BILL ANALYSIS
AB 719
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Date of Hearing: April 14, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Jim Beall, Jr., Chair
AB 719 (Bonnie Lowenthal) - As Introduced: February 26, 2009
SUBJECT : Food Stamps: independent foster youths.
SUMMARY : Creates the Transitional Food Stamps for Foster Youth
Program. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires, effective July 1, 2010, that the Department of
Social Services (DSS) create a Transitional Food Stamps for
Foster Youth Program (Program) under which independent foster
care adolescents, as defined in Section 1905(w)(1) of the
federal Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 1396d(w)(1)) and
who are not eligible for CalWORKs or Supplementary Security
Income program benefits, shall be eligible without regard to
income or resources.
2)Specifies that an eligible foster youth:
2) Receive the maximum benefit amount allotted for a
household size of one for the initial certification period,
which shall remain constant for the entirety of the initial
certification period. The food stamp case shall be
established and maintained in the county of jurisdiction
designated by the terminating foster care case; and
2) Be entitled to a 12-month certification period and
exempt from any quarterly or semiannual reporting
requirement during the certification period.
3)Provides that, notwithstanding any other provision law,
Chapter 4.6 (commencing with Section 10830) of Part 2 of
Division 9 shall not apply to individuals eligible under this
section during the 12-month transitional food stamp program
certification period.
4)Requires DSS to:
4) Seek, not later than March 1, 2010, all necessary
federal waivers to implement the Program; and specifies
that the Program only be implemented to the extent that
federal financial participation is available;
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4) Implement the Program by an all county letter or similar
instruction from the Director of DSS, and adopt regulations
as otherwise necessary to implement this section no later
than January 1, 2011; and,
4) Establish a new aid code for individuals receiving
benefits, in order to differentiate these cases from the
standard Non-assistance Food Stamp case.
EXISTING LAW
1)Establishes a system of child welfare services, including
foster care, for children who have been or are at risk of
being abused or neglected.
2)Authorizes the juvenile court to retain jurisdiction over a
child who has been adjudicated a dependent because of abuse or
neglect until the ward or dependent child attains the age of
21 years.
3)Specifies that Aid to Families with Dependent Children-Foster
Care (AFDC-FC) benefits shall be paid on behalf of any child
under the age of 18 who meets additional eligibility criteria.
Exempts from this age-based requirement foster children
between the ages of 18 and 19 who are pursuing specified
education-related goals.
4)Establishes the food stamp program, in which food assistance
benefits are provided to eligible households and administered
by state and local agencies.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Foster youth who "age out" of or "emancipate" from
foster care at 18 or 19 are highly at risk as they transition to
adulthood. When compared to children who were not in foster
care, foster children are more than twice as likely to drop out
of high school. Former foster children also face unemployment
and incarceration at rates far higher than the general
population. The author provides what recent studies reveal
about these foster youth:
Fewer than four in ten had at least $250 in cash upon
emancipating.
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Forty-six percent have not completed high school.
Sixty-five percent emancipate without a place to live.
Forty percent of persons living in homeless shelters are
former foster youth.
Foster youth who emancipate from foster care face a
disproportionately higher rate of unemployment; fifty-one
percent of emancipated foster youth are unemployed within
2-4 years of emancipation.
Emancipated foster youth earn an average of $6,000 per
year.
Over seventy percent of all state prison inmates have
spent time in the foster care system.
The author's solution, to give these young people a softer
landing and a better chance at a productive life, is to provide
them with federally-funded food stamps for a year.
This bill would require DSS to create a 12-month transitional
food stamp program that these youth enter automatically as they
leave foster care. This bill would require the state to seek
all necessary federal waivers to implement this program. Once
these waivers are secured, the food coupons would be paid for
with 100% federal funds. The federal, state, and county
governments split the administration expenses but, under
provisions in the bill, would be less costly because these youth
would not be subject to costly and time consuming reporting
requirements. At the end of that first year, these young adults
could apply for further Food Stamp benefits if they meet
existing eligibility requirements.
According to Moody's Investor Services, an independent provider
of credit ratings and financial services research, food stamps
have the highest economic multiplier effect out of all
government programs or fiscal policy tools that stimulate the
economy. Moody's finds that for every food stamp dollar spent,
a $1.74 is generated in economic activity (The USDA finds this
amount to be $1.84).
Additionally, food stamps generate sales tax revenue for county
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and the state coffers. To the extent that this bill increases
food stamp participation, the state could expect to receive
additional state General Fund revenues due to increased taxable
purchases by recipients. Studies show that low-income families
such as food stamp recipients spend approximately 45% of their
income on taxable goods. By providing these families with food
stamps, 45% of the money previously used by the family to
purchase food would now be used for purchasing taxable goods.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
County Welfare Directors' Association (Sponsor)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
CA State Association of Counties
California Alliance of Child and Family Services
Children's Law Center of Los Angles (CLC)
City and County of San Francisco
Legal Services for Prisoners with Children
Service Employees International Union
Urban Counties Caucus
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Frances Chacon / HUM. S. / (916)
319-2089