BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 1914
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   April 28, 2010

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                    AB 1914 (Davis) - As Amended:  April 12, 2010 

          Policy Committee:                              Human  
          ServicesVote:4 - 1 

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

           SUMMARY  

          This bill codifies and clarifies existing regulations by stating  
          that a county may use unemployment compensation when determining  
          eligibility and benefit amounts for the food stamp program only  
          if the county obtains a written report from the Employment  
          Development Department (EDD) specifying the exact amount of  
          benefits and the dates during which the applicant or recipient  
          will receive those benefits.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          1)As this bill clarifies existing law and codifies regulations,  
            there are no new costs associated with this legislation. 

          2)To the extent applicants have been denied food stamps based on  
            anticipated unemployment insurance benefits, this bill could  
            result in an increase in the amount of federal food stamp  
            benefits flowing to the state. 

           COMMENTS  

           1)Purpose . According to the author, reports from his  
            constituents indicate that county welfare departments are not  
            applying food stamp program rules correctly, resulting in a  
            denial of benefits to eligible applicants.  The author states  
            that these constituents applied for food stamps while waiting  
            for unemployment insurance (UI) benefits but were denied food  
            stamps because county welfare departments incorrectly  
            considered the anticipated UI benefits income in the  
            calculation of the eligibility determination even though the  
            applicant had not yet received the income.  








                                                                  AB 1914
                                                                  Page  2


           2)Background  . Current regulations define new sources of  
            "anticipated income" for purposes of food stamp eligibility  
            determination to mean that the household must know the amount  
            and start date of the income. 

            In addition, current law authorizes, under state law, DSS and  
            county welfare departments access to computer information  
            maintained in the files of EDD in order to determine if  
            CalWORKs applicants or recipients are eligible for UI benefits  
            or disability insurance benefits (SDI), and permits a county  
            to require them to first apply for UI benefits or SDI  
            benefits.  

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