BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
AB 1970 (Skinner) - Social Services Modernization and Efficiency
Act of 2012.
Amended: August 6, 2012 Policy Vote: Human Services 4-3
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 1970, the Social Services Modernization Act of
2012, would provide that all applicants and recipients of public
social services, including CalFresh and any state health subsidy
program, as defined, may choose to receive communications and
notices related to benefits and eligibility electronically, as
specified. This bill includes various provisions seeking to
streamline the application and recertification process for
public benefits, including restricting verification of
information required of applicants and recipients to what is
federally required and establishing alternatives to in-person
interviews for applications and redeterminations.
Fiscal Impact:
One-time and near term state-reimbursable costs potentially
in the hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars for
infrastructure needs and automation changes required to
enable electronic communications in all counties for
applicants and recipients of public social services
including but not limited to CalWORKs, CalFresh, SSI/SSP,
Foster Care, Kin-GAP, IHSS, Medi-Cal, and other state health
subsidy programs. Any costs for increased county
administrative workload associated with the new process
could also be reimbursable by the state.
Potentially significant future administrative cost savings
associated with reduced hard mailing costs and
administrative efficiencies associated with electronic
communications.
Potential increased CalWORKs program costs of up to $60
million (TANF/General Fund) per year due to effectively
eliminating the statewide fingerprint imaging system (SFIS)
requirement for CalWORKs by restricting verification of
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information to what is federally required and necessary to
determine eligibility or the amount of aid. Additionally,
potential increased CalWORKs program costs in excess of $10
million (TANF/GF) to the extent the asset test is
eliminated, as well as substantial future cost savings in
county administrative workload in excess of $5 million
annually.
Significant state-reimbursable cost pressure for counties
to comply with the requirement to conduct an in-person
interview within 30 minutes of the scheduled time, if
administratively possible.
Increased ongoing CalWORKs program costs potentially in the
millions of dollars (TANF/GF) due to mandating the provision
of supportive services and prohibiting the imposition of
sanctions, as specified, and eliminating the face-to-face
interview requirement prior to the receipt of program
benefits.
Background: Existing federal and state law provide that public
social services shall be administered fairly, that all persons
who are eligible and apply for such public social services shall
receive the assistance to which they are entitled promptly, with
due consideration for the needs of applicants and the
safeguarding of public funds.
Existing law establishes various requirements for providing
notices to participants in public social service programs. On
April 27, 2012, the DSS submitted a request to the U.S. Food and
Nutrition Service (FNS) to waive specified federal regulations
requiring notices to be provided to CalFresh households in
written form. This waiver would allow households to request and
receive correspondence through an electronic notification system
rather than traditional hard copy correspondence.
Existing law requires a county welfare department, to the extent
provided by federal law, to provide CalFresh benefits on an
expedited basis to certain households. On April 27, 2012, the
DSS submitted a request to postpone the expedited service
interview requiring an out-of-office interview before issuing
benefits to households entitled to expedited service within the
applicable timeframe. At the time of this analysis, the DSS was
pending a response to both waiver requests.
Proposed Law: This bill seeks to modernize and streamline the
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administration of, and remove barriers to participation in,
social services programs. Specifically, this bill:
Requires any final operational state plan or approved
waiver submitted by a department administered by the
Secretary of the California Health and Human Services
(CHHS) Agency to a federal agency in the context of
providing public social services to be electronically
available on the relevant department's Internet website, as
specified.
Requires the DSS to promulgate regulations to authorize
applicants and recipients of aid, as specified, to
electronically access notices and communications pertaining
to eligibility and benefit issuance, pending approval of
any necessary federal waivers.
Requires the DSS to develop a process in consultation
with various stakeholders whereby applicants and recipients
can affirmatively choose to receive notices of action or
other communications relevant to their case electronically.
Provides that all applicants and recipients of public
social services, including CalFresh and any state health
subsidy program, as specified, may, at any time in writing,
affirmatively choose to receive communications and notices
electronically.
Requires all notices made available electronically to be
sent via secured server, and requires administering
departments/agencies to establish a process for ensuring
the timely receipt of case-related information when
electronic communication fails or is rejected.
Notwithstanding the existing laws on fingerprint imaging
and specified verification required for CalWORKs, this bill
prohibits a county from requiring an applicant or recipient
of public benefits to verify information provided to the
county, except when the verification is required by federal
law, or is necessary to determine eligibility for aid or to
compute the amount of aid.
Requires county human services departments to maximize
use of electronic means of verifying applicant and
recipient information, and would require the state to work
with counties to develop a protocol enabling statewide use
by applicants and recipients of public social services
programs of a specified electronic database developed to
verify eligibility information for the federal Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010.
Revises procedures relating to public social services
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application and recertification interviews to require these
interviews to be conducted in person, by telephone, or by
other electronic means, to promote administrative
efficiency and reduce costs to applicants and recipients.
If the applicant/recipient appears for the scheduled
interview on time, this bill requires the interview to be
conducted within 30 minutes of the scheduled time, if
administratively possible and it will not cause the county
to incur any new additional costs.
Removes the face-to-face interview requirement for
CalWORKs and CalFresh as a condition of receipt of aid.
Deems an adult CalWORKs recipient to be in compliance
with existing welfare-to-work requirements if he or she
meets the minimum federal welfare-to-work requirements.
This bill requires necessary supportive services to be
provided in order for these participants to participate in
activities or employment, as specified, and these
participants shall not be subject to sanction for failure
or refusal to comply with program requirements.
Requires, to the maximum extent allowable by federal
law, each county human services department to provide
transitional CalFresh benefits to households terminating
their participation in the CalWORKs program, and requires
the DSS to implement so as to maximize continued enrollment
of eligible recipients.
Requires the DSS to seek necessary federal waivers to
postpone expedited service interviews that have been
attempted but not completed and require that expedited
service shall be issued to any applicant who meets
eligibility requirements for expedited service benefits and
for whom there is no verifiable information indicating the
applicant's ineligibility for expedited service.
Deletes a county's option to decline to participate in
the annual federal waiver request of the existing SNAP
limitation that stipulates that an able-bodied adult
without dependents (ABAWD) participant is limited to three
months of CalFresh benefits in a three-year period unless
that participant has met the work participation
requirement.
Staff Comments: This bill would provide that all applicants and
recipients of public social services, including CalFresh and
state health subsidy programs, as defined, may choose to receive
communications and notices electronically and may opt out of
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electronic communications at any time. This option would be
available for applicants and recipients of not only CalWORKs and
CalFresh, but also any public social service or state health
subsidy program which would include but not be limited to
SSI/SSP, foster care, Kin-GAP, IHSS, Medi-Cal, state children's
health insurance programs, and qualified health plans to be
offered through the Health Benefit Exchange.
Though communication electronically would be optional for
applicants and recipients, to the extent even one recipient
requested electronic access a county would be mandated to
provide this service. As a result, providing electronic
notification statewide could result in one-time and near term
state-reimbursable local costs potentially in the hundreds of
thousands to millions of dollars for infrastructure needs,
automation changes, and additional county administrative
workload required to enable electronic communications in all
counties across all programs. Counties could experience
potentially significant future administrative cost savings in
the millions of dollars associated with reduced hard mailing
costs and administrative efficiencies associated with electronic
communications.
The DSS submitted a waiver request to the federal FNS on April
27, 2012, to allow SNAP households to receive correspondence
through an electronic notification system instead of in written
form. The DSS is currently pending a response on its request. It
should be noted that the provisions of this bill extend beyond
the provision of electronic communications as provided for in
the DSS waiver request. This bill also requires the DSS to seek
any necessary federal waivers to postpone CalFresh expedited
service interviews that have been attempted but not completed,
as specified. Similarly, the DSS submitted a waiver request on
April 27, 2012, with regard to this issue. To the extent the
provisions of this measure are overly prescriptive and
consequently are in conflict with the federal waiver provisions
that are ultimately approved, could result in additional costs
to the state if subsequent changes are required.
This bill requires the any final operational state plan or
approved waiver submitted by a department administered by the
Secretary of HHS to a federal agency in the context of providing
public social services to be electronically available on the
relevant department's Internet website. The costs associated
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with this provision are estimated to be minor and absorbable
within existing resources.
This bill provides that notwithstanding Welfare and Institutions
Code section 10830, the statewide fingerprint imaging system
(SFIS) for use in CalWORKs, or other verification required only
for the CalWORKs program, a county is prohibited from requiring
an applicant for or recipient of aid to provide verification of
information unless verification is federally required and
necessary to determine eligibility or the amount of aid. By
'notwithstanding' this existing section of code, this bill would
eliminate the SFIS requirement for applicants and recipients of
the CalWORKs program. As a result of the elimination of the SFIS
requirement for CalWORKs eligibility, a gradual increase in the
CalWORKs caseload could result due to the absence of a deterrent
effect on potential duplicate aid fraud. Utilizing data from an
analysis of Los Angeles County's Automated Fingerprint Imaging
system, the estimated increased grant and administrative costs
could be up to $60 million (TANF/GF) annually.
With regard to the removal of other verification requirements
specific to CalWORKs eligibility, such as the vehicle asset
limit and asset limit on personal savings of $2,000 (or $3,000
for a family with a member age 60 years or above), the
provisions of this bill could result in additional CalWORKs
grant, services, and administration costs potentially in excess
of $10 million (TANF/GF) per year. This provision would also
likely produce substantial long term savings due to reduced
county administrative workload of more than $4.5 million to $7
million annually.
This bill allows, subject to any necessary federal waivers, all
application and recertification interviews to be conducted in
person, by telephone, or through other electronic means to
provide for more efficiency in the administration of programs.
For public social services application and recertification
interviews, this bill provides that if the applicant/recipient
appears for the scheduled interview on time, the interview is
required to be conducted within 30 minutes of the scheduled
time, if administratively possible and it will not cause the
county to incur any new additional costs. This provision will
result in significant cost pressure on county human services
departments to comply with the 30-minute timeframe. Any costs
for additional staffing or overtime required to meet the
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required timeframe would likely not be charged to counties but
instead could be determined to be reimbursable by the state.
This bill also removes the face-to-face interview requirement
for CalWORKs and CalFresh prior to the receipt of aid. As the
DSS already has a previously approved federal waiver to waive
the face-to-face interview for CalFresh, there is no estimated
near-term fiscal impact with regard to CalFresh. While this
provision could result in significant administrative cost
savings and efficiencies, by removing one of the barriers to
participation, the absence of the face-to-face interview
requirement will likely increase CalWORKs program costs.
This bill would require adult CalWORKs recipients who meet the
minimum federal welfare-to-work participation requirements to be
provided with necessary supportive services in order to
participate in activities or employment, and would provide that
these participants cannot be subject to sanction for failure or
refusal to comply with program requirements, as specified. As
supportive services would include child care, transportation,
ancillary expenses, and personal counseling, this provision
could result in the provision of additional services at
significant cost. The potential costs are unknown at this time,
but could be in the millions of dollars statewide.
The provision of this bill requiring the DSS to implement the
provision of transitional CalFresh benefits so as to maximize
continued enrollment of eligible recipients for benefits to
households terminating their participation in CalWORKs appears
to be consistent with the instructions issued by the DSS to all
county welfare directors on October 26, 2011, through All County
Letter No. 11-70, and therefore, is estimated to be codifying
existing practices.
Existing law requires the DSS to annually seek a federal waiver
of the limitation to three months of CalFresh benefits to an
ABAWD unless that participant has met work participation
requirements. Existing law authorizes counties to decline to
participate in the waiver request. This bill removes the option
for a county to decline to participate in the waiver. The DSS
has indicated that currently no counties have declined to
participate in the waiver. As a result, there is no near-term
fiscal impact of removing the county option. However, to the
extent a county may have opted to decline to participate in the
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future, the costs of mandated participation by a county, which
would include increased CalFresh administration costs, could be
determined to be state-reimbursable. It is unknown to what
degree the potential cost savings to the state provided by
ensuring uniformity statewide would offset any
state-reimbursable county administrative costs.