BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
1322 (Liu)
Hearing Date: 05/27/2010 Amended: 04/27/2010
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-HernandezPolicy Vote: Human
Services 3-1
_________________________________________________________________
____
BILL SUMMARY: SB 1322 requires counties, as specified, to offer
self-initiated workfare as a way for food stamp participants who
are able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWD) to meet
federal work participation requirements. This bill makes changes
to the administration of the Food Stamp Employment and Training
(FSET) program, including rules governing mandatory and
voluntary placements into the program, as well as exemptions.
This bill requires the Department of Social Services (DSS) to
undertake specified coordination, convening, and county
assistance activities; this bill allows DSS to retain FSET funds
to administer these provisions.
_________________________________________________________________
____
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13
Fund
ABAWD regulation changes Likely minor; possibly reimbursable
mandate General
FSET regulation changes Cost pressure on county FSET
grants Federal
DSS task force $60
$120 $120 Federal
Cost pressure to expand
programs and services General/Local
_________________________________________________________________
____
STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE.
This bill makes changes to county food stamp administration
regulations. Federal law limits the time that ABAWD food stamp
recipients can receive benefits, but allows any state to seek a
waiver of the time limit. Existing state law requires DSS, to
the extent permitted by federal law, to annually seek a federal
waiver of the existing food stamp program limitation that
stipulates that an ABAWD participant is limited to three months
of food stamps in a three-year period unless that participant
has met the federal work
participation requirement. Existing state law also requires all
eligible counties to be included in and bound by this waiver
unless a county declines to participate in the waiver request.
This bill would require any county that did not participate in
the state's waiver to offer self-initiated workfare (in addition
to any other methods the county provides), as defined in federal
regulations, as a means to satisfy the federally mandated work
requirement for ABAWDs. Self-initiated workfare is a public
service placement in a public or private nonprofit agency that
is initiated by the food stamp recipient. Any county that
chooses to enforce the work participation requirement for ABAWDs
would be required to set up a process of tracking and verifying
an individual's self-initiated work. It is unclear whether
Page 2
SB 1322 (Liu)
self-initiated workfare could be tracked in the same way as
other work, because it is volunteer work that is unlikely to
have standardized documentation of work hours.
Any mandate claim that might arise from this new requirement on
counties, would likely be one-time costs to establish new
requirements for verifying work participation, and training
county employees. Once a process is in place, it would be
difficult to prove a significant new workload, since these
counties would already be required to verify other types of
work. Additionally, the scope of this mandate would likely be
minor in the near future, since counties are unlikely to opt out
of the federal waiver.
Until September 30, 2010, the ABAWD work requirement is
suspended by a provision in the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). DSS has been informed that it
will, along with 48 other states, have a waiver of ABAWD work
participation in fiscal year 2011 (after ARRA expires), as well.
DSS believes it is unlikely that any county will choose not to
participate in the waiver. To the extent that counties
participate in the waiver, they will not be subject to the ABAWD
changes provided in the bill: this bill only places new
requirements on counties that enforce federal work participation
requirements. Counties that opt out of the waiver may incur new
administrative costs from this bill.
This bill changes the requirements of FSET, an optional,
federally-funded program implemented by about half of the
counties in California. This bill requires participating
counties to screen work registrants to determine whether they
will participate in, or be deferred from, the FSET program. This
bill requires an individual to be deferred from mandatory
placement in the FSET program if he or she satisfies any of the
federally mandated criteria, or if he or she resides in a
federally determined work surplus area; a deferred work
registrant may request to enroll in the FSET program as a
voluntary participant. The effect of these provisions will vary
by county, and likely be minor (in either increases or decreases
in workload). This bill, however, also requires counties to
allow participants to meet program work requirements through
self-initiated workfare, which could result in minor workload
increases previously noted. Because FSET is an optional program,
any increase in workload as a result of these provisions will
not create a reimbursable mandate.
A county that participates in the FSET program would also be
required to "demonstrate that it is prioritizing the use of FSET
program funds for self-initiated workfare, work experience or
training, education, and the support services or client
reimbursements needed to participate in these components, as
allowed by federal law and guidance."
This provision is vague, and suggests that participating
counties would have to report to DSS on their activities in
compliance with this section. To the extent that this requires
additional work and changes to county programming, there is cost
pressure on FSET funds to spend more on administration.
This bill requires DSS to assign a staff person to "assist
counties in the development of vocational, educational, and job
training programs allowed under federal guidance for the FSET
program," and identify private and state funding that could be
used to leverage federal financial participation. It is unclear
whether the department will be working with all counties or only
FSET participant counties. DSS is also directed to
Page 3
SB 1322 (Liu)
convene a stakeholder task force to develop a plan to improve
and expand the FSET program educational components, and to
expand the Cal Success program beyond the current pilot
counties. To the extent that DSS is helping to develop new
programs, expand a pilot, and identify possible state funding,
this provision creates cost pressure to fund these activities.
This bill specifically allows DSS to retain federal FSET program
funds for one new position to administer the task force and
county assistance. The position would be federally funded from
FSET funds dispersed to the state, but would directly reduce
grant amounts to FSET participant counties.