BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1914|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1914
Author: Davis (D)
Amended: 8/18/10 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE : 3-2, 6/22/10
AYES: Liu, Romero, Yee
NOES: Emmerson, Runner
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-4, 8/12/10
AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Corbett, Leno, Price, Wolk, Yee
NOES: Ashburn, Emmerson, Walters, Wyland
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 45-28, 5/6/10 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Food stamps: income reporting
SOURCE : Coalition of California Welfare Rights
Organization
Western Center on Law and Poverty
DIGEST : This bill requires a county to take into
consideration unemployment compensation benefits of an
applicant or recipient of food stamp benefits for the
purposes of determining eligibility and benefit amount,
only if the county obtains a report containing information
relating to that applicant's unemployment benefits, as
specified.
ANALYSIS :
CONTINUED
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Existing law
1. Defines 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.
2. Authorizes, under state law, the Department of Social
Services (DSS) and county welfare departments access to
computer information maintained in the files of the
Employment Development Department (EDD) in order to
determine if CalWORKs applicants or recipients are
eligible for Unemployment Insurance benefits (UI
benefits) or disability insurance benefits (SDI); and
permits a county, if it thinks a CalWORKS applicant or
recipient is eligible, to require them to first apply
for UI benefits or SDI benefits.
This bill:
1. Requires a county to take into consideration
unemployment compensation benefits of an applicant or
recipient of food stamp benefits for the purposes of
determining eligibility and benefit amount only if the
county obtains a report containing information relating
to that applicant's unemployment benefits, as specified.
2. Requires the applicant or recipient to provide this
report to the county, if the applicant or recipient
already has the report in his or her possession. This
bill would require the county to provide a copy of the
report, received from a source other than the applicant
or recipient, to the applicant or recipient if the
county takes any action based on the information in the
that report.
3. Requires DSS to develop regulations and set a public
hearing by May 1, 2011, as specified.
Background
For most households, California "prospectively budgets"
food stamps on a quarterly basis. This means that the
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county decides whether a household is eligible and the
amount of food stamps based on the income the household
"reasonably anticipates" it will get in the upcoming
quarter.
The county "budgets" (i.e., calculates) the food stamps
allotment for the next quarter, based on the income and
resources the family lists on an application or quarterly
report. The county uses the reported information to
calculate the food stamps budget for the upcoming quarter.
There are strict and specific standards for when income can
be "reasonably anticipated." Basically, the county can only
count income the household and county are almost certain
the household will receive. That is, the income must have
been or will be approved or authorized within the upcoming
quarter; and the household is otherwise reasonably certain
that the income will be received within the quarter; and
the amount of the income is known.
For new sources of income, such as UI benefits, this means
that the household must know the amount and start date of
the income. If the household is not sure when it will
receive new income or how much it will get, the food stamp
office cannot count it. For example, a family applies for
UI benefits but has not received a letter indicating when
the benefits will start and how much the benefit will be.
Therefore, this scenario does not meet the definition of
anticipated income.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee analysis:
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2010-11 2011-12
2012-13 Fund
Mandate: county Very minor; unlikely to be reimbursable
General
welfare agencies
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DSS regulation Minor and
absorbable General
development
Federal
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/18/10)
Coalition of California Welfare Rights Organization
(co-source)
Western Center on Law and Poverty (co-source)
California Catholic Conference
California Communities United Institute
California Labor Federation
National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The Western Center on Law &
Poverty, one of the sponsors of this bill, states that
current state food stamp regulation asserts that a new
source of income cannot be anticipated until there is
certainty about when it will begin and how much it will be.
This bill clarifies how this policy should be interpreted
for the purposes of anticipating UI benefits in the
determination of food stamp eligibility. Ensuring that
applicants have secured UI benefits prior to counting this
income during food stamp eligibility determination will
prevent many newly unemployed households from being further
disadvantaged and from needlessly experiencing hunger.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Ammiano, Arambula, Beall, Blumenfield, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter,
Chesbro, Coto, Davis, De Leon, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fong,
Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani, Hall, Hayashi, Hernandez,
Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jones, Lieu, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma,
Monning, Nava, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Ruskin,
Salas, Saldana, Skinner, Solorio, Swanson, Torres,
Torrico, Yamada, John A. Perez
NOES: Adams, Anderson, Bill Berryhill, Tom Berryhill,
Blakeslee, Conway, Cook, DeVore, Emmerson, Fletcher,
Fuller, Gaines, Garrick, Hagman, Harkey, Jeffries,
Knight, Logue, Miller, Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, Norby,
Silva, Smyth, Audra Strickland, Tran, Villines
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bass, Block, De La Torre, Gilmore,
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Mendoza, Torlakson, Vacancy
CTW:do 8/18/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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