BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 596
Page 1
Date of Hearing: March 30, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Julia Brownley, Chair
AB 596 (Carter) - As Introduced: February 16, 2011
�Note: This bill has been double referred to the Assembly Human
Services Committee and will be heard as it relates to issues
under its jurisdiction.]
SUBJECT : Child care: CalWORKs recipients: rights
SUMMARY : Requires the California Department of Education (CDE)
to collaborate with welfare rights and legal services advocates
to develop and adopt regulations and other policy statements to
provide California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids
(CalWORKs) program recipients of child care the same level of
due process protections and procedural protections that are
afforded to public assistance recipients pursuant to specified
sections in the Welfare and Institutions Code (WIC) and their
corresponding regulations.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes an appeals process for recipients of public social
service programs administered by the Department of Social
Services (DSS). Requires that upon filing a request with the
DSS, an applicant or recipient of public social service
programs is provided with an opportunity for a state hearing
(WIC Section 10950).
2)Provides that a hearing shall be conducted by an
administrative law judge employed by the DSS, the director of
DSS, or the Office of Administrative Hearings (WIC Section
10953).
3)Specifies a process and timeline by which the hearings shall
be conducted, including the requirement that the proceedings
at the hearing shall be reported by a phonographic reporter or
otherwise perpetuated by mechanical, electronic, or other
means capable of reproduction or transcription (WIC Sections
10950 et seq.).
4)Establishes eligibility for child care services and child
development programs administered by the CDE and requires the
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Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) to adopt rules and
regulations on eligibility, enrollment and priority of
services needed for implementation (Education Code (EC)
Section 8263).
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Background . In fiscal year (FY) 2010-11, $2.669
billion was provided for child care and development programs
from state and federal funds, enrolling an estimated 415,715
children from birth through age 12. The proposed FY 2011-12
budget decreases the total funding by $500.7 million.
Eligibility is based on eligibility for the CalWORKs program or
income (75% of state median income). CalWORKs is a temporary
cash aid program for families with children. Recipients are
required to engage in work or education/training as a condition
for aid and receive subsidized child care services to assist
them in this endeavor. According to the DSS, the child care
program is administered in three stages to help a family
transition from immediate, short-term child care needs to
stable, long-term child care as a family becomes stable and is
no longer reliant on CalWORKs aid. The three stages of CalWORKs
child care is as follows:
Stage 1: Stage 1 is provided upon receipt of CalWORKs benefits
and may last approximately six months or until a family's
situation is considered stable.
Stage 2: A family transfers to Stage 2 once the work situation
is stable. Families are eligible for subsidized child care for
up to two years after they are no longer eligible for CalWORKs
aid.
Stage 3: Once a family stops receiving CalWORKs grants and has
received the maximum two years of child care services under
Stage 2, it can maintain child care benefits if it meets income
eligibility and if there are slots available under Stage 3 child
care.
Administration of child care : Stage 1 child care is
administered by county welfare departments and overseen by the
DSS, while Stages 2 and 3 are administered by the CDE through a
voucher system that enables recipients to choose the child care
arrangements that work best for them, including licensed
centers, licensed family child care homes, or license-exempt
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care (e.g., care by a relative). The voucher program is
administered by Alternative Payment Programs (APPs) selected by
the CDE.
Appeals Processes : Because CalWORKs child care benefits are
administered by both the DSS and the CDE, there are two
different processes for appeals, depending on which stage of
benefits a recipient wishes to appeal.
The process for DSS appeals is specified in the WIC (Chapter 7,
Part 2, Division 9) and DSS regulations. WIC Section 10950
specifies that an applicant is provided an opportunity for a
state hearing upon filing a request within 90 days of an action
if any applicant is "dissatisfied with any action of the county
department relating to his or her application for or receipt of
public social services, if his or her application is not acted
upon with reasonable promptness or if any person who desires to
apply for public social services is refused the opportunity to
submit a signed application therefore, and is dissatisfied with
that refusal." Existing law requires the hearings to be
conducted by an administrative law judge employed by the DSS,
the director of DSS, or the Office of Administrative Hearings.
Existing law also specifies a timeline for the appeal and
requires the hearings to be reported by a phonograhic reporter
or other mechanical, electronic or other means capable of
reproduction or transcription.
The CDE appeals process is specified through Title 5
regulations, established through authority in the EC authorizing
the SPI to adopt regulations to implement the child care and
development program. Title 5 Section 18120 specifies that a
parent may file a request for a hearing with the contractor
within 14 calendar days s/he receives notification of an action
from the contractor, called the Notification of Action (NOA).
The hearing is conducted by an administrative staff person
called the "hearing officer", who is a staff of the contractor
in a higher level of authority than the staff person who made
the contested decision. The regulations do not require the
hearing to be transcribed or recorded. If the recipient
disagrees with the written decision from the hearing officer
(contractor), s/he has 14 calendar days to file an appeal with
the CDE's Child Development Division (CDD) to conduct a second
level of review. The regulations authorize the CDD to get
copies of the basic data file from the contractor and conduct
any investigations, interviews or mediation necessary to resolve
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the appeal. According to the CDE, the appeal coordinator
contacts the recipients to provide CDD contact information and
to answer any questions about the process. The CDD coordinator
then reviews parent statements and information in the file
provided by the contractor and makes a determination based on
the regulations and statutes related to the NOA. In 2009-10,
838 CDD appeals were filed. Of the appeals that received a
ruling, the CDD upheld a local decision to deny a claim in 86%
of the cases and granted the appeal in 14% of the cases. There
is no data on the number of hearings conducted by the local
contractors, although the CDE estimates the number to be 10
times the number of appeals received by the CDD.
Need for the bill . The author states, "Current law does not
address due process or procedural protections for Stage 2 and 3
child care recipients and they must use an appeal process that
fails to include basic due process protections afforded to Stage
1 recipients. This un-equitable policy has resulted with
numerous complaints from legal services providers throughout the
state about the lack of due process afforded to Stage 2 and 3
child care recipients."
This bill requires the CDE to collaborate with welfare rights
and legal services advocates to develop and adopt regulations
and other policy statements to provide CalWORKs recipients of
child care the same level of due process protections and
procedural protections that are afforded to public assistance
recipients as specified in the WIC. This would require the CDE
to utilize administrative law judges similar to that used by the
DSS for all Stage 2 and 3 appeals, including first level appeals
currently handled by contractors. Legal advocates familiar with
both processes have expressed concerns that the CDE process is
too casual in nature and lacks protections afforded by the DSS
process, particularly with the review being conducted by the
same agency that issued the NOA and not by an impartial entity
with legal background. Legal advocates also say that not having
transcripts of the hearing conducted by the contractor is
another problem. There is less accountability and no
documentation that the hearing was conducted fairly. Advocates
state that the burden of proof in the DSS process is with the
decision maker whereas the burden of proof in the CDE process is
with the recipient. The DSS process allows the recipients to
bring support witnesses to the hearings whereas the CDE process
allows only the person affected by the hearing to attend.
Another area of concern is in the number of days a recipient is
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given to file an appeal once s/he receives the NOA. The DSS
process allows appeals to be submitted within 90 days whereas
the CDE process allows only 14 calendar days.
In order to ensure that the DSS and the CDE appeals processes
are equal, the CDE would have to hire ALJs or contract with the
Office of Administrative Hearings, which may not be possible
during difficult budget times. Instead, the author may wish to
consider requiring the CDE to work with welfare rights and legal
services advocates to identify and implement features of the DSS
process that can be done with no or low costs (e.g., expanding
the appeal window from 14 to 90 days, allowing recipients to
bring witnesses to the hearings, etc.).
The bill would institute the new appeals process only for
CalWORKs cases. However, CDE regulations apply to all
CDE-administered programs, including the State Preschool
Program. The bill should be amended to broaden the application
of the appeal process to all CDE-administered child care and
development programs.
Arguments in Support . The Western Center on Law and Poverty
states, "CalWORKs is one of the most effective programs operated
by the State of California. In the past 13 years, the program
has helped tens of thousands of families move from poverty to
self-sufficiency while reducing the caseload by nearly fifty
percent. CalWORKs not only encourages families to go to work by
helping adults improve their employment skills and seek
employment, it allows them to do this by providing child care.
The due process and procedural protections offered a CalWORKs
recipient placed in Stage 2 are not as rigorous as those placed
in Stage 1, even though the result of losing one's child care
would be the same, their inability to meet CalWORKs requirements
and likely loss of basic needs cash assistance."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Coalition of California Welfare Rights Organizations (sponsor)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
California Communities United Institute
Western Center on Law and Poverty
Opposition
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None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087