BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE HUMAN
SERVICES COMMITTEE
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
BILL NO: SB 480
S
AUTHOR: Vargas
B
VERSION: As introduced
HEARING DATE: April 26, 2011
4
FISCAL: Appropriations
8
0
CONSULTANT:
Park
SUBJECT
Public social services: domestic violence
SUMMARY
Requires counties to waive, for the purposes of CalWORKs, a
condition of eligibility, program requirement, or time
limit for good cause for an applicant or recipient who is a
victim of abuse, under specified conditions. Requires
counties to disregard specified income and resources for
the purpose of determining eligibility or aid for a victim
of abuse. Requires certain cases to be excluded in
determining whether a county has met work participation
requirements under the federal Temporary Aid to Needy
Families program.
ABSTRACT
Existing federal law:
1.Establishes the Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF)
program, administered by the U.S. Health and Human
Services Agency, Administration for Children and
Families, which provides block grants to states to
provide assistance to needy families and provide parents
Continued---
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with job preparation, work, and support services to
enable them to leave the program and become
self-sufficient, in addition to other purposes. Allows
states to establish criteria for eligibility and
benefits, and conditions the block grant on the state
meeting of its maintenance of effort requirements.
2.Under TANF, imposes a 60-month, cumulative lifetime limit
on the receipt of federal TANF benefits by adult
recipients, but allows states to exempt up to 20 percent
of the caseload from this limit. Requires certain
recipients to be engaged in a work activity after 24
cumulative months on aid. Imposes financial penalties on
states whose participants don't meet work participation
requirements, as specified.
3.Establishes an optional program, commonly known as the
Family Violence Option, which requires states to
establish standards and procedures to ensure that the
state will screen for and identify individuals receiving
TANF assistance with a history of domestic violence,
refer such individuals to counseling and supportive
services, and waive, pursuant to a determination of good
cause, other program requirements such as time limits
(for so long as necessary) for individuals receiving
assistance, residency requirements, child support
cooperation requirements, and family cap provisions, in
cases where compliance with such requirements would make
it more difficult for individuals receiving assistance
under this part to escape domestic violence or unfairly
penalize such individuals who are or have been victimized
by such violence, or individuals who are at risk of
further domestic violence.
4.Establishes the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
(SNAP), formerly the food stamp program, administered by
the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and
Nutrition Service, which imposes specified rules on
specified program participants and limits benefits based
on those rules.
Existing state law:
1.Establishes a statewide program, California Work
Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs)
program, under which counties provide cash assistance,
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welfare-to-work, child care, and other services to
qualified low-income families, using a combination of
federal TANF, state, and local funds.
2.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 under SNAP.
3.Under CalWORKs, imposes income and asset requirements to
receive cash payments and a 48-month time limit for
receiving aid, with certain exceptions. Requires single
adults and two-parent households to participate in a
minimum number of hours of work-related activities, as
specified, and exempts certain populations.
4.Requires a county to redetermine CalWORKs and CalFresh
recipient eligibility and grant amounts on a quarterly
basis, and requires a CalWORKs recipient to report to the
county specified changes that could affect the amount of
aid to which the recipient is entitled. Authorizes the
CalWORKs quarterly reporting system to be implemented by
the Department of Social Services in administering
CalFresh.
5.Provides that, if the state does not achieve specified
outcomes required by federal law, including
welfare-to-work outcomes, and is subject to a fiscal
penalty, the penalty will be shared by the state and
relevant counties, as specified.
6.Allows counties to waive a program requirement, including
but not limited to time limits on assistance, work
requirements, educational requirements, paternity
establishment, and child support cooperation
requirements, for a recipient who has been identified as
a past or present victim of abuse when it has been
determined that good cause exists. Provides that waivers
of time limits for good cause or waivers of work
requirements shall not be implemented if federal statutes
or regulations indicate that such waivers would cause the
state to incur a penalty.
7.Provides that sworn statements by a victim of past or
present abuse shall be sufficient to establish abuse
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unless the agency documents in writing an independent,
reasonable basis to find the recipient not credible.
8.Requires a recipient to be excused from participation in
welfare-to-work activities for good cause when the county
has determined there is a condition or other circumstance
that temporarily prevents or significantly impairs the
recipient's ability to be regularly employed or to
participate in welfare-to-work activities. Requires the
county welfare department to review the good cause
determination for its continuing appropriateness in
accordance with the projected length of the condition, or
circumstance, but not less than every three months.
Conditions that may be considered good cause include that
an applicant or recipient is a victim of domestic
violence, but only if participation �required by the
program] is detrimental to or unfairly penalizes that
individual or his or her family.
This bill:
1.Provides that, for the purposes of determining whether a
county has failed to meet federal work requirements under
the TANF program, specified cases related to good cause
for domestic violence shall not be counted. Excluded
cases are those cases granted a waiver of work
requirements pursuant to good cause for domestic
violence, cases granted a waiver of the time limits
pursuant to good cause for a victim of abuse, and cases
where a waiver of welfare-to-work activities for victims
of abuse are not counted as a month of receipt of aid for
the purpose of the 48-month time limit.
2.Provides that a county can only disregard such cases if
the waivers are federally recognized good cause domestic
violence waivers. Provides that, notwithstanding 1)
above, a case shall be included in the number of county
cases if the case has met federal work requirements.
3.To the extent permitted by federal law, prohibits
counties from considering income and resources used to
flee the abuser or controlled in whole or in part by the
abuser as income and resources available to the family,
and prohibits such income and resources from being used
to determine eligibility or amount of aid for �CalWORKs]
applicant or recipient families that are victims of
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abuse. Allows a county to consider such resources if it
documents an independent reasonable basis for believing
that the income or resources are available and that
considering the income or resources would not put the
victim of past or present abuse at further risk of harm,
encourage the victim to remain with the abuser, or
unfairly penalize the victim.
4.Requires a county to assess each applicant to determine
if the domestic violence waiver is appropriate and
requires the county to advise each applicant of the
availability of the waiver. Requires the county to
proactively seek information at the time of application
or redetermination for aid to determine whether or not
the applicant or recipient is or has been a victim of
domestic violence.
5.For the purposes of CalWORKs, requires counties to waive
a condition of eligibility, program requirement, or time
limit for good cause for an applicant or recipient who
has been identified as a past or present victim of abuse,
when the county determines that the condition,
requirement, or time limit is detrimental to or unfairly
penalizes the individual or his or her family, or
encourages the individual or his or her family to remain
with the abuser.
6.Provides that any month in which good cause exists for
excusing victims of abuse from welfare-to-work activities
shall not be counted as a month of receipt of aid for the
purposes of the 48-month time limit.
7.States that it is the intent of the Legislature to ensure
that applicants and recipients who are past or present
victims of abuse are not placed at further risk or
unfairly penalized by CalWORKs or CalFresh requirements
or procedures, and that program requirements should not
be created or applied in such a way as to encourage a
victim to remain with an abuser or prevent the victim
from successfully leaving the abuser. States that
resources of these programs should be leveraged to best
assist recipients leaving an abuser to move towards
self-sufficiency.
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FISCAL IMPACT
Unknown.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
Author's statement
The author states that, according to a study of CalWORKs
recipients in Kern and Stanislaus counties, large numbers
of CalWORKs recipients are also likely to be survivors of
domestic violence. The author points out that several
studies of families on welfare have found that roughly
two-thirds of recipients have been physically abused at
some point in their adult life, and one in five has been
abused in the past year. The author states that batterers
often exert economic control over their partners and
deprive them of access to family resources. The author
believes that welfare is a lifeline to safety for many
survivors of abuse, and it may provide the only means of
support for survivors and their children to escape and live
free from violence.
Federal and state legislative history
The federal Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity
Reconciliation Act of 1996 created a "Family Violence
Option" (FVO) to address the barriers that domestic
violence poses within the context of federal aid under
TANF. Under section 402(a)(7) of the Social Security Act,
under its TANF plan, a State may elect to implement a
special program to serve victims of domestic violence and
to waive program requirements for such individuals.
Specifically, section 402(a)(7) of the Act provides that
states electing the FVO certify that they have established
and are enforcing standards and procedures to:
(a) Screen and identify individuals receiving TANF
and MOE assistance with a history of domestic
violence, while maintaining the confidentiality of
such individuals;
(b) Refer such individuals to counseling and
supportive services; and
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(c) Provide waivers, pursuant to a determination of
good cause, of normal program requirements to such
individuals for so long as necessary in cases where
compliance would make it more difficult for such
individuals to escape domestic violence or unfairly
penalize those who are or have been victimized by such
violence or who are at risk of further domestic
violence.
Federal regulations state that states have "broad
flexibility to grant these waivers to victims of domestic
violence. For example, they may determine which program
requirements to waive and decide how long each waiver might
be necessary." Federal regulations also specify that, for
such waivers to factor into determination of penalties when
the state fails to meet work participation rates or comply
with the five-year limit on federal assistance, the waivers
must be federally recognized. To be federally recognized,
good cause domestic violence waivers must identify the
specific program requirements that are being waived; be
granted appropriately based on need, as determined by an
individualized assessment by a person trained in domestic
violence and redeterminations no less often than every six
months; be accompanied by an appropriate services plan
that: is developed by a person trained in domestic
violence; reflects the individualized assessment and any
revisions indicated by the redetermination; and to the
extent consistent with �260.52(c) �above], is designed to
lead to work.
With the passage of AB 1542 (Ducheny, Ashburn, Thompson &
Maddy), Chapter 270, Statutes of 1997, the Legislature
stated:
It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this
article to adopt a family violence provision by
enacting the federal option concerning victims of
domestic violence provided for in the Temporary
Assistance to Needy Families program pursuant to
Section 402(a)(7) of the Social Security Act (42
U.S.C. Sec. 602(a)(7)). By adopting this provision,
the Legislature recognizes that some individuals who
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may need public assistance have been or are victims of
abuse, and intends to ensure that applicants and
recipients who are past or present victims of abuse
are not placed at further risk or unfairly penalized
by CalWORKs requirements and procedures. The
Legislature intends that, in implementing this
article, program requirements not be created or
applied in such a way as to encourage a victim to
remain with the abuser. It is also the intent of the
Legislature that CalWORKs recipients participate in
welfare-to-work activities, to the full extent of
their abilities, including participation in counseling
and treatment programs, as appropriate, to enable the
recipient to obtain unsubsidized employment and move
towards self-sufficiency.
AB 1542 required DSS to convene a task force to develop
protocols on how counties were required to implement the
family violence option and gave authority to counties to
waive program requirements for victims of abuse, or not.
Through section 42-715.511 of the Manual of Policies and
Procedures and the All County Information Notice issued
January 9, 2006, DSS delineated which program requirements
counties had no discretion to waive. Specifically, MPP
states that program requirements that cannot be waived
include: deprivation; assets; income; and homeless
assistance. (It's unclear whether DSS, through the task
force, interpreted what was allowed by federal law, or
simply exercised the state's authority in further limiting
program requirements that could be waived.) The MPP also
specifies that counties shall provide applicants and
recipients of the opportunity to confidentially
self-identify or disclose domestic abuse and offer
information and resource material on domestic abuse, and
advise of the availability of related services. The MPP
also requires the development of a welfare-to-work plan
that meets specified criteria for victims of abuse and
imposes training curricula on certain county staff related
to domestic abuse.
Domestic violence and welfare
According to Bay Area Legal Aid, a majority of CalWORKs
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recipients are also likely to be survivors of domestic
violence. A study published in January 2003 by the
California Institute for Mental Health found that 80
percent of Kern County recipients and 83 percent of
Stanislaus County applicants reported abuse at some point
in their life; while 40 percent and 52 percent of the
above, respectively, reported domestic violence within the
last year. Over half of persons interviewed over a
three-year period were found to need domestic violence
services at some point during that period.
Arguments in support
Western Center on Law and Poverty (WCLP), a co-sponsor of
the measure, and other supporters write that, with cuts in
state funding for safe-houses and domestic violence
shelters, California needs to be more diligent in
leveraging federal resources and options to ensure safe
transitions to economic self-sufficiency for low-income
survivors of domestic violence and their children. WCLP
states that both TANF and SNAP allow victims of domestic
violence special dispensation to ensure their success in
achieving economic independence, and that California law
also allows for special accommodations to be made for these
families in order to support their successful transition to
self-sufficiency. However, WCLP points out that California
allows counties to establish their own plans for waiving
work requirements, and use of the waiver varies
dramatically from one county to another. WCLP believes
that the measure would help strengthen the safety net for
people when other services are not available and would
provide federal penalty relief to counties, if such
penalties were incurred.
The California Partnership to End Domestic Violence states
that studies show that battered women's most cited reason
for not leaving an abuser is economic insecurity, and, when
abused women decide to leave their abusers, there's a 50
percent chance they will fall below the poverty line. The
group states that the bill will ensure that all counties
adopt uniform policies relating to the family violence
option.
The County Welfare Directors Association writes that
ensuring that public programs are supportive of families
attempting to leave situations where domestic violence has
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occurred is critical to breaking the cycle.
QUESTIONS & COMMENTS
1.Intersection with CalFresh. Apart from the references to
CalFresh in the intent section, it is unclear how the
bill's provisions would apply to determinations of
eligibility and aid and work requirements under CalFresh.
Though statute recognizes the overlap between county
administration of CalFresh and CalWORKs, and though
federal SNAP regulations currently specify income and
resource disregards for victims of abuse who reside in a
shelter, the bill does not appear to provide a basis for
applying domestic violence based waivers to CalFresh
participants, whether they participate in both CalWORKs
and CalFresh or are CalFresh only (non-assistance food
stamp households). The author may wish to clarify
whether the bill's provisions are intended to apply to
the CalFresh program, and, if so, how so, and amend the
bill with stronger language applicable to the CalFresh
program, accordingly.
2.Recommended amendments. On page 6, lines 1-14, the bill
requires counties to "waive a condition of eligibility,
program requirement, or time limit for good cause for
applicant or recipient who has been identified as a past
or present victim of abuse when the county determines
that the condition, requirement, or time limit is
detrimental to or unfairly penalizes the individual or
his or her family, or encourages the individual or his or
her family to remain with the abuser." However, it is
unclear whether federal law allows all conditions of
eligibility to be waived. Additionally, county by county
determination of what is detrimental or unfairly
penalizes the individual or encourages an individual to
remain with the abuser may result in varying
interpretations of how such criteria might be met.
Finally, the language should be clear that all conditions
of eligibility or program requirements that fit the
criteria should be waived. Staff recommends the
following amendments to address these issues:
Page 6, lines 1-14:
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1 11495.15. (a) A county may shall waive
a condition s of
2 eligibility, program requirement s , or time limit
for good cause for
3 an applicant or a recipient who has been identified
as a past or
4 present victim of abuse when it has been determined
that good
5 cause exists pursuant to paragraph (2) of
subdivision (f) of Section
6 11320.3. Until implementation of the regulations
required pursuant
7 to subdivision (b) of Section 11495.1, a county may
utilize
8 standards, procedures, and protocols currently
available, and shall
9 identify them in its county plan the county
determines that the
10 condition s , requirement s , or time limit is are
detrimental to or unfairly
11 penalize s the individual or his or her family, or
encourage s the
12 individual or his or her family to remain with the
abuser. Waivers
13 shall be reevaluated in accordance with other
routine periodic
14 reevaluations by the county.
(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), a county shall
not waive any condition of eligibility that is prohibited
from being waived by federal law.
15 ( b) (c) Any month in which good cause exists
for excusing
16 participants from welfare to work activities
pursuant to this section
17 shall not be counted as a month of receipt of aid
for the purposes
18 of Section 11454.
19 (c) (d) Waivers shall not be granted pursuant
to subdivision (a) if
20 either event in subdivision (c) or (d) of Section
11495.1 occurs.
3.Practical effect of work participation exclusion
provision. On page 4, lines 26-28, the bill prohibits
the following cases from being included in the number of
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county cases subject to the federal work participation
requirement: (3) Cases where the time limits on aid set
forth in Section 11454 shall not be counted as a month of
receipt of aid pursuant to Section 11495.15. It is
unclear what practical effect this provision has, as such
cases might already be excluded under the prior
provisions excluding cases granted a waiver of work
requirements and cases granted a waiver of the time
limit. The author and sponsors may wish to further
differentiate the language above from those other
provisions.
POSITIONS
Support: Coalition of California Welfare Rights
Organizations (co-sponsor)
Western Center on Law and Poverty (co-sponsor)
California Commission on the Status of Women
California Partnership to End Domestic Violence
County Welfare Directors Association of
California
Oppose:None received
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