BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
AB 1691 (Lowenthal) - CalWORKs: welfare-to-work activities.
Amended: As Introduced Policy Vote: Human Services 5-2
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: June 25, 2012
Consultant: Jolie Onodera
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 1691 would include English as a second language
(ESL) education as a core welfare-to-work activity in the
California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids
(CalWORKs) program, as specified.
Fiscal Impact:
Ongoing increased CalWORKs program costs potentially in excess
of $50,000 to $150,000 (TANF/MOE) due to a small number of
CalWORKs participants who would avoid sanction status or loss
of eligibility and/or cure their sanction sooner under the
provisions of this bill.
To the extent ESL education as a core activity assists
CalWORKs participants to move toward employment sooner,
potentially significant future CalWORKs program cost savings.
Unknown, potential future cost pressure related to federal
penalties should the provisions of this bill result in a
near-term negative impact on the federal WPR. To the extent
the addition of ESL education as a core activity results in
more CalWORKs recipients gaining employment, there could be a
future net positive effect on the federal WPR.
Background: Existing federal law establishes the Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program which provides
block grants to eligible states as part of a welfare-to-work
program for qualified low-income families. Existing federal law
establishes work participation rates (WPR) for states and
defines core work activities that may be counted toward the work
participation requirement. Core work activities as defined under
federal law include unsubsidized and subsidized employment,
vocational training, on-the-job training, and other activities,
as specified. Noncore work activities that do not count toward
the core activity requirement include job skills training
directly related to employment, education directly related to
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employment (for individuals with no high school diploma or
equivalent), and satisfactory attendance at secondary school.
Federal TANF work participation requirements are as follows:
single-parent families are required to participate in eligible
work activities for 30 hours per week with a minimum of 20 hours
in core activities, two-parent families are required to
participate in eligible work activities for 35 hours per week,
with a minimum of 30 hours in core activities; single parents
with a child under six years of age are required to complete 20
hours per week in eligible work activities, all of which must be
in core activities.
Federal law generally requires states to maintain a WPR of at
least 50 percent of work-eligible TANF recipients participating
in the specified number of hours of core and noncore work
activities previously noted. Failure to meet the federal WPR may
result in substantial penalties on the state. California has
failed to meet its WPR since 2007 and has been notified that it
will be assessed penalties totaling $160 million for 2008 and
2009. The state is appealing these penalties and no reduction in
TANF funding has been enforced to date.
Under existing state law, every individual, as a condition of
eligibility for aid under the CalWORKs program, with certain
exceptions, is required to participate in welfare-to-work
activities. Core activities under existing state law are limited
to unsubsidized and subsidized employment CalWORKs work
participation requirements consist of work experience,
on-the-job training, work study, community service, and other
activities, as specified. CalWORKs work participation
requirements consist of 32 hours per week for all single-parent
families, with a minimum of 20 hours in core activities, and 35
hours per week for two-parent families, with a minimum of 20
hours in core activities.
Although federal and state core activities are generally the
same, some state noncore activities are less restrictive than
federally allowable activities. Unlike federal law, state law
also allows some noncore activities to count as core activities
in special cases. For example, under existing state law, adult
basic education, including ESL education, is defined as a
noncore work activity, however, classroom hours for adult
education, including ESL education, may count toward the core
activity requirement to the extent the activities cannot be
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accomplished within the additional noncore hours of
participation, the county determines the program is likely to
lead to self-supporting employment and the recipient makes
satisfactory progress. Under federal law, ESL education classes
are considered noncore activities unless it can be demonstrated
to be part of a vocational education program, with a 12-month
limit on any such educational activities.
Due to the different criteria between federal TANF work
participation requirements and the welfare-to-work requirements
of the CalWORKs program, work-eligible individuals may
participate in activities that do not qualify as countable for
TANF work requirements but move the family toward
self-sufficiency. If a family fails to comply with program work
requirements, it may be subject to a sanction. The sanction
reduces the amount of the family's cash grant by the amount
attributable to the adult (on average $122 per month). If
appropriate action to comply with work requirements is taken,
the adult is once again eligible for his or her portion of the
CalWORKs family grant.
Proposed Law: This bill would add ESL education as a core
welfare-to-work activity in the CalWORKs program. Specifically,
this bill:
Limits participation in ESL education as a core activity
to a total of eight months.
Provides that a county may extend ESL education
participation to 12 months on a case-by-case basis.
Authorizes an adult CalWORKs recipient to continue to
participate in ESL education as a non-core activity once
all core activity hours have been fulfilled.
Prior Legislation: AB 2772 (Committee on Human Services) Chapter
902/1998 authorized adult education to count towards the state's
core activity requirement under specified conditions.
Staff Comments: This bill could result in increased CalWORKs
program costs due to the addition of ESL education classes as a
core welfare-to-work activity, as potentially fewer CalWORKs
recipients would fail to comply with state work participation
requirements and would not be subject to sanction, loss of
eligibility, or could cure sanction status sooner. When a
CalWORKs recipient is sanctioned, the grant amount tied to the
individual is removed from the family grant (approximately $122
per month) during the sanction period. Although under sanction
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status the non-complying adult(s) may be ineligible for
welfare-to-work services, it is assumed counties would continue
to engage these sanctioned individuals in ESL education, as well
as continue to provide services and child care.
It is unknown how many CalWORKs recipients are participating in
ESL education statewide based on available data reports, as the
number of ESL participants is a subset of those enrolled in
Adult Basic Education and Vocational Education. Utilizing
available data for refugees receiving CalWORKs and the
assumption that a large percentage of this population is
enrolled in ESL education, it is estimated approximately 5,600
CalWORKs recipients who are refugees are participating in ESL
education at any one time. It is unknown how many additional
legal immigrant CalWORKs recipients are also participating in
ESL education at this time, but data from July 2011 indicated
approximately 47,000 CalWORKs cases in which English was not the
primary language in the household.
Based on the PPIC report entitled California's Welfare
Recipients - Family Circumstances, Income, and Time on Aid Among
CalWORKs Families (May 2012) roughly six to eight percent of
CalWORKs cases are sanctioned in any one month. However, it is
assumed this population is generally less likely to be
sanctioned if they are actively engaged and trying to comply
with work participation requirements. Further, it is assumed
this population would cure their sanctions at a relatively
faster rate than the general CalWORKs population. Assuming only
three percent of this population or 168 recipients of the 5,600
participants are currently subject to sanction and would avoid
sanction if ESL education were counted as a core welfare-to-work
activity would potentially increase CalWORKs grant costs by
$61,500 (TANF/MOE), assuming a sanction period of three months.
This estimate is likely low, however, as it does not account for
the number of legal immigrants participating in ESL education
who are sanctioned for whom the provisions of this bill could
also prevent or cure sanction sooner.
If it is assumed that nearly all CalWORKs recipients who
currently and prospectively engage in ESL education do not
currently contribute positively to meeting the federal WPR, the
inclusion of ESL as a core activity under state work
participation requirements should not impact the federal WPR.
However, it is unknown to what extent CalWORKs recipients who
would have met federal work requirements under existing law in
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the absence of the addition of ESL education as a core activity
under state work participation requirements could potentially
result in fewer CalWORKs participants engaging in federally
countable core work activities resulting in a near-term negative
impact on the federal WPR.
To the extent the addition of ESL education as a core activity
results in more CalWORKs recipients successfully gaining
employment, the provisions of this bill could result in families
moving to self-sufficiency sooner, resulting in a future net
positive effect on the WPR and potential cost savings to the
CalWORKs program of an unknown, but potentially significant
amount.