BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 643
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 20, 2009

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Kevin De Leon, Chair

                AB 643 (Skinner) - As Introduced:  February 25, 2009 

          Policy Committee:                              Human  
          ServicesVote:5 - 2 

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          Yes    Reimbursable:              Yes

           SUMMARY  

          This bill allows a food stamp recipient to move from one county  
          to another without having to file a new application for food  
          stamps. Specifically, this bill: 

          1)Requires county welfare departments to transfer benefits for  
            food stamp participants when they move from one county to  
            another without the participant having to file a new  
            application.

          2)Requires that the transfer occur in a manner that provides  
            uninterrupted continued benefits to the participant.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          1)If the necessary automation changes can be included in  
            existing automation maintenance and operations schedules,  
            automation costs would be less than $25,000 ($8,500 GF). 

          2)One-time training costs in excess of $140,000 ($53,200 GF) to  
            train eligibility workers in the new inter-county transfer  
            process.

           COMMENTS  

           Purpose  . According to the author, this bill would require county  
          welfare offices to conduct an inter-county-transfer (ICT) of a  
          recipient's food stamp benefits when the recipient moves from  
          one county to another making the current reapplication process  
          unnecessary.  









                                                                  AB 643
                                                                  Page  2

          The author states that currently when recipients move to a new  
          county they are required to reapply, which can be a burden  
          because it creates hurdles for families in need of uninterrupted  
          benefits.  Also, it is a costly and time-consuming process for  
          counties to re-process the application.  The author notes that  
          other county-administered programs such as CalWORKs and MediCal  
          allow ICTs.  In the CalWORKs program, an ICT places the  
          responsibility of eligibility and cash aid authorization on the  
          two counties involved in the transfer.  The recipient's  
          responsibility is to notify the county in which they currently  
          reside of their intended move and file a form and any other  
          related changes that may affect the ICT.  It is not known how  
          many recipients this bill would assist in transferring food  
          stamp benefits.

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916)  
          319-2081