BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1322
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 29, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Jim Beall Jr., Chair
SB 1322 (Liu) - As Amended: June 1, 2010
SENATE VOTE : 36-0
SUBJECT : Food Stamp Employment and Training program
SUMMARY : Requires counties, as specified, to offer
self-initiated workfare as a way for food stamp participants who
are Able Bodied Adults Without Dependents (ABAWDs) to meet
federal work participation requirements. This bill also 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.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires a county that does not operate an FSET program, to
allow, by July 1, 2011, a "self-initiated workfare" option
(see full definition in Existing Law section below) for the
purpose of ABAWDs meeting their work requirements in order to
receive their food stamp allotment. Section 2 (c)
2)Requires a county that operates an FSET program, to allow work
registrants to participate in the self-initiated workfare
option in order for them to meet work requirements and receive
their food stamp allotment. Section 3(c)
3)Defines self-initiated workfare as a public service placement
in a public or a private nonprofit agency that is initiated by
the food stamp recipient, for which the food stamp recipient
is responsible for documentation of hours. Section 2 (d)
4)Requires counties to exempt FSET work registrants from work
requirements if unemployment in their area is high, as
defined; and allows an FSET work registrant to voluntarily
enroll in the FSET program even though he or she may be exempt
from mandatory participation. Section 3 (a) (1)
5)Requires a county that participates in the FSET program 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
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reimbursements needed to participate in these components, as
allowed by federal law and guidance. Section 3 (b)
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes, under federal law:
a) The FSET program that:
i) Is administered by the US Department of Agriculture
(USDA) and requires state agencies to implement an
employment and training program to assist food stamp
recipients who are able-bodied to gain skills, training,
work or experience to help them obtain employment.
ii) Allows "Self-Initiated Workfare", a work component,
comparable to regular workfare, designed to assist ABAWDs
in fulfilling their work requirement. In self-initiated
programs, ABAWDs voluntarily participate and find their
own workfare job assignments. They are responsible for
arranging to have their participation reported to their
caseworkers and for verifying their workfare hours.
State agencies may use a range of food stamp allotments
and corresponding fixed participation hours in lieu of
requiring each participant to work the number of hours
equal to the monthly household allotment divided by the
higher of the applicable Federal or State minimum wage.
b) The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP),
formerly the food stamp program, administered by USDA,
which imposes specified rules on specified program
participants and limits benefits based on those rules.
Generally, one group of participants, able-bodied adults
(age 18 to 49) without dependents, known as ABAWDs, are
limited to three months of food stamp benefits within a
36-month period unless they comply with work requirements.
i) ABAWD. An able-bodied adult without dependents
whose eligibility for food stamps is limited to any three
months in a 36-month period (i.e. the three-month time
limit) unless the individual meets an ABAWD work
requirement (see definition below). This limitation does
not apply to individuals who are: 1) under 18 or over 50
years of age; 2) medically certified as physically or
mentally unfit for employment; 3) parents or other
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members of households with responsibility for a dependent
child; 4) exempt from Food Stamp Program work
requirements; or 5) pregnant.
ii) ABAWD Exemptions. A state agency may exempt up to
15% of its ABAWD population from the 3-month time limit.
7 CFR 273.24(g)
iii) ABAWD Waivers. A state agency may request that the
Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) waive the three-month
time limit for ABAWDs residing in areas of the State
which have an unemployment rate of over 10% or which do
not have sufficient jobs to provide employment for the
ABAWDs. California currently has such a waiver in place
due to its high unemployment rate. 7 CFR 273.24(f)
iv) ABAWD Work Requirement. An ABAWD is not eligible to
receive food stamps for more than three months in a
36-month period during which the ABAWD does not work 20
or more hours a week, averaged monthly; participate in
and comply with the requirements of a work program for 20
or more hours a week; or participate in and comply with
the requirements of a workfare program. The ABAWD work
requirement does not apply to ABAWDs who reside in areas
of a state granted a waiver of the three-month time limit
by the USDA Food and Nutrition Service, or to ABAWDs who
are included in a state agency's 15% exemption allowance.
All remaining ABAWDs are "at-risk," meaning they are
subject to the ABAWD work requirement in order to
maintain eligibility for food stamps beyond three months.
2)Requires, under state law, requires the Department of Social
Services (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 work participation
requirement; and requires all eligible counties to be included
in and bound by this waiver unless a county declines to
participate in the waiver request, as specified.
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill has not yet been analyzed by the
Assembly Appropriations Committee.
COMMENTS : The primary purpose of this legislation is to provide
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an additional employment option for recipients of food stamps
who fall into the ABAWD category to enable them to comply with
federal work requirements so that they can maintain their food
stamp benefits. As well, the bill fixes an inequity between
ABAWD and FSET work requirements. The author states that, "this
bill brings more uniformity to the minimum work requirements for
participation in the Food Stamp program (FSP) and offers
additional and more meaningful ways to meet those work
requirements."
FSET background
The FSP rules require all recipients, unless exempted by law, to
register for work in county welfare offices, participate in an
employment and training program if assigned by a state or local
administering agency, and accept an offer of suitable
employment.
The FSET program delivers employment and training services to
people who receive food stamp benefits, but are not on the
California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids program
(CalWORKs), the state's temporary financial assistance and
employment services program for families with children. FSET is
administered by the USDA's Food and Nutrition Service, DSS, and
participating counties. Funding helps participants acquire
skills to exit the food stamp program or to fulfill federal work
requirements that are necessary to continue receiving food
stamps. However, not all counties participate in FSET and not
all FSET programs are the same, or apply the same rules. In
California, more than 20 counties participate in the FSET
program.
FSET and ABAWD work requirements
As mentioned above, the federal government requires that work
requirements be met for specified recipients of the FSP There
are federal rules set for ABAWDs and separate but generally
similar rules for participants in the FSET program.
Work registrants defined
When Californians apply for food stamps, counties screen them to
determine who is and who is not required to work in order to
receive the food assistance. Simply put, there are two types of
work registrants: ABAWDs and individuals with children not
receiving CalWORKs cash assistance .
ABAWDs are individuals that have no children and considered
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"able-bodied" and therefore expected to find work. Conversely,
ABAWDs do not include individuals who are:
1) under 18 or over 50 years of age; 2) medically certified as
physically or mentally unfit for employment; 3) a parent or
other members of households with responsibility for a dependent
child; 4) exempt from Food Stamp Program work requirements; or
5) pregnant.
Under normal economic conditions when employment is not so
difficult to secure, ABAWDs are expected to work at least 20
hours per week. If this requirement is not met, their food
stamp allotment is limited to three months in a three year
period-- the idea presumably being that if you are able to work,
then three months worth of food assistance should provide a
bridge until you can secure employment and no longer need
government assistance.
Additional employment option
This bill requires all counties to offer "self-initiated
workfare." Because all counties do not operate an FSET program,
food stamp recipients in the non-FSET counties, especially
ABAWDs, do not have the option to go out and voluntarily
participate and find their own workfare job assignments.
Without this option ABAWDs are not likely in a high unemployment
environment be able to secure employment and meet their work
requirement obligations resulting in a loss of food assistance.
For counties that operate an FSET program, this bill would
require them to offer self-initiated workfare to individuals who
are required to work. This provision would have the same effect
as that of the ABAWDs in self-initiated workfare-the ability to
meet work requirements and maintain food assistance. However,
it is not clear that this would be a new option for FSET
participants. It appears that the self-initiated workfare is
already available under federal rules and that this provision
would merely be codifying federal law into state law.
Exemption from requirements for FSET participants
Currently, there is an inequity in treatment of FSET
participants and ABAWD work requirements. The federal
government temporarily waived the work requirements for ABAWDs
due to the high unemployment rate. However, FSET participants
do not enjoy the same relief. This bill would exempt FSET
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participants from work requirements as well when unemployment is
high and work is difficult to find.
Prioritizing FSET funding
This bill also requires counties to demonstrate that they are
prioritizing FSET funding for various program components. The
author's intent is to provide flexibility, little cost, and
having FSET counties be more thoughtful about their programs and
developing components that really help people improve their
skills and get off aid. The author may wish to specify to whom
they would be demonstrating the prioritization to and clarify
whether or not the components listed in section 3 (b) are ranked
in descending order of prioritization.
Arguments in support
Western Center on Law and Poverty, the sponsor of the measure,
writes that SB 1322 will address longstanding barriers to
participation in the food stamp program and encourage vocational
education within the FSET program. The sponsor states that, in
2009, even though the federal government waived work rules in
the food stamp program throughout the country due to high
unemployment, California continued to require work registrants
to participate in job search and other work programs in order to
continue receiving food stamps. The sponsor believes that these
policies contribute to an average of 15,000-20,000 work
registrants losing their food stamp benefits each month, and
notes that, for every $1.00 that a low-income Californian loses
in federal food stamps, the state loses $1.73 in economic
activity.
The California Association of Food Banks writes that the bill
will help food banks by reducing barriers to food stamps, thus
reducing dependence on food banks, and by encouraging people to
meet their food stamp work requirements by volunteering at
nonprofit organizations, like food banks, which have been seeing
declining pools of volunteers over the past decade. As an
example, the group notes that the Alameda County Community Food
Bank has benefited from volunteers from Alameda County's
workfare program.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Western Center on Law & Poverty (sponsor)
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Alameda County Community Food Bank
California Association of Food Banks (CAFB)
California Catholic Conference, Inc.
California Food Policy Advocates
Coalition of California Welfare Rights Organizations, Inc.
Insight Center for Community Economic Development (Insight)
National Association of Social Workers - CA Chapter (NASW-CA)
Single Stop USA
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Frances Chacon / HUM. S. / (916)
319-2089