BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE HUMAN
SERVICES COMMITTEE
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
BILL NO: SB 43
S
AUTHOR: Liu
B
VERSION: As introduced
HEARING DATE: April 12, 2011
4
FISCAL: Appropriations
3
CONSULTANT:
Park
SUBJECT
Food Stamp Employment and Training program
SUMMARY
Makes changes to the administration of the Food Stamp
Employment and Training program, including rules governing
mandatory and voluntary placements into the program, as
well as exemptions. Requires FSET counties to demonstrate
how they are effectively using FSET funds, as specified,
and to allow work registrants who are mandatorily placed
into the FSET program to meet work requirements through
self-initiated workfare.
ABSTRACT
Existing federal law:
1.Establishes the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
(SNAP), formerly the food stamp program, administered by
the U.S. Department of Agriculture (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.
Continued---
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2.Establishes the Food Stamp Employment and Training (FSET)
program, administered by the USDA, which 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.
Existing state law:
1.Establishes a statewide program, CalFresh, administered
by state and local agencies, that enables recipients of
aid and other low-income households to receive federal
food assistance benefits.
2.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.
3.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.
This bill:
1.Requires counties to screen work registrants to determine
whether they will participate in, or be deferred from,
the FSET program. Requires an individual to be deferred
from mandatory placement in the FSET program if he or she
satisfies any of the federally mandated criteria, or if
he or she resides in a federally determined work surplus
area. Allows a work registrant, who is deferred, to
request to enroll in the FSET program as a voluntary
participant.
2.Requires a county that participates in the FSET program
to demonstrate how it is effectively using FSET program
funds for each component that the county offers,
including but not limited to: self-initiated workfare,
work experience or training, education, job search, and
the support services or client reimbursements needed to
participate in these components, as allowed by federal
law and guidance. Clarifies that a county is not
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required to offer any particular component.
3.Requires a county that elects to participate in the FSET
program, beginning October 1, 2012, to allow work
registrants who are mandatorily placed in the FSET
program to meet work requirements of that FSET placement
through self-initiated workfare and requires the county
to notify the work registrant of the option.
4.Provides that a county has no duty to provide for
workers' compensation coverage for an FSET participant
who elects to participate in self-initiated workfare, and
that nothing in this measure shall limit a county's
ability to condition nonmedical benefits under Section
17000.
5.Defines "self-initiated workfare" as a public service
placement in a public or private nonprofit agency that is
initiated by the CalFresh recipient, for which the
recipient is responsible for documentation of hours.
Requires self-initiate workfare to be verified in the
same manner as other work activity verification, and must
meet other federal requirements.
6.Expresses the intent of the Legislature to increase
meaningful opportunities for employment and training in
the FSET program and to assist CalFresh recipients in
meeting the work requirements under the CalFresh program.
FISCAL IMPACT
Unknown
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
Author's statement
The author states that SB 43 will help CalFresh recipients
retain their eligibility for federal food benefits in tough
economic times and increase meaningful opportunities in the
CalFresh Employment and Training (CFET) program. The
author believes that during periods of high unemployment,
when meeting work requirements is most difficult, waiving
CFET work requirements when federal SNAP work requirements
are waived can help vulnerable Californians maintain their
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access to federal food benefits and help retail businesses
weather economic downturn. The author points out that,
according to the USDA, every $5 in new SNAP benefits
generates $9 in total community spending. Additionally, the
author states that, by allowing people who are assigned to
CFET to meet their work requirements by volunteering at a
public or private nonprofit agency, such as a school, food
bank, or fire department, the bill encourages individual
initiative and helps local communities benefit from these
volunteers.
SNAP/CalFresh
In California, 3.6 million people participate in
CalFresh/SNAP. In the last federal fiscal year, California
received $6.8 billion in federal food assistance benefits;
yet, only about half of eligible persons in California
participate in CalFresh. Some advocates argue that the
state could be receiving billions more in food assistance
benefits and the state should take actions to improve food
stamp participation for the benefit of low-income
individuals and the state's economy.
To qualify for SNAP benefits, households must meet income
tests, and some households must meet specified work
requirements. SNAP requires all recipients, unless
exempted by law, to register for work at the appropriate
employment office, participate in an employment and
training program if assigned by a state or local
administering agency, and accept an offer of suitable
employment. SNAP beneficiaries are exempted from
registering for work and engaging in employment and
training activities if they are under age 16 or over age
59; physically or mentally unfit for employment; caring for
a child under the age of 6 (or 12, in some cases); employed
30 hours a week; or subject to and complying with work
requirements for other programs, such as those required by
CalWORKs. Additionally, others are exempted because they
are receiving unemployment insurance compensation,
participating in a drug and alcohol treatment and
rehabilitation program, or are students enrolled at least
half time (these students must meet other work
participation requirements).
Food Stamp Employment and Training Program
The USDA provides annual funding for program administration
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for the FSET program, which is designed to help food stamp
participants gain skills, training, work experience, and
secure work. There are two types of funding from USDA: a
100 percent federal amount for states that is capped; and
an uncapped 50-50 (percent) federal/state/other
reimbursement program. The 100 percent funds are allocated
to states based on a formula that takes into account the
number of work registrants in the state. Under the 50-50
formula, the federal government reimburses states fifty
cents of every non-federal dollar spent on allowable
employment and training services or activities.
Non-federal dollars can come from state, county or city
revenue; foundation grants; employer paid costs; private
tuition payments and private funds raised by
community-based organizations. USDA Food and Nutrition
Services guidance indicates that non-governmental revenue
is subject to federal approval for the purposes of
obtaining the 50 percent reimbursement.
In California, counties determine which individuals in a
non-assistance (i.e., non CalWORKs) food stamp household
must participate in the FSET program. Federal law provides
for certain exemptions, but counties can additionally
determine who must participate in FSET or be exempt beyond
the population determined to be exempt by federal law.
FSET programs can include a variety of services and support
for training and employment activities, such as employment
search; general education development; high school
equivalency; job skills training; short-term vocational
training; and supportive services. In California,
individual counties determine the range of services as well
as the rules governing mandatory and voluntary placements
and exemptions.
For FFY (federal fiscal year) 2010, 23 counties in
California participated in the FSET program, which totaled
$94.5 million. Of that amount, 100 percent federal funds
accounted for $7.5 million; 50/50 federal/county funds (for
overmatch for administration cost and participant
reimbursements) accounted for the remainder. Job search
and job club accounted for the vast majority of
expenditures, followed by modest expenditures in workfare,
vocational training, education, and job retention. On the
job training and self-initiated workfare accounted for
negligible amounts. Of the $7.5 million in 100 percent
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federal funds, DSS withheld $808,000 from the federal
allocation for covering state administrative costs and for
providing workers' compensation coverage for FSET
participants, which DSS typically budgets at around
$408,000. For federal fiscal year 2010, DSS reported more
than 791,850 work registrants. Of this population, about
73,859 individuals were expected to participate in at least
one FSET program component.
Prior legislation
SB 1322 (Liu) of 2010, in its final version, was nearly
identical to this measure. The measure was vetoed by
Governor Schwarzenegger, with the following message:
While I support the state's Food Stamp Employment and
Training
program and the economic benefits that federal food
stamps bring to
California, I am troubled that this bill reduces
county flexibility
and instead requires that they offer self-initiated
workfare.
Self-initiated workfare weakens the "work-first"
message of the
program by allowing recipients to self-direct their
own volunteer
work. While I wholeheartedly support volunteer work
in local
communities, it does not build the skills and work
experience that is
the primary objective of this particular program. For
these reasons, I cannot support this measure.
Arguments in support
Western Center on Law and Poverty (WCLP), the sponsor of
the measure, writes that participation in CalFresh has
almost doubled since the recession began; yet California
has the worst food stamp participation rates according to
the USDA. WCLP believes that one of the most efficient and
humane ways to address under-participation in the program
is to ensure that people who are eligible and currently
receiving CalFresh benefits can easily retain them when
they are eligible under federal law. WCLP notes that
aligning federal and local work rules associated with the
CalFresh Program and offering new ways
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for people to meet these work rules will help achieve that.
WCLP points out that, during times of high unemployment,
the federal government relaxes the mandatory work rules by
allowing states to waive work requirements and time limits
for Able Bodied Adults Without Dependents (ABAWDs), because
it is unfair to keep food assistance from people who cannot
meet work rules when unemployment is high, and because
communities depend on federal funds to continue to infuse
their local economies when they are struggling through bad
economic times. WCLP notes that, over the past several
years, all counties have chosen to 'opt in' to the federal
ABAWD waiver, relieving its food stamp participants of this
work rule; yet 20 counties imposed harsher sanctions on the
same population of unemployed Californians who are required
to participate in their CalFresh E&T Programs. WCLP
believes that, because work rules and accompanying
sanctions are applied disproportionately across the state,
unemployed Californians are losing federal food benefits
and going hungry.
Further, WCLP believes that self-initiated workfare will
allow an individual to select a community based nonprofit
or public agency that better fits with his or her
employment goals or skills training needs, and also
benefits his or her community. WCLP believes that the bill
will help end hunger and get people back to work when jobs
return.
The Alameda County Community Food Bank (ACCFB) writes that,
in the last fiscal year, 83 people served as volunteers
through the county's self-initiated workfare program,
contributing 6,502 hours to the food bank. ACCFB notes
that, as the need for its services grows due to the
struggling economy, so does the need to grow its volunteer
workforce. ACCFB states that without the workfare
participants and other volunteers, it wouldn't be able to
serve the growing number of people in the county who need
food assistance.
COMMENTS
1.Food Stamp Employment and Training program should be
renamed. Based on the renaming of California's food
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stamp program to CalFresh, (initiated by the enactment of
AB 433, Beall, Chapter 625 of 2008, and the federal
renaming of the food stamp program to SNAP), staff
recommends all references to the Food Stamp Employment
and Training program and FSET be likewise renamed to the
CalFresh Employment and Training program.
2.Clarifying amendment. Staff recommends the following
change, to account for the requirement in subdivision
(d), which is the requirement for counties who elect to
participate in FSET to allow self-initiated workfare for
mandatory placements.
Page 3, lines 14-32:
14 (c) (1) A county that elects to participate in
the FSET program
15 shall be required to demonstrate in its FSET plan
how it is
16 effectively using FSET funds for each of the
components that the
17 county offers, including, but not limited to, any
of the following:
18 (A) Self-initiated workfare.
19 (B) Work experience or training.
20 (C) Education.
21 (D) Job search.
22 (E) The support services or client
reimbursements needed to
23 participate in subparagraphs (A) to (D), inclusive,
as allowed by
24 federal law and guidance.
25 (2) Nothing in this section shall be construed
to require a county
26 to offer a particular component as a part of its
FSET plan, except as it meets the criteria in subdivision
(d).
27 (d) Commencing October 1, 2012, a county that
elects to
28 participate in the FSET program shall allow work
registrants who
29 are mandatorily placed in the program to meet the
work
30 requirements of the mandatory placement through
self-initiated
31 workfare, as defined in paragraph (2), and shall
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inform the work
32 registrant of this option.
POSITIONS
Support: Western Center on Law and Poverty (sponsor)
AARP
Alameda County Community Food Bank
California Association of Food Banks
California Food Policy Advocates
California Grocers Association
California Hunger Action Coalition
California Retailers Association
Catholic Charities of California United
Coalition of California Welfare Rights
Organizations
County Welfare Directions Association
Hunger Action Los Angeles
JERICHO
Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles
Los Angeles Regional Foodbank
Sacramento Hunger Coalition
Oppose:None received
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