BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1502
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 8, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Mark Stone, Chair
AB 1502 (Mullin) - As Amended: April 3, 2014
SUBJECT : CalWORKs: Family Unity Act of 2015.
SUMMARY : Streamlines CalWORKs eligibility standards for
two-parent families and caretaker relatives to promote family
maintenance.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Deletes the prohibition on providing CalWORKs aid to an
otherwise eligible assistance unit with two parents if the
primary wage earner has worked more than 100 hours in a month.
2)Removes the deprivation standard used to determine CalWORKs
eligibility for needy two-parent families and continues to
apply all other income, resource and participation
requirements to determine eligibility.
3)Includes nonparent caretaker relatives among the individuals
exempt from meeting CalWORKs welfare-to-work requirements
while they are caring for non-natural, non-adoptive child
relatives.
EXISTING LAW
1)Establishes under federal law the Temporary Assistance for
Needy Families (TANF) program to provide aid and
welfare-to-work services to eligible families and, in
California, provides that TANF funds for welfare-to-work
services are administered through the CalWORKs program. (42
U.S.C. 601 et seq., WIC 11200 et seq.)
2)Establishes income, asset and real property limits used to
determine eligibility for the program, including net income
below the Maximum Aid Payment (MAP), based on family size and
county of residence, which is approximately 40% of the Federal
Poverty Level. (WIC 11450, 11150 et seq.)
3)Provides that a child for whom a parent is applying for
CalWORKs assistance shall be considered deprived of parental
AB 1502
Page 2
support or care due to the unemployment of his or her
parent(s) when the parent has worked less than 100 hours in
the preceding four weeks, as specified. (WIC 11201)
4)Grants CalWORKs aid, services, or both to families with
related children under 18 years of age, except as specified,
if they are deemed needy and deprived of parental support or
care due to the death, physical or mental incapacity or
incarceration of a parent; the unemployment of a parent or
parents; or the continued absence of a parent from the home
due to divorce, separation, desertion, or any other reason,
except occasional absence due solely to the parent's active
duty with the US armed services. (WIC 11250)
5)Establishes a 48-month lifetime limit of CalWORKs benefits for
eligible adults, including 24 months during which a recipient
must meet federal work requirements in order to retain
eligibility. (WIC 11454, 11322.85)
6)Requires all individuals over 16 years of age, unless they are
otherwise exempt, to participate in welfare-to-work activities
as a condition of eligibility for CalWORKs. (WIC 11320.3,
11322.6)
7)Establishes the number of weekly hours of welfare-to-work
participation necessary to remain eligible for aid, including
requirements for an unemployed parent in a two-parent
assistance unit, as specified. (WIC 11322.8)
8)Exempts specified categories of recipients from participation
in welfare-to-work activities, including a parent or other
adult CalWORKs recipient with primary responsibility for
personally providing care to one child from birth to 23
months, inclusive, and requires this exemption to be available
only once in addition to any other young child exemption, as
specified. (WIC 11320.3(b))
9)Provides an exemption from participation in welfare-to-work
activities for nonparent caretaker relatives with primary
responsibility for providing care for a child who is a
dependent or ward of the court, or at risk of placement in
foster care, and the county determines that the caretaking
responsibilities are beyond those considered normal day-to-day
parenting responsibilities such that they impair the caretaker
relative's ability to be regularly employed or to participate
AB 1502
Page 3
in welfare-to-work activities. (WIC 11320.3(b)(4))
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
COMMENTS : This bill seeks to increase the likelihood that
low-income families in need of assistance remain intact by
eliminating barriers to assistance for two-parent families and
nonparent relatives temporarily caring for their relatives'
children.
The California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids
(CalWORKs) program provides monthly income assistance and
employment-related services aimed at moving children out of
poverty and helping families meet basic needs. Federal funding
for CalWORKs comes from the Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families (TANF) block grant. The average monthly cash grant for
a family of three on CalWORKs (one parent and two children) is
$463. According to recent data from the California Department
of Social Services, 554,292 families rely on CalWORKs, including
over one million children. Nearly 80% of the children are under
age twelve and 40% are under age five.
Average grants of $463 per month for a family of three means
$15.43 per day, per family, or $5.14 per family member, per day
to meet basic needs, including rent, clothing, utility bills,
food, and anything else a family needs to ensure children can be
cared for at home and safely remain with their families. This
grant amount puts the annual household income at $5,556 per
year. Federal Poverty Guidelines show that 100% of poverty for
a family of three is over three and a half times that at $19,790
per year.
Welfare-to-Work requirements : Welfare-to-work activities within
the CalWORKs program include public or private sector subsidized
or unsubsidized employment; on-the-job training; community
service; secondary school, adult basic education and vocational
education and training when the education is needed for the
recipient to become employed; specific mental health, substance
abuse, or domestic violence services if they are necessary to
obtain or retain employment; and a number of other activities
necessary to assist a recipient in obtaining unsubsidized
employment.
Unless they are exempt, single parent adults must participate
for at least 30 hours per week in welfare-to-work activities,
AB 1502
Page 4
whereas the minimum participation requirement for two-parent
families is 35 hours per week. After receiving aid for up to a
maximum of 24 months, adults without an exemption must work in
unsubsidized employment or participate in community services
activities for the minimum number of hours listed above. If a
CalWORKs recipient who is not exempt from participation does not
meet his or her welfare-to-work requirements, the recipient is
sanctioned for noncompliance, and that recipient's portion of
the family's grant is removed, resulting in a reduction of the
family's maximum monthly grant of up to $122.
Welfare-to-Work exemptions : Under current law, CalWORKs
recipients over 16 years of age are required to participate in
county-approved welfare-to-work activities as a condition of
receiving aid while on the program unless they are eligible for
a welfare-to-work exemption. Included among the list of
exempted individuals are recipients with an enduring disability
that prevents them from being able to regularly participate in
welfare-to-work activities; recipients of advanced age;
recipient caretakers of disabled family members, or children at
risk of placement in foster care, whose care needs impair the
CalWORKs recipient's ability to be regularly employed or to
participate in welfare-to-work activities; and pregnant women
who can provide medical verification that their pregnancy
impairs their ability to participate in welfare-to-work
activities or otherwise be regularly employed. Exemptions from
welfare-to-work requirements can also be granted to parents or
other relative caretakers with personal responsibility to care
for children from zero to six months of age, the duration of
which can be reduced to 12 weeks or increased to 12 months at a
county's discretion. As a result of SB 1041 (Committee on
Budget) Chapter 47, Statutes of 2012, which restricts the
applicability of certain welfare-to-work activities and support
services to a 24-month period within a recipient's lifetime
limit of 48 months of aid, state law includes a young child
exemption from welfare-to-work requirements that can be applied
to a parent or relative caretaker caring for a child under two
years of age. This exemption can only be used once during the
parent or relative caretaker's time on aid.
Counties can also excuse recipients from participation in
welfare-to-work activities for good cause if a county has
determined that a recipient's condition or other circumstances
temporarily prevent him or her from being able to participate in
welfare-to-work activities or to be regularly employed. Under
AB 1502
Page 5
good cause, a victim of domestic violence must be excused if
participation in welfare-to-work would be detrimental to the
victim or his or her family. Pregnant women who experience
temporary illness due to their pregnancy but are not able to
provide medical verification can also be excused under good
cause, provided that the county determines that the pregnant
woman is not able to participate in welfare-to-work activities
or engage in regular employment. However, unlike the specific
aforementioned exemptions from welfare-to-work requirements,
good cause is granted at the county's discretion based on a
county's determination that a condition or circumstance meets
specified criteria.
Because recipients who are determined to be exempt or excused
from welfare-to-work activities have been deemed by the county
to be incapable of fully participating in available work
activities or other employment, these recipients cannot be
sanctioned for noncompliance and are eligible to continue to
receive their grants during the period of exemption.
Additionally, state law explicitly allows any recipient who is
exempt from welfare-to-work participation to voluntarily
participate, and that recipient can choose to end his or her
voluntary participation without losing eligibility for aid as
long as he or she continues to meet the exemption criteria.
This allows new mothers who are exempt, for example, to remain
engaged in the workforce without penalizing them for choosing to
discontinue or lessen participation in their work activity to
spend time caring for their infants.
Need for the bill : The Personal Responsibility and Work
Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), which was the
final piece of federal welfare reform legislation, repealed the
Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program and
created the block-granted Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families (TANF) program. The new approach emphasized
integrating parents into the workforce, and one of the resulting
four core purposes of the federal TANF program is to encourage
the formation and maintenance of two-parent families. However,
current state law prevents a poor two-parent family from
receiving aid if the primary wage earner has worked more than
100 hours in a month. This policy mirrors AFDC provisions
included in the Code of Federal Regulations which haven't been
updated since before PRWORA was implemented, making California
one of only eight states that still implements this standard.
While the 100-hour policy is based on the assumption that an
AB 1502
Page 6
average of 25 hours of work per week can generate enough income
for a parent to provide for his or her family and set the
family's income above the eligibility threshold for CalWORKs,
this is often not the case. In direct conflict with the goal of
two-parent family maintenance, this policy encourages parents to
split, as the same family would be eligible for aid if the
primary wage earner left the home. This bill repeals the
100-hour standard while maintaining all resource and income
eligibility requirements, all of which reveal a CalWORKs
applicant family's need for assistance.
In addition to facilitating the maintenance of two-parent
families, this bill seeks to further encourage nonparent
caretaker relatives to care for their relatives' children, which
can help stabilize a child's household and minimize or eliminate
a child's interaction with the state's child welfare system.
Under current law, a needy relative caregiver is exempt from
welfare-to-work requirements when caring for a relative's child
who is a dependent or ward of the court, or at risk for
placement in foster care, and the county determines that the
caretaking responsibilities for that child exceed what would be
considered "normal day-to-day parenting responsibilities" and
therefore impair the relative's ability to be regularly employed
or participate in welfare-to-work activities. Some caretaker
relatives will be able to enter a child's life and provide
relief to the child's parent(s) before true interaction with the
child welfare system commences. At times, a child's stay with
the caretaker relative may be prolonged, but many needy
relatives care for their grandchildren, nieces and nephews for
short periods of time to help the child's family stabilize. The
author maintains that the current requirement results in
unnecessary state costs, as a CalWORKs eligible caretaker
relative's participation in welfare-to-work and receipt of aid
will be short-term in many instances, and the relative's
connection to CalWORKs, including the welfare-to-work activity,
may not continue once the child can be cared for by his or her
parent(s). This bill removes the requirement that caretaking
responsibilities be inordinate and simply exempts nonparent
relatives from welfare-to-work requirements when caring for
needy children who are not their own.
AB 1502
Page 7
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
(AFSCME)
California Catholic Conference
California Immigrant Policy Center (CIPC)
California Partnership
Coalition of California Welfare Rights Organizations -sponsor
County Welfare Directors Association of CA (CWDA)
Hunger Action Los Angeles
Legal Services for Prisoners with Children
National Association of Social Workers, CA Chapter (NASW)
The San Francisco Living Wage Coalition
Western Center on Law and Poverty
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Myesha Jackson / HUM. S. / (916)
319-2089