BILL NUMBER: AB 1233 CHAPTERED 09/30/00 CHAPTER 933 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 30, 2000 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 29, 2000 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 30, 2000 PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 25, 2000 AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 18, 2000 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 29, 2000 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JANUARY 27, 2000 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JANUARY 26, 2000 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JANUARY 20, 2000 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 1, 1999 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Aroner FEBRUARY 26, 1999 An act to amend Sections 11322.6, 11322.61, 11322.9, and 11451.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to human services. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1233, Aroner. CalWORKs program. 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 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. Existing law requires certain participants in the CalWORKs program to participate in certain welfare-to-work activities, including grant-based on-the-job training with a diversion of all or a portion of the grant to the participant's employer. This bill would establish specified limitations on the grant-based on-the-job training grant diversion and would revise requirements for CalWORKs recipient and employer participation in the program. Existing law provides that certain amounts are exempt from the calculation of income of the family for purposes of determining eligibility for benefits under the CalWORKs program. This bill would provide that grant-based on-the-job training wages would not be excluded from the determination of income of the family for those purposes. This bill, by revising employer participation requirements under the CalWORKs program, would increase county responsibilities in implementing the CalWORKs program, and would result in 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, including the creation of a State Mandates Claims Fund to pay the costs of mandates that do not exceed $1,000,000 statewide and other procedures for claims whose statewide costs exceed $1,000,000. 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. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 11322.6 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is amended to read: 11322.6. The welfare-to-work plan developed by the county welfare department and the participant pursuant to this article shall provide for welfare-to-work activities. Welfare-to-work activities may include, but are not limited to, any of the following: (a) Unsubsidized employment. (b) Subsidized private sector employment. (c) Subsidized public sector employment. (d) Work experience, which means public or private sector work that shall help provide basic job skills, enhance existing job skills in a position related to the participant's experience, or provide a needed community service that will lead to employment. Unpaid work experience shall be limited to 12 months, unless the county welfare department and the recipient agree to extend this period by an amendment to the welfare-to-work plan. The county welfare department shall review the work experience assignment as appropriate and make revisions as necessary to ensure that it continues to be consistent with the participant's plan and effective in preparing the participant to attain employment. (e) On-the-job training. (f) (1) Grant-based on-the-job training, which means public or private sector employment or on-the-job training in which the recipient's cash grant, or a portion thereof, or the aid grant savings resulting from employment, or both, is diverted to the employer as a wage subsidy to partially or wholly offset the payment of wages to the participant, so long as the total amount diverted does not exceed the family's maximum aid payment. A county shall not assign a participant to grant-based on-the-job training unless and until the participant has voluntarily agreed to participate in grant-based on-the-job training by executing a voluntary consent form, which shall be developed by the department. (2) Grant-based on-the-job training shall include community service positions pursuant to Section 11322.9. (3) Any portion of a wage from employment that is funded by the diversion of a recipient's cash grant, or the grant savings from employment pursuant to this subdivision, or both, shall not be exempt under Section 11451.5 from the calculation of the income of the family for purposes of subdivision (a) of Section 11450. (g) Supported work or transitional employment, which means forms of grant-based on-the-job training in which the recipient's cash grant, or a portion thereof, or the aid grant savings from employment, is diverted to an intermediary service provider, to partially or wholly offset the payment of wages to the participant. (h) Work-study. (i) Self-employment. (j) Community service. (k) Adult basic education, which shall include reading, writing, arithmetic, high school proficiency, or general educational development certificate of instruction, and English-as-a-second-language. Participants under this subdivision shall be referred to appropriate service providers that include, but are not limited to, educational programs operated by school districts or county offices of education that have contracted with the Superintendent of Public Instruction to provide services to participants pursuant to Section 33117.5 of the Education Code. (l) Job skills training directly related to employment. (m) Vocational education and training, including, but not limited to, college and community college education, adult education, regional occupational centers, and regional occupational programs. (n) Job search and job readiness assistance, which means providing the recipient with training to learn job seeking and interviewing skills, to understand employer expectations, and learn skills designed to enhance an individual's capacity to move toward self-sufficiency. (o) Education directly related to employment. (p) Satisfactory progress in secondary school or in a course of study leading to a certificate of general educational development, in the case of a recipient who has not completed secondary school or received such a certificate. (q) Mental health, substance abuse, and domestic violence services, described in Sections 11325.7 and 11325.8 and Article 7.5 (commencing with Section 11495), that are necessary to obtain and retain employment. (r) Other activities necessary to assist an individual in obtaining unsubsidized employment. Assignment to an educational activity identified in subdivisions (k), (m), (o), and (p) is limited to those situations in which the education is needed to become employed. SEC. 2. Section 11322.61 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is amended to read: 11322.61. (a) Except as provided in subdivisions (c) and (d) of Section 11327.5, if there is any interruption in receipt of income for an employee in a grant-based on-the-job training program, as provided for pursuant to subdivision (j) of Section 11322.6, that is caused by an employer's conduct, the county shall ensure that a recipient receives 100 percent of the maximum aid payment, not counting the unpaid wages, that the assistance unit is eligible to receive. The payment shall be made as a supplemental grant payment. The county shall act to recover from the employer any amount of the grant diverted to the employer that was not paid as wages to the recipient. The agreement between the county and the employer pertaining to grant-based on-the-job training shall state that the county will take action to collect from the employer the amount of the grant diverted to the employer that was not paid as wages to the recipient. (b) Pursuant to subdivision (f) of Section 11322.6, counties using grant-based on-the-job training shall monitor employers participating in grant-based on-the-job training, and shall cancel the participation of employers who demonstrate, over time, any of the following: (1) An unwillingness to hire recipients who have participated in grant-based on-the-job training with that employer. (2) An inability to provide job skills that enable participants to obtain nonsubsidized employment with other employers. SEC. 3. Section 11322.9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is amended to read: 11322.9. (a) In accordance with the requirements of this section: (1) Counties may provide for community service activities for individuals who have not completed the period specified in subdivision (a) of Section 11454 and are not employed in unsubsidized employment, sufficient to meet the hours of participation required by Section 11322.8. (2) Counties shall provide for community service activities for individuals who have completed the period as specified in subdivision (a) of Section 11454, who cannot find unsubsidized employment sufficient to meet the hours of participation required by Section 11322.8, and the county certifies that no job is currently available to fulfill the hours required by Section 11322.8, and who continue to meet the financial eligibility criteria for aid under this chapter. (b) Community service activities shall meet all of the following criteria: (1) Be performed in the public and private nonprofit sector. (2) Provide participants with job skills that can lead to unsubsidized employment. (3) Comply with the antidisplacement provisions contained in Section 11324.6. (c) Participants in community service activities shall do all of the following: (1) Participate in a community service activity for the number of hours required by Section 11322.8, unless fewer hours of community service participation are required by federal law. (2) Participate in other work activities for the number of hours equal to the difference between the hours of participation in community service and the number of hours of participation required under Section 11322.8. (d) The county plan pursuant to Section 10531 shall include a component, developed by the county in collaboration with local private sector employers, local education agencies, county welfare departments, organized labor, recipients of aid under this chapter, and government and community-based organizations providing job training and economic development, in order to identify all of the following: (1) Unmet community needs that could be met through community service activities. (2) The target population to be served. (3) Entities responsible for project development, fiscal administration, and case management services. (4) The terms of community service activities, that, to the extent feasible, shall be temporary and transitional, and not permanent. (5) Supportive efforts, including job search, education, and training, which shall be provided to participants in community service activities. (6) If the county intends to include grant-based on-the-job training in its community service plan, the process by which the county will comply with the voluntary consent form requirement established in subdivision (f) of Section 11322.6, including a list of the languages in which the consent form will be available. (e) Aid under this chapter for any participant who fails to comply with the requirements of this section without good cause shall be reduced in accordance with Section 11327.5. (f) Child care as a supportive service shall be provided to participants in community service activities pursuant to Article 15.5 (commencing with Section 8350) of Chapter 2 of Part 6 of the Education Code, and Section 11323.2. Other supportive services may be provided by the county at the county's option. However, if the county does not provide mental health services pursuant to Section 11325.7, the county shall indicate in its county plan under Chapter 1.3 (commencing with Section 10530) how mental health services needed by participants will be made available during participation in a community service job. SEC. 4. Section 11451.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is amended to read: 11451.5. (a) Notwithstanding Section 11008 and except as provided by subdivision (f) of Section 11322.6, the following amounts shall be exempt from the calculation of the income of the family for purposes of subdivision (a) of Section 11450: (1) If disability-based unearned income does not exceed two hundred twenty-five dollars ($225), both of the following amounts: (A) All disability-based unearned income plus any amount of not otherwise exempt earned income equal to the amount of the difference between the amount of disability-based unearned income and two hundred twenty-five dollars ($225). (B) Fifty percent of all not otherwise exempt earned income in excess of the amount applied to meet the differential applied in subparagraph (A). (2) If disability-based unearned income exceeds two hundred twenty-five dollars ($225), both of the following amounts: (A) All of the first two hundred twenty-five dollars ($225) in disability-based unearned income. (B) Fifty percent of all earned income. (b) For purposes of this section: (1) Earned income means gross income received as wages, salary, employer provided sick leave benefits, commissions, or profits from activities such as a business enterprise or farming in which the recipient is engaged as a self-employed individual or as an employee. (2) Disability-based unearned income means State Disability Insurance benefits, private disability insurance benefits, Temporary Workers' Compensation benefits, and social security disability benefits. (3) Unearned income means any income not described in paragraph (1) or (2). SEC. 5. Notwithstanding Section 17610 of the Government Code, 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. If the statewide cost of the claim for reimbursement does not exceed one million dollars ($1,000,000), reimbursement shall be made from the State Mandates Claims Fund.