BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2192
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 2192 (Bass)
As Introduced February 22, 2006
Majority vote
HUMAN SERVICES 4-2 APPROPRIATIONS 13-5
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|Ayes:|Evans, Bass, Coto, Nation |Ayes:|Chu, Bass, Berg, |
| | | |Calderon, De La Torre, |
| | | |Karnette, Klehs, Leno, |
| | | |Nation, Oropeza, |
| | | |Ridley-Thomas, Saldana, |
| | | |Yee |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Haynes, Spitzer |Nays:|Sharon Runner, Emmerson, |
| | | |Haynes, Nakanishi, |
| | | |Walters |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Permits persons convicted of felony crimes involving
use or possession of drugs to qualify for California Work
Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) under
specified circumstances. Specifically, this bill :
1)Opts California out of the lifetime prohibition on receipt of
benefits funded by the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
(TANF) block grant and establishes CalWORKs eligibility for
otherwise eligible persons convicted of a drug-related felony
subject to specified conditions.
2)Continues to deny CalWORKs benefits to persons convicted of
unlawfully transporting, importing, selling, furnishing,
possessing for sale, manufacturing, cultivating or committing
similar acts related to controlled substances.
3)Requires that to be eligible for CalWORKs, a person convicted
of a drug-related felony related to possession or use must
provide proof of one of the following:
a) Completion, participation in, enrollment in or placement
on a waiting list for a government-recognized drug
treatment program; or,
AB 2192
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b) Other evidence that the illegal use of controlled
substances has ceased, pursuant to regulations adopted by
the State Department of Social Services.
4)Permits implementation by all-county letter on January 1,
2007, and requires regulations to be adopted no later than
July 1, 2007.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee analysis, there are CalWORKs costs to the extent this
bill increases the number of adults who are added to CalWORKs
caseloads. Assuming half of those currently excluded become
eligible under this bill, CalWORKs costs would increase by over
$600,000. Additional costs in employment services and child
care that would become available to these individuals for an
additional increased cost of up to $1.5 million. There could be
offsetting state General Fund savings due to a lower number of
parole returns and re-arrests and to the extent the additional
income helps stabilize families and reduce the foster care
caseload.
COMMENTS : This bill partially opts California out of the
lifetime ban on CalWORKs benefits for persons convicted of
drug-related felonies to the same extent that AB 1796 (Leno),
Chapter 932, Statutes of 2004, opted out of the ban as applied
to food stamps. It is identical to last year's AB 855 (Bass),
which passed the Legislature and was vetoed by the Governor.
The lifetime ban on food stamps and TANF-funded benefits for
persons with felony drug convictions was included in the 1996
federal welfare reform bill, as Section 115 of the Personal
Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act.
A person may be disqualified even if they are in a treatment
program and need a healthy diet to succeed, or if the conviction
occurred long before the time they needed assistance, or if they
have no current substance problem. Additionally, the rule
disparately affects persons of color. According to the
Sentencing Project, 46% of women convicted of felony drug
offenses are African-American or Latina. Supporters have also
argued that it imposes a special penalty only upon persons poor
enough to need public assistance; those convicted of such crimes
who do not need cash aid face no added financial penalty beyond
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the criminal consequences.
The federal provision gives states the ability to opt out of the
disqualification. California declined to include any opt-out
provision when it implemented welfare reform in 1997. According
to a 2005 report of the Sentencing Project, 11 states plus the
District of Columbia have entirely opted out of the TANF ban,
and an additional 14 states have partially opted out of the ban
on TANF-funded benefits, either by limiting the ban to certain
offenses (such as sale or trafficking) or establishing
qualifying conditions which relate to participation in or
completion of drug treatment programs.
According to the Department of Social Services (DSS) estimates,
373 persons are denied CalWORKs each month because of the drug
felon prohibition.
The CalWORKs program includes substance abuse treatment as a
permitted welfare-to-work activity. Participants can be
referred for treatment after an assessment by a case manager and
an evaluation by a county drug and alcohol program. The
Governor's 2006-07 budget appropriates $48.9 million in CalWORKs
funds expressly to be used for substance abuse services. The
drug felon ban prevents a person from receiving CalWORKs
substance treatment services, or any other welfare-to-work
services, she or he may need to become employable.
The rationale supporting the drug felon ban derives in part from
a concern that persons with felony drug convictions are likely
to misuse public benefits to support a substance abuse habit.
The ban, however, requires no such showing and makes no
allowances for those who present no risk. State law currently
provides that counties may provide "restricted payments" on
behalf of a recipient to the provider of shelter and utilities
if the "county determines that the recipient has demonstrated
such an inability to manage funds that payments to the [parent
or relative caretaker] have not been or are not currently used
in the best interest of the child."
Prior to AB 855 of 2005, there have been several previous
legislative efforts to modify the CalWORKs ban. The first was
SB 659 (C. Wright) of 1999-2000, which applied to all drug
felonies and created a set of exceptions to the bar similar to
those contained in AB 2192. The bill passed the Assembly 60-8
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and the Senate 30-4, but was vetoed by Governor Davis.
Subsequent legislation also met with gubernatorial veto: AB 767
(Goldberg), of 2001-2002, AB 1947 (Washington) of 2001-2002 (in
final form limited to food stamps), as well as last year's AB
855 (Bass).
Analysis Prepared by : Casey McKeever / HUM. S. / (916)
319-2089
FN: 0014932