time of application or redetermination or
recertification.
SB 1339
Page 2
3)Requires a county to initiate an intercounty transfer for all
benefits as soon as either county is made aware of a
recipient's move from one county to another.
4)Requires that benefits for all programs for which the
recipient is eligible be transferred within 30 days after any
county becomes aware of the recipient's move in order to
ensure timely delivery of services.
5)Requires the intercounty transfer process to be as simple and
client friendly as possible, to the greatest extent possible,
and further requires that the process ensure the applicant or
recipient need not provide copies of documents previously
provided to the prior county of residence and that there is no
interruption in benefits.
6)Requires that case file documents be electronically shared
between the prior county of residence and the new county of
residence, to the extent possible, as specified by the
relevant state departments.
7)Prohibits the new county of residence, to the extent permitted
by federal law and regulation, from interviewing recipients
moving to that county from another county to determine
continued eligibility for CalWORKs or CalFresh until the next
scheduled recertification, as specified, with the exception of
an interview conducted regarding welfare-to-work program
participation for CalWORKs recipients.
8)Requires the following for beneficiaries required to receive
services through a Medi-Cal managed care health plan:
SB 1339
Page 3
a) If a beneficiary moves to a new county and is still
enrolled in a managed care health plan in the county from
which he or she moved and needs services in the new county,
a Medi-Cal Managed Care Ombudsman must, upon request by the
beneficiary or either county, disenroll the beneficiary as
an expedited disenrollment from his or her managed care
health plan; and
b) A beneficiary who is disenrolled from the managed care
health plan in the county from which he or she transfers
shall be entitled to the full scope of benefits for which
he or she is entitled in the new county through the
fee-for-services delivery system until he or she is
enrolled in a managed care health plan in the new county.
9)If a beneficiary moves to a county that provides Medi-Cal
services through a county organized health system, the
beneficiary shall be enrolled in that county organized health
system plan on the first day of the month the new county of
residence assumes responsibility for that beneficiary, as
specified.
10)Prohibits the failure to report a move to a different county
within the state from constituting a basis for an overpayment.
11)Repeals Sections 11053 and 11053.2 of the Welfare and
Institutions Code as it pertains to intercounty transfer
timelines and existing intercounty transfer process
guidelines.
12)Stipulates that once either county, not just the second
county as is specified in current law, becomes aware of a
recipient's move, responsibility for payment of aid shall
SB 1339
Page 4
shift to the second county. Further states that this shift of
responsibility must take place as soon as administratively
possible and within 30 days of either county becoming aware of
the move, instead of, as in current law, as soon as
administratively possible but not later than the first day of
the month following 30 days after notification.
13)Makes technical changes.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes under federal law the Temporary Assistance for
Needy Families (TANF) program to provide aid and
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. (WIC 11250 et seq.)
3)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)
4)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)
SB 1339
Page 5
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)Establishes under federal law the Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP) pursuant to the Food Stamp Act of
1964 and establishes, in California statute, the CalFresh
program to administer the provision of federal SNAP benefits
to families and individuals meeting specified criteria, as
specified. (WIC 18900 et seq.)
7)Establishes the Medi-Cal program, administered by the State
Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified
low-income persons are provided with health care services.
(WIC 14000 et seq.)
8)Establishes the responsibility of a benefit recipient changing
residence from one county to another within the state to
promptly notify the county paying aid to the recipient of the
move and to apply for a redetermination of eligibility within
the new county of residence. (WIC 11053)
9)Requires the first county to notify the second county of a
recipient's move as soon as the recipient's location in the
second county is known. (WIC 11053)
10)Requires that the county to which the recipient has moved
will be responsible for determining eligibility for the
Medi-Cal program, as of the first day of the month following
30 days after the first county has notified the second county
of the recipient's relocation. The first county shall provide
the second county with copies of those documents, as
SB 1339
Page 6
specified, necessary to establish eligibility and grant
amount. (WIC 11053)
11)Requires DSS to establish and implement a process of
intercounty transfer (ICT) of eligibility for CalFresh
benefits, and to take various regulatory actions. (WIC
11053.20)
12)Requires that, for CalFresh recipients who are receiving
CalWORKs benefits, the ICT process utilized for CalWORKs shall
be used. Requires that, for CalFresh recipients who are
receiving Medi-Cal but are not receiving CalWORKs benefits,
the ICT process utilized for the Medi-Cal program shall be
used. (WIC 11053.2(b))
13)Requires development of an ICT process, as specified, for
CalFresh recipients. Requires that, to the greatest extent
possible, the process shall be simple, client friendly, ensure
the client does not need to provide copies of documents that
were previously provided to the prior county of residence,
build on existing process for the programs, and minimize
workload for county eligibility operations. (WIC 11053.2(c))
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations Committee
on May 27, 2016, this bill may result in the following costs:
1)Potential one-time costs up to $300,000 to revise existing
regulations governing the ICT process by the DHCS and CDSS
(General Fund and federal funds).
2)Unknown state reimbursable mandate costs, to the extent that
this bill results in significantly higher administrative costs
to the counties (General Fund). There are some elements of
SB 1339
Page 7
this bill that may increase county costs. For example this
bill requires counties to transfer responsibility for benefits
within 30 days of either county becoming aware of a
recipient's move, whereas current law requires the transfer of
responsibility to occur on the first day of the month
following 30 days of notification to the receiving county.
Whether shortening the timeline for transferring
responsibility will have a significant administrative cost to
the counties is unknown.
3)Unknown additional expenditures for CalFresh and CalWORKs
benefits due to additional beneficiaries retaining eligibility
after a move between counties (General Fund and local funds).
Under current law, the receiving county is required to
determine a beneficiary's continuing eligibility for aid.
This bill prohibits the receiving county from interviewing
recipients to determine continuing eligibility. By removing
this requirement, it is likely that this bill will result in
some beneficiaries retaining benefits until the next
redetermination period who would have lost benefits after a
move. The extent of this impact is unknown.
4)Unknown additional costs for Medi-Cal benefits (General Fund
and federal funds). Most Medi-Cal beneficiaries are enrolled
in managed care. Medi-Cal does not allow an enrollee to be
covered by more than one managed care plan in any given month.
Under current practice, when a Medi-Cal enrollee moves
between counties, the enrollee would normally only be eligible
for emergency services in the new county until his or her
disenrollment from the original managed care plan was
processed. Under this bill, a beneficiary would be able to
request an expedited disenrollment that would be effective the
next business day. The beneficiary would then be entitled to
full-scope fee-for-service benefits for the remainder of the
month. Making this change will allow some number of
beneficiaries to access additional, non-emergency health care
services for the remainder of the month of the move. The
SB 1339
Page 8
extent of those costs is unknown.
COMMENTS:
CalWORKs: The California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to
Kids (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 Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families (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, over 497,000 families
rely on CalWORKs, including over one million children. Nearly
60% of 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.
CalFresh: CalFresh benefits are funded entirely by the federal
government through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
(SNAP), and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
sets specific eligibility requirements for SNAP programs across
the United States, including a gross and net income test, work
requirements, and other documentation requirements. The maximum
allowable gross income is typically 200% of the Federal Poverty
SB 1339
Page 9
Level (FPL). Households with elderly or disabled members are
not subject to gross income criteria but must have a net monthly
income at or below 100% of the FPL. Other households must meet
both gross and net monthly income tests. CalFresh is
administered locally by county human services agencies, and the
federal, state, and county governments share in the cost of
administration of the program.
Benefits are made available on a monthly basis for food purchase
through an ATM-like electronic benefits transfer (EBT) card.
However, unlike other types of benefits that may be accessed
through an EBT card, CalFresh benefits cannot be withdrawn in
cash at point-of-sale terminals or at ATM machines. CalFresh
benefits can only be used to purchase food items to be prepared
and consumed at home, as well as seeds and plants that can be
grown at home and produce food. The average monthly benefit for
a CalFresh recipient is $144.35 per month, or $4.81 per person
per day.
Medi-Cal: Medi-Cal is California's Medicaid program which
serves low-income individuals including families, seniors,
persons with disabilities, and children in foster care, among
others. Administered by DHCS, Medi-Cal services are often
implemented at the local level through California's 58 counties.
According to DHCS, in January 2016 approximately 13,480,000
Californians were deemed eligible and received benefits through
the Medi-Cal program. Women and those adults between the ages
of 21 and 64 constituted a majority of Medi-Cal benefit
recipients. In the Governor's 2016 Budget, DHCS received just
over $26 billion for administration and implementation of
services, including Medi-Cal.
Inter-County Transfers: In the event that a recipient of public
assistance benefits moves between counties, a seamless benefit
transfer process is available through an Inter-County Transfer
of their case. Currently, CalFresh, CalWORKs and Medi-Cal have
SB 1339
Page 10
ICT processes in place.
CalFresh : In September 2013, DSS issued an All County Letter
(ACL) outlining the ICT process for individuals receiving
CalFresh assistance. In acknowledging that ensuring households
are not subject to a break in benefits is of high priority, the
ACL cites the importance of intercounty communication when
determining in which county it is most beneficial for
recertification to be completed. The ACL also cites that it is
the responsibility of the sending county to confirm that the
receiving county is provided with all information necessary to
complete the transfer, and that a household may not be
terminated for being a resident of the receiving county until
the receiving county has assumed responsibility for the case.
CalWORKs : According to the DSS Manual of Policies and
Procedures, the ICT process for CalWORKs recipients requires the
sending county to notify the receiving county of the initiation
of a case transfer and inform the recipient in writing of his or
her responsibility to immediately apply for a redetermination of
eligibility in the receiving county to avoid a break in
benefits. The sending county is also responsible for ensuring
all necessary documents are sent to the receiving county within
seven working days from the date that the sending county
notified the receiving county of a case transfer.
Medi-Cal : In ACL 03-12 distributed by DHCS in February 2003,
the ICT process for Medi-Cal cases is cited and states that
counties may not terminate Medi-Cal benefits when a beneficiary
moves from one county to another until an effective date of
benefits for the beneficiary in the new county is confirmed.
Counties also may not ask or require a beneficiary to reapply
for Med-Cal benefits or apply for a redetermination of
eligibility in the new county of residence solely due to the
change in county residence. The ICT process for Medi-Cal
recipients does not allow for the redetermination of eligibility
SB 1339
Page 11
during the transfer process, nor may counties require a
beneficiary to complete a new application for benefits.
Need for this bill: According to the author's office,
"Low-income individuals and families move more frequently and
need to be able to keep their safety-net programs when they do.
[This bill] modernizes and simplifies the inter-county transfer
process in state statute to make sure that benefits are not
interrupted when a beneficiary of the CalWORKs, CalFresh, or
Medi-Cal program relocates. There is some confusion among
counties with regard to the implementation of Inter-County
Transfers and there are instances in which the sending or
receiving county does not fully understand the process due to
current law being vague. By making the inter-county transfer
process easy to eligible beneficiaries and understanding for
counties to implement we will be able to prevent unnecessary
disruptions in benefits that ensure that people are able to work
and stay healthy."
Suggested amendments: Because this bill seeks to clarify the
responsibilities of sending and receiving counties throughout
the ICT process, it is important to note which counties are
involved in the process; therefore, in order to clarify that
services must be transferred within 30 days of the sending
county or receiving county (and not an uninvolved third county)
becoming aware of recipient's move, committee staff recommends
the following amendments:
1) On page 4, line 7 of the bill strike the word "any" and
replace with the word "either".
PRIOR LEGISLATION
AB 1970 (Skinner), 2012: This bill would have made technical
SB 1339
Page 12
changes to existing code sections pertaining to sending and
receiving information related to CalFresh and CalWORKs benefits
and eligibility. This bill was held on the Senate
Appropriations suspense file.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Coalition of California Welfare Rights Organizations, Inc. -
sponsor
Asian Law Alliance
Bay Area Legal Aid
California Catholic Conference
California Chapter of the American College of Emergency
Physicians (California ACEP)
California Food Policy Advocates
Central California Legal Services, Inc. (CCLS)
Children's Defense Fund
Children Now
Community Health Councils (CHC)
County Welfare Directors Association of CA (CWDA)
Courage Campaign
Disability Rights Legal Center
Health Access California
Hunger Action LA
Inland Empire United Way
Law Foundation of Silicon Valley
Legal Aid Society of Orange County
LIUNA Locals 777 & 792
Maternal and Child Health Access (MCHA)
National Association of Social Workers, CA Chapter (NASW-CA)
National Health Law Program
North Coast Opportunities, Inc.
SB 1339
Page 13
Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP)
Orange County United Way
Project Inform
San Francisco AIDS foundation
The Children's Partnership (TCP)
The Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano
United Way Fresno and Madera Counties
United Way Monterey County
United Way of Santa Clara County
United Way of Santa Cruz County
United Way of the Bay Area
United Ways of California - cosponsor
Western Center on Law & Poverty - cosponsor
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:Kelsy Castillo / HUM. S. / (916)
319-2089