BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1084
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 29, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Jim Beall Jr., Chair
SB 1084 (Liu) - As Amended: June 24, 2010
SENATE VOTE : 22-13
SUBJECT : California Economic Security Task Force
SUMMARY : Authorizes the establishment of the 13-member
California Economic Security Task Force (Task Force) for the
purpose of analyzing and developing a strategy to increase self
sufficiency and reduce poverty in California by 50% by 2020.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Authorizes, based on sufficient private funds becoming
available, the establishment of the Task Force, which shall
undertake the development of an interim (April 1, 2012) and
final report (April 1, 2013) that includes the following:
a) A review of current rates of economic security, as
defined;
b) An inventory and prescribed assessment of state programs
targeted at increasing individual and family economic
security and reducing poverty; and
c) Recommendations on how to:
i) Maximize the effectiveness of state programs and
services with the objective of reducing poverty in the
state by 50% by 2020; and
ii) Create a self-sustaining entity to lead and
coordinate the state's efforts to reduce poverty
including providing detail on its structure, funding, and
needed statutory changes.
2)Requires that the recommendations be politically viable,
fiscally responsible, and contain an implementation strategy,
a cost/savings estimate and a quantification of the number of
individuals that would benefit.
3)Defines economic security to mean having the income necessary
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to cover basic needs using the California Family Economic
Self-Sufficiency Standard Index and the California Elder
Economic Security Standard Index.
4)Specifies that the Task Force include the following members:
a) Two State Senators, or their designees, appointed by the
Senate Rules Committee, one of whom must be a member of the
minority party;
b) Two Assembly Members, or their designees, appointed by
the Speaker of the Assembly, one of whom must be a member
of the minority party;
c) A representative from the County Welfare Directors
Association;
d) Two business representatives, one from a large business
appointed, by the Senate Rules Committee, and one form a
small business, appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly;
e) Four individuals, appointed by the Governor,
representing nongovernmental entities that provide
benefits, services or advocacy to people living in poverty
including women, children, youth, seniors, working families
and the homeless;
f) Two California residents whose incomes fall below the
California Family Economic Self-Sufficiency Standard Index
or the California Elder Economic Security Standard Index
with a rural resident appointed by the Speaker of the
Assembly and an urban resident appointed by the Senate
Rules Committee; and
g) The Secretaries of the California Health and Human
Services and Labor and Workforce Agencies, who shall be a
nonvoting members.
5)Specifies that the members of the Task Force serve without
compensation, however, to the extent funding is available,
members may be reimbursed for Task Force expenses.
6)Sunsets the Task Force on July 1, 2013.
7)Makes findings and declarations related to the poverty rates
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of California families and elders and the goal of moving 50%
of these families and elders toward economic self sufficiency
by 2020.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes various federal and state social service programs
that provide cash assistance, training and other benefits to
qualified low-income families and individuals, including but
not limited to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,
Earned Income Tax Credit, National Food Lunch Program,
National School Breakfast Program, Child and Adult Care Food
Programs, Healthy Families, McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance
Grants, Head Start, and CalWORKS.
2)Establishes various federal, state and local education,
training and related workforce development programs that
provide basic education, skill assessment, employment
training, and job placement services to qualified individuals
and businesses including the Employment Training Panel,
California Workforce Investment Board, local workforce
investment boards, Jobs Services Program, Community Colleges,
and the K-12 school system.
3)Establishes the biennial California Economic Strategy Panel
(Panel), chaired by the Labor and Workforce Development Agency
(L&WD) Secretary, for the purpose of developing an overall
state economic vision and state economic development strategic
plan (Plan) that can guide public policy, including the
examination of the state's economic regions, industry
clusters, and cross-regional economic issues.
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill has not yet been analyzed by the
Assembly Appropriations Committee.
COMMENTS : Poverty threatens the state's economic health by
reducing the tax base, impeding the growth of an educated
workforce, and increasing costs for health care, criminal
justice, and social services programs. Currently, the state
dedicates significant resources to many programs aimed at
reducing poverty and increasing economic security among
residents. Yet, these programs are spread across many state and
county agencies, limiting coordination and overall efficiency.
This bill would establish a task force with the purpose of
compiling an inventory of statewide antipoverty programs and
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creating a comprehensive statewide plan to reduce poverty and
increase economic security.
Any effort to improve the economic status of Californians cannot
just be focused on government programs alone. Therefore,
overcoming poverty requires the collaboration of multiple
sectors and stakeholders, including legislators, public
agencies, businesses, and nonprofit organizations all of which
will participate in the Task Force.
In addition, this bill does not require the state to fund the
Task Force or any of its operations. Instead, the Task Force
will be funded by and will receive in-kind contributions from
philanthropic and private donors.
If you can't measure it, you can't manage it : Sometimes
definitions can stand in the way of good public policy. In this
case, the federal definition of poverty, used by a broad variety
of public programs, routinely underestimates the number of
individuals and families who live on incomes that are clearly
insufficient to cover minimal costs of survival. The federal
formula is based on a 1963 methodology used by the U.S. Census
to determine the cost of a "minimal food diet" multiplied by
three. This methodology grew out of a 1950's notion that a
typical household spends approximately one-third of the
household income on food.
Currently, it is likely that many families spend more than
one-third of their monthly income on food, especially in the
case of lower income households. Underestimations of what
constitutes "poverty" hinder policy makers' ability to grasp the
depth and breadth of the income gap in California, which then
limits the ability of policy makers to propose realistic steps
to alleviate poverty and maximize human resources.
This bill addresses this issue by setting a target that moves
beyond the issue of poverty and looks towards a goal of self
sufficiency. A key tool identified in the bill is the
California Family Economic Self-Sufficiency Standard Index and
the California Elder Economic Security Standard Index. These
indices measure how much income is actually needed, on a
per-county level, for an individual and family to adequately
meet its minimal basic needs. The index builds on a more
comprehensive, locally relevant, set of costs including the cost
of housing, food, child care, out-of-pocket medical expenses,
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and transportation, among others.
As a comparison, the federal poverty limits exclusively use food
costs as a determinant of whether household income is sufficient
and does not include the other elements contained in the
California indices described above. Federal poverty limits are
also nationally based; only Hawaii and Alaska have their own
poverty limits. Clearly, it does not cost the same to live in
California as Iowa, nor are the minimal living costs the same in
San Francisco as in Calexico. This bill proposes the state use
the more refined set of data from the California indices in
addressing the needs of people living in lower income households
and developing a set of recommendations to move them out of
poverty, including actions related to employment development and
entrepreneurship.
Human Services Spending Stimulates the Economy:
A 2009 report entitled, Human Services in a Time of Economic
Crisis, An examination of California's safety-net programs and
related economic benefits published by the County Welfare
Directors Association and California State Association of
Counties, points to a recent report by Beacon Economics to show
that human services programs stimulate the economy and that
investing in these programs reduces the need for and cost of
future services. The Beacon study concluded that human services
expenditures generate $1.32 of economic activity for every
dollar spent on these programs. For 2007-2008, that means $25
billion in economic activity, 132,000 jobs, and $467 million in
sales tax revenue. Without these programs and expenditures and
not confronting the issue of economic security for all, this
scenario would look very different.
Potential impact of the Task Force : When new task forces and/or
commissions are recommended, there is sometimes a concern that
the expected outcomes are unclear and the measurement of success
has not been defined. This is not a concern with this bill.
This bill sets a clear goal of reducing poverty in California by
50 percent by 2020 and requires the recommendations put forward
be politically viable, fiscally responsible, contain an
implementation strategy, a cost/savings estimate, and a
quantification of the number of individuals that would benefit.
Practical examples of possible outcomes from the bill might
include a recommendation on how the state can better assist
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currently qualified individuals to access $3.7 million in food
stamps, schools to receive $600 million to provide hot lunches
and breakfasts to currently eligible students, or $500 million
to currently eligible low-income families from the federal
Earned Income Tax Credits. Another recommendation might address
barriers faced by youth from lower income households to prepare
for and attend institutions of higher education and workplace
training programs, as well as gaining the skills necessary to
start and be successful in their own business.
Suggested amendments
1)If the author's intent is to ensure that both a family and
elder household are represented, the following amendment
would ensure this.
Section 3(b)(6): On page 3, line 12, strike the word "or" and
insert "and"
2)At times, reports do not arrive at all or in a timely
manner to the appropriate legislative committees. By
adding specific committees and not limiting the report
delivery to just these four committees, all relevant
committees and therefore the corresponding policymakers
affecting the recommendations in the report will be aware
of them.
Section 3(g): On page 4, line 3, strike "Legislature" and
insert, "relevant committees of the Legislature, including but
not limited to, the Senate Business, Professions, and Economic
Development Committee, the Assembly Jobs, Economic Development
& the Economy Committee, and Senate and Assembly Human
Services Committees"
3)The scope of the inventory should not be limited to what
the state offers and should include potential federal and
local programs as well.
Section 3(g)(2)(B) On page 5, lines 7 and 9, strike the words
"state"
Section 3(g)(2)(B)(v ) On page 5, line 15, strike the words
"state and local government"
4)Clarify what a "linkage among poverty reduction,
self-sufficiency programs, workforce development, and
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entrepreneurship programs" is by providing an example.
Section 3(g)(2)(B)(vi): On page 5, line 19, at the end of the
sentence and before the period, insert "such as an on-the-job
training program developed by a local workforce board for
recipients of welfare-to-work employment services under the
CalWORKs program".
Related legislation
a) AB 1177 (Fong) -- Homelessness: Interagency Council on
Homelessness : This bill would have established the
Interagency Council on Homelessness with a mission to
construct cross-agency and community cooperation in
responding to homelessness, to use a more efficient and
supportive method in implementing evidence-based approaches
to address homelessness, and, to the extent possible, plan
to end homelessness in the state. The bill was held on the
Senate Appropriations suspense file in 2009.
b) AB 56 (Ma) - Secretary to End Poverty : This bill would
have created a cabinet-level Secretary to End Poverty who
had the responsibility to review all anti-poverty programs
within the state and determine whether or not they were
operating in an efficient and effective manner. The bill
was held in Assembly Appropriations Committee suspense file
in the 2007-08 Legislative Session.
c) AB 690 (Jones) - 2007 Child Poverty Reduction Goal :
This bill would have declared that it is the goal of the
Legislature to reduce childhood poverty by one half by
January 1, 2018 and to eliminate it entirely by January 1,
2028. The bill would have required the Department of
Finance to report, as part of the annual budget process, on
how the Governor's Budget proposal would impact the state's
goal of reducing childhood poverty and required the
Legislative Analyst to analyze the report. The bill was
held in Senate Appropriations Committee suspense file in
the 2007-08 Legislative Session.
d) AB 1118 (Jones) - California Child Poverty Council :
This bill would have created the California Child Poverty
Council for the purpose of developing a comprehensive plan
for reducing child poverty in California by 50% by January
1, 2017 and eliminate it completely by January 1, 2027.
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The bill was held in Assembly Appropriations Committee
suspense file in the 2007-08 Legislative Session.
e) AB 2004 (Beall) - Social Services Funds to Support
Workforce Training : The bill would have instructed the
Department of Social Services to provide guidelines to the
counties on how they may spend the $1.2 billion in federal
relief that had not yet gone out to the counties.
Requirements for the funds were limited to reductions in
CalWorks caseload. The bill proposed training joint powers
agencies for small counties, providing technical
assistance, and supporting youth programs with the funds
which were not counted against the parents CalWorks grant.
The bill was held in Assembly Appropriations Committee
suspense file in the 2009-10 Legislative Session.
f) AB 2556 (Jones) - 2006 Child Poverty Reduction Goal :
This bill would have declared that there is a legislative
goal to eliminate child poverty by January 1, 2026 and
required the Department of Finance and the Legislative
Analysts to report on the impact of the Governor's proposed
budget on the goal of reducing child poverty. The bill was
vetoed by the Governor in the 2005-06 Legislative Session.
g) SJR 15 (Alarc?n), Res. Chapter 31, Statutes of 2005 -
Revise Calculation of Federal Poverty Levels : This
resolution memorialized the President and Congress to
establish a better calculation for determining the federal
poverty level. The new model was required to be built upon
existing models which better reflect geographic costs of
housing, child care, health care and transportation. The
resolution was signed by the Governor 2003-04 Legislative
Session.
SECOND COMMITTEE OF REFERENCE . This bill was previously heard
in the Assembly Committee on Jobs, E.D. & the Economy on June
22, 2010, and was approved on a 4-2 vote.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
County Welfare Directors Association of California (sponsor)
Insight Center for Community Economic Development (sponsor)
Western Center on Law and Poverty (sponsor)
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Women's Foundation of California (sponsor)
American Academy of Pediatrics-California
Asset Building Strategies
Aging Services of California
Chair of Contra County Board of Supervisors, John Gioia
Board of Supervisors - County of Sacramento
Board of Supervisors - County of San Luis Obispo
Board of Supervisors- County of Yolo
Butte County Department of Social Services
California Alliance for Retired Americans
California Church IMPACT
California Partnership
California Small Business Association
California State Association of Counties
California/Nevada Community Action Partnership
Catholic Charities of California United
Center on Policy Initiatives
Central California Area Social Service Consortium
Children's Defense Fund - California
City Council of San Luis Obispo
Community Action Partnership
Community Coalition
Congress of California Seniors
First 5 San Luis Obispo County
Food Bank Coalition of San Luis Obispo County
Fremont Family Resource Center
Grassroots Leadership Network of Marin
Insight Center for Community Economic Development
Jericho
Jewish Family Service
La Hermandad Hank Lacayo Youth & Family Center
Long Beach Community Action Partnership
Lutheran Office of Public Policy - California
MomsRising
National Association of Social Workers-California
National Senior Citizens Law Center
Parent Voices
Riverside County Department of Public Social Services
San Luis Obispo County Department of Social Services
Santa Barbara County Department of Social Services
Santa Barbara Women's Political Committee
Senior Community Centers - San Diego
Stanislaus County Community Services Agency
St. Mary's Center
United Way of California
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United Way of the Bay Area
Wider Opportunities for Women
Women at Work
Women's Foundation of California
Women's Initiative - East Bay
Women's Initiative - North Bay
Women's Initiative - Silicon Valley
Ms. Patricia Gomez (individual)
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Frances Chacon / HUM. S. / (916)
319-2089