BILL NUMBER: AB 510 CHAPTERED 10/10/99 CHAPTER 826 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE OCTOBER 10, 1999 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR OCTOBER 8, 1999 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 9, 1999 PASSED THE SENATE SEPTEMBER 8, 1999 AMENDED IN SENATE SEPTEMBER 3, 1999 AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 17, 1999 AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 8, 1999 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 6, 1999 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 6, 1999 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Wright FEBRUARY 18, 1999 An act to amend and repeal Section 11265.1 of, to add Section 18910 to, and to repeal, add, and repeal Section 11265.2 of, the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to public social services. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 510, R. Wright. Public social services: recipient reporting. Existing law contains recipient reporting requirements for the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program and the federal Food Stamp Program. This bill would revise and recast recipient interview and reporting provisions under these programs, including timelines for the required frequency of reports. The bill would generally reduce the frequency of reports, but require recipients to report certain changes in information that affects the recipient's eligibility under these programs. Implementation of these new requirements would be phased in, as prescribed, with the new CalWORKs provisions being repealed on January 1, 2005. Because the bill imposes certain requirements on each county, the bill would constitute a state-mandated local program. 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 11265.1 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is amended to read: 11265.1. (a) Except as provided in Section 11265.5, in addition to the requirement for the annual redetermination of eligibility, the department shall establish regulations consistent with federal law to implement a recipient monthly reporting system for use in determining monthly eligibility and the amount of the grant. The department shall define what constitutes a complete report and shall specify the deadlines for submitting a complete report, as well as the consequences of, and good cause for, failure to submit a complete report. The department shall adopt fair and equitable regulations implementing the monthly reporting requirement. (b) This section shall become inoperative on the date that the director executes a declaration stating that Section 11265.2, as added by the act adding this subdivision, is fully implemented statewide, and shall be repealed on January 1 of the year following the year in which it becomes inoperative. SEC. 2. Section 11265.2 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is repealed. SEC. 3. Section 11265.2 is added to the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read: 11265.2. (a) (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, commencing July 1, 2000, subject to the agreement of the local district attorney, Los Angeles County and up to eight counties selected by the department may implement this section. (2) Subject to paragraph (3) and notwithstanding any other provision of law, all counties that have not implemented this section pursuant to paragraph (1) may begin implementation of this section on January 1, 2004, and shall complete implementation of this section no later than January 1, 2005. This paragraph shall become inoperative on January 1, 2004. (3) Counties participating in the eligibility simplification project under Section 11265.6 may delay implementation of this section until the expiration of the eligibility simplification project if implementation of this section would be inconsistent with the federal approval of the eligibility simplification project. (4) On or before January 1, 2003, the department shall evaluate the impact of this section in a sufficient number of participating counties to reliably describe this section's impact. The department shall collaborate with the Office of Criminal Justice Planning in conducting the program integrity aspects of this evaluation. (b) Each county shall conduct an annual eligibility redetermination. A county shall be required to have a face-to-face interview with the recipient at the redetermination, unless the recipient has regular contact with the county through CalWORKs or other similar programs. Subsequent face-to-face interviews for any recipient for purposes related to verification of eligibility or the provision of CalWORKs services may be conducted at the county's discretion. (c) Each county shall redetermine the financial eligibility of each recipient on a quarterly basis. (d) (1) A recipient shall report, in writing, to the county within 10 days any change in resources, his or her household's monthly income, including source of income, his or her address, or the composition of his or her household if the report would be required under the federal food stamp reporting requirement for nonmonthly reporting households. The county shall recalculate an assistance unit's grant level only upon the report of any required change, provided that the department obtains the appropriate waiver, as specified in subdivision (i). If the United States Department of Agriculture denies this waiver, counties shall recalculate an assistance unit's grant level based upon any reported changes. (2) Each quarter the recipient shall complete a quarterly report which shall be signed under penalty of perjury. The report shall include all information necessary from the quarterly report month to determine financial eligibility. (3) For each of the first two months covered by the quarterly report, the recipient shall state whether there was any income, and for each type of reportable change listed in paragraph (1), other than a change of address, whether such a change occurred, and if so, whether the change was reported in writing. If the recipient states that a reportable change occurred during the first two months covered by the quarterly report and was not reported in writing or the county has no record that a recipient made a written report, it shall require that the information that should have been reported pursuant to paragraph (1) be reported in writing and under penalty of perjury within 10 days of receiving notice from the county. A failure to provide the report required by this paragraph within the 10-day period shall result in a termination of benefits, after receiving notice from the county as required by state and federal law. (4) (A) If the recipient fails to submit a quarterly report by the date prescribed by the department, the county shall provide the recipient with a notice, as required by the department, that the county will terminate benefits. (B) Prior to terminating benefits, the county shall attempt to make personal contact to remind the recipient that a completed report is due, or, if contact is not made, shall send a reminder notice to the recipient. (C) Any discontinuance notice shall be rescinded and aid shall be restored if the report is received by the first working day of the month for which aid is paid based on submission of the quarterly report. (e) In recalculating the amount of a recipient's grant pursuant to this section, including the timing and provision of any supplementary payment, changes in the grant amount shall be made on a prospective basis pursuant to food stamp regulations for nonmonthly reporting households. (f) Counties shall provide a mechanism for recipients to retain written documentation of the contents of the report, pursuant to minimum standards established by the department. (g) The department shall define what constitutes a complete report, and shall specify the deadlines for submitting a complete report, as well as the consequences of, and good cause for, failure to submit a complete report. (h) In determining overpayments and underpayments, the county shall use the federal food stamp regulations that are used to determine overissuances and underissuances for nonmonthly reporting households. (i) The department shall seek all necessary waivers from the United States Department of Agriculture to conform the Food Stamp Program requirements to the provisions of this section and to increase the income reporting amount for nonmonthly reporting households to one hundred dollars ($100). (j) Notwithstanding the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code), until January 1, 2001, the department may implement a reporting and budgeting system, as described in this section, through an all county letter or similar instructions from the director. (k) The department shall adopt regulations to implement this section no later than January 1, 2001. Emergency regulations adopted for implementation of the applicable provisions of this section may be adopted by the director in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act. The initial adoption of emergency regulations and one readoption of these regulations shall be deemed to be an emergency and necessary for immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety, or general welfare. Initial emergency regulations shall be exempt from review by the Office of Administrative Law. The emergency regulations authorized by this section shall be submitted to the Office of Administrative Law for filing with the Secretary of State and shall remain in effect for no more than 180 days. (l) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2005, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute that is enacted on or before January 1, 2005, extends or deletes that date. SEC. 4. Section 18910 is added to the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read: 18910. To the extent permitted by federal law, regulations, waivers, and directives, the department shall conform food stamp requirements to the requirements specified in Section 11265.2, except that subparagraph (B) of paragraph (4) of subdivision (d) of Section 11265.2 shall not apply to food stamp recipients who do not receive cash assistance under the CalWORKs program. SEC. 5. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution because this act provides for offsetting savings to local agencies or school districts that result in no net costs to the local agencies or school districts, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code.