BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE HUMAN
SERVICES COMMITTEE
Senator Jim Beall, Chair
BILL NO: AB 1516
A
AUTHOR: Gonzalez
B
VERSION: May 23, 2014
HEARING DATE: June 24, 2014
1
FISCAL: Yes
5
1
CONSULTANT: Mareva Brown
6
SUBJECT
Public social services: diapers
SUMMARY
This bill, the Healthy Baby Bottom Act of 2014, creates an
$80 special needs supplement within the CalWORKs program
for children younger than age 2. It also creates an Unmet
Diaper Need Financing Fund in the State Treasury to be
distributed to entities that serve low-income children, as
specified, to address the unmet diaper needs in those
communities.
ABSTRACT
Existing law:
1) Establishes in Federal law the Temporary Assistance
to Needy Families (TANF) program to provide assistance
to needy families so that children may be cared for in
their own homes or in the homes of relatives, and to
end the dependence on government benefits by promoting
job preparation, work and marriage. (45 CFR 260.2)
Continued---
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2) Establishes in California the California Work
Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) Act,
administered by the Department of Social Services
(CDSS) to provide cash benefits, employment training
and other supports to low-income families through a
combination of state and county funds and federal
funds through the TANF block grant. (WIC 11200, et
seq.)
3) 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.)
4) 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)
5) Requires that aid be paid for each needy family,
which shall include all eligible brothers and sisters
of each eligible applicant or recipient child and the
parents of the children, as specified, and provides a
formula for the calculation of aid. (WIC 11450 (a))
6) In addition to the amounts payable under
subdivision (a) and other specified aid, a family
shall be entitled to receive an allowance for
recurring special needs not common to a majority of
recipients, as defined. Prohibits the recurring
special needs allowance from exceeding $10 per
eligible member of the family's assistance unit per
month. (WIC 11450(e))
7) Requires that under specified circumstances, if a
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family has used all available liquid resources in
excess of one hundred dollars ($100), the family shall
also be entitled to receive an allowance for
nonrecurring special needs. (WIC 11450(f))
8) Requires necessary supportive services be made
available to every participant in the welfare-to-work
program in order to participate in the program
activity to which he or she is assigned or to accept
employment or requires that the participant be given a
good cause waiver. (WIC 11323.2)
9) Requires that those supportive services include
child care, transportation costs, ancillary expenses,
as defined, personal counseling and case management,
if the county provides it. (WIC 11323.2)
This bill:
1) Establishes this act as the Healthy Baby Bottom Act
of 2014.
2) Makes various legislative findings and
declarations, including:
a. Existing federal law classifies diapers
with cigarettes, alcohol, and pet food as
disallowed purchases under CalFresh and the
California Special Supplemental Food Program for
Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
b. Low-income parents cannot take advantage
of free or subsidized child care if they cannot
afford to leave disposable diapers at child care
centers, a requirement for most child care
centers.
c. Without access to child care, these
parents are less able to attend work or school on
a consistent basis, leading to increased economic
instability and a continuation of the cycle of
poverty.
d. In addition, the severe health and social
consequences for babies and families who do not
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have access to diapers cannot be underestimated
or overlooked.
e. Lack of sufficient diapers can lead to
multiple problems for families in need, including
unhappy babies, unhealthy communities,
undereducated toddlers, and underemployed adults.
f. Access to diapers can make the difference
for a family to become financially
self-sufficient.
g. Therefore, it is the intent of the
Legislature to enact legislation that would
empower beneficiaries of public assistance
programs with young children in diapers to return
to the workforce by removing unnecessary
obstacles to obtaining diapers to the extent
permitted by federal law, thereby ensuring the
health and welfare of diaper-wearing children and
their families.
3) Establishes the right of a CalWORKs participant to
request supportive services, as defined, through the
Internet Web site of the county if the county is
capable of accepting those requests through its
Internet Web site. If the county is not capable of
accepting requests through its Internet Web site, the
county shall accept those requests in the manner
necessary to ensure that participants are able to
request the supportive services they need.
4) Adds to the list of special needs supplements, an
$80 per month special needs supplement to any child
under two years of age who is in an assistance unit in
addition to any other special needs supplement a
family may be receiving.
5) Requires the amount of supplement to be adjusted
annually pursuant to cost of living changes, as
specified.
6) Establishes an Unmet Need Diaper Financing Fund,
overseen by the California Department of Public Health
(DPH), and requires that the fund consist of money
accepted by the department from grants and donations
from private entities and of public moneys transferred
to the fund.
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7) Requires that money be distributed by (DPH), upon
appropriation by the Legislature, to entities that
meet both of the following requirements:
a. Serve low-income children living in
census tracts within the state in which 50
percent or more of the population of children are
living below the federal poverty guideline.
b. Have identified dollar-for-dollar
matching funding from the federal government, the
private sector, or any other available source.
8) Requires DPH to give priority in distribution from
the fund to entities that serve communities in census
tracts with the highest poverty and highest racial and
ethnic diversity.
9) Requires money distributed from the fund to be used
by the recipient to meet the unmet diaper needs of the
communities served by the recipient.
10) Requires all interest earned on the moneys that
have been deposited into the fund to be retained in
the fund and used for purposes consistent with the
fund, as specified.
11) Establishes a sunset date of January 1, 2019,
unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before
January 1, 2019, deletes or extends that date.
FISCAL IMPACT
An analysis by the Assembly Committee on Appropriations
projected this bill would impact approximately 19% of
CalWORKs children, or approximately 189,000 children per
month. A monthly special needs payment of $80, would
therefore cost approximately $90 million in 2014-15 and
$181 million in on-going costs. The analysis also noted
that there would be partial offsetting savings to the
extent an increased use of childcare better enables parents
to work and thus come off of assistance earlier, and that
healthier babies decrease healthcare costs to Medi-cal.
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BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
Purpose of the bill:
According to the author, by providing $80 per month per
child to eligible children on public assistance, this bill
will ensure families are not deciding between food on the
table or paying rent and whether or not they can afford to
change their child's dirty diaper. Additionally, the author
states that a central priority for this bill is removing
barriers to employment for low-income parents. Diapers are
a major impediment for welfare-to-work participants who are
seeking self-sufficiency because without diapers, parents
cannot take advantage of subsidized childcare for their
children.
CalWORKs
The CalWORKs program provides a monthly cash benefit for
employment-related services aimed at moving children out of
poverty and helping families meet basic needs. Funding for
the CalWORKs program is a combination of state general fund
dollars and a federal TANF grant. According to recent data
from CDSS, 554,292 families rely on CalWORKs, including
more than 1 million children. A family of three receiving
the average grant amount of $463 per month would have an
annual household income at $5,556 per year -- about one
quarter of the Federal Poverty Guidelines level for the
same size family of $19,790.
Child care is among the supportive services that are
required to be available to participants in the
welfare-to-work program. However, the author argues that in
order to participate in free or reduced child care, parents
must be able to provide disposable diapers for their
children.
Diaper need
According to the National Diaper Bank Network, disposable
diapers cost up to $100 per month per child and cannot be
purchased through any government assistance program. One in
three families struggle to purchase diapers, and many
families buy diapers at nearby convenience stores rather
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than at large discount stores, driving up the per-diaper
price. According to the Network, infants require up to 12
diapers and toddlers require an average of 8 diapers per
day. For sanitary reasons, coin-operated Laundromats often
don't allow customers to wash cloth diapers.<1>
According to The Diaper Bank, a different organization,
most licensed day care centers do not accept cloth diapers,
and require parents to provide disposable diapers.
Low-income parents cannot take advantage of free or
subsidized childcare if they cannot afford to leave
disposable diapers at childcare centers. If parents cannot
access daycare, then they are less able to attend work or
school on a consistent basis.<2>
A 2013 study published in the journal, Pediatrics,
concluded that unmet diaper need was an issue of medical
concern. The study's authors wrote that emerging research
suggests indicators of material hardship are increasingly
important to child health. The study supports this premise
with the suggestion that an adequate supply of diapers may
prove a tangible way of reducing parenting stress, a
critical factor influencing child health and development.
Authors concluded there is potential for pediatric
providers to ask about diaper need and refer families to a
local diaper distribution service to reduce parenting
stress.<3>
COMMENTS
1. Due to a number of information technology changes
to welfare systems statewide, staff recommends moving
the implementation date of this bill to April 1, 2015,
to allow the Office of Systems Integration sufficient
time to make program changes. Staff recommends the
following amendment:
Section 8:
(a) Notwithstanding the Administrative Procedure Act
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<1> http://diaperbanknetwork.org/
<2> http://thediaperbank.org/index.php/facts_and_impacts/
<3> Smith, Megan, et al. "Diaper Need and Its Impact on
Child Health," Pediatrics, July 29, 2013.
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(Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1
of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code), the
State Department of Social Services shall implement
this act through an all-county letter or similar
instructions from the director no later than April 1,
2015.
(b) The department shall adopt regulations as
necessary to implement this act no later than July 1,
2016.
2. The author requests an amendment to strike Section
1 of the bill, which is the title, and to add
coauthors.
PRIOR VOTES
Assembly Floor 55 - 23
Assembly Appropriations 12 - 5
Assembly Human Services 4 - 1
POSITIONS
Support: California Association of Food Banks
California Food Policy Advocates
California Immigrant Policy Center
Children Now
County of Santa Clara
Help a Mother Out.Org.
LA Diaper Drive
National Diaper Bank Network
Peninsula Family Service
UWD/AFSCME Local 3930
Western Center on Law and Poverty
Oppose: None received.
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