BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
AB 1640 (Mitchell) - CalWORKs benefits: pregnant mothers.
Amended: May 25, 2012 Policy Vote: Human Services 4-1
Urgency: No Mandate: Yes
Hearing Date: August 6, 2012
Consultant: Jolie Onodera
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 1640 would require CalWORKs aid to be paid to a
pregnant mother who is 18 years of age or younger at any time
after verification of pregnancy, regardless of whether she is
eligible for the Cal-Learn Program.
Fiscal Impact:
First-year CalWORKs grant, services, and administrative
costs of $0.9 million (TANF/General Fund) in 2012-13; ongoing
costs of up to $3.0 million for approximately 260 pregnant
teens per month to receive three additional months of
benefits, assuming the Cal-Learn Program is operative.
In the event the Cal-Learn Program is suspended again at
some point in the future, the Department of Social Services
(DSS) would incur major ongoing costs, potentially in the
tens of millions of dollars (TANF/GF) to provide an
additional three months of CalWORKs benefits to over 9,000
pregnant teens per month that would not have been provided
under existing law, as benefits from the point of pregnancy
verification are currently conditioned upon the operation of
the Cal-Learn Program.
Potential increase in Medi-Cal costs (Federal/General Fund)
in calendar year 2013 by expanding eligibility to full-scope
Medi-Cal and Medi-Cal managed care enrollment to specified
pregnant teens. Potential one-time automation costs for MEDS
programming to establish earlier eligibility for a subset of
pregnant women in the Medi-Cal 1931(b) Program.
Background: Under existing law, CalWORKs aid is required to be
provided to a pregnant woman in a family without a needy child
for the month in which the birth is anticipated and for the
three-month period immediately prior to the month in which the
birth is anticipated. Existing law additionally provides that,
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when the Cal-Learn Program is operative, CalWORKs aid payments
shall be paid at any time after verification of pregnancy if a
pregnant teen is also eligible for the Cal-Learn Program and the
mother and child, if born, would have qualified for CalWORKs
aid.
The Cal-Learn Program was established to provide intensive case
management to assist teen parents to obtain education, support
services, and a comprehensive range of health and social
services, as well as provide payments for necessary child care,
transportation, and educational expenses to enable pregnant and
parenting teens to attend school. Successful participation is
encouraged through the provision of bonuses earned through
report card results and graduating or attaining an equivalent
high school diploma.
The Cal-Learn Program was suspended for one year from July 1,
2011, through June 30, 2012. Pursuant to SB 1041, Chapter
47/2012, the recently enacted human services budget trailer
bill, the Cal-Learn Program is to be fully operative commencing
April 1, 2013. For the period July 1, 2012, to March 1, 2013,
existing law provides that counties will be provided with full
or partial year funding, depending on their phase-in to full
implementation of the Cal-Learn Program by April 1, 2013, as
specified.
Under existing state law, all low-income pregnant women with
income below 200 percent of the federal poverty level are
eligible for Medi-Cal. Under Medi-Cal pregnancy-only coverage,
certain services are not covered if deemed unrelated to a
woman's pregnancy. However, because existing state law provides
for the automatic linkage between CalWORKs and Medi-Cal
eligibility, any family eligible for CalWORKs benefits is
categorically eligible for full scope Medi-Cal benefits without
a share of cost.
Proposed Law: This bill would require CalWORKs aid to be paid to
a pregnant mother who is 18 years of age or younger at any time
after verification of pregnancy, as specified. This bill would
eliminate the requirement that pregnant teens be eligible for
the Cal-Learn Program in order to receive CalWORKs aid at any
time after verification of pregnancy. This bill would also
delete the provision that CalWORKs aid to Cal-Learn eligible
pregnant teens be provided only when the Cal-Learn Program is
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operative.
Related Legislation: SB 35 (Committee on Budget) Chapter 69/1993
and SB 1078 (Watson) Chapter 1252/1993 established the Cal-Learn
Program.
SB 72 (Committee on Budget) Chapter 8/2011, the human services
budget trailer bill, suspended operation of the Cal-Learn
Program from July 1, 2011, to June 30, 2012, with the exception
of the payment of supplements and bonuses to eligible
participants.
SB 1041 (Committee on Budget) Chapter 47/2012, the human
services budget trailer bill, provides the Cal-Learn Program to
be fully operative commencing April 1, 2013. For the period July
1, 2012, to March 1, 2013, the bill provides counties will be
provided with full or partial year funding, depending on their
phase-in to full implementation of the Cal-Learn Program by
April 1, 2013, as specified.
Staff Comments: This bill will result in the provision of
CalWORKs benefits to a pregnant teen who is 18 years of age or
younger at any time after verification of pregnancy, regardless
of her eligibility for Cal-Learn. Under existing law, CalWORKs
aid is not provided until a pregnant woman's third trimester
unless the pregnant woman is eligible for Cal-Learn and the
Cal-Learn Program is operative. As the suspension of the
Cal-Learn Program has been lifted pursuant to the recently
enacted budget trailer bill, costs for CalWORKs aid provided to
a Cal-Learn eligible individual from the point the pregnancy is
verified will not be considered a cost attributable to this bill
as long as the Cal-Learn Program is operative. As a result, the
provisions of this bill are estimated to provide on average an
additional three months of CalWORKs aid than otherwise would
have been provided for pregnant teens who are not otherwise
eligible for Cal-Learn.
Based on data from July to December 2011, there would be a small
average monthly caseload of approximately 260 pregnant women who
are 18 years of age or younger and who are not eligible for
Cal-Learn who would be newly eligible under the provisions of
this bill. The estimated CalWORKs grant, services, and
administrative costs for this caseload would be $0.9 million
(TANF/General Fund) in 2012-13, and up to $3.0 million ongoing.
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The designation of costs as 'up to' reflects the unknown net
impact of a number of cases who would utilize the maximum amount
of time on aid and would therefore be shifting their time on aid
to three months earlier versus those cases who would be provided
an additional three months of aid. Under current law, a parent
with one child is exempt from participating in welfare-to-work
activities for up to two years. To the extent these cases do not
utilize the full time on aid (given the average time on aid is
24 months) an additional three months of aid would be provided.
Additionally, a number of cases would be exempt from counting
their time on aid if they are members of nested families, and an
additional three months of aid would be provided for each of
these cases.
Staff notes this bill removes the provision in existing law
conditioning the receipt of CalWORKs aid for a pregnant mother
who is 18 years of age or younger after verification of
pregnancy upon the operability of the Cal-Learn Program. Should
the Cal-Learn Program be suspended in the future, this bill
would provide that aid to both Cal-Learn eligible and
non-eligible pregnant teens be provided at any time after
verification of pregnancy, regardless of the program's
operability. As a result, the potential costs to the DSS in the
event of the future suspension of the Cal-Learn Program would be
substantial, potentially in excess of $100 million (TANF/General
Fund) annually to provide three additional months of CalWORKs
benefits, including the monthly supplemental payment, to
approximately 9,000 pregnant teens. As noted earlier, to the
extent a number of these cases would utilize their full time on
aid, this would result in a shift of costs, with the potential
for a net cost savings over their time on aid assuming services
would have been more expensive without earlier eligibility.
However, it is estimated many of these cases will be provided
with an additional three months of CalWORKs benefits that
otherwise would not have been provided, resulting in potential
costs in the tens of millions of dollars (TANF/GF).
Under existing state law, all low-income pregnant women with
income below 200 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) are
eligible for Medi-Cal. Under Medi-Cal pregnancy-only coverage,
certain services are not covered if deemed unrelated to a
woman's pregnancy. However, because existing state law provides
for the automatic linkage between CalWORKs and Medi-Cal
eligibility, any family eligible for CalWORKs benefits is
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categorically eligible for full scope Medi-Cal benefits without
a share of cost. By providing CalWORKs eligibility earlier than
otherwise would have occurred under existing law, this bill will
result in individuals transitioning earlier from pregnancy-only
Medi-Cal coverage to full-scope Medi-Cal benefits. This will
result in increased Medi-Cal costs for full-scope coverage for
this small group of pregnant teens. The Department of Health
Care Services (DHCS) may also incur one-time automation costs
for MEDS reprogramming to establish earlier eligibility for a
subset of pregnant women in the Medi-Cal 1931(b) program.
The potential for increased costs due to the expansion of
full-scope Medi-Cal and Medi-Cal managed care enrollment will be
incurred in calendar year 2013. Pursuant to federal health care
reform, Medicaid programs must provide comprehensive health care
coverage to all adults under 133 percent of the FPL effective
January 1, 2014. As a result, all low-income adults will be
provided with full-scope benefits starting in 2014 regardless of
the stage of pregnancy.