BILL NUMBER: AB 2018	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Skinner

                        FEBRUARY 17, 2010

   An act relating to public social services.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2018, as introduced, Skinner. Food stamps: intercounty transfer
study.
   Existing law provides for the federal Supplemental Nutritional
Assistance Program, formerly the Food Stamp Program, under which food
stamps are allocated to the state by the federal government and are
distributed to eligible households by each county.
   Existing law provides for the intercounty transfer (ICT) of
benefits for recipients of CalWORKs, In-Home Supportive Services
(IHSS), or Medi-Cal benefits that move from one county to another
within the state, as prescribed.
   This bill would require the department, in consultation and
coordination with county welfare departments and consumer advocates,
to conduct a study to, among other things, explore the annual cost
savings that an ICT process for food stamp benefits that is
consistent with the ICT process for CalWORKs, IHSS, and Medi-Cal may
provide.
   This bill would require the department to submit its findings to
the Legislature by April 1, 2011, and would require the department to
include recommended timelines, as specified.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  (a) The department, in consultation and coordination
with county welfare departments and consumer advocates, shall conduct
a study to explore all of the following:
   (1) The annual cost savings that an intercounty transfer (ICT)
process for food stamp benefits that is consistent with the ICT
process for CalWORKs, the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program,
and Medi-Cal may provide.
   (2) Any barriers that recipients of food stamp benefits experience
that nonfood-stamp recipients of aid do not experience when their
benefits are transferred using the ICT process.
   (3) Any impact that an ICT process for food stamp benefits would
have on low-income recipients or prospective recipients of food stamp
benefits.
   (b) The department shall submit its findings to the Legislature by
April 1, 2011, and shall include recommended timelines for gradual
electronic intercounty transfer of food stamp benefits both with and
without the Statewide Automated Welfare System (SAWS) consortia for
food stamp cases in California.