BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1542
Page 1
(Without Reference To File)
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 1542 (Ducheny)
As Amended August 4, 1997
2/3 vote. Urgency
ASSEMBLY: (May 19, 1997) SENATE: 33-5 (August 4, 1997)
(vote not relevant)
Original Committee Reference: HUM. S.
SUMMARY : Contains the state's implementation of the federal
welfare reform law (P.L. 104-193) and creates the California Work
Opportunities and Responsibility to Kids program (CalWORKs).
The Senate amendments : Delete the Assembly version of the bill,
and instead:
1) LUMP SUM DIVERSION: Authorizes counties to provide applicants
with one-time assistance, either in cash or non-cash services,
if the county determines it will help the family avoid going
onto regular cash assistance.
2) NAMING OF PROGRAM: Renames the Aid to Families with Dependent
Children (AFDC) program and the Greater Avenues to Independence
(GAIN) program the California Work Opportunities and
Responsibility to Kids program, or "CalWORKs."
3) TIME LIMITS:
a) Limits new applicants to 18 cumulative months of benefits
(may be extended an additional six months by the county if
it is likely to result in unsubsidized employment) and
current recipients to 24 cumulative months of benefits
unless the county certifies there is no job currently
available and the recipient participates in community
service.
b) Provides that a job is not currently available if a
recipient has taken and continues to take all steps to apply
for employment and has not refused an offer of employment
without good cause.
c) Limits all recipients to 60 cumulative months of benefits.
d) Exempts from the 60-month cumulative time limit parents
who are over 60 years of age, are not included in the
assistance unit, are needed to care for a child at risk of
foster care or another individual in the home who is ill or
incapacitated.
4) WELFARE TO WORK ACTIVITIES: Delineates the sequence of
activities required of CalWORKs recipients to include job search,
AB 1542
Page 2
assessment, work activities and community service.
5) HOURS OF PARTICIPATION: Requires an adult in a one-parent
assistance unit to participate in welfare-to-work activities 20
hours each week beginning
January 1, 1998, 26 hours each week beginning July 1, 1998, and 32
hours each week beginning July 1, 1999 and thereafter. Allows
counties to require up to 32 hours each week. Requires an
unemployed parent in a two-parent household to participate in 35
hours of work activities each week.
6) WELFARE-TO-WORK PLAN:
a) Requires an individual to enter into a welfare-to-work
plan after an assessment. Requires the plan to include the
activities and services that will move the individual into
employment.
b) Requires the plan to include a description of the program
and the rights, duties and responsibilities of
participants.
7) SELF-INITIATED EDUCATION PROGRAMS (SIP):
a) Allows, under specified conditions, CalWORKs recipients who
are enrolled in degree or certificate education programs to
continue in those programs for no longer than the 18- or
24-month time period so long as the student is making
satisfactory progress in the program and the program is
determined by the county to lead to unsubsidized employment.
b) Precludes any person with a baccalaureate degree from
participating in a SIP unless it is to obtain a teaching
credential.
c) Requires that students participate in the same number of
work activity hours as other recipients excluding
classroom, laboratory or internship activities.
8) TREATMENT SERVICES:
a) Requires the county plan to specify mental health
development services with the goal of treating mental or
emotional disabilities that impair the ability to work.
b) Requires that services include assessment, case
management, treatment and rehabilitation.
c) Requires the county plan to specify substance abuse
treatment services. Requires the county welfare department
and alcohol and drug program to collaborate to ensure an
effective system.
9) EXEMPTIONS FROM WORK REQUIREMENTS: Exempts the following
individuals from the work activity requirements:
AB 1542
Page 3
a) Persons under 16 years of age or 16 or 17 and attending
school;
b) An individual who is disabled as determined by a doctor's
verification and the disability is expected to last 30 or
more days;
c) An individual of advanced age who cares for a ward or
dependent of the court, or cares for a child at-risk of
foster care;
d) An individual who cares for a disabled family member and
whose caretaking responsibilities impair the recipient's
ability to work;
e) A parent with a child six months of age or under except
that the period can be reduced to the first 12 weeks after
the birth or extended to 12 months after the birth, as
determined by the county;
f) A woman who is pregnant and the pregnancy impairs her
ability to work;
g) Other good cause which impairs the recipient's ability to
work, as determined by the county.
10) COMMUNITY SERVICE EMPLOYMENT:
a) Allows counties to provide community service employment to
individuals who have not reached their 18- or 24-month time
limits.
b) Requires counties to provide community service employment
to individuals who have reached their 18- or 24-month time
limit.
c) Requires individuals to work off their grant for the same
number of hours required of recipients not in community
service but no more hours than required by federal law.
11) SAFETY NET: Prohibits aid to a recipient who has received aid
for 60 months. The remainder of the household is eligible for
benefits.
12)WELFARE FRAUD:
a) Excludes recipients for life found by a court or pursuant
to an administrative fair hearing to have misrepresented
their place of residence, submitted documents for
nonexistent children or fraudulently received benefits in
excess of $10,000.
b) Excludes recipients who receive $2,000 fraudulently for
two years, $2,000 to $5,000 for five years and over $5,000
permanently if convicted in a state or federal court of
wrongfully receiving the benefits.
AB 1542
Page 4
c) Retains existing law which makes CalWORKs recipients
ineligible for benefits for any fraudulent
misrepresentation or failure to disclose information for
six months for the first offense, 12 months for the second
offense and permanently for the third offense.
d) Provides that each county shall retain 25% of the state
share of savings resulting from the detection of fraud.
13) IMMUNIZATIONS: Requires all applicants and recipients to
provide documentation within 45 days that all children in the
assistance unit who are not required to be enrolled in school have
received all age- appropriate immunizations. Requires that all
parents or caretakers in the household be denied assistance if
they have not obtained the documentation within the required time
period.
14) SCHOOL ATTENDANCE: Requires all children in an assistance
unit for whom school attendance is mandatory to attend school.
Requires applicants and recipients to provide the county with
documentation of regular attendance when the county determines it
is appropriate. Requires that if it is determined that a child is
not regularly attending school the household
grant is reduced for all adults in the household and the child or
children who are not regularly attending school.
15) OVERPAYMENT RECOVERIES: Simplifies overpayment recovery by
calculating collections as a straight percentage of the maximum
aid payment (5% per month reduction when the overpayment is due to
county welfare department error or 10% when the overpayment is
caused by client error).
16) RESOURCES AND AUTOMOBILES: Simplifies resource determinations
by requiring counties to use the rules of the Food Stamp program
when determining countable assets, including automobiles, and
valuing personal property for applicants and recipients of
CalWORKs.
17) INCOME REPORTING: Creates a demonstration program in up to
six counties for up to three years to test an alternate simplified
method of reporting income. The demonstration program eliminates
monthly reporting of income unless the change is greater than $75
in any given month. Requires recipients to report changes in
household composition within 10 days of the change. Requires
counties to perform a redetermination of financial eligibility
every six months and permits a full redetermination, at county
option, on an annual basis. After the first year of operation the
Director of Department of Social Services (DSS) may continue,
expand or terminate the project after an evaluation. If
cost-effective, the director may expand the project statewide.
18) UNEMPLOYED PARENT (TWO-PARENT FAMILIES): Simplifies
eligibility determinations by eliminating AFDC rules restricting
eligibility for two-parent families to those with work experience
over the prior three years.
AB 1542
Page 5
19) INCOME DISREGARD: Rewards work by disregarding the first $225
plus 50% of the remainder of all earned income. Unearned income
is disregarded dollar for dollar with the exception of disability
based income which is treated as earned income.
20) CHILD SUPPORT DISREGARD: Continues the $50 disregard of any
child support collected in a month.
21) EXTENSION OF COLA AND 4.9% GRANT REDUCTION:
a) Extends for one more year, through October 31, 1998, the
4.9% grant reduction scheduled to sunset on October 31,
1997.
b) Postpones for one year the cost-of-living adjustment that
was to occur on November 1, 1997.
22) CALIFORNIA ASSET AND SAVINGS ACT: Establishes in an agency to
be determined by the Governor, contingent upon a federal
appropriation, a project to allow individuals to establish
individual development accounts (IDAs). The IDAs may be used only
for payments for tuition or fees related to education, acquisition
costs for a principal residence, capitalizing a business, or job
training expenses.
23) CHILD SUPPORT COOPERATION:
a) Requires recipients to cooperate with the county welfare
department and the district attorney in establishing the
paternity of children
receiving assistance unless the recipient has good cause for
failing to do so. Specifies the criteria an applicant must
provide and the basis for claiming good cause, which includes risk
of physical, sexual or emotional harm to the child for whom
support is being sought or to the parent or caretaker with whom
the child is living or the child was conceived as a result of rape
or incest.
b) Requires the district attorney to have staff available
either in person or by telephone to conduct interviews with
applicants to gather information necessary to establish a
support order. The district attorney will make the
determination whether the applicant is cooperating in
establishing paternity and the welfare department will
determine whether there is good cause for failing to
cooperate.
c) Requires that an applicant or recipient who is found not
to have cooperated without good cause shall have the family
grant reduced by 25% for as long as the non-cooperation
lasts.
24) STATEWIDE CHILD SUPPORT REGISTRY:
a) Permits the Statewide Automated Child Support System or
its replacement to be used as the single statewide registry
AB 1542
Page 6
for all child support orders in California.
b) Requires DSS to develop an implementation plan for the
Child Support Registry and requires the plan to be
submitted to the Legislature by January 31, 1998, and
requires the registry to be in place by October 1, 1998.
25) CHILD SUPPORT CENTRALIZED COLLECTION AND DISBURSEMENT UNIT:
Establishes a Child Support Collection and Enforcement Advisory
Committee to review and make recommendations regarding the
development and implementation of the Child Support Centralized
Collection and Disbursement Unit. Requires the Committee to make
recommendations to the Legislature no later than December 31,
1997.
26)ANTI-DISPLACEMENT OF CURRENT WORKERS: Includes language
prohibiting displacement of existing workers in recipient work
assignments and community service employment, and provides for
a grievance process in cases where a regular employee wishes to
file a complaint under the displacement provision.
27)CHILD CARE:
a) Repeals previous governing child care disregard,
supplemental child care, non-GAIN education and training
child care, Cal-Learn child care, and transitional child
care and replaces these with a single payment structure
that pays child care providers directly.
b) Establishes a three-stage child care system for families
in CalWORKs. Stage I is administered by county welfare
departments and lasts up to six months; Stage II is
administered by alternative payment programs under contract
with the State Department of Education (SDE) and is
designed to serve parents on aid in job training, work
activities, and transitioning off of aid, and Stage III
incorporating recipient families into the existing child
care system which is administered by local programs under
contract with SDE, including family day care
networks, subsidized centers, and alternative payment programs.
c) Standardizes all rates, application forms, and parent fees
across all programs and establishes a standardized exit
criteria of 75% of the state median income for all
programs. Continues services to families currently
receiving subsidized child care who exceed 75% of state
median income. Establishes reimbursement rates for all
programs at 1.5 standard deviations above the mean rate in
the local market area.
d) Establishes in the State Treasury a loan guaranty and
direct loan program, to be administered by the Trade and
Commerce Agency, for loans to sole proprietorships,
partnerships, proprietary and non-profit corporations, and
local public agencies to be used for the purchase,
AB 1542
Page 7
development, construction, expansion, or improvement of
licensed child care facilities. Gives priority to
facilities serving families with incomes below 75% of the
state median income. Allows child care reimbursement to
include costs associated with payment of loans.
28)COMMUNITY COLLEGES AND ADULT EDUCATION:
a) Requires the county superintendent of schools, the local
community colleges, local school districts, and other local
adult education and training programs to develop a plan by
March 31, 1998, for the education and training of CalWORKs
recipients, and requires the plan to be approved by the
county welfare director.
b) Permits community college districts, to the extent funding
is available, to provide counseling and matriculation
services to recipient students in both credit and
non-credit courses if it is part of their welfare-to-work
plan.
c) Gives, to the extent funded in the Budget Act, funding to
community colleges to serve CalWORKs recipients, based on
the number of recipients enrolled in each district and the
scope of the program. Requires Community Colleges to
redesign their curricula for CalWORKs recipients in
collaboration with local employers and education providers.
29)JOINT TRAINING PARTNERSHIP ACT (JTPA): Expresses the intent of
the Legislature that CalWORKs recipients shall, to the extent
funds are available, be assisted with JTPA funds. Also
expresses the intent of the Legislature that the Governor seek
federal waivers to maximize assistance to CalWORKs recipients.
30)EMPLOYMENT TRAINING PANEL: Authorizes the Legislature to
appropriate $20 million annually from the Employment Training
Panel to support training programs for workers who are current
or recent recipients of benefits under the CalWORKs Program (or
its predecessor program) and allows the panel to waive
specified requirements.
31)JOB CREATION: EDD COUNCILS: Requires the Employment
Development Department (EDD) to convene a 13-person business
advisory council of retired and former CEOs, to be appointed by
the Governor, the Senate Rules Committee, and the Speaker of
the Assembly, and to consult with faith-based communities and
civic leaders, to assist in marketing and recruiting efforts
designed to encourage businesses to hire welfare
recipients.
32)JOB CREATION: TRADE AND COMMERCE AGENCY:
a) Establishes the Job Creation Investment Fund, administered
by the Trade and Commerce Agency, to provide flexible
funding for counties to develop job creation models based
AB 1542
Page 8
on local needs.
b) Allocates a minimum of $50,000 to each county, adjusted in
accordance with the number of CalWORKs recipients in the
county, and requires the county to undertake a
collaborative local planning process in order to apply for
the funds.
33)REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT:
a) Expands, through a competitive process, the number of
community college economic development program centers.
Specifies that activities of the centers and collaboratives
shall include curriculum development specific to emerging
industries and training to upgrade the skills of current
workers in order to free up entry level jobs for welfare
recipients. Waives employer matching requirements for
training programs developed for employers who create
employment opportunities for CalWORKs recipients.
Authorizes up to $25 million from existing funds to be used
for this purpose.
b) Provides for five three-year demonstration projects for
regional workforce preparation and economic development
collaborations involving welfare departments, community
colleges, and the existing job training system.
34)TRANSPORTATION:
a) Requires coordination between welfare departments and
local transit providers to ensure funds are used
efficiently for the benefit of the welfare population.
b) Requires local transit providers to consider giving
priority to enhancing transportation services for
welfare-to-work purposes.
35)COUNTY PLANS AND IMPLEMENTATION:
a) Requires DSS to issue county plan instructions within 30
days of the enactment of CalWORKs.
b) Requires every county to develop a CalWORKs plan, in
collaboration with appropriate public and private agencies,
to describe how the county will deliver a full range of
welfare-to-work services to aid recipients, including
employment services, all necessary support services, and
assistance to recipients transitioning off aid. Requires
DSS, within 30 days, to either certify that the plan is
consistent with state and federal law or notify the county
that it is not so that it can be revised.
c) Permits the county to implement the program upon
submission of its plan to DSS or January 1, 1998, whichever
is later. Requires all counties to begin enrolling new
AB 1542
Page 9
applicants within six months of issuance of notice from DSS
or two months after the county plan is
certified. Requires all current recipients to be enrolled by
January 1, 1999.
d) Establishes an implementation steering committee
consisting of representatives of the Health and Welfare
Agency, the Department of Finance, DSS, the Association of
Counties, the County Welfare Directors Association, the
majority and minority parties in each house of the
Legislature, and two public members to be appointed by the
Secretary of the Health and Welfare Agency.
36)PERFORMANCE OUTCOME MONITORING:
a) Requires counties to participate in monitoring efforts by
collecting and reporting on data in specified areas in
order to meet federal reporting requirements, measure
statewide outcomes, and measure locally-identified
outcomes.
b) Requires DSS to consult with experts in research and
program evaluation to assist in data collection and
monitoring efforts.
c) Requires counties to develop baseline data within six
months of program implementation. Requires a corrective
action plan if a county fails to meet outcomes required by
federal law, or if outcomes do not improve over the
baseline.
37)COUNTY FISCAL INCENTIVES:
Sanctions
a) Requires half of any federal penalty the state receives
for failure to meet federally required outcomes to be
shared by those counties that failed to meet the
requirements. Allocates the penalty among those counties
according to the size of each county's caseload.
b) Authorizes DSS to grant relief to a sanctioned county if
it determines there were extraordinary circumstances beyond
the county's control, in which case the state assumes that
portion of the penalty.
c) Expresses legislative intent that this sanction provision
be revised in statute, based on the recommendations of the
welfare reform steering committee.
Incentives
a) Allows each county to keep 75% of any savings it generates
from reduced grants due to: i) recipients who become
employed for at least six months; ii) increased earnings
AB 1542
Page 10
due to employment; or iii) successfully diverting
applicants from going on aid through the diversion program.
b) Allows the remaining 25% of any statewide savings to be
allocated to counties that did not generate savings but
performed well based on standards to be developed by DSS
and the counties.
c) Requires all TANF fund savings to be reinvested in the
program. Requires state general funds to be reinvested to
the extent needed to meet the state's federal maintenance
of effort, but allows further
savings to be used at the county's discretion.
d) Expresses legislative intent that this sanction provision
be revised in statute, based on the recommendations of the
welfare reform steering committee.
38)EVALUATION OF CALWORKS IMPLEMENTATION:
a) Requires DSS to ensure that a comprehensive, independent
statewide evaluation is undertaken to evaluate the success
of welfare-to-work efforts, the impact on other public
programs, and the well-being of children in recipient
families.
b) Requires DSS, in cooperation with the University of
California (UC), to establish a system to link data from
all appropriate public programs, and requests the UC to
establish a program to support the research and evaluation
effort.
c) Requires DSS, by July 1, 1998, to revise current data
collection procedures to meet federal data collection and
reporting requirements.
39)ELECTRONIC BENEFIT TRANSFERS (EBT):
a) Creates an EBT Advisory Committee to advise DSS on the
development and implementation of a statewide EBT system.
Requires the system to have the capability to deliver food
stamp and other benefits.
b) Requires that the state certify one or more processors as
eligible to contract with counties for an EBT system by not
later than July 1, 1998.
c) Provides certain consumer protections for users of the EBT
system.
d) Requires the state to pay for 100% of the nonfederal share
of costs of the system and requires the county to pay its
normal nonfederal cost for system maintenance and
operation.
AB 1542
Page 11
40) INDIAN TRIBES: Allocates funds, to the extent they are
appropriated, to tribes that choose to administer the TANF program
on reservation land or rancherias. Requires DSS to collect and
maintain specific data for American Indian tribes for the purpose
of implementation and request all applicable federal waivers and
exemptions on behalf of eligible tribes. Requires counties to
consult with eligible tribes within the county to ensure equitable
access to assistance under the state program or an approved tribal
program, to determine county expenditures for tribal recipients,
and for consideration of transfers of funding and responsibility.
41) COUNTY ALLOCATIONS:
a) Consolidates GAIN and TANF-related county administration
into a single block grant allocation that includes the
state and federal portions for administration and
welfare-to-work programs.
b) Establishes a county maintenance of effort level in
welfare-to-work programs and eligibility administration,
including food stamps, equal to the 1996-97 actual spending
level.
c) Corrects historical allocation inequities among counties
by establishing an equity formula for one-third of any
funds allocated above the level of the 1996-97 GAIN
allocations.
42)PROBATION DEPARTMENT: Establishes a comprehensive youth
services program to support children who are habitual truants,
runaways, at-risk of adjudication by the juvenile court, or
under probation supervision. Authorizes county probation
departments to provide a broad set of services to help these
youth return home. Requires local collaboration with other
agencies involved with the children and their families.
Specifies an allocation for each county, subject to the
availability of funds in the annual Budget Act. Sunsets the
program October 31, 2003.
43)CONTRACTING OUT AND CIVIL SERVICE: Retains existing law and
specifies that the counties shall remain responsible for
performing program functions (e.g., eligibility functions)
through merit civil service employees, and may contract out
other services only to the extent allowed under state and
federal law as of August 21, 1996.
44)GENERAL ASSISTANCE (GA): Prohibits any individual who has
reached the 60-month time limit from receiving GA until his or
her children are 18 years of age or older. Also prohibits
receipt of GA while an individual is being sanctioned under
CalWORKs.
45) DOMESTIC VIOLENCE VICTIMS: Allows counties to waive on a
case-by-case basis any program requirement if participation would
be detrimental to the participant or his or her family. Requires
AB 1542
Page 12
a task force to establish a protocol defining domestic abuse and
the department to adopt regulations describing the protocol by
January 1, 1999.
46)COUNTY DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS:
a) Welfare-to-Work: Permits counties to conduct three-year
performance- based demonstration projects to test alternate
service delivery methods. Establishes standards for conducting
the demonstration projects.
b) School Attendance: Permits San Diego and Merced Counties
to demonstrate means of increasing school attendance and
graduation rates of children or teens who receive benefits
under CalWORKs emphasizing a social services approach to
truancy problems.
c) Microenterprise: Permits at least six demonstration
projects (one of which must be in Los Angeles and one in
Northern California) to provide self-employment training,
technical assistance, and access to micro-loans to individuals
seeking to become self-employed.
d) Jobs-Plus: Permits Los Angeles County to operate an
existing project which allows earned income incentives to
residents of public housing.
e) Child Support Assurance: Permits up to three demonstration
projects to test models of child support assurance which divert
families from welfare by guaranteeing child support payments.
Specifies one of the models to be tested.
47)ALIEN DEEMING: Requires that the income and resources of a
sponsor and/or
his or her spouse be deemed to a noncitizen applicant or recipient
of benefits.
48)SELF-EMPLOYMENT INCOME: Permits applicants and recipients to
choose between a standard 40% of gross income or verified
actual self-employment expenses deduction and requires counties
to deduct self-employment net income from the aid grant.
49)LUMP SUM RULE AND TRANSFER OF ASSETS: Eliminates the provision
which makes recipients ineligible for benefits if they receive
lump sum income and requires that a recipient, not an
applicant, who transfers property for less than fair market
value is ineligible for aid for a period of time depending upon
the value of the resource transferred.
50) FLEEING FELONS: Denies CalWORKs and General Assistance
benefits to individuals fleeing to avoid prosecution of a felony
or who are violating a condition of probation or parole.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill modified the interim hearing
AB 1542
Page 13
process for a community care facility licensee whose license had
been temporarily suspended by DSS.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Under current law, the AFDC program provides public
assistance to indigent families. Able-bodied adult recipients who
do not have a child under age three must participate in the GAIN
employment training program, if funding is available for child
care and training. The federal welfare reform bill, P.L. 104-193,
converted AFDC into the federal TANF program and made numerous
changes to social and health services programs. TANF increases
the flexibility of states to revise AFDC program administration,
including eligibility requirements and other provisions.
This bill comprehensively implements the federal law.
Analysis prepared by : Sherry Novick / Curtis Child / ahumans /
(916) 445-0664
FN
034325